Forbidden Love

Part Four

Lincoln just nodded after an unsure glare. Sam turned around towards the side of the path where the thick shrubbery manifested itself. After cracking her knuckles, she then proceeded to weasel her way through the prickly bushes,straying off the beaten, established path. Lincoln just looked on in amazement and surprise wondering why she would do it, but she did assure him to do as she said. After walking out ahead a few feet, Lincoln walked through the bush as well. The stray branches, thistly thorns and sticky burrs latched onto his clothing, his hair and his shoes. It hurt a little, here and there, however seeing Sam ahead of him not only being unfazed by a similar pelting, but thriving and travelling with a stronger stride than her walking speed caused Lincoln to carry on.

After a few hundred meters,Lincoln basically covered in thorns and thistles on his body and hair, however the path was more evened out and started to become more of a path, however one that was not as maintained as the paths that the park intended for the patrons to go on.

"Hoo, sorry about that,Lincoln." Sam said, "It's just that I didn't want this secret path to be visible to the park managers so we had to go through a little slice of hell getting here." Sam laughed.

"Wait..." Lincoln pondered, "you mean that you made this path?"

"Yeah I guess I did," she began, maintaining her prior walking speed, "you see, when my family first moved here, I needed to get away from... the stress of my personal life, you know... so I started walking these trails to get my mind off things. Then one day, I wasn't watching where I was going and started to walk into the gorse bush. I could've just course-corrected, but for some strange reason I kept going in a straight line. Eventually, I marked the path on the trees," pointing a red line on an adjacent tree trunk, "and cut out a path once I was fair enough along out of the thorns to not let the people running the park know about it."

"Wow! So where exactly are we heading to?" Lincoln wondered, even though it probably wasn't that far into the brush that they ventured in.

"You'll see," Sam said reassuringly. Lincoln couldn't help but notice that Sam's pants were relatively free of noticeable burrs and thorns. It was clear that Sam had made frequent visits to wherever it is that they were going and that she had a method for evading the prickles, but he still was a little sad to see a couple of them here and there on her incredibly nice pants, especially after hearing she paid a lot for them.

After a few seconds, Sam stopped and crouched down towards Lincoln's level, pointing out to a canopy of branches that marked the entrance to Sam's mystery location.

"We're here," she said. She walked forward and pushed the nearby branches out of the way. Lincoln walked through the entrance with Sam following closely behind. Finally, Sam's secret was revealed.

Lincoln walked through the entrance and saw a little cliffside plateau, a small oasis surrounded by a sea of trees. On one side was a drop that led down to a mighty river, with another tree-populated mountain on the other side. The flora all around the area was green and looked like it wasn't tampered with by human methods. No pesticides or fumigation needed. There was also a stony picnic table, slightly overgrown due to lack of maintenance. Lincoln was indeed surprised by this sight.

"Oh... my... Gosh," was all that Lincoln could utter.

"I know right," Sam replied, "I stumbled upon this little place by accident. You see, I would frequent this park back when my family first moved here. It was a good way to unwind and... forget." Sam took a brief pause. Lincoln could tell something was troubled by her expression, but a few seconds later, she continued, "One time, I was walking along these trails, trying to get away from any and all stressful situations, but the worrying still manifested and one time, I wasn't watching where I was going and I ended up in the bushes. Now, normally when that would happen I would just carry on on the path, but for some reason, I continued to venture into parts unknown. Almost as if God... was guiding me. It seemed unorthodox and weird, but I maintained a straight line, so as I could make it back to the path if I ever felt like it. Sure enough, not long after making it through all those pricklies, I found this little area. Not sure where this is, but my best guess was that this was going to be a place where the guests of the park could rest and take pictures and have picnics and stuff but the park staff just forgot about it for some reason. But I found it by accident. And as if by magic, when I was here, all my troubles, my worries... my cares... they all seemed to have lifted off of me." Sam walked a few steps forward, on to the middle of the plateau; around 30 some-odd feet from the cliff's edge. "I just was able to relax... chill out... cool it," she then fell down slowly to the ground and took her backpack off, placing it beside her. "Just feel the grass on my skin, the wind in my hair, the air in my lungs... it helped me out so much during my worst of days. I never showed a single person this place... not even Luna. But I thought I would share it with you. I know I haven't known you for very long, but even so, it still feels like I've... known you for years. I know it sounds super corny and junk, but... there's something about you, Lincoln Loud, that I respect so much."