Forgiveness (Under revision)

Chapter Two

"Whoever gets to the woods first gets the blanket tonight!" he called, and I sprinted after him. We were both fast runners and tied. Once we were surrounded by trees we laughed with joy.

"It's a tie. We can share it again," he said, making me wonder if he tied on purpose. I shook the thought from my head.

"Ok, come on let's go see what we can find," I said, eager to go back to the fountain to see if there are any more notes.

"Sure," he replied, taking an arrow and setting it in his bow. We went to our usual clearing in the woods, and I retrieved my bow and arrows, even though I knew I wouldn't use it, it made me feel safer to have a weapon on hand. He took us to the river where he speared a few fish with his arrows. I made a fire with some wood, and he cooked the fish while I went searching for berries. I came back with hands full of berries. I laid them out along with the fish and some water from the river. Once we ate our breakfast of wild berries and fish we decided to go explore. The woods in Syra were huge, surrounding the village and going on and on. We hadn't seen even one fourth of the woods and had been exploring it for one year now. I followed him through the woods, picking berries, as Everest hunted wild rabbits for lunch. Once we had gotten food to go through the day, we climbed a tall tree and settled in together.

"What do you want to do next?" he asked me. There were tons to do in the woods. Hunt. Explore. Rest. Play. All were illegal. I thought back to the boy who caught us then back to the curse. Then I turned to Everest, and said

"I think we should continue to explore," my voice was raspy and I cleared my throat.

"Sure, I think I saw a pond over near the willow," he said. That sounded fun. The willow was a big weeping willow that me and Everest sat under a lot. We usually met there everyday after work and hunting.

"That sounds cool, maybe there is some food there," I said.

"Yeah, I feel like some bread tonight. Do you think you have enough?" he asked me.

"Yeah. I made ten dollars yesterday. I think we can buy a slice with that and save the rest,"

"That sounds nice. I'll cook rabbit," he said.

"Okay, do you want to go to the willow now?"

"Sure," he replied, as he jumped down from the tree with a soft thud. I followed, gracefully climbing down the tall tree. Everest was never the best climber. He was better at hunting and getting meat. Better at killing. While I was better at climbing, making fires, cooking, and knowing which plants were edible. We relied on each other.

Once we were both down the tree, we headed north toward the willow. We walked in silence until we reach the tall willow. I instantly noticed something wrong with the willow. It was no longer a bright green color, but a dull grey. The curtain of leaves were gone, leaving brown sticks that are drooping around the tree. The bark has peeled back, and there seemed to be no life around it. The tree was dead, while it was thriving just yesterday.

"What happened?" I whispered, as Everest walked up to the tree to inspect it. I followed him, letting my fingers run through the dead, hanging branches. He went under the curtain of leaves and looked around. He caressed the dead bark with his fingers.

"She's dead," he sighed. She. We both loved that tree, treated it like a person. And now... she was gone.

"Yeah," I whispered, still not believing what was happening. He slowly retracted his hand from the tree and walked back to my side. We held each other tight, sadness taking us over. The tree had held so many memories. We mourned her death as we did our own parents. Once the sadness was gone, determination sets into place. Determination to get away from the sight of the dying tree. We soberly let go of each other and without sound walked away.