The next day Aria decided to go back. After she had finished all her work, more research for her project, she wandered out again. She left her parents a note about her whereabouts and continued her adventure from where she had left off. Emerging from the bushes she had hidden behind the night before, she walked over to the travellers with a nervous smile.
She regretted her decision as soon as she had revealed herself, but now she could not turn back. The fear of looking stupid overrode her thoughts and she forced herself to face her fear of all things new and people related. Her movements were small and rigid, you could barely see her twiddling thumbs underneath the baggy jumper she had drowned herself in. The material hid her clenched fists and conveyed nothing of her that she believed to be negative.
"Hi, can I-" she had to pause in between, her voice was weak in her nervous state, "can I join you?" She asked. The teen playing the music stopped and the boys around the fire continued their party like the music was dancing on in their eardrums. "You can hear it?" the boy with the panpipes asked.
"Yeah? Why? Shouldn't I be able to hear it?" This put Aria on edge again, was she not supposed to hear them? She hoped she hadn't upset the boy.
"Oh, no it's fine. I didn't think you'd be able to hear it," he commented. "Y'know because we're quite far away from any villages or towns," he added quickly after.
"Oh, yeah. I heard you on the way home."
"You're from the village?"
"Yeah, though I don't get out much. You probably won't catch me around."
"What's your name?"
"Aria, what's yours?"
Aria felt it was only courteous to return the boy's question but he ignored her completely. Instead, he began playing the pipes again, his mysterious eyes watching her as she sat by him to listen to him play. She wanted to know his name, but felt that perhaps it was maybe because he was paranoid she would rat him out to the police. She believed it to be true, this being the only way she could stop her desire for learning the young boy's name from pestering her thoughts any longer than she knew it would. Instead, she listened to the music and smiled with joy as she watched the boys dance around the fire, carefree and full of youth.
As the night grew darker Aria decided it was best if she went home. She got up from the log she was sat on by the Piper and adjusted her jumper. Once she had wrapped herself up in its warmth again she turned to the Piper and gave him a smile and a wave. He beckoned her over, sparing one of his hands from the panpipes and plucked something from behind him. He raised it to her and she took the flower in her hand, smelling it briefly before taking it home with her.
When she got home her parents were in the living room watching tv. "I'm back," she called out.
"Hi Ari, have a nice walk?" Her father asked.
She smiled and went to join them, sitting by her mother on the sofa. She twirled the flower in her hand and sniffed it again.
"Where did you get that?"
"Oh, I just found it," Aria easily lied. If her parents knew she'd been with the travellers they wouldn't let her out with the same confidence in her.
"It's nice, a forget-me-not isn't it?" Her mother asked.
Aria didn't have much knowledge of flowers so trusted her mother's evaluation of its azure and lilac petals. "Forget-me-not huh? I just thought it looked pretty."
"Have you eaten yet Ari?" Her father asked.
"Not yet, did you save me some?" She asked, hoping they had.
"Your father left a plate in the oven for you," her mother told her.
Aria went into the kitchen and took her plate from the oven. She grabbed a knife and fork and went back to the living room to eat with her parents.
After she had eaten Aria found a vase for her flower gifted by the Piper, and placed the small vase on her bedside table. The meaning behind the flower was obvious, she was to remember her night by the fire. In a way, she was glad she had the flower as a reminder of it because she had faced one of her fears that night and had enjoyed herself. It reminded her of the little confidence she had achieved and that she still had it within herself if she willed it so.
By the time Aria turned her lights out, it was eleven o'clock and she was sleeping soundly. Her curtains lay partly open from where she hadn't closed them properly in her half-awake state and the wind moved them gently under the full moon. The flower was turned towards the light and was at a loss of it as a shadow flew past the window and into the starry night. Somewhere in the distance a melody died and vanished.
The next morning was refreshing despite her early alarm clock. It was Saturday meaning that Aria had the day to do as she pleased. This also meant that if she didn't want to deal with her anxiety brought on by the world outside her comfort zone, she would not be forced to face it. When she woke, however, she felt that she wanted to be outside, the flower reminding her of her night and the taste of fresh air that freed her from melancholy. She dressed in her tracksuit bottoms and an old t-shirt before going downstairs and eating breakfast. After she returned upstairs to brush her teeth and collected a book from off her shelf.
Aria's garden was nothing spectacular, but it was tidy and well kept as her parents enjoyed showing it off to guests from outside the village. The only issue Aria ever had with the healthy green garden was the lack of privacy provided by the small, trimmed hedgerow that surrounded it. There were plenty of places to sit in her garden, but Aria opted for a bench which backed the hedge. That way she would not know if someone was looking at her with her back to them. Accompanied by her headphones and music, reading was a relaxing hobby that she rarely did and wished she found more time for. It certainly helped her feel better, especially after rough days where she couldn't handle the anxious thoughts that pounded in her head.
She was reading another young adult novel that she had grown attached to emotionally. The story was hard-hitting and she cried at moments where the words on the page seemed so truly relatable that she felt them being spoken to herself by the characters in the pages. Of course, often her music disrupted the tone of the words and so she had developed playlists to listen to depending on the story.
A hand tapped her shoulder and Aria turned to see a familiar face. Her neighbour Tom. "Hey, Aria? I saw you last night, you were there by the fire," he spoke.
"Yeah, sorry I don't talk much," Aria replied, pausing her music and playing with the headphone wire in her hand.
"It's okay, it was fun last night, you should come again," Tom offered.
"I don't know, I'll have to think about it," Aria answered with false uncertainty. She knew she wasn't going to go now she was invited. People knew her but she didn't know them and that was something she wanted to avoid. She was bad in social situations anyway, so she'd never go if they had the upper hand in the conversation.
"Great, I'll let him know you might be coming," Tom smiled.
"Let who know?" Aria asked, confused. Was he referring to one of the traveller boys in charge of the group?
"Y'know, the Piper, or have you forgot him already?" Tom asked.
Of course, Aria had not been allowed to forget the music she had heard the night before. Her forget-me-not simply forbade it. "Oh of course. I didn't realise you knew him," Aria said, trying to hide her previous confusion.
"Not really, but he said he's going soon. Tomorrow night he said," Tom informed her. "He said that we can go too, but I want to stay here."
"They're travellers, that's what they do," Aria reassured him, "I'm sure they're not going to hate you for it. After all this village is your home."
"I guess you're right, I just hope they're as kind as you assume they are."
"If they're as free-spirited as everyone claims them to be you shouldn't need to worry," Aria smiled back at him.
"Yeah, anyways I'll let you get back to reading. See you tonight?" Tom asked.
"Maybe, I'm not making any promises," Aria responded, confident she wasn't going.
Tom waved goodbye and she waved back to him as he disappeared around the front of her house and towards their street.
Later that night Aria stayed home, made an effort to go to bed earlier and draw her curtains so that Tom could not come and take her out. She knew that if he came she would not be able to say no, it would look rather impolite on her behalf. Instead, she opted for a night in on her Nintendo, the small console reminding her of the GameBoy her father had passed down to her years ago. The older device had gone back into storage since Aria was given the 3DS for her last birthday. Finishing yet another Grand Prix on Mario Kart, the screen had tired her eyes and she was forced to switch the device off. With a short yawn, Aria turned out the lights and fell asleep.
Only she woke up instantly.
This time she was somewhere else, a forest or jungle she guessed by the tall trees and the unusually warm climate. She was glad she slept in summer pyjamas all year round otherwise, she may have been melting where she stood. She wandered around without immediacy, this was a dream was it not? So why should she wander the woods with the urgency of someone who depended on it for a source of life?
She felt complete as she walked a trail through the trees, her bare feet connected with the ground and felt stones as smooth as an untouched layer of snow. Using branches as support, they strut out like hands helping her down from a carriage, offering her support even when she didn't necessarily need it. It was a wonderful adventure and Aria was excited by it. She didn't think she was a lucid dreamer, but perhaps this time she was.
She imagined a tree house hidden amongst the green above her, a pond for drinking water and washing. Inside the treehouse, she imagined a stone fireplace, a warm hammock and a table with two chairs. Outside she pictured a swing hanging from the tallest tree, it's trunk hollowed out with steps inside leading to its top where a secret hideout was waiting. Aria enjoyed the adventure whilst it lasted until she was ripped from it by her 6:30 am alarm.
Aria moaned and groaned as she tapped her small ringing clock, unnoticeably hitting snooze instead of stop. She had forgotten to turn it off for the day, forgetting like yesterday that it was not a school day. She turned to the forget-me-not by her bedside table and frowned at the gap where a petal once was. Sitting up against her desire to stay in bed, she walked over to the window and looked out towards the woods. The Piper had certainly kept her memory of that night alive, but he would leave tonight.
Aria was more disappointed than she realised at this thought but was quickly distracted by the surreal dream she had the night before instead. The forest, the treehouse, the way she had forgotten completely about her worries and had felt excited for a change. The new environment had made her hands clammy and her body shake, but as she dreamed on they dissipated from her mind.
Instead, she had freedom, excitement, joy.
Not a worry in sight.