It was quiet in Oak Heath Woods. An unsettling quiet that put Sylvia on edge. She looked out the window of her tree house and saw the autumn leaves taking over the woods. She appreciated the beauty of the fall colors. Fall was her favorite season of the year, but she wished she had people to be happy about it with. All she had was herself.
Sylvia picked up the photo on her dresser, and stared at the picture of her family. The photo was taken the day before they left. Her mother on the left, and her father on the right. Placed between them was Sylvia, holding her baby brother, Alastair. They have been gone for a year.
It started to rain. Sylvia tried not to break down into tears that would consume her, but she couldn't help it. She crumpled to the ground feeling the heavy beat of rain coordinate with her heartbeat. She poured like the rain, and pounded her fists on the ground in agony.
There was nothing she could do. She would have to live the rest of her life like this. There is no reason for her to be living. Who is she living for? What is she living for?
Those were questions Sylvia continued to ask herself, but she could never find an answer.
She lay on the hardwood floor of the living room, staring up at the ceiling.
Tears poured out of her eyes, dripping down by her ears, making salty puddles on the wooden floor.
Her mind blanked.
・・・
She didn't know how long it was this time. To come back to reality and realize that she truly is living. She still felt broken. Her heart still shattered in a million pieces.
"Run. Run like every fear is chasing you and your only choice is to get away," Sylvia heard her father's voice resonating through her skull.
She got up off the floor and ran out the door. She ran without thinking. She paid no attention to where she was going or what she was doing. Sylvia felt hard pellets of rain pounding on her sodden cheeks. The faster she ran, the louder she heard the trees whispering to her.
"You are worthless!" She heard one of the trees say.
"Ha ha ha. You're right, my friend! She has nobody. She does not need to live! She is pointless to the world," another said.
Sylvia believed them.
She didn't stop running. She couldn't stop, even if she wanted to. Sylvia let her thoughts chase her, but did not let them catch up to her. She hoped that her fears would wash away with the rain. Sylvia's legs were aching, and she felt herself slowing.
When she came to a stop, Sylvia peered open her eyes and saw a bright sliver of light peeking out of a crack in a tree trunk. Everywhere else was dark.
"Come, my friend. Come to the Great Oak. It is calling for you." A scratchy voice spoke to her from the direction of the light.
Sylvia looked around to see who was talking to her, but she could not see anyone.
"Who are you?" Sylvia asked.
"My name is Nettle."
"Where are you from?"
"I told you I am from the Great Oak."
Sylvia was shaking. She slowly walked towards the light.
As Sylvia got closer, she realized the light was coming from a crack in a door. The door was in the trunk of the Great Oak. She was curious. Sylvia had run to the Great Oak many times before, but not once has she ever seen a door.
She approached the door, but the closer she got, the dimmer the light became. As soon as Sylvia placed her hand on the ice cold doorknob, she was plunged into darkness.
She grasped onto the knob and traced her fingers along the intricate designs on the circular doorknob. The doorknob turned with a creak, and she slowly pushed the door open.
What she saw was not what she expected. Dead trees scattered the entire area, and wet moss dangled from the rotten branches. It was dark and gloomy. Everything was gray. Not a single area of color. It was cold and bitter, which explained the icy doorknob. Black clouds hung in the sky like a blanket over the woods. Wind howled, sending a shiver down Sylvia's spine. It made her nauseous. Everything smelled rotten, like anything that once lived here has been dead for a century.
"Hello, Sylvia. I am Nettle, and I will be the one showing you around this place." Nettle's voice was raspy. Nettle was filthy, and her long dark hair was knotted. She had green eyes that could slice through any wall.
"Hi," Sylvia stared at her feet.
Nettle looked at her watch, and grabbed Sylvia's arm tightly. Sylvia gasped as Nettle's icy hand clutched her arm. She saw dirt caked under Nettle's thick fingernails. She shivered.
"Well," Nettle said slowly, with the raspy voice. "We better get a move on before we run out of time."
Nettle yanked Sylvia away from her stillness, and they began to run. They ran together through the thick trees and over the ashes that layered the earth.
Up ahead, Sylvia saw a house. It was a little cottage that did not look very inviting, though Sylvia really wished it did. They drew closer to the cottage, and Sylvia did not feel excitement. Instead, she felt a sense of dread.
Nettle released Sylvia's arm, and she walked up the steps, and onto the porch. The door was black, and the house was a very dull gray. Nettle raised her hand to knock on the door, but she paused just before she did. Her hand lowered and dropped to her side. Sylvia looked up at her.
"I think you should do it," Nettle sneered, making Sylvia very uncomfortable.
Sylvia raised her hand slowly and very reluctantly rapped on the door with her knuckles. Sylvia jumped as the door crashed open and slammed against the wall behind it. Nettle did not seem to be phased by this, and she stepped through the doorway. Sylvia watched, not wanting to step foot into the dreary place.
Down the hallway, Nettle looked back at Sylvia.
"Are you coming?"
Sylvia stepped in, but what she saw made no sense. The hallway was much longer than the house was from the outside. The walls of the hallway were pure cement, and it was damp. Sylvia stepped through the door frame, and the floorboards creaked beneath her feet.
"Nettle! Wait!" Sylvia peered her eyes, to try and see Nettle. It was dark in the hallway, and she could not see a thing.
Suddenly, she felt a hard hand grip on her shoulder from behind. Sylvia jumped and whipped around to see who it was, or what it was. Standing right in front of Sylvia's face was Nettle.
"Don't grab me like that!" Sylvia's heart pounded in her chest.
"Sorry," Nettle said with a sly grin. "But the room I was looking for is right here." Nettle pointed towards a door on the left side of the hallway that she did not notice before. She could have sworn that it was just a cement wall just moments before.
Nettle opened the door and Sylvia was glad that she didn't make her "do the honors" again. Inside was a little library, but it was chilling. The room was quite small, but for the size of the room, there were a lot of bookshelves. Every wall was covered with floor-to-ceiling shelves with a tiny cut out window in the center of one wall. Outside the window were the sad, gray woods.
"Come, over here." Nettle slinked over to the window, and looked out with a sad, longing look in her eyes.
"You are the only one who can fix this." Sylvia heard Nettle mumble under her breath, and Sylvia wondered what she meant.
She stood next to Nettle, awkwardly. Nettle broke her gaze, and started rummaging through stacks of books, muttering, "Where is it? Where is it?"
"Ah. Here it is," Nettle spoke softer, as if she was trying not to wake a sleeping bear.
"What is that book?" Sylvia tried to look at the title, but the book was too dusty and old for her to make out the letters on the cover.
"This book does not have a title, but it is very, very important, dear." Nettle blew the dust off the book, and a cloud of dust billowed into the air. Sylvia coughed.
Nettle grabbed Sylvia and placed the heavy book into her hands. Sylvia, unsure of what to do, just stood there.
"Well? Are you going to open it?"
"Uh, yeah. I guess." Sylvia opened the pages of the book, while looking at Nettle to see if she was doing anything wrong. She flipped the first browned page, and saw nothing. She fanned through a few more pages, and they all seemed to be blank. Then, the pages began to flip on their own. The book was taking over. She looked up at Nettle, wide eyed. Sylvia had both hands placed under the book, and the pages of the book were flipping very quickly.
The pages came to a stop on a page that was also blank. Sylvia peered her eyes but saw nothing special, but very faintly she heard the sound of a piano being played. The song sounded too cheerful for a place like this.
"Well? What does it say?" Nettle asked Sylvia.
Sylvia looked up at Nettle, but all she saw was Nettle's hard green eyes staring straight through her skull.
"It doesn't say anything. The page is blank." Sylvia checked one more time to make sure. Nettle reached over and tapped on the page once.
"Now, check again."
Sylvia looked down at the page again, and what was blank before, now had words slowly appearing on the page. The writing on the page was still very faint. Once the words in the book were visible, Sylvia began to read:
Sylvia,
You are worthless. So very worthless, and you have no reason for living anymore. Who are you living for? What are you doing with your life at this very moment? Oh right, I forgot, the answer is nothing. Exactly that. Nothing. You have nothing to live for. No one to talk to. Nobody to talk about your feelings with but yourself I guess. You really don't care about yourself and neither do I.
P.S. Don't lose hope.
Sincerely, I guess,
Sylvia.
Sylvia sat there, staring at the words on the page. The signature was hers. It was the exact same all the way down to how she dots her i.
Sylvia looked up, and she saw Nettle's eyes drilling into her, once again. The eyes themselves just scream, "Why are you here?" But Sylvia knew that Nettle dragged her into this, so Nettle should not be the one getting mad.
"Why is the letter to me, and signed by me?" Sylvia broke the silence.
"That is up to you to decide." Nettle smiled, without taking her eyes off Sylvia.
Sylvia wondered how her exact thoughts got written in that book. She really did not like the words either way though. Sylvia didn't want to be worthless, and she didn't want to be nothing. She wanted to scream to every living being that she was alive for a reason, but as soon as she had the moment of empowerment, it went away, and she came back to reality. The reality of her sitting in a dusty, old library in an unfamiliar house with a stranger that she only met today.
"Let's go." Nettle was mad. She yanked the book from Sylvia's hand, and threw it on the ground. She stomped out of the room and turned to the left. "Follow me."
Sylvia listened and was confused why Nettle sounded so mad all of a sudden.
Sylvia and Nettle emerged from the house, and Nettle began to run through the woods. It was dark outside, and it was especially dark because of all of the dark clouds that loomed in the sky. Sylvia could barely make out where the trees were, and she tried to stay on Nettle's tail if she could.
Sylvia heard dry leaves crunching under her feet as she ran between the trees. Nettle came to a stop next to a big tree that looked just like the Great Oak.
"What are we doing here?" Sylvia asked, looking at Nettle who was staring up into the branches of the tree above her.
"You will find out something else here," Nettle said, taking her eyes off the tree and refocusing on Sylvia.
Before Sylvia had time to ask what it was, a big gust of wind came, and leaves swirled around her, getting stuck in her hair.
Sylvia noticed the colors of the woods brightening. They were gaining color, slowly. She also heard something else in the wind, that was not the leaves. It sounded almost like someone was whispering to her. She glanced over towards Nettle, but if Nettle heard anything, she did not express it.
Soon, the whispering became more clear, and Sylvia could make out what the voice was saying.
"You have qualities," Sylvia heard the voice say. "Qualities that you do not know of."
"What are they?" Sylvia asked without even thinking.
Why am I talking to a random, strange voice in the middle of the woods? Sylvia thought to herself, but to her surprise, there was an answer.
"You are loyal and ambitious. You also like to take risks, which is a great trait to have."
Sylvia smiled, and a sliver of sun peeked through the dark clouds. A sliver of hope that shed its light on Sylvia's heart.
She heard the song again. She only heard a little piece of the song, but she really wished she could hear the entire thing.
The colors of the trees became more vibrant and bright in the golden light of the sun.
Nettle lightly grazed her fingers on Sylvia's shoulder, sending a shock through Sylvia's entire body.
Everything went black, but soon enough, Sylvia saw colors dancing under her eyelids, and images began to form.
She first saw her mother exactly how she was the last time Sylvia saw her. Sylvia's mother was holding the baby, Alastair. She was staring off into space, looking at the night stars. Sylvia saw her father in the background standing next to her house. The house that she has been living alone in for the past year.
In the image, Sylvia's mother looked straight at Sylvia, and said, "You are worth it."
Sylvia opened her eyes, and realized that she had tears streaming down her cheeks. Nettle was staring at her, and her face looked softer than it had been before. Her green eyes were no longer daggers, but instead, they were glossy.
The sun beat down on Sylvia's back, sending all her chills away, and warming her up from the inside, out.
Now, Sylvia heard the song again. It started out faint like when she first heard it, and then it gradually became louder.
After Sylvia heard the full song, she felt hopeful. As the graceful piano was finishing, the sun beat down sending beautiful rays of sunlight through the leaves of the trees. The birds began to sing. The colors of the leaves danced before Sylvia's eyes, and she felt enlightened.
"Come on Sylvia, this way!" Nettle grabbed Sylvia's arm, and to her surprise, Nettle's hand was warm.
"Where are we going?"
"Just wait and see!" Nettle sounded hopeful too, and her voice was not as raspy anymore.
Sylvia and Nettle tore through the woods, and she began to recognize where they were. They were heading into the direction of where her house is. The woods were bright, which Sylvia has not seen in a year. For the entire past year, it had been dark and lonely. Sylvia appreciated this newfound beauty.
Up ahead, Sylvia saw people in her little village in the woods. She saw her mother holding Alastair, and her father looking at her. They were exactly where she saw them just moments earlier, only now it was real.
Sylvia ran up to them, and she jumped into her father's arms.
"Where have you been all this time?" Sylvia tried to be angry, but it was impossible. She was bursting with joy.
"I'm sorry," he turned solemn. "But we just had to do what was right. We knew that you had to find yourself, and this was the only way to do it."
"What do you mean?"
"We had to go into hiding. We knew that before all of this. You were really down on yourself. I now know that we made the right decision."
"So you left me? All alone for an entire year?"
"Yes. It was the only way!"
"It was, sweet pea." Sylvia's mother spoke from behind her, and Sylvia turned around to give her a hug.
"Nettle helped me," Sylvia turned towards Nettle, but realized that Nettle was no longer there.
She must have gone back to the Great Oak, thought Sylvia.
"Please, think of me as Oakley now," Sylvia heard Nettle's voice in her head, and she smiled.
ONE WEEK LATER
Sylvia has now been a speaker of the woods, spreading her positivity and joy to everyone in her village. She has talked to everyone before about how she found herself in the Great Oak, but she mostly liked talking to the little ones. They were so innocent and weren't scared to say what they were thinking. That's what she liked about the littles. They were honest and excited about life, with so many opportunities ahead of them.
Sylvia had another event later on today, and she was excited. She usually talked about what she did in the Great Oak and what challenges she faced with herself while inside. She talked of how Nettle led her to the right things, and how Nettle changed from the beginning to the end.
"If you want to have a purpose, you have to find it. It will not just come to you. You have to work for the life you have. If you want something, go and get it. What is stopping you? Nothing is in your way. You have to believe in yourself."
Sylvia continued her speech, and she dismissed the children. She began to pack up her stuff, but she saw movement in her peripheral vision. She looked up and saw a boy sitting in his chair. He was crying silently.
Sylvia set down her stuff, and slowly walked up to the boy, kneeling down next to him.
"Hey," Sylvia spoke softly.
The boy sniffled and wiped his eyes. He was staring at his feet.
"Can I help you with something?" Sylvia's heart was heavy.
The boy waited a minute before answering.
"Yes," the boy said in an almost whisper.
He looked up with a pain in his eyes. He looked longingly at Sylvia.
"Can you help me find my worth?"
Sylvia cried.
The Song of the Oak: