Chapter 1: The Forest

Chapter 1: The forest

“Wait for me!” I yelled as I ran after my sister through the woods. She never waited for me. I kept tripping and the branches were hitting my face. Mosquitoes were attempting to have me for dinner, but I kept running. I could hear her faint voice laughing and shouting things at me like “slow poke.” She was the wild one, never listening to mom and dad. She was the one who would get in trouble, not me. So why was I running after her at dusk? She told me she had something to show me. Something I had to see for myself, she couldn’t just tell me. She said it would change my life. 

I wish it would. I guess I liked my life ok. We had a nice house, my father had a job, but the one thing I wish I could change is the death of my mother. She died when I was 12. I still remember her face the last breath that left her mouth. Laying there, quiet, still and peaceful. Knowing I will never see her smile again. Knowing I would never get notes in my lunch boxes again. All that was left of her was this cold, lifeless body, her energy gone forever.

If I was in control, if I could bend time, I would change this one event. I knew my sister felt the same way. She was only 10 when mom died, and she hasn’t been the same since. It really affected her in ways we will never know. She didn’t even speak for sometime. It has been five years since mom died and she just started to come out of her shell, and she has been terrible recently. Yelling at my father, arguing at every moment she could, about nothing really. We were both in high school now, and she was just not the same. I thought she was just up to another one of her episodes when she woke me up. She was frantic and told me I had to go with her right this second.

“I’m sleeping…” I said as I rubbed my eyes. “You need to come with me NOW!” She whispered hard in my face. “Why…” I mumbled trying to roll away from her hot breath. “Because it will change your life!” That got my attention. What was she talking about. What will ‘change my life’? And then she pleaded that she can’t go back without me and she it too scared. Then she pouted, and that always gets me. I can never say no when she puts on her pouty face. “Ok fine, give me a minute to figure myself out…”

Now we are running through the woods behind my house , my feet can’t seem to stay on the ground, and ever other step seems to meet a branch in the face or in the leg. She is sprinting faster than I ever thought she could, but something is new here, she is laughing. It was a sound I had not hear in years. It has been so long, my hears almost didn’t recognize it, my eyes were not use to seeing the picture, but my heart lept just the same. My sister was happy. Now she is sprinting faster than I have ever seen her, but she is happy. My sister is happy right now. This is the happiest I have seen her since before mom has died. She is actually making fun of me. So I keep running, and yelling to her to slow down because I’m not that graceful.

“I found it! It’s here!” I knew I was close. Panting, I saw a clearing in the trees. It was a large meadow with the trees surrounding it in a circle. The grass was tall, green and soft. The moon was shining bright and I saw my sister standing there frantically waving her arms at me. I saw what she was standing next to. This large tree in the middle of the clearing, strong and big, branches reaching up to the sky. The leaves were very green with hints of blue and yellow streaks, almost as if light was shinking through each individual leaf. Within the large knotty pine sat a tiny green wooden door. The door looked like something from the Keebler Elves house, and I chuckled to myself when I saw it. The most magnificent part was the clock. On one of the sturdiest branches hung a giant wind up clock, glimmering gold in the moonlight. It looked like my grandfather’s wine up pocket watch, but this one could not fit into any pocket watch. I would have a hard time wrapping my hands around it. It was ticking quietly, and it looked as if it had always been there.

I actually shook my head, closed and opened my eyes to make sure I was actually seeing what I thought I was looking at. My sister was starting at me to take in my reaction to her discovery. I was in utter disbelief at what was happening.

“How did you find this?” I asked puzzled.
“Isn’t it amazing! I was out here walking today, and I was thinking about mom, and I started to get really sad. I decided I was going to walk until I didn’t feel sad anymore, wherever and however long it took me. It felt like I was walking forever, and then I stumbled on this place! Isn’t it so wonderful?”

My mind was racing, I didn’t know which part of that I should address first. It broke my heart to see my sister upset. I so badly wanted to protect her from the world, even her own pain. I hated that mom was no longer with us, but it had really affected her. She never asked for help. Dad and I are helpless bystanders. We can’t fix anything, and we just have to watch the pain unfold, slowly. But here we are, and she is happy. Even better, she is sharing with me about her thought process and wanting to share something with me. I wanted to be supported, and I wanted to not push her away.

“How long have you been here? What lives in this tree?” I asked, trying to muster up as much excitement in my voice. Now, I wasn’t as excited right off the bat. I am realistic, I am a pragmatist. See, magic does not exist. If it did, we could have used it to stop my mother’s cancer. So even though my senses were telling me that in front of me was a giant, knotty, twisted tree, with a keelber elf door and a giant wind up watch, I still had to live in the land of reason.

I had also seen my fair share of commercials and movies that informed me that not all creatures are friendly. This was reminding me of the book Spiderwick Chronicles. Those creatures were definitly not friendly. How about the movie Gremlins? I mean the Mugwai was really cute, but if you feed him after midnight, not good. What about Jumanji, those animals were not friendly. Who know what lives in that door- I couldn’t smell anything baking so it probably was not the Keebler elves.

When she didn’t answer me, I replied with “Ok, you showed me, now can we go?” I really was ready to go. I mean, it was nice to see her happy, but that tree was really starting to freak me out. I did not have that natural curiosity most kids have. I saw things as they were, and accepted it for face value. I didn’t feel the need to find out any more, and I would be perfectly happy just knowing it was there, and going home to my snuggy bed.

“NO!” she shouted at me. “I’m not leaving, and neither are you!”

I was taken aback. What was her problem? That was rude. “Why?” I asked.

“Because it was my destiny to find this place, I know it, and it is your destiny too! Look!” She exclaimed frantically, pointing at the clock. She was really starting to freak me out. Hesitantly, I looked to where she was pointing. On the back of the clock, and I kid you not, two names were engraved in the metal. Just like my grandfather’s pocket watch, but instead of his name, it was our names that were carved in the watch. I couldn’t believe what I was looking at. Is that really my name? Is it really carved in this giant clock hanging from a tree that makes its own light with a keebler door? I am totally dreaming! Of course I’m dreaming, this can’t be real. I decided to pinch myself. “Ow!”

“What are you doing?” She asked me.
“This can’t be real, so I decided to pinch myself and it hurt, so I guess this means this is real.”
Then she slapped me and started to laugh. That hurt too.
“Of course it’s real” she laughed, “Why would it not be? We DESERVE this, this is OUR place.” She said, almost frantic. She started to dance around the tree and laugh. I thought she had gone mad. But it was nice to see her so happy. This is how I remembered her before mom died. She would laugh all the time, we would laugh together. Sometimes we would be laughing so hard, holding our stomachs, we would get in trouble, especially when it was in church.

“Ok, fine. It’s real, and if my eyes are not playing tricks on me, those are our names. But, what does it mean?” I asked, still not feeling entirely awake now, but my leg was still burning from where I pinched it.

“I don’t know, I just knew it was meant for us. When is the last time anything was meant for us! Oh Danielle, what does this all mean? Isn’t it exciting!” She asked just beaming at the names. I could see her face in the reflection of the clock. She was radiant, so happy, so excited. She looked five years younger, before my mom died, before grief took over her face.

Danielle. The sound of my name rang in my ears. I realized just then she had not said my name in a while. In fact, she actually hadn’t really referred to me at all recently. She had been so dark and sad and withdrawn. I forgot what her voice sounded like when she said my name. I took a deep breath and tried not to show her the tear that escaped from my eye.

“Ok,” I said now, a little calmer. “So what do we do now? Do we knock on that Keebler door or wind the clock?”
“Hmmm, I hadn’t thought about either of those things. Keebler door?” She asked.
I guess I hadn’t shared that thought of my thought process with her. I smiled and said “You know, like the cookies.”
“I got that part idiot; I just don’t think it looks like a Keebler door.” She said snarikly
Clearly that magical moment lasted a brief moment and now she was back to her her current self.
I got closer to examine the door. I was really hoping that it did not just open, not only would I probably die of a heart attack, I was not feeling super brave right now. The door was shaped like a teardrop, blue with ridges throughout. It had a tiny handle and a purple flower on the outside of the door. There was a small, bronze plaque on the door that read E.A.O.R.

“Elizabeth, what do you think this means?” I asked. She came closer, and we both squatted in front of the door. I heard something behind us, and I quickly turned around. I could have sworn I saw something moving among the trees. I scanned the treeline closely, and I saw nothing. I turned around and Elizabeth was touching the plaque and tracing the letters with her finger.
 
“E.A.O.R. I wonder what it means. Is is a name?” she asked.
“Probably would not have dots if it were a name.” I said.
She got up and smiled at me. She walked over to the clock and started to touch our names engraved in the back of the clock. Why did she have to touch everything? I had this bad feeling. She had a look in her eyes. A look I knew too well. It was a look of trouble.

She turned around so quickly I almost fell over from the abruptness.
“I think we should wind the clock.” She said with a hint of excitement in her voice.

At this point, I figured something was going to happen, something to change my life, as she promised. I just didn’t understand how much my life was going to truly change. I had no idea; this was the moment, right now. I took another long deep breath. I knew that once she had her mind set on something, it would be impossible to change it. I knew that she would do it with or without me. I would rather with me.

I resigned myself to the situation. So, I took in all of the scenery, felt the grass touch my leg, felt the ground beneath my feet. Saw how the moon reflected in my sister’s excited eyes, and felt my own cold hands as I clenched my fists in anticipation.

“Ok, wind the clock, let’s see where our adventure begins.”