What the Forest Gives
index
written
this is my book!
chapter one
A House, on a Field, in the Forest
It was dusk at the Mills' cottage. The sun set on a wondrous meadow, hiding behind the vast forest that surrounded it. The last brief flash of golden light filled the trees with warmth before bidding farewell until morning. Now, with nothing more to wait for, he stood himself up and called for his dog, Arthur.
Arthur was a good dog, a golden retriever with a big heart and intense loyalty for Charlie. They skipped across the flowered field towards a small cottage, with the soot dusting out the chimney. The faint smell of smoked mutton made them hungry.
“Here, Arthur!” He burst through the door and greeted his mother before sitting at the table, gaining breath. The inside of the cottage was quaint. Regular, in Charlie's opinion. A regular table, two regular chairs, and two regular rooms behind the kitchen. His mother's room sat boringly behind the kitchen, and Charlie's lay dormant next to hers. Yet Charlie still had a soft spot for this regular cottage. Charlie's father had built this cottage years ago, before he died. Admittedly it was a work of art to both of them. Despite the crumbling stone and the rotting wood above, the frame was indeed beautiful. Maybe if dad was still alive, someone would be able to fix this place up, Charlie thought.
“Did you wash up, Charlie?” His mother said. Ms. Mills had a cadence to her that Charlie simply adored. Her voice brought him happiness. He quickly responded.
“Yeah, I did. Now pass the cabbage, I don’t think I could be any more starved.”
His mother laughed, and handed him a plate full of steamed cabbage, smoked mutton and roasted potatoes. Charlie’s favourite.
They had their routine conversation. Charlie would ask her how her day went, she would list the chores she had to do. She would ask him how his day was, he would have almost nothing to say, lost in thought about what he wished he could have done. Tonight, however, did hold a surprise. After a little while, he opened his mouth, hesitantly asking the same question he felt he was allowed to ask only once a year.
"Mom, why am I not even allowed close to the forest? And don't give me a rubbish answer this time. You know I'm almost eighteen."
She glared at him. He was scared, but he'd been through this before. He glared back. She pursed her lips.
"Charlie. I want you to be safe. That's why. You should know better than to ask me such a question. Do not insult me."
He opened his mouth, but a glance from her was enough to stop him from saying anything else. He winced, and crossed his arms, tearing up. She placed her hand on his shoulder.
"Charlie, I'm sorry. I'm not ready to tell you."
Her excuse for empathy ticked off something inside him, and pushed him to take things a step further. "I need you to know one thing, though, mom. I'm not going to keep asking. If you don't tell me, once I'm of age, there's nothing stopping me from going out there and finding out what it is myself. Remember what you promised dad. Remember you said you would let me go."
His eyes looked straight through his mother, as her face was filled with despair. Charlie himself was surprised. He didn't know he really had it in him to confront his mother like this.
She accepted this blow.
"Later. In a few days. I promise. I will tell you. You'll understand. Just-" She placed her hands on his trembling fingers, as she noticed he was crying. "Be safe for me, alright?"
He wiped the tears from his eyes, and stood up again. "I will. I'm going out."
Ms. Mills began to feel ill, and the two did not talk much the next few days, besides the times Charlie was to bring her bread and tea. She spent her days and nights inside, curled up in her room. He spent his days and nights outside, restless and longing for the answer to his question. Stars filled the sky like fireflies. They scattered across the indigo canvas and swept across Charlie’s glazed eyes. It was beautiful, but something about seeing the same thing for eighteen years tore him up inside. It was as though it was a job, a paid service, to stay here and return to his bed, over and over again, waiting, longing for a new sight to see. Scared of his own mind, and terrified of his future, he pulled his canine closer, and dreamed of a day he’d get to explore more than this field he'd been confined to.
chapter two
Hazey
Charlie awoke to find himself in the middle of the glowing woods. He thought he’d been somewhere like this before. Although he noticed the trees here were different. He wasn't registering anything right. They seemed much bigger than back home, all of them were towering above him. And above all he couldn't help but think his legs were much
"Something's moved," he blurted out, and rather loudly. How did that happen? I didn't even notice anything. Why did I say that? Something made itself visible from behind a tree. He neared towards it. The figure became more and more detailed, and Charlie guessed that it was a boy about thirteen years old. He was small, and he didn’t have much fat or muscle. Charlie leaned closer, very carefully, until he could see who this boy was. He wasn't a boy at all-however-he was an elf!
The elf noticed him nearing closer and spoke with a smooth, assuring voice, “Good evening.”
Charlie jumped back, astounded by how the elf could have noticed him! He could have been sure he was being quiet.
“There’s no need to hide. I don’t bite.” The elf shone his teeth in a big smile. Charlie laughed.
“...Hello. I-I’m Charlie Mills," he looked at the elf, and hesitantly added,"the human."
The elf chuckled.
"I'm Gail, the elf. And you are a very interesting human.” It was as if every word from the elf's mouth was gently given to Charlie's ears. Its cadence was one in a million. Every word he spoke filled Charlie with intrigue, and he felt the need to respond.
“That’s very interesting… Gail. Why don’t you have a last name?” He didn’t think it was that much of a nosy question, but for some reason he felt bad asking it.
“Oh, it’s nothing. I don’t feel like explaining it at the moment.”
Charlie nodded and started to sit and play in the dirt. He twirled his fingers around in the mud, not noticing the elf looking deeply into his eyes, as if he were trying to read him.
"Charlie, was it?"
Charlie looked up with a blank face, coming back to the situation he was in.
"Yeah, Charlie. And… you're Gail."
Charlie smiled, trying to push away the cloud of awkwardness forming in his mind.
"You seem like an interesting boy, Charlie. You seem like… me."
"You?"
"Yes. You want to do more than what's been given to you."
The elf was speaking casually, but what he was saying was more serious than Charlie anticipated.
"I mean.. yeah. Yeah, I guess. I've always wanted to see the mountains. I heard there's goats there! And they jump. I want to jump with the goats."
Charlie made a jumping gesture with his middle and pointer fingers as the legs. Both the boy and the elf started to laugh. They continued to talk about the things they wanted to see and the journeys they longed to go on. He noticed that Gail had a faint mark on his right cheek, the shape of a star. Just like the ones Charlie would see in the sky every night.
They talked and talked until they heard the galloping of horses in the distance.
Panicked, Gail hurried,"Charlie, It was nice to meet you. I hope we meet again." and produced a weak smile as if something sinister was waiting for him on the other side of this forest. There was a sense of primal fear and urgency in his voice.
"Oh. Okay," Charlie said, confused, "Bye then, Gail!" Charlie reciprocated the smile, stretching his face and bearing his teeth as hard as he could in a desperate attempt to show any sympathy he could towards his new friend.
And just like that, Gail arose. He was surprisingly tall next to Charlie, but not as tall as an adult. His long white hair held luminescence in the dark of the night, as if each strand was glowing with the essence of his being.
Charlie wanted to reach out and touch it, but before he even started to call Gail back again he was gone into the forest, opposite to the horses. He could have been two or two hundred leagues away, Charlie did not know. Gail was gone.
Charlie woke up again, this time in a cold sweat. He was in his bed, and judging by the light filling the room, it must have been time for breakfast. “Oh, Charlie, sweetheart. You’re awake! Oh, my dear, You looked horrible. I thought you might be sick. But I couldn’t wake you up, no matter how hard I tried! Oh…”
His mother went to him and pulled him into a panicked embrace.
“Son, you scared me.”
Her voice had a tinge to it he'd never picked up on before.
“I had the strangest dream. It felt like a memory. It felt like I really woke up and I really was there."
She nodded her head.
"But I was young. I was a child. I felt about ten years younger.” Charlie couldn’t stay still. He wanted to go back to see the elf, to learn his language. To touch his hair and play on imaginary mountains again.
His mother soon brought him breakfast. Toasted bread with butter and the apple cider his mother loved to make in the fall. She wished him a good day, as she always had, and soon he was done and readied himself for a day of adventure. From now on, things are going to be different, he thought to himself. I'm going to find the elf.
Besides all rationale, he believed that it was not a dream-but some sort of leftover ambition finding its way back to him. He feared, though, that this occurred in Damnum, the forest that grew the fear inside his very soul. Even still, he started packing a small sack of belongings and headed outside. The thoughts of darkness and light swirled in his head, mixing into each other too quickly for him to make sense of anything and soon he found himself steps in front of Damnum. His mother went out to the stream across the field for clean water, and the cottage blocked her view of him. He took this as an opportunity to spend a moment with the forest.
Instructing Arthur to stay inside, he set off. But before he could make it a league further, he heard his mother call his name. Panicked, he ran as fast as he could back to the edge of the forest to face his mother. She did not see him. Luckily, she had only called him over to help lift the buckets of water into the cottage for boiling.