It all Began and Ended with a Tree... part 5

Hold your horses! Have you read the first Chapter? No? Well here's the link: Chapter 1

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It all Began and Ended with a Tree
Chapter 5

I lie on my bed, my mind is in turmoil. I look out my window, everything is so still. I try to get myself angry at Dave, but the emotion keeps draining away. I can’t seem to hold on to this welling anger. I know I should be, since he did destroy the carving. I can’t help but sense that something is amiss.

The wind blows into my room, and the dim sunlight filters in. What began as a wonderful day is now cloudy and dismal. It’s as though the weather is reflecting what I am feeling inside. I can’t help but feel as though Dave is in some sort of a pickle right now.

It doesn’t matter, really, but even though there’s this nagging in my skull about Dave’s wellbeing, my thoughts are still conflicting. For one, it’s as though I’m still relieved that he didn’t show up on the island today. It’s giving me more time to think. But I also feel disappointed, because somewhere deep inside, I was looking forward to another day with him.

I shrug it off, and I try to apply myself more. I whip up a book from the miniature shelf beside my bed but I can’t concentrate on reading it. I take up my pencil and sketchpad. I look out the window for a good half hour looking for some form of motivation, but nothing strikes me. I finally sit before a table and take out some old map of the lake.

I realize then that the island isn’t actually in the middle of the lake. It is a lot closer to the opposite shore than it is with our shore. It is then that a thought strikes me. So that’s how Dave manages to swim to the island. Another thought comes to me. If it’s that near, then someone else would be able to go to the island easily.

For a moment, I hope that it was someone else that did that grievous deed. However, my conflicting emotions push it to the back of my head. Everything is too difficult for me to take, eventually, I cry. The streams of hot tears on my cheeks almost feel like infernos. The map develops large blots. My tears are dripping uncontrollably. I am sobbing too.

Someone seems to have taken notice and knocks at my door. I make no move to open it, rather I move for the bed and I sit there, crying. I hear the turning of a lock and the creaking of a hinge. No voice comes from the doorway, just soft, padded footsteps as they made their way across the wooden threshold.

I look up with tear-blurred vision and I barely make out the person who entered. It is mom. She sits beside me and places my head on her shoulder, and her head on top of mine. She breathes slowly and I can feel comfort and peace spread throughout my entire being. It takes but a few moments for me to calm down. I remain in her embrace for what seems an eternity.

When I am done, she takes me by the arms, and holds me out in front of her. She smiles at me. That’s all it takes to calm me down even more. She looks at me; her eyes were burdened with a familiar sadness. I saw in them something. I guess it is me that I saw.

“So… can you tell me what’s happened?” There is a twang of sympathy and a dash of sadness in her voice. Her lips barely move as she utters those first words that break the silence.

“Well… you already know it’s about a boy… right?” It takes me a few moments before I begin actually talking. Before that, I tried to speak, but nothing came out.

“I know that much.”

“Well… we’ve been meeting at the island for the past two days. Yesterday, he told me he liked me, and I told him I liked him too. So we carved our initials on the tree.”

“You did what now? Dear, don’t you think that was going a bit too fast?” I know that by now Mom is trying to cheer me up. Her eyes don’t do much to convince me though.

“Well, exactly. On the way home until I was lulled to sleep by my own thoughts, that was what I was thinking about. I was thinking whether or not it was the right thing to do.”

“Good. So what’s all this crying about?”

“Well, when I got to the island today, the carving was mutilated, practically destroyed…” I trail off for a moment. I had to, just to keep myself from bawling again. “I blamed Dave. For some reason I just can’t become angry at him…”

Mom looked at me sympathetically again. It breaks my heart just looking at her. “I went through the same thing dear. Trust me, as you get to know the person more, it will all go away.”

Mom stands up, looks at me one last time and then turns around. I don’t know if it’s just my imagination, but I see something that strikes a stake into my heart. Mom wiped a tear from her cheek as she walked out of the door.

For some unfathomable reason, everything was replaced by calm. It happened after I had that conversation with Mom, and it felt good.

It is at that moment that I catch wind of a conversation happening in the distance. I heard old man Cesar’s voice and someone else’s gruff voice. I take the other as one of old man Cesar’s fishermen friends. I recognize the voice as someone that old man Cesar often talks to. I think his name is Aaron. I only catch a few words at first, but they’re enough to terrify me to the bone.

“Was… fishing… other… shore… Someone… kidnapped… black hair… fair… I… had… tell!”

“Calm down Aaron!”

“I think it was the child of the mayor!”

“You mean the Dave kid? Elle has been meeting with him on the island since two days ago!”

“I-I think so!”

“Why would he be kidnapped?”

“I heard from one of the merchants in the village that his mother was planning to sell him off as a slave. When she gave birth to him, her husband left her, her family disowned her and it was as though the entire wrath of heaven was dealt to her in one blow. I wouldn’t wish what happened to her upon even my worst enemy.”

“What?! But that’s illegal!”

“I know, but his mother has held a grudge against him ever since he was a child. She just couldn’t get rid of him because the situation would get worse. I also heard that they were going to pass off the slave trade as a marriage.”

“What kind of evil woman would do that?”

“It seems the worst kind would, Cesar. Dave’s mother rules the other village with an iron fist. When she was widowed, she looked for someone to live off of. She found and managed to ensnare Dave’s foster father. Dave grew up in that household and grew very close to his father. The day his mother became mayor of the village though, and his father did nothing to stop her, Dave vowed never to return to that mansion.”

“This is a lot of evil happening. What can we do?”

“Nothing, Cesar. We can’t do anything but stand by and watch.”

“Then I shall tell Elle.”

“Why?”

“Because Dave is someone special for her.”

“Then don’t. You’ll just make the situation worse.”

My heart almost stops. I make a run for it. I bolt for the door, I run down the stairs and I fling myself from the porch. I have to get to where Dave is immediately.

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Go Elle! Try to rescue Dave... Even if you don't have any idea how you'd do it... Chapter 6 Y'all: Evil Runs in the Family