Come With Me, And I'll Tell You

The college campus stood at the edge of town and near a forest, and the trees could be seen by windows of the college dorm; Charles, when walking back from class, looked at them with wonder and intent of walking in them daily; he said hello to the boys walking out the dorms he slept in after annoyingly snapping out of his peaceful trance - going back to it when he made his way up and felt safe after locking the door to his dorm. Matt, his roommate, won’t be back until late in the afternoon and Charles would either be doing homework or getting ready to go out to be with himself until ten. Looking out the window, the weather reminded him of his daily duty to go down the path in the nearby woods and look for any sticks and rocks to pile for his collection on his desk. It brought stability to him, thinking how nice his daily ritual is on a cool summer day; entangled with string leaves and soft winds that blew gently on his hands and cheek, the only thing he felt he could look forward to every day.

Being 21 years old, he questioned if he needed the essay for Composition 2 done by this evening or tomorrow morning. He grabbed his phone and looked at his schedule, seeing nothing until next week. He right away thought: let's go down to the woods today; it's just too perfect to be doing homework. Grabbing his notebook and nicely flipping the pages, he stuffs the notebook with his backpack, lying under his nightstand, and starts his mind to first acknowledge his art supplies, and put them somewhere where no one, not even his friend Matt, could find them.

Matt is presented as a boy who doesn’t mind others' comments to appease his looks, but the type to smile a lot more when girls acknowledge the witty persona that he proudly developed; ever since he moved into the dorm with Charles, however, Charles has noticed a few things missing.

It was little things like pencils, markers, and chargers found near Matt's backpack, and when Charles asked him about these odd turns of things going missing, he chuckled as if Charles wasn't sure of it either if it was him.

Then, close to the beginning of the summer season, Charles noticed his earplugs missing, his watch, and his necklace; he liked to wear them with his black shirt and certain clothing like jackets and jeans. And Charles, when confronting this to Matt, chuckled with him as well, as Matt got up that morning and began his way to class. Matt, for the rest of that day, sometimes glanced at Charles to see if he would bring it up again when going along with friends at night and wondered if Charles dared to frame Matt in front of his many fans of girls, who were fond of him daily. Of course, Charles tried not paying attention to Matt’s following of many peers and instead focused on how he may only know what Matt does when no one is around - feeling special, like an unspoken duty to keep Matt’s impulses to steal hidden among his many friends.

Charles walked down and opened the door cautiously, having his skin be touched by the heart of the sun. He let his ears get taken over by the clatter of leaves against the soft wind, and the branches not far from where he stood, slowly taking his time going closer to the forest and woods he could smell from yesterday's rain. Some students would notice Charles walking away from his dorm building, but no one bothered as they saw Charles leave and head into the woods before on a daily basis. Some found it interesting but chose not to bother and leave their interests elsewhere.

Charles went ahead and began his collecting of small soft rocks. When he saw a bright, vanilla-lookin’ rock lying on the brown dirt near his sneaker, he gently picked it up with mellow neutrality that he sometimes hoped someone saw. He did, actually, hope students in the dorm were watching him when he slowly departed away into the woods. Having the wind on his shoulder, softly letting his loose jacket flap against his stomach. By that moment of silence, just him and the earth granted him peace - and Matt’s voice, coming from behind, opened the door to the stairwell and said, “Hey Charles, where are you going?”.

Charles was hoping this whole time someone in the dorm would come and ask this question, oddly glad it was Matt who came in time to see his routine.

The wind calmed all of a sudden as Matt came closer. Charles turned and observed his dark hair dance against his eyes. “What are you up to?” Matt asked. He tucked his hands in his pocket even though he felt they were warm, and thought it made him look more peaceful whenever he felt nervous about his stance.

Seeing the light from Matt’s shoes being parted out from the green grass, he looked at his pants and said, “I was planning to go for a walk”. There was quietness Charles didn’t mind, and neither did Matt. Noticing this silence made Charles ask excitedly, “Do you want to come with me, or do you have homework to do?”. Matt looked unsure, already had the answer in his mind in case Charles asked.

He said while glancing back at the dorm building, looking at the window where their dorm was remaining - “I don’t know.” He looked at Charles. “What do you do once you walk into the woods?” he asked cautiously. Charles glanced at the woods: its depth of darkness taking over his mind, feeling excited to enter it, while Matt thought how high he would get if he were to climb them, seeing above the branches clatter away from the ground.

Figuring and wondering how far the forests stretch beyond the campus and town, Charles glanced back at Matt after thinking about his answer and said, “Come with me, and I’ll tell you.” And Matt chuckled nervously.

Before he took his hands out and put his phone in his zipper pocket, Charles, with his smile, led Matt away from the dorm building. And right then, they both were engulfed by the forest. Charles began strolling faster and Matt made sure to stroll along beside him.

Feeling relief that he was close to Charles as they both caught their eyes. Matt then asks, “So, tell me, what do you do in here?”.

They walked quietly through a trail; Charles picked up nine rocks he wanted in the pile, and Matt picked a few only to gently put them back on the ground, as he only wanted to observe Charles picking one up and another. Matt was cautious in how he stepped, making sure he didn’t give off the wrong impression as Charles felt the uneasiness in Matt. Charles never had anyone come with him, and he didn’t want this nervous feeling to be a regrettable decision to let Matt come.

They both based their observation on one another on the forest: Matt thinking about how he remembered taking strolls through the woods back at his father's house, and Charles making comments on the rocks he remembered gathering when he wanted to get away from home. “I’m in college, though,” Charles said. “This sort of thing became my daily life. Now I just do it, without fear of anything waiting back at home.” Or in my dorm room, Charles thought, especially if someone is stealing half of my belongings; which Charles still believes is Matt.

“Did you ever find your watch?” Matt asked while stepping over a rock on the trail. Wanting to stand near Charles’s right shoulder, Charles looked at him with a stuttering response, and barely said, “Say that again?”. While Matt prepared to ask again, Charles bent down to grab a rock that looked good from far away but average when closed up, unsure if he picked it up to distract himself from Matt.

“Did you ever find your watch?”.

Charles put the rock down and heard its crackle bounce off the ground below. He let his mind trail off for a while to come to an end.

He said, “No. I think it's behind the cabinet somewhere, but I haven't looked there yet”. Matt was watching the way Charles’s lips moved graciously, and he could tell Charles was conscious of his way of words since now Matt was with him.

“Why not?” Matt asked. Charles glanced at Matt with an empty expression, and looked back at the trail. While Matt noticed how fast he was picking up his steps.

“Uh, I don’t know”, Charles said. He then picked up another rock that had a glowing glitter around its soft roundness.

And while Charles looked nicely at it, still walking, Matt then asked, “Do you think someone stole your watch?”.

The question caused Charles to take his focus from the rock; he dared not to glance at Matt, expecting Matt to be aware of this suspicion, and said neatly, “No, who would want a dirty watch like that?”. Matt nodded his head and kept his stroll away from Charles’s shoulder.

He then asked, “Who was it from?”

“I got it on my 18th birthday. My father thought I would officially become a man if I had a watch with me.” Charles looks deeply at Matt. Matt notices Charles’s eyes looking gently at his hands, then adds, “And I agreed, as well”.

Matt nodded his head and felt satisfied; he didn't have anything smart to say.

After Charles finished his sentence, he said quickly, “That watch must’ve been a good-looking watch,” looking at Charles, walking further upfront.

Charles looked back at Matt's face and said with a smile, “It was”, and continued to pick up another rock, and put it in his pocket without looking at it first.

Over half an hour, Charles started to feel welcomed being near Matt. He let Matt decide which rocks were good to go into the pile and which ones were perfect to keep in the dorm. Since Matt suggested a few to keep for himself on his bed stance, he dreamt about how good it would look to see rocks, small ones, be nicely lined up under his bed like a meditating ritual. Like he had buried secrets of a wizard, and thought how long it's been since he imagined stuff like that. Giving credit if it was because he was with Charles.

Recalling his elementary years, he remembered doing tasks like what Charles did. Going around woods and picking out whatever his hands can grab on, he sometimes squashes ants and stink bugs as they walk in front of his path - sometimes even naming them like Stacy, his sister, and Papa - or his brothers names which were: John, Ben, and Chris.

“Do you believe in magic?” Matt asked suddenly. Excited, he finally said something after a good minute of trees crackling and the birds whispering near their path.

Charles wanted to say yes, just to agree in case Matt said he had some sort of liking to the imagination of magic; like kids imagining if the tooth fairy was real but thought rationally about the question.

Since Charles thought it was good he remained subtle, he asked, “how do you mean?”.

“I mean, do you do things like throw salt over your shoulder, or cross your fingers hoping nothing bad would happen to you, or maybe- “, Matt hesitated and continued, “killing bugs to avoid bad thoughts.” He giggled after saying his last words; he was now afraid to see Charles’ reaction.

Relief came when Charles said, “Sometimes, when I was 12, I would step on cracks hoping my father would die while he was at work”. Matt grasped this reveal of thought and listened carefully while staring at Charles’s lip, noticing how soft it looked when he talked. “And everytime he came home”, Charles said calmly, and paused for effect, “I would be so mad and upset. Then, I started to think - God may help me kill him. So I prayed for his death”.

Matt, with sudden courage, wanted to say something and decided to keep it to himself. He almost tripped on a small dirt hill; Charles didn’t bother to warn him since he was anticipating Matt's reaction to his story. “So, did it happen?”, Matt said.

“Happen?” Charles said, picking up another rock to look elegant.

“Did your father die?”, Matt asked, then added, “Is that why he gave you the watch?”.

Charles noticed the strong wonder in Matt’s question, as though desperate for him to say yes. For the sake, Charles grinned humorously and looked beyond the trail and said while glancing back at Matt, “lets go a little further; I can still hear the roads and the students from here”. Matt, in wonder, caught up with him, hoping his running was perfect in the eyes of Charles. They both slowly went further into the woods, happily away from campus, where no students or an adult knew where they were going. This lostness thus set Matt and Charles to look at each other, and trust to go further with the guardians of woods, rocks, and leaves to hug them around, as they strolled further.

Matt heard more strong wind, coming from the unknown hill that was ahead. It had rocks, heavy ones, large caps that led up to an opening where the sun shunned through; an exit from the crowding woods below where they stood. Charles looked passionately at the top, and Matt could tell from his arms, he wanted to grab hold of them and climb his way to the top. Matt almost said, ‘please don’t’,

Instead, “Where to next, boss?” Matt said stubbornly, hoping Charles would turn away from the top rock hill and continue on the trail down. Charles knew the trail from here on led back to campus, and something was telling Charles not to go back. Matt sensed, with anxiety, Charles probably never planned to go back and that every time he went into the woods, he never wanted to go back.

Charles grabbed gently on the rock, at first, and glanced at Matt. Matt hoped his face showed he didn’t feel this was a good idea. He wished that his nervousness would be enough to set Charles to continue on the trail, but this instead energized Charles to grab the rock frimley, and put his foot on another rock. The wind felt as if it sped more violently, as if the woods themselves were telling them to get away from there; Charles was climbing the rocks without looking at Matt. Matt, very strictly, said, “Charles, let's not go up there, it could be dangerous”.

Charles ignored Matt's concerns as Matt observed, causing his climbing to speed up more. Matt glanced across the woodscape, hoping he could find the reason to just leave. However, he gathered the courage in a few seconds as Charles kept climbing.

Charles noticed half way up, Matt was coming with him. He waited until Matt caught up, and they both, side by side, climbed the rocks until they reached the light above in hopes of seeing something more peaceful then where they were. Matt anticipated Charles would explain to him why he started climbing, but instead giggled and smiled at him and continued going up. This made Matt then less afraid, and more appealing of Charles. Matt finally said, “Let's hope there’s a pile of gold up there”.

Charles glanced at his legs and chest and said, “or millions of dragon eggs, or maybe treasure”, and smiled neatly at Matt.

Their breath and anxiety slowly came into a mist of peace; a warm existence that made both of them less alone in an empty woodscape, away from any community, student, and adult. By moment, they laid eyes on top of the rock hill, having made it. Matt can barely remember climbing as he observed a cliff ahead of them nearby, showing the rest of the thick forest, going miles and miles away and beyond the horizon. He tried taking a breather.

Charles was proud to experience this wonder with Matt and not just by himself. He took Matt's forearm and let him go once able to get Matt to continue to walk with him closer to the cliff. This is a calm existence, Matt thought; observing the trees dancing along the edge of its ending line on the mountain, they no longer were Matt and Charles, hidden in thick branches and tall trees. Exposed to the skies, an infinite blue blanket graced the clouds, going by like white vanilla smearing across. Charles went closer to the edge of the cliff. Matt stayed silent. Slowing down behind, as he watched around the trees behind them, and wondered how far they actually are from the campus. Surprised by the sun, still bright as ever, it felt they both had been walking for over three hours, that, by then, the sun would be orange and bright, not as white as it was now. The wind picked up, howling near Matt's ear; Charles walked closer to the edge as Matt watched him, wondering if he’ll actually see someone hurt themselves. Matt decided to come closer, slowly walking. He realized how far they were from campus and town, because he couldn’t no longer hear other’s voices, and no sounds of vehicles honking on the streets. However they could see the highways leading off further away from town, and the sun glittering off the roofs of cars and trucks going by. Everything kept moving along as usual.

“Do you come up here a lot?” Matt suddenly asked. Charles was surprised to hear his voice say anything. Afraid he just climbed back down and waited for him there. When he glanced back and saw Matt staring at him, with his black hair flapping near his eyes, Matt noticed Charles’ lips tuck in and out. “I used to, when I was eleven, and stopped for a while,” Charles said. He turned away from Matt and kept walking towards the edge. “I then came back when I came to campus, not realizing my most favorite cliff was not far. So everyday I came and stood here”. Matt watched in uneasiness against the wind as Charles was right near the edge with his left foot, pushing further but reclaiming back. “Sometimes, I stand here and listen. The world still continues like it did when I'm out here by myself. And sometimes, I do get lonely when no one is at least with me; it slowly becomes less of an issue the more I do it.” Matt began stepping closer, having strong intent to keep his eyes low on the ground; focusing on Charles’s feet, nudging closer to the edge. He stepped cautiously, glancing up at Charles’s head that was turned away from him, and back down towards his feet. All powers in nature were here. No one was around to stop them if they had any intent to hurt one another, or themselves. No other thought came to Matt when Charles still continued his sentence, and added, “It gets easier when you do it more often. When no one is around you, you start to get used to it. Soon you wish it would never change.”

As Matt stepped gently close to Charles’s right shoulder, he held his hands out to grab Charles’ hand, in case he moved one more step closer to the edge. His mouth got dry, as the air moved furiously through his lips. His mouth was open slightly. He hadn't noticed, and he kept his gentle steps more quiet as he stood next to Charles. With his face not looking at his, their eyes both looked beyond the horizon, the atmosphere kissing it, and gracing on the mountain hills afar.

“I never had someone come with me, at least not this far”, Charles said. Matt looked at his shoes, beginning to see his feet nudge forward again towards the edge, seeing the trees below breathe with dark leaves. Matt thought what to do. His eyes matched with Charless eyes, and they both stood looking at each other, with strong observation of each other's faces. First the color of the eyes, the pink lips, the chin, and the chest of their bodies, and further, their legs. All they thought was how peaceful they were without trying; how neat they needed to be just to stand in one place, and not be conflicted with someone’s else's existence.

Charles grinned at Matt, as Matt did as well. Charles repeated, “I never had someone come with me, at least not this far”, then glanced at the edge. Adding, “and never did I think you would be here with me, too”.

Matt felt the sweat squeezing between the palms of Charles’s hand and his. He then said to Charles, “I want to admit something.”

Charles turned away from the horizon and looked at Matt, with the grin still on his face as before, “What is it?”, he asked.

“This isn’t my first time up here”, Matt said stubbornly, and added, “I took my ex up here before. We weren’t the best pals.”

Matt looked behind them, seeing the tree’s with the woodscape of darkness, looking dim than before when they arrived, and turned slowly back to Charles. Still holding his hand.

“What happened when you took them here?” Charles asked. Knowing Matt, he was sure what the answer might be, and was excited that he wasn’t scared. And for the very first time, he realized why Matt needed his attention specifically, to reveal his darkest imagination of a world that Matt created fully, that he couldn’t wait to share with him.

Matt turned and leaned close to Charles’s ear and said, “If you come with me, I’ll tell you”.

With that, the mountains breathed heavily with the skies, and the air developed in a harrowing blow. They both ran back into the forest into the thick darkness. Matt said, “Do you want to see where I buried him?” And before then, they both left in the forest together.