Chapter 1
Rachel catches herself staring out the window. Again.
She loves this view of the forest. All green in shades of dark and light, enough distance between her and it, that she can see some of the trees completely. She glances over her shoulder, at her bedroom walls, a mural of what she can see in front of her. She had surrounded herself with the forest. And it is beautiful.
“Get hold of yourself, Ray.” She vehemently pulls herself out of her reverie as she folds a lock of short brown hair behind her ear, packing away her schoolbooks. Homework - done. Her clear, grass green eyes stray back to the window. She can’t get the image of the grey eyed boy out of her mind. He has been plaguing her as a vision. When she daydreams, he will wink at her. This little boy of probably six or seven. When she dreams at night, he will flit in and out of whatever she is dreaming, like her dreams are his own game of peek-a-boo.
“Ray, are you finished? We need to get going.”
Brogan her six feet two brother, is standing in the door. Already in gear for their afternoon training session.
“Yeah, yeah. I’m coming.” She had dressed for training before doing homework. Anything to get out of her ridiculous blue and red school uniform.
She moves past him, noticing how her head just gets to his shoulder.
“You are just turning into a big blonde giant, aren’t you?” She fake punches him to the gut, feeling slightly rewarded by his quickly hidden flinch.
“Keep it up, Shorty,” he teases back “those saucer green eyes of yours aren’t fooling me.”
“Fooling you?” She asks. “About what?”
“You’re mooning about some boy.” He flutters his eye lashes, his dark blue eyes turning puppy like and all shiny.
“Really? You wanna go there?” She asks as they head to the basement converted into a gym. When she has Brogan manoeuvred to the mat where she wants him, she shoves Brogan back and sweeps his feet from under him with her own, he falls to the mat with a slight ‘umph’ as the wind gets knocked out of him. He quickly gets back on his feet.
“Want to tell me why your eyes stick to a certain red head when she comes to visit? And suddenly you have no better words than ‘hmm’ and ‘uhhh’, dear Bro?” she goes in for a jab but he dances out of the way.
They circle each other, feinting from side to side, trying to see who will get the upper hand…
“I don’t know what you are talking about.” Brogan grabs her hand and in the wink of an eye has her over his shoulder and she’s the one on her back.
“Yeah, right.” she pants, trying to get her breath back “I’ve seen you. I’ve seen her looking too.”
This gets his attention for a second. Unfortunately, Rachel wasn’t close enough to make it count. But it does give her ammunition. Then she must concentrate as Brogan starts a new attack.
Later, when she’s in bed, her eyes drift back to the windows again. The forest top feathers black against the moon bathed sky.
She has no idea why she has such a connection with the forest. Most people don’t even notice it. For her there is a sense of peace, tranquillity that emanates from there. She hasn’t ever set foot into it.
“Why is that?” she mumbles to herself. We travel past you daily, she communicates silently in her thoughts to the forest. You are not that far from home. Yet, I have never been inside.
She gets up and sits in the window seat. Her eyes travel over the dark expanse of trees. The mural against her wall is now a grey scale of the green tones from this afternoon. Her double bed, with the green, brown and grey pattern on it, blending in under the light of the moon.
She sits in the grass, the light of the sun filtering yellow green through the trees. The soft grass tickles her bare feet, and she wiggles her toes in delight. It’s as peaceful inside the forest as she had thought it would be. And so very welcoming. She lies on her back, spread her arms. Somewhere she registers she is still in her shorty pyjamas. Which is weird. But the sense of peace, warmth, diffuses any niggling intrusive thoughts. She can hear birds chirping, calling to each other. There is a stream of water nearby, the sound rushing quietly in the background.
She spreads her arms, luxuriating in the richness of it all.
“Well...” a smooth, deep, male voice interrupts her sense of peace.
Rachel snaps awake. She has fallen asleep in the window chair.
“Idiot” she mumbles to herself. It is only as she drifts back into sleep, in her bed, that she remembers the male voice that had snapped her from the dream. Who was that? Then she is gone again.
“Hey Ray.” Thea steps into Rachel’s line of view “Earth to Rachel!” she sings out.
Rachel smiles at her short friend. She has been sitting at the school gates, waiting for Thea to arrive.
“Hey T,” she rumples her friend’s long red braid “is this the dwarf calling me to go back underground?”
“Smart ass.” Thea pulls away. “How many times I must tell you, I am pixie. Dwarves are stocky and smell of metal.” she wrinkles her upturned nose. Her hazel eyes sparkling “And I do not fit the description.”
“Well, you are short.” Rachel teases “And aren’t pixies supposed to be blue?”
They walk in, Rachel trying to ignore the glaring difference between the yellow of the school brick walls and the blue and red uniforms everyone is wearing. They put Theas’ bag with Rachel’s’ then head to the sports field.
“No. Not supposed to be. Only the mist cousins have a certain blue tinge. But they are weird and mysterious, so we don’t bug them about it.” she sits down on the school rugby field next to Rachel “So, weirdo, pixie dust for your thoughts.”
“I had a strange dream last night.” Rachel sighs “I was dreaming about being in the forest. Lying on the grass. I felt so…peaceful”
“You and the forest, what is it about that place that gets to you? You are forever going on about it.”
“I have no idea.” Rachel says wistfully, though she can’t see it, her eyes travel exactly to where the forest is. “I want to go there.”
“No!” Rachel’s head snaps up at the vehement answer from Thea “I mean, I don’t think it’s a good idea.”
“Why?” Rachel is mystified “what is up with you?”
“It…that place might look peaceful to you, but it is actually just dark, gloomy and boring.” Thea wipes some sweat of her brow “Now, can we get out of the sun, please? I think it is making you nuts.”
Rachel gets up with Thea, still amazed at her friends’ outburst. The bell rings and the two walk back to the class along with all the other kids. Rachel looks at the yellow brick buildings with a cynical eye. According to the brochures, this is supposed to be one of the most beautiful schools in South Africa. Honey College in Knysna. She wonders how this is supposed to make it feel any different than what it is.
An institution of learning. School. Teachers. Boring subjects. Homework.
“Ugh.” Rachel grumbles.
“What’s the matter?” Thea asks
“I don’t get school” Rachel grumbles further.
“It is 12 years of oh-so-much-fun!” Thea gushes “And we are in the second last year. Think about it! Less than 20 months to go!”
Rachel laughs.
“Sarcasm is definitely your strong suit.” She sighs “Okay, come on, at least we’ve got art now.”
“Are we walking home together?” Thea whispers during class “Or am I walking alone?”
Rachel has been brewing a plan in the back of her mind. She wants to get to the forest. Find out what the connection is between her and it once and for all. Thea’s question brings her plan into focus. “Nah, I’m jogging home. Then I don’t have to warm up.”
“So, walking alone.” Thea sighs. “Fine.”
“You know I won’t do that to you. I am going to give my stuff to Brogan, he will carry it home for me. He will walk with you.”
“Be still me heart.” Thea says sarcastically, but Rachel doesn’t miss the pink in her friends’ cheeks. Hmmm, maybe she should let Brogan and Thea walk home together more often. They obviously like each other more than they want anyone to know.
After school, Rachel slips into some sky blue and orange jogging shorts, top and sneakers. Brogan doesn’t look happy about being her pack mule for the day.
“Come on, Ray. You can run when we get home.” He protests.
“Nope, too much homework.” She spies Thea walking closer. “Besides, you can walk Thea home. It’s on your way and I don’t want her to walk alone.”
“Then you do it.” but Rachel can hear he is no longer serious about his argument. His dark blue eyes travel over Thea quickly, before he turns to Rachel.
“I want to run, Brogan. It’s not like we haven’t done this before.” She gives him her best ‘please-say-yes’ eyes.
” Okay, fine” he gives in ungraciously. Rachel kisses him on the cheek. “Thanks, Bro. You’re a star! Bye T! Talk to ya later!” she yells to Thea.
She doesn’t wait around, immediately starts running down the road. The two of them won’t think anything of the fact that her course differs slightly from theirs. They know she doesn’t like running along the tar roads. She prefers the scenic routes. Grass and earth under her feet. Sky and trees all around her. Not smelly cars and trucks with hooting, whistling drivers.
As soon as they can’t see her, she curves her route with an exaggerated left and makes a beeline for the forest. Since Thea had told her not to go into the forest, she had been thinking about how it could be done. The moment Thea asked if she was running home, she had her plan. Let them walk, if she runs it will open the window of time she needs to get to the forest and take a peek inside. Just step into the forest. See if it really has the peacefulness, she had in her dream last night.
Since she turned 17, a few months ago, she has been in turmoil. Feeling like she doesn’t belong. It has nothing to do with her being adopted. She has the best adoptive family in the world. Even though her dad thinks the world is ending and he must make sure his kids (he doesn’t discriminate) will survive.
He has been like this since she has met him. Always working on their survival skills. Always getting them fit and strong for some unknown apocalypse. The running used to help Rachel deal with these weird feelings of displacement. The constant fighting classes her dad thinks up for her and Brogan used to help as well. Their sparring and the tiredness took her mind of the nagging feeling of being out of time and place.
Her heartbeat picks up a notch as she gets closer to the forest. Up close, the trees have an air of intimidation. Whether this is because they are so huge or because she had been making such a big deal out of this, she doesn’t know.
She slows as she nears, then her feet stop at the invisible line where the trees begin. She peers in, anticipation and fear running along her nerves.
“Stop being an idiot” she commands herself. With an indrawn breath, she gives the last step. Into the trees.
A shiver runs down her spine, goose bumps spread over her whole body. It’s like a static wave runs over her and she laughs at herself. She had obviously been looking forward to this moment a lot more than she had thought. Slowly, she walks a little deeper into the trees.
And she feels it. Welcome. Here is the peace and tranquillity she had been longing for. Amazing that just a step into the trees can already make her feel like this.
“Oh, this is awesome!” She whispers to herself. A breeze rustles her hair playfully. There isn’t grass, like in her dream. The fallen leaves and twigs snap under her feet. Small, green wild plants are everywhere. The smell is of…there isn’t a word she can think of. Nature. Trees and earth. And green light filtering through the trees. That’s why there is no grass. The trees are a lot denser than in her dream. But she knows she will find the exact spot of her dream, if she can just continue a little deeper. She gives a few steps in. Just a few more, she thinks to herself. But. No. There is not enough time. With a sigh, she turns back and walks out. Outside, with a last look over her shoulder, she continues her run home.
“Where have you been?” Brogan immediately starts in on her when she gets home. “I have been worried sick. I told mom you took a long route home but that was ten minutes ago!”
“Well, that’s exactly what I did” Rachel improvises with this lie “I remembered today was supposed to be our five-kay day. So, I did it on the way.”
“Today is five-kay day?” Brogan groans “Why didn’t you remind me? “
“Come on, dude. You love your six pack and I know you don’t mind the girls checking out your legs.” She says with a teasing grin.
“I would rather cycle than run though.” he keeps on grumbling
“Too bad.” She pokes him in the ribs “Besides, as I said, I only remembered today was a five kilometre when I was running. “
“Yeah, you said.”
“There you are.” Rachel’s mom, Emma, walks into the kitchen “How was your run?”
“ ’Twas okay” Rachel hugs her “But hot, sorry for getting sweat all over you.”
“Sweetie, since when does a little sweat bug me?” her mom laughs, she turns to poke Brogan in the ribs as well. “Why are you fighting with your sister?”
“Adopted sister” Brogan grins around a mouthful of bread “I see it as my duty, so she feels like a real one.”
“You are such a bitch.” Rachel grins as she takes the glass of milk from her mom.
“Brogan!” their mom gasps, although she should be used to it by now. Brogan makes these kinds of remarks from time to time. And if anything, it makes Rachel feel even more like she belongs. Then she registers what Rachel said “Rachel! Language!”
“Sorry mom.” they sing chorus to her, grinning at each other.
“You are incorrigible,” She groans “homework, now”
“Yes mom!” they sing again, laughing as they make their way up stairs.
“Rachel, extra 20 arrows for your language” her mom calls up after them.
“Mom!” Rachel wails “And what about Brogan?”
She hears the studio door closing. Obviously, her protest went unheard.
“I still have to run” Brogan says, standing in his room door. “Just knowing that, is enough.”
“Not enough.” she shakes her head.
“You love archery, twenty arrows shouldn’t be a problem. It’s more like heaping praise on you than actual punishment.” he points out then disappears into his room. Rachel shrugs, it is the principal of the thing. If she gets ‘punished’ he must get it too.
She takes out her tablet and schoolbooks. She gets quickly caught up in her homework and finishes it as fast as possible. When done, she gets her bow and arrows. Brogan was right, she does love archery.
She walks to the range, enjoying the way the sun and the clouds play in the sky. Like the biggest game of peek-a-boo.
But there is something… Something is bugging her…grating at her subconscious.
It is as she plunges arrow after arrow into the bullseye of the target, that she realises what it is. Something is watching her. It’s a creepy feeling, that won’t let go. Slowly she lets the bow down, she pretends to check the arrow rest while scanning the surroundings in her peripheral vision. But there is nothing. Grass, rocks, and the tree she fell out of when she was seven. And broke no bones. Mom had told her – continuously – how lucky she had been. She lifts her head and, in her turn, to look at the house, checks further. But nothing. House, trees, garden, trees, grass, rocks.
With a mental shrug, she finishes the last twenty arrows, the extra ones for language, then a few more for the fun of it. By five o’clock she is done and heads back to the house. Thinking about her shower, noting that the feeling of being watched has disappeared.
“Huh, must’ve been my imagination.” She says softly, looking around her again, to see if there is anything different. Nothing.
“How was your day, honey?” Her dad asks at dinner.
“Fine. You know, school. Blah blah blah. Running, homework, training.” She grins at him “The usual.”
“And you Brogan?”
“Same.” Brogan is piling his mouth full of food.
“Brogan walked Thea home from school today.” Rachel throws it out there, to see what the reaction is. She is rewarded with a slight choking sound from Brogan. Their parents look up, interested.
“That is not something new.” Her dad probes “You’ve asked him to do it a few times.”
“Ahhh, but Daddy, it is now that I know Brogan likes Thea.” Rachel laughs.
She smiles as she walks up the stairs to her room. Dinner had been fun. Brogan had quickly put a stop to the Thea incident by complaining about running. Dad listened sympathetically, then gave him another kilometre for every day this week. That shut Brogan up on the running. Mom gave him an extra helping ice cream, it seemed to help slightly. The love around the table was almost tangible tonight. She goes through her evening routine and gets into bed. For the first time she can really allow herself to relive her moments in the forest. It felt like another world. Green and hopeful and welcome.
It had only been a few minutes, but those minutes had made her so happy. At peace. Excited. So many good emotions.
What is it about the forest?
The question still hasn’t been answered, is her last thought again before she drifts into sleep.
