I Write Fanfiction
Part 3.
Samel was never fond of chores. He grew up always fleeing laborious tasks as much as he could... As little as his efforts in doing so were actually rewarded.. No, he was strong.. Huskier than most in the village. And it made him a prime target for being sought out to by the neighbors whenever anything that required manual exertion in order to complete the task...
But not today, today was his... Sitting across the entwined branches that formed from a patch of maple birch trees being sprouted too closely together..
There was no other view like it, in all the land that he had seen with his young eyes... Which had mostly consisted of the small little world his parents had decided to give him by raising him in this village... That and the few times he had tried to sneak into the forest without permission... Which only ended in him getting lost, crying, and scolded the worst he had ever happen to him in his whole life.. Simply recalling that time sent a shiver down his spine...
However the other times just left him with more of a sense of wonder as to what secrets lie beyond the hedging's of the maple grove.. And into the thickets of the true forest... For once there was a patch of lavender flowers he saw being taken away a single petal at a time by floating blueberry looking creatures on the outskirts of The Old Man's River when he was 7..
And another time when he was 9.. A funny little old codger.. Shorter than most of the children in the village.. Kept offering him honey and jam with biscuits if he would simply follow him the rest of the way into those woods... As curious as Samel was at the time however, he remembered being mortified by the visage of the old codger.. Warts all over him.. A boil on his nose bigger than his own nose was.. Puffy eyes, that looked unaccustomed to the light... And long hair, salt and peppered with gray and black strands, that seemed to oil down along the lines of his face...
But from up here Samel had his own little patch of land in which he could see into the forest... It wasn't an entirely clear image as some of the foliage had grown thick and blocked his normal view of things.. But it was still enough to see his favorite part of the meadow.. Enough to still make him happy as he gazed within it's hallowed grounds longingly.. Yearning to catch a glimpse of the beautiful woman he had first caught glimpse of at the bright young age of 10...
It was shortly after the discovery of his straggly tree branch balcony that this mysterious woman with the golden hair and laced white gown had come into his life... He was purely captivated by what he could only comprehend as purity and beauty in it's highest form at the time.. She was like a fair maiden that all the great heroes in the world would charge into battle for, like in one of the many old fables the elderly of the village enjoyed telling a round about underneath the stars during the village camp lights fire.. And the feeling had stayed with him ever since..
Sadly for Samel, he didn't know her name... But he would always call her "Lady of Flowers" since he's only ever known her to appear in this meadow.. It dawned on him a few years ago how different the forest was to the rest of his world. Where he would watch the seasons change, and prepare for winter with his parents and the rest of the families in the village.. The meadow he would gaze inside at through the clearing, would remain in bloom with all of it's flowers all year round... While he and the other villagers had to learn the value of appreciating something while it was around for it might not always be that way.. He wondered what it was like for the habitants of the forest...
After watching his fair share of birds and rabbits play about... Samel had decided to clamber down from his perch. He knew this was one of his only free days since there was a special guest in the village. The adults were far too busy making amenities for the guest and handling everything themselves. It was far too risky to let someone with lackluster motives do anything around here in chance of upsetting a guest... And while some of the children displayed enthusiasm in helping their parents be hospitable in welcoming strangers within their home... Samel just wanted a day to explore all to himself..
As much as he wanted to secretly carry on his mission to learn all the days and hours in which the Lady of Flowers would appear.. He knew that goal was a long way off.. He figured he would learn the secrets of the forest soon anyway as he was only one more year off from being a full fledged adult and welcomed into the fold of learning all the things an adult must in this world.
For now he needed to investigate a new mystery that he had heard about from Johmmy... He began racing past the leafs and branches as they playfully swept across his body, a childlike sense of invincibility captivated him as he let his imagination go wild, feigning the life of a warrior unmoved by the ballista of arrows before him... He slowed his pace and trotted down the rivers bank.. Eager to see Johmmy's find that he had left behind about a bizarre, cantankerous looking sea creature that he had found submerged in mud on the rivers bed...
The river was sparkling and crisp as he approached it, taking away some of the sourness he had felt in his mood earlier from not having enough free time in life to complete his goal in discovering more about the Lady of Flower's allotted time she actually spent in the meadow... Though it had been his goal for years, and he had never ceased in trying to uncover that discovery it really did amount to no avail... The rushing water from the river's shore splashed at his bare feet and put his mind back on to the case in hand.. Samel began scouring the crackling bypasses and loose stones to the other end of the river, keeping aware for Johmmy's signature marking that he used whenever he would notify Samel of something important they wanted to share together... His sister Rosella's brightly trimmed handkerchief proudly hung as mast over a pile of stonework neatly organized by Johmmy's handiwork...
Samel slipped in his hurried anticipation to reach his prize and skimmed his feet against some sharp pebbles, his britches a bit soaked but nothing a boy's life isn't prepared to sacrifice in order for a great claim such as this one... He quickly tore through the first stack of rocks Johmmy had placed for him, almost too playfully. As if knowing that Samel's anxiousness to discover what was underneath would make things more difficult as more rocks quickly sunk in to instantly replace the ones he had just moved out of the way... "Dammit Johmmy!" Samel was whispering under his breath as he began huffing and puffing from his trek there, and was too dedicated at this point to bother to rest and stop when his prize lay there right before him...
Samel found the best way of getting rid of all this stony mess was to simply push everything off to one side, a single layer at a time.. Before nearly reaching his goal he finally uncovered enough layers of rock to pull out the glorious beacon that had been waving happily in his face this whole time, even smacking it here and there a few chances as if to say he needed to hurry up because the flag was getting bored and wanted to go back to Rosella's satchel...
He untied the handkerchief from it's post and folded it neatly, a smile came across his lips as he quickly remembered the promise he made to Rosella when he first gave it to her.. His mother had helped him make it for her from scratch.. She was his first love, if children can even be known to have love's at such a young age... But at the time, to him at least... She was everything a silly child could dream about having a future with together... Hopes Rest was having a festival for the season of the ants and spiders.. A harvest festival of their own making, and his mother had taught him how to stich and sew something together for the "Showing of one's work, and the harvested rewards that they would reap.." And though he hated how much effort it took to put into it.. It was truly worth the reward as the village elder had gone about, as it was his first kiss given to him by a girl...
He remained gleeful, admiring his handiwork for a time, smelling it once, tempted to do so twice in chance of inhaling more of her perfume.. It was subtle... But it smelled of rosemary and hazelnuts.. Her own unique fall like essence she created years later, to adorn herself with year round... The harvest season became her favorite time of year after that special encounter the two of them had shared.. And so she chose to keep time at a stand still with the perfume she wore. So much so that it became a saying in the village: "Go to the Brella's if you miss the fall..." As her mother had been compliant with her desire to keep the inner furnishings of their home to that of her favorite season...
Samel finally let go of his ponderings... Realizing that what he had designed to be an abrupt break from his digging turned out lengthier than he calculated, and firmly placed the fabric into his pocket to push the final boulder out of the way...
And there was his reward.. A strange mesh of a creature.. Alarmingly, with hair!.. The faced looked repugnant.. and sour, yet flat... All one side, as a humans would be... "Certainly no fish.." Samel thought to himself aloud... He played with the elongated straps that seemed to flow down from it's belly... The mouth of the fish looked like it's final moments had been frozen in time, a mouth agape in remorse and pain...
He found it strange that as captivating as this new creature was.. He was still more enthralled with the memories of the handkerchief... As if reliving moments was a discovery in of itself... He felt alone for some reason at this thought.. And a cold chill began to overcome him.. He hurriedly placed the boulder back on the sea creatures body to preserve it as much as possible before a whisper came from behind him.. A dark disturbing sounding voice...
"Come into the forest Samel..."
Samel was never fond of chores. He grew up always fleeing laborious tasks as much as he could... As little as his efforts in doing so were actually rewarded.. No, he was strong.. Huskier than most in the village. And it made him a prime target for being sought out to by the neighbors whenever anything that required manual exertion in order to complete the task...
But not today, today was his... Sitting across the entwined branches that formed from a patch of maple birch trees being sprouted too closely together..
There was no other view like it, in all the land that he had seen with his young eyes... Which had mostly consisted of the small little world his parents had decided to give him by raising him in this village... That and the few times he had tried to sneak into the forest without permission... Which only ended in him getting lost, crying, and scolded the worst he had ever happen to him in his whole life.. Simply recalling that time sent a shiver down his spine...
However the other times just left him with more of a sense of wonder as to what secrets lie beyond the hedging's of the maple grove.. And into the thickets of the true forest... For once there was a patch of lavender flowers he saw being taken away a single petal at a time by floating blueberry looking creatures on the outskirts of The Old Man's River when he was 7..
And another time when he was 9.. A funny little old codger.. Shorter than most of the children in the village.. Kept offering him honey and jam with biscuits if he would simply follow him the rest of the way into those woods... As curious as Samel was at the time however, he remembered being mortified by the visage of the old codger.. Warts all over him.. A boil on his nose bigger than his own nose was.. Puffy eyes, that looked unaccustomed to the light... And long hair, salt and peppered with gray and black strands, that seemed to oil down along the lines of his face...
But from up here Samel had his own little patch of land in which he could see into the forest... It wasn't an entirely clear image as some of the foliage had grown thick and blocked his normal view of things.. But it was still enough to see his favorite part of the meadow.. Enough to still make him happy as he gazed within it's hallowed grounds longingly.. Yearning to catch a glimpse of the beautiful woman he had first caught glimpse of at the bright young age of 10...
It was shortly after the discovery of his straggly tree branch balcony that this mysterious woman with the golden hair and laced white gown had come into his life... He was purely captivated by what he could only comprehend as purity and beauty in it's highest form at the time.. She was like a fair maiden that all the great heroes in the world would charge into battle for, like in one of the many old fables the elderly of the village enjoyed telling a round about underneath the stars during the village camp lights fire.. And the feeling had stayed with him ever since..
Sadly for Samel, he didn't know her name... But he would always call her "Lady of Flowers" since he's only ever known her to appear in this meadow.. It dawned on him a few years ago how different the forest was to the rest of his world. Where he would watch the seasons change, and prepare for winter with his parents and the rest of the families in the village.. The meadow he would gaze inside at through the clearing, would remain in bloom with all of it's flowers all year round... While he and the other villagers had to learn the value of appreciating something while it was around for it might not always be that way.. He wondered what it was like for the habitants of the forest...
After watching his fair share of birds and rabbits play about... Samel had decided to clamber down from his perch. He knew this was one of his only free days since there was a special guest in the village. The adults were far too busy making amenities for the guest and handling everything themselves. It was far too risky to let someone with lackluster motives do anything around here in chance of upsetting a guest... And while some of the children displayed enthusiasm in helping their parents be hospitable in welcoming strangers within their home... Samel just wanted a day to explore all to himself..
As much as he wanted to secretly carry on his mission to learn all the days and hours in which the Lady of Flowers would appear.. He knew that goal was a long way off.. He figured he would learn the secrets of the forest soon anyway as he was only one more year off from being a full fledged adult and welcomed into the fold of learning all the things an adult must in this world.
For now he needed to investigate a new mystery that he had heard about from Johmmy... He began racing past the leafs and branches as they playfully swept across his body, a childlike sense of invincibility captivated him as he let his imagination go wild, feigning the life of a warrior unmoved by the ballista of arrows before him... He slowed his pace and trotted down the rivers bank.. Eager to see Johmmy's find that he had left behind about a bizarre, cantankerous looking sea creature that he had found submerged in mud on the rivers bed...
The river was sparkling and crisp as he approached it, taking away some of the sourness he had felt in his mood earlier from not having enough free time in life to complete his goal in discovering more about the Lady of Flower's allotted time she actually spent in the meadow... Though it had been his goal for years, and he had never ceased in trying to uncover that discovery it really did amount to no avail... The rushing water from the river's shore splashed at his bare feet and put his mind back on to the case in hand.. Samel began scouring the crackling bypasses and loose stones to the other end of the river, keeping aware for Johmmy's signature marking that he used whenever he would notify Samel of something important they wanted to share together... His sister Rosella's brightly trimmed handkerchief proudly hung as mast over a pile of stonework neatly organized by Johmmy's handiwork...
Samel slipped in his hurried anticipation to reach his prize and skimmed his feet against some sharp pebbles, his britches a bit soaked but nothing a boy's life isn't prepared to sacrifice in order for a great claim such as this one... He quickly tore through the first stack of rocks Johmmy had placed for him, almost too playfully. As if knowing that Samel's anxiousness to discover what was underneath would make things more difficult as more rocks quickly sunk in to instantly replace the ones he had just moved out of the way... "Dammit Johmmy!" Samel was whispering under his breath as he began huffing and puffing from his trek there, and was too dedicated at this point to bother to rest and stop when his prize lay there right before him...
Samel found the best way of getting rid of all this stony mess was to simply push everything off to one side, a single layer at a time.. Before nearly reaching his goal he finally uncovered enough layers of rock to pull out the glorious beacon that had been waving happily in his face this whole time, even smacking it here and there a few chances as if to say he needed to hurry up because the flag was getting bored and wanted to go back to Rosella's satchel...
He untied the handkerchief from it's post and folded it neatly, a smile came across his lips as he quickly remembered the promise he made to Rosella when he first gave it to her.. His mother had helped him make it for her from scratch.. She was his first love, if children can even be known to have love's at such a young age... But at the time, to him at least... She was everything a silly child could dream about having a future with together... Hopes Rest was having a festival for the season of the ants and spiders.. A harvest festival of their own making, and his mother had taught him how to stich and sew something together for the "Showing of one's work, and the harvested rewards that they would reap.." And though he hated how much effort it took to put into it.. It was truly worth the reward as the village elder had gone about, as it was his first kiss given to him by a girl...
He remained gleeful, admiring his handiwork for a time, smelling it once, tempted to do so twice in chance of inhaling more of her perfume.. It was subtle... But it smelled of rosemary and hazelnuts.. Her own unique fall like essence she created years later, to adorn herself with year round... The harvest season became her favorite time of year after that special encounter the two of them had shared.. And so she chose to keep time at a stand still with the perfume she wore. So much so that it became a saying in the village: "Go to the Brella's if you miss the fall..." As her mother had been compliant with her desire to keep the inner furnishings of their home to that of her favorite season...
Samel finally let go of his ponderings... Realizing that what he had designed to be an abrupt break from his digging turned out lengthier than he calculated, and firmly placed the fabric into his pocket to push the final boulder out of the way...
And there was his reward.. A strange mesh of a creature.. Alarmingly, with hair!.. The faced looked repugnant.. and sour, yet flat... All one side, as a humans would be... "Certainly no fish.." Samel thought to himself aloud... He played with the elongated straps that seemed to flow down from it's belly... The mouth of the fish looked like it's final moments had been frozen in time, a mouth agape in remorse and pain...
He found it strange that as captivating as this new creature was.. He was still more enthralled with the memories of the handkerchief... As if reliving moments was a discovery in of itself... He felt alone for some reason at this thought.. And a cold chill began to overcome him.. He hurriedly placed the boulder back on the sea creatures body to preserve it as much as possible before a whisper came from behind him.. A dark disturbing sounding voice...
"Come into the forest Samel..."
