Written In Stone
Aviva Bel’Harold
Copyright Orange Monkey Publishing 2013
This FREE short Story is for everyone’s enjoyment. Please feel free to share it or gift it to anyone you feel like. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Written In Stone
Jane sat on the forest floor in the centre of the woods. Under her was a thick layer of spongy moss. As much as she tried to convince herself otherwise, it was nothing like sitting on her memory-foam mattress at home. Yes, the moss was soft, but she could still feel the rocks and roots under it. And it was still damp. Even after today's warm rain-free day, it wasn't enough to dry out the moisture that clung deep within. Her jeans were getting soaked.
She couldn’t believe she’d let her friend talk her into this. Nor could she believe that her pockets were full of flower petals. Most of all she couldn’t believe how much the tree before her looked like it had a face.
You will recognize it when you get there. It’s the big tree at the end of the path.” Kayla had smiled her award winning grin. “You can’t miss it, it has a face.
Jane had almost uttered, well I’ll be, as she’d walked up.
It had two indents for eyes and a huge knot, shaped like a gourd, growing where a nose would be. There wasn’t much of a mouth, just the corner of it lifted into a smile next to the nose. It had streams of moss, that Jane only knew as old man’s beard, framing its face.
She groaned as her legs began to cramp up. She should have taken that yoga class her firm had offered last month. She wasn’t young enough to be sitting cross-legged anymore.
This was ridiculous. Nature was Kayla’s department. She was the one who owned the ten acres of forest just out her back door. The last remaining patch of untouched land in the ever growing city.
Jane wondered what had possessed her to agree to this absurd ritual or whatever Kayla called it. She wanted to plea temporary insanity, but there was nothing temporary about being stuck in a bad marriage.
She thought back to the first time she’d seen — what she was sure was — the love of her life: Greg Maipool. The epitome of captain of the football team, even in a school that didn’t have a football team. Every girl had swooned when he showed up three weeks from the end of grade ten. If it been High-school musical there would have been a song and dance number all the way up the hall to the principle’s office.
Jane had watched from the door of her first class. It was as if he’d timed his entrance for the moment the bell rang. She saw him and she saw every girl in the school watching him. He could take his pick — the playing field was wide open and eagerly willing.
Now, it wasn’t like competition was slim, the boys at school hadn’t been dogs, but none of them were a Greg. Transferred from a bigger city somewhere in the States everything about him was appealing. From his accent to his strange clothes to the rumors of his family’s money.
That wasn’t what Jane had found attractive about him. For her it was his smile. Everyone goggling at him and he chose her to give a smile to, along with a little nod. It made her feel special, singled out from dozens of others, and that was all it took.
“From zero to one-eighty.” Kayla had said.
Her face was turned away so Jane couldn’t tell if she’d meant to sound — jealous? Yea, she kinda sounded jealous. “Well, there wasn’t anyone else to get one-eighty about until now.”
“What is it about him? You weren’t interested in any of the other boys.” Her voice faltered, “I was kinda thinking you weren’t interested in boys at all.”
“You thought I was gay?”
“Well,” Kayla’s voice had a can you blame me tone to it. She still wouldn’t meet Jane’s eyes.
“Why would you think that? You haven’t shown any interest in the boys either. Does that mean you’re gay?”
Kayla didn’t answer.
“Kay?”
Kayla was walking faster
Jane had to jog to keep up. “Kay?”
She stopped and faced Jane, “Please,” her cheeks were crimson, “please — don’t.”
“Ok.” Jane tried to take a step closer to her best friend, “It’s…ok.”
Kayla looked up, her eyes meeting Jane’s.
For the briefest of moments Jane saw the jealousy. Not because Kayla also liked Greg, but because Kayla liked Jane — only she now knew Jane didn’t feel the same way.
“Oh,” the tiniest of sounds slipped through Jane’s lips, “Oh.”
Kayla shook her head and spun on the spot.
Jane watched her friend race up the block and around the corner, not sure if she’d see her again. And unsure of what she could say when she did.
✧ ✧ ✧
A rap at her window came that night just after one in the morning. Three taps then one long scratch.
Jane was at her window in a flash. “Kayla!” In that moment she didn’t care about Kayla’s revelation or what it might mean to their friendship. She was just relieved she still had Kayla as a friend.
“Got a surprise for you.” Kayla said when they were face to face.
Her lips were inches from Jane’s mouth. For a fraction of a second Jane contemplated how easy it would be to kiss her.
Before she’d decided if she wanted to kiss Kayla, Kayla bowed her head, “Follow me.”
Kayla climbed down the drain pipe and disappeared to the front of the house. When Jane came around she found Kayla behind the wheel of her mother’s car. It sat at a funny angle to the curve, like it had a flat tire.
“Wha…?”
“Get in.” Kayla smiled.
When she smiled like that it was like she was accepting an Oscar. It spread from ear to ear showing off her perfect teeth. It was a smile most people couldn’t say no to.
Jane got in.
Kayla took off before she got a chance to buckle. “Whoa, what’s the hurry?”
“We’ve only got a few hours to get this done and it’s going to take at least an hour to get there.”
Kayla stayed quiet most of the way.
Jane was quiet too, even though she had a million questions rattling around her in her head. They weren’t really questions for Kayla, they were for herself. She became mildly aware of where they were when they drove past the city limits sign.
“Where are you taking me?”
“Here.” Kayla pulled off the left of the road onto one of the emergency vehicle turn-abouts.
“Here?” Jane looked up the road. One car was coming from the opposite direction.
When it passed Kayla pulled back on and followed it for only a hundred meters. She let the car slow. Pointing the wheels to the side and allowing it to drift to a stop. “Ok, here.” She slammed it into park and opened the door.
“Here?” Jane followed Kayla out. The ground was squishy under her Keds. “What’s here?”
Kayla had the trunk open. “Your destiny.”
“My…”
“Your future,” Kayla said, she was collecting an arm full of rocks; as if rocks were something you normally carried around in your trunk.
“What…?”
“Just follow me.” Kayla walked half way up the incline then dropped the rocks at her feet but managing to miss her toes.
“Kayla, you are crazy. You know that right?” Jane was following, slipping and soaking her jeans to the knees in the process.
“Crazier than crazy.” Kayla sat cross-legged on the hill above the pile. “Come join me, it’ll be fun.”
Jane could see the moisture seeping into the butt of Kayla’s pants. She held her arms tight to her chest. “Not till you tell me what you are up to.”
“Fine.” Kayla reached into her pockets and emptied a handful of dried leaves onto th
e low pile of rocks. “We are going to catch you that boy — Greg.”
“Catch him?” Jane turned to look up the highway. “What does a hill and rocks have to do with Greg. And why are you helping me.”
“Because I want you to be happy,” Kayla patted the ground, “Trust me.”
Jane had sat, but it was for her friend, Kayla, not the boy. In that moment the boy was all but a forgotten thought.
✧ ✧ ✧
That night was when Jane realized that she didn’t care much for nature. By the time they were heading home her fingers felt bruised from all the rocks she carted up the hill. Her legs ached. Her fingernails were thick with mulch. And somehow — somehow she even had twigs in her hair.
Jane ran her hand through her hair at the memory. She pulled the twigs from her curls, this time she knew why they were there.
“Ok,” she said in an uneven voice, unsure of what she was doing. “I’ve removed the rocks. I even planted grass in their place. I returned every rock to the woods where they had been taken from.”
Jane shook her head at the thought.
“And let me say, that wasn’t easy. The rocks were heavy and to cart them all about the woods — I’ve lost hours not to mention a few nails.” Jane took a quick breath then continued, “No offense, but I really can’t believe I’m talking to a tree — no matter how much of a face you have.”
She blinked trying to convince herself that it must have been a lash in her eye. But she’d seen it — the tree had smiled. Or smiled more.
“So I’ve done everything I promised Kayla I’d do. I’m done here.”
“What about my offering?” The tree swayed without
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