by Minkman, Jen
“Fine, but I’m joining you,” Thorsten replied determinedly.
The flicker of a smile passed over her face, despite the situation. “I won’t be alone then, will I?”
He raked a hand through his hair. “Too bad. I’m not letting you go all by yourself. Not like this.”
She hesitated, then nodded. She stalked off to the bike shed while Thorsten went inside to tell Axel where they were going. Not much later, she was on her way to the forest cycling like crazy, Thorsten sitting behind her on the baggage rack, his arms around her waist. Julia was completely out of breath when she reached the main trail, but she didn’t slow down, almost tripping over her own legs in her rush to get to the spot where she and Michael had met up in her dream.
She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw the oak. The place had looked like before in her dreams, but the reality was different. Her oak tree had lost almost all of its leaves. Its life force was gone – the boy from the woods had taken the gloss and brilliance from this holy place, and he was nowhere to be found. What was it she had come to find here?
“Do you want to sit down, maybe?” Thorsten asked her, panting from exhaustion himself. She’d been running through the forest without as much as glancing back.
Julia turned around, shrugging desolately. “I don’t know,” she said in a voice drained of all emotion.
He strode up to her. “Come on,” he said, putting an arm around her slumping shoulders comfortingly. “You didn’t bike and run all the way to this place to just leave now. Anne told me you went to a special place in the forest sometimes – a meditation spot to gather inspiration. That’s this spot, right?”
“Yes.” She slowly nodded. “It was, once.”
He gently guided her to the shady spot under the oak. Julia lowered herself onto the ground, leaning back against the trunk. Thorsten sat down beside her, still holding her hand. She nervously breathed in and out.
“Take your time,” he encouraged her with a smile.
Julia slowly removed her hand from his grasp, pulling up her knees and hugging her legs. She looked skywards.
Far above her head, tiny white clouds floated by in the blue sky, oblivious of the drama playing out in her life on this sunny day. Soundlessly and uncaringly, they drifted past her, past the oak, past Salzburg into the big, wide world. The few leaves still clinging to the tree branches softly rustled in the breeze dancing through the woods.
A tear ran down her face when she thought of that one afternoon she and Michael had been here when he felt sick. He’d come here to gather strength. If her dream was really true, she could now understand why. But how could it be true? He had simply suffered brain injury due to the accident, and the effects had finally caught up with him. That was the only reasonable explanation for his strange behavioral changes and his sudden death.
“I’ll stay close,” Thorsten mumbled, getting up to give her some more space. Julia watched him go, a warm feeling stirring in her heart. He wasn’t going to abandon her. Michael had asked him to take care of her, and he would.
Her thoughts drifted back to last night’s dream. Michael had told her what was going on and why he had to leave. He had always insisted she should keep dreaming, because it was such an important part of who she was. But whether the dream was real or not, it wouldn’t bring him back.
“Return to me,” she whispered in a choked voice. “Please, come back. Give me a sign.”
The forest kept quiet. A stray oak leaf fluttered down, landing on her knee. Julia looked up and stopped trying to blink away her tears. She couldn’t do this. It was too much.
At that instant, her cell vibrated in her pocket. Oh crap, it was probably Gaby asking where she was. Her best friend had come all the way to her house to console her, and she wasn’t even there. Julia stretched out her legs and pulled her phone from her pants pocket to read the text message.
‘I new message. Michael.’
Speechlessly she gaped at the display. What?
Her trembling hand put the phone down in the grass. Julia exhaled deeply, rubbed her eyes, then cast a sidelong glance at her cell still blinking with the same notification. She hadn’t imagined it. It really was from him.
There had to be an explanation for it. Maybe he’d sent out this message hours ago, only for it to be picked up by her phone now. Mobile networks weren’t always one hundred percent reliable. And yet – she had asked for a sign, and here it was.
Her fingers quivered as she picked up her phone to read the message.
‘sweet Julia, i will miss you. i will never forget you. whenever you hear the trees rustle with music singing in the woods, then stop and think of me. but don’t wait for me. i am free now. and you have a head filled with dreams and a long life filled with love ahead of you. let the sun shine. X, forever your michael.’
She read the message over and over. He could have sent her this before his death, if he’d felt himself slipping away in the middle of the night, knowing he didn’t have much time left. The message could have been stuck up there, between satellites, landing in her phone hours after the text was sent. But those last few words… he had said the same thing in her dream last night – that to her, he would always be Michael. Or was she just clutching at straws?
Julia put away her phone and looked around searchingly. She held her breath. For just a moment, it felt as though he would be right behind her, like he’d been watching her all this time. He would smilingly step out of the trees to pull her into a warm embrace. She pricked up her ears. Didn’t she hear footsteps approaching? Who was going there, in the forest of her dreams?
A soft rustling filled her ears. The whisper of the wind, the voices of the trees, the spinning movement of the Earth turning and turning endlessly in the immeasurable vastness of space. The music in everything.
And then, Thorsten emerged from the treeline, heading back to her with a sweet smile on his lips. He carefully pulled her up, hugged her tiny frame, and stroked her hair. She felt his warm body against hers. “Come,” he whispered. “I’ll take you home. Everyone will be there to comfort you. There’s no need to be alone.”
Julia started back to the main trail, taking one step at a time, clinging to him for support. Her hand felt safe in his. Overhead, the birds sang, making the entire forest alive with music.
“I know,” she replied softly, yet purposefully. “I’m not alone.”
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Acknowledgements
Writing my first book (Shadow of Time) involved a lot of research, because the story was set in Navajo Nation, a place I had never visited myself. The Boy From The Woods was far easier in that respect, because I once lived in Austria myself. I was there in 1998-1999 as part of an exchange. My German was crap, I had never lived anywhere but home with my parents, and I had no idea how the country worked. In other words, I had the time of my life! It was fun getting to know all kinds of things that were different about Austria, such as the fact that Austrian stores always close for lunch (not so much when you thought you’d be doing some lunch-time shopping, though!) and that people always greet each other by saying ‘God greets you’ (Grüss Gott) or ‘I am your servant’ (Servus). I really enjoyed incorporating those elements into the storyline while writing this book.
And now, it’s time to thank a lot of people. First of all, my sister Marije for reading the first draft of this story and crying at the end. She even called me a bitch, if I recall correctly (maybe you did, too, because of the way things ended). I realize I may have upset some people, but I really couldn’t have ended this story any other way. This was the way it was s
upposed to end.
Second of all, my Dutch editor Marije Kok and my American editor Alexis Arendt for thoroughly going through the Dutch and English manuscripts. Thank you so much for your hard work and dedication!
I would also like to thank my father for freely translating my German poem into English, Daniil Charms for writing such incredible poetry (the poem used in the book was freely translated from the Russian original by me and partly adapted from the translation by Matvei Yankelevich), and the Ebner family in Birkensiedlung, Salzburg for renting out a room to me back in 1998-99 when I studied there. I used to live on the same street as Julia and Thorsten
Last but not least, a big thank-you to all the bloggers who reviewed my book and helped me by promoting my work – I couldn’t do this without you!
As for the music in this book: if you want to listen to the songs Julia and Thorsten wrote, you can go here:
http://youtu.be/-t3z17iqm1k
http://youtu.be/C7XipXNwdUs
http://youtu.be/EnqviSljxLY
Until next time!
Best wishes,
Jen Minkman.
http://www.jenminkman.nl
Twitter: @JenMinkman
Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/JenMinkmanYAParanormal
e-mail: [email protected]
