Prologue

How the forest took her alive

                                                              *

    The streetlights outside the windows flickered, I listened to my sister, playing the violin beautifully-- so beautiful that if she wanted to, particularly charm the birds in the sky.

    When she had finished her last note she stood up curtsied and came up to me.

    "How did you like that Ash? I did my best--as usual." I have to admit, even though 5 years older than me, her voice sounded childish.

    "It was awesome, as usual of course." It was true, she might even be able to charm the fish in the sea.

    "I knew I could always count on you!" Diana laughed, pinching me during her laughter.

It was dark outside, almost night time, I wondered if we'll make it home in time for Diana's celebration. While wondering, I saw that Diana had stopped, gazing out at the short-cut next to the forest that no one bothered to walk in anymore.

    "Hey, Ash, let's walk on the short-cut instead," Diana started walking along the path of the short-cut.

    "Diana, wait--wait up! I-- are you sure you want to walk on the short-cut--?" Before I even got to finish my sentence Diana crossed the road and said, "Come on Ashley! Don't be such a scaredy-cat, there’s nothing in the forest except for trees and leaves, everything is completely safe. Besides, I don't want to miss the celebration of my success!"

    We walked along the short-cut, side by side in silence. After a few minutes, Diana started to play her violin, such sweet music would melt the heart of even the coldest being on earth.

    Every one of my family was musical, take a look, my father plays the drums, my mother plays the piano and violin, my sister plays the cello and violin, and I would've been able to play all of those instruments-- but the problem is that I couldn't count time, I either went to fast or too slow and that would mostly ruin the music that I’m playing.

I had my flute with me, the only instrument that I was able to play properly-- after 2 years of painful music.

I decided to follow along, I played Messiaen: Le Merle Noir with my flute. With Diana’s violin and my flute, I had to admit, we were awesome.

“Huh, you’ve improved a lot, Ash! I really like your flute,” she stopped playing her violin just to watch me play my flute that our parents didn’t know about… I wonder if I should tell my parents or keep this a secret between me and Diana.

“Thanks, Diana, I wonder if I should tell mother,” she stopped for a second-- looking scared and then quickly shrugged it off.

    I looked ahead of us, something lurching next to the trees… something green glowed there too, creepy. I looked behind us, the streetlight now, nowhere in sight.

    That’s when Ashley noticed that they’d walked into the forest while playing their instruments.

    At her left, one part of the ground was higher than the rest, It was rising slowly-- so slow Ashley wouldn’t have noticed if she hadn’t been staring at it for a few minutes.

    Diana must have seen her uneasiness, otherwise, she wouldn’t have picked up her violin and started to play Bach - Partita No. 2, Chaconne from memory-- or maybe it’s just because she could.

    Ashley let the music flow through her, letting her forget almost all her worries, warmth filling her, a beautiful moment in this unnerving forest. The wind picked up, letting the trees sway almost in time to sister’s music, and like magic, all because of Diana’s music, the trees seemed more alive than ever before.

    Diana stopped sharply, and with a sigh, the trees seemed to recoil around her, her magic with music gone. Warmth gone, everything went cold and tense.

    It must have been her imagination, trees can’t move like that, Mother had always said so.

    Except for the fact that I knew I wasn’t imagining it.

    There was an unexpected rustle behind them and I jumped in alarm. “Did you hear that Diana?” I asked.

    “Hear what?” she was trying to be the brave one, the confident one like she had always been. She walked on leaving me behind, I stared into the dark forest ahead of us, I wondered how we would get out of the forest. There was no light illuminating the edge anymore, I became worried.

    I peered at the forest ahead of me… something was moving.

    There.

    Something moved quickly amid the trees, but even though fast, it seemed to be floating, graceful even. It was made of earth and leaves, root and vines-- something not human.

    I realized that I couldn’t find Diana anymore, “Diana? Where...where are you?” my voice was barely a whisper.

    The creature turned at the sound of her unheard voice, how did it hear her at such a distance?

    Diana tugged on my sleeves, she was pale-- so pale that she looked ill.

    Then that’s when I realized that the creature was looking right at us, it had ruby-red eyes, thorns and vines covered where hair should have been. The body was made up of moss and bark, every part of the creature’s body was composed of lying things, of the elements of nature. It lurched forward, heading for Diana-- no, heading for her.

    I gasped and fell, the world spinning in front of me, Diana called my name.

    I felt vines and earth crawling up at me, clutching at my flesh, tearing it apart.

    Diana grabbed me and the forest recoiled like a rubber band being snapped. The trees went after my sister. Vines whipped out, snapping, crawling on my sister, tangling on her arms. Roots came up to trip her, she fell, losing consciousness for a second and screaming her name the next.

    “Ashley, run!” Diana shouted, digging her finger down the vines that prisoned her there. Diana tore out the dark earth beneath him and screamed, “Run Ashley!” and moaning, “save your life…”

    But I couldn’t, I was glued there, my eyes never leaving Diana.

    Then, like thousands of leaves scraping the forest floor, the ground opened up, pulling Diana from me and swallowing my sister into the forest’s embrace

    Then the trees started for me, only when it started climbing on my foot when I did run. But I somehow couldn’t, it was too strong, blood trickling down on my ankles and legs, I screamed.

    Something stepped up to the edge of those trees, then, twisted an ancient bog oak, and everything became still.

    The creature looked at me for a moment, then it turned away and was gone, back into the frozen woods.

    I ran, I was crying, I was heart-broken. The trees took Diana, my sister.

    Come on Ashley! Don't be such a scaredy-cat, there’s nothing in the forest except for trees and leaves, everything is completely safe. And the trees swallowed you whole.

The trees swallowed Diana-- alive.

How many times was I worried at those words, turning these words over and over again each day until they shine like silver?

  I was walking from boarding school to home, once I reached the corner of the short-cut that Diana and I once walked on so many years ago, I could feel the familiar lure of the trees, the forest whole. I could hear laughter and the sound of children playing nearby the forest--or in the forest...Or was it all in my head? I wasn't sure, I was never sure. No matter where I was, where the trees were, it always called out to me, lured me forward, telling me to go and look for Diana. However, I never did, I was always so scared to enter any of the forests. But here... where it had happened-- where the trees took her sister alive...the force much stronger here, wanting me to go in, deep into the forest.

  Diana had laughed when she walked ahead of me. Come on Ashley! Don't be such a scaredy-cat, there’s nothing in the forest except for trees and leaves, everything is completely safe. And the trees swallowed her whole, didn’t it?

  My throat closed up at that reminder that it was all because of me. Panic rose up inside of me and I tried to ignore the whispers of the forests. I suddenly remembered the frantic search of Diana in the forest that night. I was only eight, blinded by my tears I walked blindly until I collapsed underneath the canopy of leaves. When that happened, Diana was fifteen. I can still hear her last, desperate order ringing out. Run Ashley! and save your life…

  I could never forget that day even though it’s been almost ten years.

  I walked down the path-- the short-cut that I had walked on long ago… I was coming back home from school-- boarding school. That same path, tho now old and mostly covered with debris, still had some kind of charm— that still lures me forward, inside the embrace of the monster inside it…

  I walked the opposite path, down to the cemetery, but the forest is vast— it reaches the cemetery. As I walked, I remember memories from my childhood, memories that ached to my heart.

  Sometimes, it was supposedly best to move on but… Diana was my sister, the only one who understood me-- the only one who had supported me…

  And that just made things harder, I walked. I struggled. I cried.

  After a while of walking, I reached my destination-- Diana’s grave.

  Everyone thought that Diana had died, but I know, I’m certain that she was swallowed by the trees! I--

  I thought that she was swallowed by the trees. No… no, I saw it, I did, didn’t I? Yes, I did… I did, I did. I did.

  But no one believed me, they claimed that Diana died, she didn’t die, she’s just swallowed by the trees… yes, just swallowed by the trees.

  And you say that as if it’s a good thing, Ashley.   Well, better alive than dead right?

  And you say that with uncertainty.

  I’m just scared… yeah, just scared…

  This whole incident brought me many bad memories, of course, it did, if you saw your sister or your loved one get swallowed by something that you used to enjoy so… so much. How would you feel? But that wasn’t really the case.

  I remember last year when my class had a field trip to the national rainforest. I managed to walk *14 fee*t before the whole class ended up hearing my scream. When the whole trip was over, the bus was filled with laughter of all sorts.

  Can this get any better?

  I wonder how it would’ve been if… if Diana and I took the other way that day… if, we did.

  The flashback ended.

  I placed the wrinkled flower on my sister’s grave, “Hey, Diana, it’s me… Ashley. How are you now? I just wanted to say that…” what? What did I want to say? That I’d passed high school and now I’m going to college? That I’m 18 now? That… I wanted her back so, so, much?

  I sighed.

  “Diana, it’s been a while, happy birthday, happy 23rd birthday. How are you? I’ve graduated. And I’m growing, growing up! But, you’re not with me… where are you?” I felt a tear on my eyes, “I- I…”

  I heard a sudden violin note-- no, no, it can't be...

  I... I know the tune, I remember it, it's very familiar, that’s the…

  “Diana…”

  I couldn’t think at all, I ran, into the woods, into that murderous place, the same place that I’ve been dreading the most.

  But, I couldn’t, I simply couldn’t. I turned back after running for a while. I turned back…

  I turned back.

  But… was that really Diana? Maybe I’m hallucinating, maybe I’m…

  I’m too late.

  I know, I should go back, I… but, I wanted Diana back, she’s my sister and my best friend! I can’t turn back now… or should I?

  No, the thought of my mother, sick and aged, and my father, prescription pills, and all those… I can’t, I can’t, I…

  I don’t know… what do I want to do?

  Crying is useless…

  But… Can I turn back?

  Or…

  “Ash! Let’s go!”

  Huh?

  Ashey, can’t you hear me?”

  Mother is here?

  “O-oh, I’m coming mother,”

  “Finally! You answered, I almost thought that you were going deaf,” Mother wasn’t happy with me.

  “When’d you get here?”

  “Oh about a few minutes ago,”

  I sighed, “Do you want some privacy, mother?”

  “Go to the car, we’ll be leaving this place soon,”

  What? Leaving this place? The place that memories with my sister have built up?

  M-mother? What… what do you mean by leave?”

  She sighed, she looked at me with despair, and also with regret, “Well, we’ll be moving to somewhere else… somewhere far from this grave,”

  Leave? Leave, this place that I’ve been living in for 19 years? From birth to now? No, this is unacceptable…

  “Mother! But, but, this—“

  “No, be quiet and go back to the car, I’ll be there soon, we’ll leave tomorrow morning, we’ll be staying at a hotel room in the meantime,”

  I couldn’t refuse anyway, and I was glad that I came back from that nightmare place before she’d arrived.

  I left, mother needed privacy too.

  “I can’t believe it, we’re moving?” I muttered to myself the whole way back to the car…

  But that violin struck me again.

  I hear the melody of Bach - Partita No. 2, Chaconne, coming to me, a melody that must be played with harmony. Although Diana only played her part, she did pretty well doing half of the music…

  Memories, memories are what breaks hearts, some memories are forgettable, others are permanent.

  I heard my mother coming back.

  I sighed, it would be awkward together.

  Sure, I tried to make up my mistakes a few times, but, still, our bonds were not getting any closer. I tried a ‘girls-night-out’ and also a ‘family-fun-night’ with both my parents but… that just drifted my hopes farther and farther…

  I wonder if…

  If what? If Diana was back, we'd be a happy, no, jolliest family in our neighborhood... if that was possible anyway

"Ashley, do you mind going outside? I need to kick the engine for a while," my mother kicked the car a few times, the car was pretty old... 4 years actually.

Ah, good old days.

I got up, and out of the car. I looked around, but all I could see is--

Was that a... a bat?

I heard the car's roar.

"Ashley! Get in!"

"Coming!"

"Now, Ashley, as you know about the fact that you are--"

"No, we are," seriously? you're the one that wanted to move and now you're--

"Ah, sorry, we are, now, since we are moving somewhere else, you need to pack early tomorrow morning okay?"

"Yes, mother," agh, I don't want to move but... what choice did I have?

"Thank you,"

"Your welcome mother"

It was awkward, as expected.

When we reached the hotel, it was pretty cheap, as expected too.

"Go pick a room and prepare for tomorrow,"

"Sure, sure..."

I'm just, not in the mood I guess.

I entered the room, the room was fine, plain enough. I walked around, not really satisfied.

But still, I decided to sleep...

* * *

I fell asleep right? Then why... am I still awake? What a silly question Ash, you woke up of course!

But still... why do I hear a violin?

I sat up, why on earth, and who on earth could play the violin like--

Like Diana...

No, no, no, Diana is gone, remember Ashley? Remember? She's gone, so get over it!

But...

"I hear Diana clearly..."