Sylvan Salutations

Not my best work and it hasn't gone through the editing process, but it was meant more as a practice with personification and also to toy with the idea of a human digressing toward a more instinctive state of mind.

     I ran into the trees as though my life depended on it. This was the third option that I had made for myself in opposition to the intolerable ones proposed by my mother. I was on a mission, although in reality, I had no true objective other than getting away. My mother finally gave up the fight as I threw my phone through her open car window and into her lap. I refused to do the same with my body.

     My vision blurred with rage. Briars and brambles were no match for my anger, although they grabbed at my clothes and ripped open my flesh. I didn't notice their violent actions against me. The only thought in my mind was to get as far away as possible without being seen or especially caught. When I had gotten to a clearing among the trees, I saw my aunt walking about in her yard looking in my direction. My body hit the ground with a crunch as dried leaves caught my weight. I watcher her without blinking until I was sure she had gone back into her house.

     It was time to run again. Trees whizzed by me with curiosity. Who was that crazed girl rushing passed them? I had no time to waste. It was imperative that I gain ground before anyone could seize the chance to capture me.

     I soon came across a tall brick structure most likely built in the seventies. Vines had made a hom in the mortar and weeds covered a piece of tin at its base that had probably been made to discover the ground by a violent wind some years back. I decided to investigate. The insides of the building seemed to form a perfect square which housed four long pieces of metal that stood atop a floor of damage. Three wooden doors lay claim to a wall of their own that had slowly decided to reject them as they cracked and rotted with age. I looked up to be surprised to find so much space looming overhead. Wooden beams supported the roof with no apparent order.

     Suddenly, a loud crunch echoed through my memory of sound. I wasn't sure of when the sound had occurred, so I stood frozen like a wild animal aware of its predator. The sound continued and I began searching for an escape route knowing that only one of the wooden doors would be safe for exiting. To stay inside the brick structure would potentially cause me to be trapped by my hunter. I exited the way I had entered and stood paralyzed yet again anticipating an attack. The footsteps were no longer audible. Was my predator waiting for me to make the first move? Hours passed in a span of only a few minutes before I mustered enough courage to breathe and to move my feet from their leafy haven. No one pursued me as I ran toward a field and collapsed into a bed of broom straw. I ducked as a car rolled by on the road only a few yards away. I had to get aay from the road. It was too dangerous to be so close to other humans.

     Despite my rapid heart rate, I picked up my feet and began to run again, avoiding holes, ditches, stumps, and mud. The thick forest welcomed me once again into its protective arms. I walked for half an hour only once finding an obstacle of briars that tried to prevent my passing. The Earth seemed to be aiding my escape and I was grateful to Her for the help. Throughout my journey, I kept the road in sight, but never let it keep sight of me. The trees and low foliage of the forest offered camouflage enough for this refugee.

     I soon happened upon a stretch of land where trees had been torn away from the ground and others had been cast aside to die in the remaining wasteland. My boots trod silently, solemnly through the graveyard. The road seemed close again, but I knew it was only because the enemy had stripped me of my cover. I hurred through the lonely cemetery following a snake of a creek that provided the only green to shield my eyes from the brown muck left by the irreverent humans.

     The friendly stream led me to sylvan hills once again and I finally decided to find a place of rest. If the enemy was indeed following me, I would need to conserve my strength. A gully provided such a peaceful refuge and tempted me with sparkling water, but I did not drink. Had I been in such a place a few hundred years ago, perhaps I would have indulged in such a gift, but humans have by now tainted everything that was once pure.

     By this point in time, my mind had begun to clutter and confuse itself. I had no grasp of time nor distance. What use are such measurements when you're free? Freedom. It is a feeling I had always ached to attain. It seemed to call to me from the forest's edge as if the trees were whispering to me. The woods have always had breath and life more abundant than any human place I've ever lived. I had finally given into their ethereal invitations without guild and without worry. Now that I had entered this earthly heaven, this divine domain, I had no plans of returning to the human-made hell.

     After a while of walking through my paradise, the memory of being chased seemed like the distant ghost of a dream. But my instincts still bade me run. I had to move constantly. It was instinct that now took complete control of my mind and body. Reason had been left behind- scattered among briars and screeches of a mother's car tires. My boots began to swing through the air in a rough rhythm once again and I was off.

     A wider creek than the first began to approach me from somewhere among the trees. It presented itself as a friend with a sandy, shallow place for crossing. I managed to maneuver down one of its banks with the aid of the arms of young trees that ushered me along. The golden sand that paved my way was soft and loose under my footfalls and allowed me to slide down to the water's edge. My boots were dampened upon crossing, but were of no real discomfort to me as I began to walk again. The sun was beginning to greet the horizon, but told me that I had a few hours left before complete darkness would fall upon us.

     An ancient oak suggested that I rest against him. I did as he asked and soon found that my eyes closed without my permission. I remember that looking up at the sky was my next conscious visual as the trees submitted their evening prayers with frail fingers. I bid them all a fond farewell and began to pick up my feet once more. Trees passed by for an extended period of time, or perhaps only minutes before I came across another creek. The banks of this one were steeper than the last and teased me with the prospect of defeat. I had forgotten that any road existed beyond the borders of the woods.

     Frantically, I searched for a place to cross and even contemplated wading through the frigid water, but soon saw the glimmer of white sand a few paces away. Hurriedly, I went to request safe passage from the sand only to find that it was more familiar than it should have been. Perhaps it was only deja vu I told myself. But then I noticed strange tracks leading down toward the creek from the top of the sand bank. Is it possible for deja vu to take physical form and show a person their footprints before they are made? I now began to pace in circles as I was beginning to realize I must have done before on a larger scale. But how did I end up on the same side of the creek when I didn't remember crossing it a second time?

     It was only then in my desperation that I remembered the road- the human thing that lurked beyond the safety of the trees. I decided to take my chances and stalk my way to its edge taking refuge among the trees that were thicker near the water's meandering path. I lied down at the forest's border line to inspect the roadway. No cars nor houses posed ay threat. I made up my mind and set out to cross this new kind of creek flowing with lifeless asphalt.

     Quickly I ran across the road and into the woods on the other side. Already I sensed that there would be a change in terrain as my creek turned into marsh and then into swamp. There were signs of humanity on this side of the road. A ladder was placed against a tree in attempts of conquering it, a rusted out bucket was turned over on a limb of another, and cans littered the soggy soil. It seemed as if I was now walking over an ancient battle site that had witnessed a struggle between man and nature.

     I wasted no time getting away from that place. I knew the swamp would be a hassle to cross and that I would have to find a way around it. Two deer had the same idea, but splashed their way through the murky water without hesitation. I found one of their many footpaths and followed it as I use to do as a young girl. Once again nature had shown me the path to safety and I was able to pick out my way along the edge of the swamp on dry ground.

     Unfortunately, the highway had ventured closer once again and I remembered from my days as a civilized human being that the colors of sunset signaled the time that traffic was at its peak. A wall of rock had been placed on the side of the hill that led up to the road and I took comfort in the fact that it was too steep for the cars overhead to notice a girl among the trees and rotting logs below. The deer path led me to the side of a river, but I was no longer thinking of a next step for my getaway. I spotted a feather on the ground and decided to braid it into my hair. I spotted a place to rest under the bridge that led metallic four-eyed beasts over the brown water of the river. To get there, I had to climb up rocks the humans had placed there to prevent erosion. The rocks nearly froze the palms of my hands as I picked my way up the slope. The femur bone of some animal warned of the dangers of such a climb, but I continued my ascent regardless.

     I watched as the bright colors of sunset faded to the purples and blues of twilight before I decided to tear myself away from my utopian home and finally take the road above. I waited until no sound of bustling vehicles reached my ears and then climbed over the railing alongside the road so taht my boots would once again know the feel of asphalt. I walked for a long time ignoring the oncoming traffic, but squinted my eyes against their lights. Some slowed down a bit as they acknowledged my existence, but most of them went by as though I were invisible. Such a concept intrigued me and I kept walking without knowing where I was.

     In the map that was stored in my mind I should have been walking toward a gas station, but soon realized that the road I was on was not the same as the one that would take me to my desired destination. I didn't panic, but rather began to formulate a plan. Should I forfeit my peaceful war and call my mother? Or should I find a place to spend the night where no one would find me before dawn? I knew that it was cold ouside and would only get colder, but it was my brain that informed me of this and not my body. I passed dilapidated sheds and abandoned train cars that seemed like nice places to spend the night, but kept walking in case something better presented itself.

     As the moon began to rise, my patience and level of determination began to fall. I remebered a house that I had passed earlier with a nicely decorated garden and children's toys scattered about in the yard. Such careful tending of the earth and children were comforting to me. After pushing aside my sense of failure and defeat, I decided to go to the house in order to use the phone. An old man answered the door and a woman in her forties appeared from behind a wall that separated the kitchen from the living room. Soon, two more pairs of eyes peeped out at me from behind a wall, but those belonged to two little girls who were very excited to have a stranger visit them. I was introduced to the family's dog and given a seat in which to rest. I had told them with a little guilt that my car had broken down and I needed my mother to come pick me up.

     A few minutes passed before headlights blinded me from behind the glass of a window. I bid the family farewell as they wished me luck with my car and offered words of hope and sympathy. My mother's car was filled with tension. She yelled some words back to me that I didn't digest and we rode home. A few minutes passed before I noticed that tears were streaming down my face. I missed my sylvan refuge already with its peace and divine design. I was now back in the world of human chaos and knew very well that it was too late to turn back.

     My stepfather was waiting for me with words of hatred when I returned to the house. That didn't surprise me. My mom sat silent as I was called a f*****g b***h and an idiot, an atheist and a devil-worshipper, then sent to my room. That night I dreamt of the forest.