The Rift

Chapter 8

She stepped forward, towards me, away from the maple. Her feet moved through the grass lightly, her arms spread out slightly from her slender body. Her eyes glinted, meeting mine. I looked away, afraid. 

“It’s beautiful here, isn’t it?” her voice was so quiet, if not for the complete silence of the jungle; I would have been unable to hear it. I stayed silent, still unsure of what to say, but she didn’t seem to need a response. She knelt to the ground, fingering one of the beautiful blossoms. With one delicate motion, she tears the stem, and raised the flower to her nose. Standing, she took a long smell, a smile filling her face. With a swift motion, she tossed the purple bloom to me. To my surprise, my reflexes turned on, and I caught the flower. I left it down by my side, memories of the rotten yellow bud filling my head.

“There are so many flowers here, but I have to admit that this one is my personal favourite. The smell is absolutely exquisite, and I have to admit I find then rather cute. That’s why I filled my clearing with them. ” she wasn’t looking at me, her eyes were one the flowers she was gently nudging with one of her boots. I finally brought up the courage to speak, although when I did, my voice sounded raw and shaky.

“Your clearing? What makes it yours?” her eyes dart up to me, the smile leaving her face for just a moment when I speak. But it quickly returns, and she laughs, a small, tinkling sound, that could melt the hardest of hearts. It even makes me almost smile. Almost.

“Well, I created it. I chose my own trees, flowers and grass,” she said, motioning around her. ‘I chose my own spot, and I chose who, or what, can enter. I am its creator. I’d say, that makes it mine. “

“Oh” my mouth opened in confusion.  Faith smiled. “How?” I asked her. She opened her mouth to speak, and then closed it again. The smile slowly melted off her face. She looked around, confused, and then rubbed her hands together uncomfortably.

“I-I-” she looked at me strangely, right in the eye. “I don’t know.”

“Why didn’t you want the other animals coming in? They’re cute.” My voice was starting to return. Her face turned cold.

“I don’t particularly find them so.” She started at the tree, as if looking at something I couldn’t see. We stayed silent for quite a while. She didn’t seem to mind, but I found it awkward. All of a sudden, she glanced up, her eyes falling to the bloom tightly clutched in my sweaty fingers. “I haven’t done anything to that flower, you know. It’s perfectly safe,” she said with a slight grin. Cautiously, I raised the blossom to my nose. Its smell was soft and delicate, like a lilac, and was more natural than the other, totally enhanced smelling flowers here. I liked it.

 A question was hovering on the tip of my tongue, but I was afraid to ask it. I was just so curious, but I also feared the answer. What had happened don that night? What had happened by that rift? And suddenly, questions were flowing into my mind, memories rising back, even though I had tried to suppress them. Like a dam broke in my head, and all the things I didn’t want to think about came flowing in. the dead flower, the scar ion my thigh, her death, everything. The willow and the maple trees. And all of a sudden, I was screaming.

“What happened!” my voice rose higher. She glanced at me sharply, startled by my outburst. “What is this place, what was that rift!” my voice started to shake, quavering wildly. “Why did you have to die? Die, and leave me with the weight of watching you do it?” and all of a sudden I was crying, my hands over my face, the sobs shaking my too-thin torso. I’ll be honest; I expected an explanation at this point. I expected that little girl to tell me what the fuck was going on. Where I was, what was happening. Why did this dream seem so real? But that was not what I got, at least at first. What she did say, she said it louder than before, her voice taking on a dangerous tone.