Chapter Five

The view was beautiful, a part of my chest swelled with emotions. My soul stirred with fire and burst into explosions. I bit my tongue, the tears stung from behind my eyes, it wasn't a bad thing, just so much to take in all at once was all. I was experiencing a painting in real life it felt like. The lush landscape before me was a bright green like never before. Even the grass under our feet was illuminating with life that you couldn't find in the woods. It was nurtured to its full potential. It made me ponder on the thought of how us kids from the forest would look if we got the same preening.

The almost luminescent green grass and the hillside was intimidating at a first glance.

I leaned a little forward to confirm the steepness of the hill. The fuzzy feelings in my chest now dropped. It was indeed steep, the grass looked short and had a reflective shine from how kept it was. I didn't trust the hillside with my flimsy shoes and twisted ankle, I knew I would slip with one step.

"Magnus, I don't trust this hill." I admitted out loud. This wasn't a time to lie, that grass was looking more slippery by the second. A passing thought that came to my mind was people scrubbing the grass with soap to give it such a shine.

Magnus looked at the grass then back to me with a blank face, taking in what I said instead of denying my statement like the commune immediately would. It was different, and that was okay.

"Well, I'll have to carry you then, I walk this hill all the time, it can be slippery but trust me, it always looks like that." I frowned for a second, it looked slippery and I had no plans of making it down the hill by myself.

As if he understood that I wasn't happy with that answer, he added, "Regardless, your ankle is twisted so you have a good point, the only way is to carry you." Magnus explained, he smiled at me, his smile alone returned those fuzzy feelings to my heart.

This was different and not okay. My heart started to race again, I couldn't breathe even though we weren't walking. I wanted him to say nice things but that made me want to punch him. This was confusing. Why was my brain being extra stupid today?

He brought me to the side of an oak tree that watched over the town. I leaned on it for a moment while Magnus checked his shoes and anything else on his person that could trip him on the way down.

He bent over and re-tied his shoes, I had to catch myself from staring. A voice in the back of my head hissed like the snake of Eden, it fought with my self control, telling me that Magnus wouldn't care if I did peek at him. I held back, warding off the lustful whispers dripping into my brain, thought by thought, with each heartbeat that bumps in my chest, it grew more difficult by the seconds to be this strong against feelings like these.

"You ready, Constance?" I nodded, I wasn't but I didn't really have a choice when you looked at it.

Magnus came over to my side and bent down on one knee. Just the gesture was sending my mind into overdrive. A dream every girl has in her life, even if it was once. The thought of marriage.

I was whisked away to a memory of a town wedding. There were wildflowers everywhere and the gown was hand sewn by every seamstress that knew the stitching. The boys in town were tasked with gathering doves and the girls had to catch fireflies that night, we used empty jelly jars and had to be careful to not drop them, they were the only glass jars we had in the whole town.

One girl had her dessert taken away from accidentally dropping a jar during the vows, everyone's eyes were on her for a moment before her mom snatched her up and left the area. During dinner while the girl was in tears, I slipped her part of mine when no one was looking that night. The happy swing of the young girl's legs as she snacked told me she was more than happy at the kind gesture.

The eldest elder read the sacred book of our people and married his daughter and the head of the forced unit under a full moon. I could remember the glow in the bride's face as she said those words that tied her to the captain forever. He wore the same glow as he placed the ring on her finger.

Food was in surplus just for the after-party. Berries that were in season, cooked duck and quail, nuts that we could only gather from the farthest edge of the forest, fresh water that sparkled under the moonlight and every dish the townspeople knew how to cook. Along with new foods I had never seen before, that night was the first time I tasted wine.

It was a bitter liquid that burned my stomach after dinner and left a sticky aftertaste on the roof of my mouth. I didn't understand why the elders demanded wine with every meal they consumed. Maybe it was because I only had the one cup, after all, the adults started to sway and be silly after a couple of cups, sometimes a whole bottle. What I did know was that they all hated themselves in the morning, my aunt Brianna included.

Aunt Brianna… A pluck of guilt and true heartbreak had finally hit me. What would I do without Aunt Brianna? What would she do without me? What was she thinking right now? I hoped she could find me but not get upset about what I was currently up to. I wished she could forgive me for leaving her high and dry during the birthday celebration like that, and I prayed that she would forgive me for any sins I had committed on this journey already. Lord knows what I did, even if I didn't.

Magnus gently scooped my legs then my body and lifted me from the ground as he straighten his knees. Like a gentle nest of bird eggs, he didn't struggle with my weight but with the way he was holding me. For a moment he stayed in place and adjusted his arms, shuffling me around a little until we felt like we were made to cradle against each other like this.

"Okay, we're gonna go to my house and bandage you up, sounds good, Constance?" I nodded once again, loosing my ability to snap back or even respond back. I didn't care for this shyness, but my heart forced it.

With thuds that felt like I was going to be flung across the sky, we made it down the hill with a miracle on our shoulders. Magnus gleamed a mouth of pearly whites at me while wheezing lightly, proud that he made it down the hill in one piece. I was amazed, he definitely was stronger than he appeared.

A pause with a few more attempts of deep breaths from Magnus, we were on our way again. We passed houses that had colors that I only saw in rainbows and there were strangle toys in yards like pink, tall birds and color wheels that spun in the wind. People stared from windows and smooth roads that they were playing on. I stared back, taking in the unique clothing they all wore, absorbing the fact that they were allowed to wear whatever they wanted and do whatever they wanted, no signs of some elder making sure they were in place. I wanted a slice of this heaven, even if it damned me to Hell, God wouldn't tempt me with life like this if I wasn't meant to have it.

Magnus made it to a deep green door, a color more close to the shades of greens I was familiar with. It wore a leaf color, or one of a proud shrub that I could hide in.

A memory locked in my mind for an eternity. Hiding in the bush, away from prying eyes. I could enjoy the colors of the dead butterfly I found as I hid, it already was dead when I found it, I was forced to put it back down. Later, I came back and buried it, taking in its colors one last time before it was swallowed by the ground, its remaining life forces going to the roots of trees and whatnots instead of itself.

Magnus stretched his arm to the doorknob and turned it with his hand, me still in his arms as he did. He opened the door with a swift knob turn and sat me down in the nearest chair, turning around and closing the door just as quickly. He frantically studied each lock on his door, making sure they were in fact locked, as if he didn't believe it unless he saw it.

Observing the windows with white drapes and any other corner that could have prying eyes, Magnus shut them with a speed like he was on fire. After he was done with his hysterical behavior, he turned his attention from those areas of his house back to me.

His face was now dead serious, "Constance, did you come from a village in the middle of the woods?"