The Mini Forest

Z.J. Willis


Maybe I shouldn't go in there. Or so I keep telling myself. I want to go in there so bad, that forest down the road. It looks at me, calls to me, and beckons me, though the last two are basically the same thing. But it does.

I so wish it didn't, because when I finally did go in there, it was the biggest mistake of my life. At least I thought it was at first, and sometimes still do. Only if I thought it aloud, she'd probably kill me. God she's so beautiful. The funny part of it is: she doesn't even realize it.

Criticizes herself about her looks all the time, she does. She really shouldn't though, if only I could get her to see how beautiful she really is. Any time I, or anyone else, tell her differently she laughs it off. But it's no laughing matter.

Perhaps you're wondering exactly what this forest down the road is. If you are you'll be happy to know, or maybe not, that it is nothing more than a forest. On the outside that is. If you were to walk down the road and look at it, you'd probably say, 'Oh look. That small plot of land would make a nice home,' and continue on your way.

I think differently than most other people when it comes to nature though. So when I walk by it I say, 'I wonder what's over that fence, wonder what's hiding behind those trees.' Though I don't really say it, more or less think it subconsciously. That's a pretty big word, and I can't spell it, even though my English teacher would probably kill me for saying that. We've had vocabulary tests on it, that's the funny part.

Let's go back to the first time I entered the forest'


The first time I spotted the forest was on a chilly day in November. Well, I guess I should say the first time it intrigued me. I'd seen it plenty of times before, on my walks home from the bus-stop, though I'd never really thought anything of it.

It was a dark forest, with tall trees that would block the sun from your eyes when it was setting. A small fence maybe three or four feet high surrounded it. In the middle of the fence was a small gate, barely hanging by the rusted out hinges. It would have been too easy to just walk through the gate seeing as how it wasn't locked. Instead I decided I'd take the hard way.

I walked down the road, following the fence, and came to the back left corner. The woods surrounding this part of the fence were very dark, and I couldn't see in. This of course intrigued me even more.

I jumped up, trying to grab the top of the fence, and failed miserably. The fence stood at least three foot higher than I did. That's funny, I thought. It's higher up in the back than in the front. The thought didn't bother me much, it was common for the back to be higher up during the time the gate was probably built.

I placed my foot through one of the holes in the chain-link, and slowly scaled the eight-foot fence. It took me a few minutes because I was worried the fence would fall over at any moment. It was so rusted! It buckled under my weight as I climbed, even!

'Ugh.' As I jumped down from the opposite side of the fence the landing hurt me more than I had thought it would. I couldn't see a single thing due to the blackness, but it felt as if I'd landed on a branch. 'Ow, that hurt!'

'It sure did look like it would've to me,' a voice somewhere in the darkness said. It was a girl's voice, a very beautiful girl's voice though.

'W-who's there?' I called back.

'Such a clich' answer! I figured with your curiosity you would at least be somewhat different,' she said. I could hear her moving not too far away from me.

'It's not a clich' answer! You just have a clich' brain,' I said.

'Ouch. You got me with that one. Well, you're not different enough for me, so I guess I'll be on my way.' I heard her footsteps start to fade out away from my direction.

'Wait!' I yelled. The footsteps stopped. 'What do you mean by different?'

'If you have to ask then you're not different.'

'So, you want someone'with ability, or what? If so, I do have ability!'

'Oh?' Her voice had a slight edge of curiosity in it, but it was still beautiful. If I were in my bed she probably would've put me to sleep with the right words.

'I've been told that I'm good at writing.'

'So you are different then. That's good. Okay, I'll help you, but if I don't feel you're different enough by the end of this trip we'll never speak again, understood?'

'Understood,' I replied. This girl was very peculiar, and it seemed as if she could see in the dark or something. She helped me up and we began walking. She held on to my hand so I wouldn't get lost. We were walking for about ten minutes when I finally asked her to stop.

'What is it?' she asked.

'We've been walking for about ten minutes now.' I said.

'Yes. And what's your point?'

'This forest isn't that big. I walked the whole perimeter of the fence in only five!'

She began to laugh now. It was a full laugh, and not just a chuckle.

'What's so funny!?' I demanded. I let go of her hand at this point and placed my hands in my pockets.

'These woods are different too,' was all she said. 'Now take your hand out of your pocket and give it back to me.'

'How did you know my hands were in my pockets?'

'I'm different, remember?'

We continued to walk, and I continued to be blind. I didn't like it. I couldn't see who was helping me, all I could do was hear her voice and hold on to her soft hand. She didn't move too fast, but at times I found it hard to keep up. She scaled fallen over branches and the like with no effort at all. Even ones that had left me a little out of breath had done nothing to her.

An hour it seemed had already passed and it felt as if we'd made no progress whatsoever.

'This is it. The end of the Mini-Forest,' she said.

'Really? It feels like we didn't go anywhere at all.'

She giggled lightly, 'That's a good thing,' she said. 'You're very different. You don't exactly know it yet, but when you learn it you'll be spectacular. Well, are you ready to get out?'

I nodded. I didn't have to answer because she could see me anyway. We scrambled over the fence and landed outside in the light. We were back where I came in at. No time must have passed at all since I'd entered the forest because the Sun was still setting in the sky. That forest was a miracle!

We walked out onto the orange dirt road that led to my house and I got a good look at the girl who helped me. She was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. She had curly red hair that bounced as she walked. Her face was dotted with freckles. She had dark chocolate eyes and was wearing a brilliant hue of eye shadow that appeared to be a mix of blue and yellow. She was significantly shorter than me, too. At least nine inches shorter than me.

'W-what's your name?' I asked her.

'What's yours?'

'Glen.'

'Nice to meet you, Glen. What a coincidence. We share the same first initial.'

'Well, what's the rest of your name?'

'You shouldn't ask a girl everything about her the first day you meet her. If we happen to stumble upon each other again, then perhaps I'll tell you my name.'

'But'' Too late. She was gone. I don't know how she did it, but she disappeared into thin air. Did I just hang out with a ghost for an hour? I was upset. If she was a ghost then the most beautiful girl ever was dead.

Weeks went by and I didn't see her again. The weeks turned into months, and exactly six months later I a glimpse of her in the woods. I jumped the back of the fence again and missed the branch this time.

'Happy six-month anniversary!' she said.

'W-what?' I asked.

'Do you stutter this much with everybody, or just me?'

'Just you,' I said. And it was completely true. I didn't stutter with anyone else at all.

'Well there's no need to stutter around me. I'm moving in next to you next week, and we'll be able to hang out all the time. That's great isn't it!?'

I nodded, and she asked me to go home until she moved in.

We became great friends after that, and I found out she meant our six-month anniversary of being friends. She told me how she was different, and always had been. Her parents didn't know she was, and she told me how I would be different when I was older. We stayed friends all throughout high school, and eventually we got married. To this day she's still just as beautiful as she was the first day I saw her.