The Land Before Death

“Ok, that’s it!” I’m going for a walk! I screamed as I threw my summer reading book onto the table and glared into my father’s eyes. “Kara, wait-,” he started to say, but I cut him off and slammed the kitchen door in his face. I gazed around and saw our four horses galloping up the fence line. Maybe I should just get on storm and -, but I stopped myself for I would have to go back and get the tack. God, I can’t stand him, I yelled out loud aware that the horses were all were all shying away from me once they realized I was about to explode. Ever since mom died on her way back from that long trip during 911, life has been boring as hell. During summer and on the weekends, mom always used to take me on long trail rides while galloping down the countryside. She made it so West Virginia wasn’t as boring as it seemed. This summer, all of my friends went out of town either visiting family or at the beach and I have no choice other than to read, ride, and do chores around the house. As I was walking deep into the forest, I realized I was in the “forbidden” part of the forest. The back of the forest was “forbidden” because the last person who lived on our farm went back here and died. No one knows how or why he died, but people are afraid to come back here. I started to panic when there was a sudden shaking of the earth. I realized it was an earthquake when I fell hard on the ground and couldn’t get up for a few minutes. When I went to pull myself up and wipe the dirt and blood off me, I turned around to see where I was. Then, I noticed that there was a door made out of two trees arching over each other. “Hello there,” said a voice so charming yet it sounded like the person was very caring. “I’m Skyler, what’s your name?” After I surveyed him over, I managed to choke out and answer, “Hi, I’m Kara. What was that?”
“Oh, don’t worry about it. The ground always shakes when someone new comes through here, and if you survive, you’re aloud to come in.”
“Wait, what do you mean that if I survive?”
“Oh – sorry I forgot to say – Welcome to the world of the second dimension.”
“What the – I mean is this like not earth or something?”
“No, this is earth alright, you’ll find out later once I give you a tour of the place. I live here, for so do many other people.”
“Oh, cool. So, where are we going?”
“I’m going to show you where I live and then I’ll show you around town.” I didn’t answer for I gazed around at the view. It was sort of eerie, yet there was a bit of a glow that made it like I belong here. I never thought that there was a place so near my house that was really so far from my house.
And then I thought of something to ask, “So, why isn’t this place on the map?”
“Oh, it’s not on the map because only certain people are able to enter here. This place runs all throughout West Virginia and then into Virginia.”
“Wow. I guess anything can be possible.”
“You don’t know the half of it,’ he said as he rolled his eyes and walked on. As I looked around again, I realized that we were no longer in a large forest, yet there were bushes that led up to a pathway and then to a very large tree. It was very thick and there was a door carved into the bottom of it. When we reached it, Skyler kicked the door open and led me inside.
“Sorry for the mess, I didn’t expect you to come today, but I’m glad you’re finally here.” As I nodded, I took in all of the surroundings of his house. The house was carved out so that it was empty, yet dark. There was a lamp on the desk that was turned on, so I was able to see everything. On the far end of the room was a bed. There were sheets that were messed up as though he had just gotten out of bed. The desk with the lamp on it was cluttered with books of all sorts while all the drawers were open and had cloths filled in them. There were cabinets, a refrigerator and a freezer. In the middle of the floor was a fire pit that hadn’t been lit yet.
“So, what do you think?” he asked as I turned back toward him.
“I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s almost old fashioned, yet it’s modern.”
“Eh, that’s what the other person who I brought here said. I haven’t seen him since he came here. Do you know a guy named Robert Hudson?”
“Um, he’s my father.” So that’s where he was the one day he went off and came back screaming at me never to go back in the woods. As I looked at Skyler, I noticed his gorgeous blue eyes that stood out from his long black hair. I noticed them before, but this time I was lost in thought that I couldn’t move away from them until Skyler turned his head toward the exit and blushed. It was a weird blush for his pale olive skin turned even paler, except it was a more tan pale kind of skin. When I walked outside, I realized that he kind of matched in with the eerie yet comforting deal.
When we entered another row of trees, Skyler said, “Ok, so look around. This is town.” I looked around and saw nothing until I saw the doors lightly curved into the trees.
“We try to save our environment, so we don’t hand-build our buildings. I wish you people would do the same,” Skyler said with a long sigh. As I looked at the other people walking in and out of shops, I realized everyone was abnormally pale. I have never seen so many people that were that pale before that it startled me.
“What’s wrong?” Skyler asked with a concerned face.
“Um, is it normal for everyone to be so pale?”
“I cannot answer that question, sorry, you’ll have to figure that out on your own.” After he said that, I couldn’t help but think why he wasn’t able to answer it. I knew some things weren’t my business, but why keep them away from me just so he could torture me.
We passed through town and just as I was about to ask where we were Skyler said “This is the park. Care to sit down?” Around us were apple trees that were just finished growing. Skyler put his hand in his jean pocket and pulled out a blanket large enough for both of us to rest on.
“So, what brought you here?” he asked trying to bring up a subject for us to talk about.
“Um, you probably won’t really care.”
“No, go ahead. Trust me, it’s fine.”
“Well, so my mom died in 2001-”
“Oh, I’m so sorry,” he said and he really did look sincere.
“And so my dad always, well how do I put it, basically it’s so boring around the house nowadays and my dad wanted me cheer up and I just couldn’t take sitting in the house all day and -”
“You ran away? Oh, sorry. I’m just curious. I don’t see many outsiders for not many people live in the forest and have the abili-. Um, can come in here.”
“Abili- what?” and as I said that, his face changed into a kind of haunted look.
With a deep voice, Skyler said, “You’re a witch Kara. You have power.” Once he finished, his face changed back to that charming self of his as he put his hands on his head and turned away. Once he took his hands off he turned toward me and said, “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Wait, I’m a witch? What do you mean? I don’t have a religion. Since when am I a witch?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I never said that you were one.”
“Yes you did.”
“Um, no I didn’t.” I decided not to argue. When he looked at me, I saw that his eyes were drooping, so I let him rest a little. I seriously thought he was going to lie down but instead he turned his face toward me. We got closer and closer until he planted his lips on mine. I could not stop myself, so instead I leaned in and kissed him harder. As we pulled away, he stared into my eyes with so much love that I couldn’t help but stare back. I don’t know how long we stayed like that, but as he moved his eyes to survey me over, I felt so full that it was hard when I had to look away.