Shine

“Elora!” My mother would call from the patio of our house every time I had been outside past dusk. She could not stand the outdoors. She would always complain about our house being so close to the woods. “Ava Forrest” It was called. She had a fence put up around our house, just to keep our family away from it. She would always say, “That wood is full of nasty things Elora. It’s best you stay away from there. All sorts of things could find you; deer, bears, wolves. Not to mention how lost you could become. You stay away from that forest.”

I, on the other hand, loved the outdoors. If I could live every day in the trees, or next to a stream, or on top of a flower garden, I would. Ever since I was small, I was fascinated by the forest and what inhabited it. I was six the first time I snuck out over the fence and into the woods. I had climbed up over the fence, feeling accomplished that I was now at height to do so, and hurriedly ran far enough that my house could not be spotted through the trees. I would imagine that I was a fairy, and that I lived in the wood. I would prance across the rocks in streams and hum tunes my mother would sing to me before I went to bed.

I walked for 3 hours that day, through all the trees and grass fields. It was like it never ended. I wasn’t scared, and I had already seen two bears. I even waved to them, as if they would wave back and greet me with a “hello’. And when I had past the second stream I noticed an oddly shaped tree. There was an opening near the roots. I remember walking to it and getting on my knees to see inside. The hole went on forever, and I recall imagining Alice falling down it and reaching Wonderland. My hand slipped and chunks of dirt had spilled down the large hole. My heart raced, and I immediately ran away from the large hole, all the way back to my house.

And that day I received a lecture much like the same I still receive today.

“I’ve told you so many times.” My mother sighed peeling carrots into the sink. I was sitting at the kitchen table listening to her nonsense “forest speech.”

“You don’t know who is lurking in those woods. What if you’re kidnapped? No one would ever know! And if you get lost?” She shook her head. Her ponytail whipped in both directions. She was young for a mother of a seventeen year old. Her thirty-fifth birthday was last Wednesday. I made her a necklace from daisies I found in the garden. It was pretty, and it had a clasp and everything. Although something told me by her expression she would have enjoyed a “Pandora Bracelet” instead. Luckily, dad had that covered. Being a doctor goes a long way.

“I’ve never gotten lost.” I groaned, sick of hearing the same speech.

“Yes, but you could. And have you done your homework yet?” She turns around dropping the peeler into the sink, her hands on her skinny hips. I groan again and stand up. “Get to it, missy.” She says as I slink away to my room. In my room I lay on my bed. It’s painted green, and it’s been that way since I was four. There are daisies that are painted up onto the walls, and even though there are clothes strewn all over the floor, it’s still beautiful.

I rolled over to find my chemistry book. I had always been good at school. Which I think may have flustered my mother when I decided to take Horticulture. She thought I would end up like her or my father; Pharmacist and Pediatrician. Medicine wasn’t anything I was interested in though. I loved my horticulture class, and it meant being outdoors, I was all for that.

As far as friends, I guess I have a tiny little clique. We fit in just perfectly above the band geeks, and below the socialites. I don’t get too involved in school, which angers my parents. I would just rather be outdoors and outside of school. I look out my window down at my blue Audi. It was a sixteenth birthday present. I used it for everything, mostly to get away from my harping parents. My eyes flickered across my chemistry book and into my big wall mirror. I often examined my complexion, wondering how my Italian parents created an offspring almost translucent. My eyes are blue with hints of gold and my hair is almost platinum blonde. I have a few freckles across my nose and a birthmark on my shoulder that is somewhat shaped like a tree, much like the one I discovered in the forest when I was young. My mother said it was the reason I loved the outdoors so much. One time she even called it my “curse mark”.

Thank you Mother, for informing your only daughter that she’s cursed.

I stood up and examined my figure; I was waiting for the growth spurt. My mother was five foot eight, and my father six foot four. Where I only stood at a measly five foot five. It was hard to even believe I belonged to my parents. Besides the skinny frame I got from my mother, I looked nothing like either of them. I sighed and sat back on my bed, opened my notebook, and began my chemistry homework.