Mystery Boy Lives up to his Name
Will Solace has biked along the same route every day for as long as he could remember. It was so familiar to him; the breath of air caressing his limbs as he sailed up and down the bumpy road, the sound of birds chirping a waking lullaby, the musky smell of leaves, damp from the cool overnight air. It felt like home.
The rocky road twisted meticulously; weaving through the old aged trees perfectly as if it was man-made. But, there weren't any man-made signs like path names or direction indicators or even an entrance sign. There weren't any indications that it had been crafted by the city. It was off the maps, unknown, and the only place where he felt truly alone with the world.
Well... almost alone.
There was one particular tree, Will's favorite tree in the entire forest, that was different from all the rest. It didn't tower above him like a wise and strong being like the others, which seem like they've been living since the birth of the Earth. It didn't radiate with life like most, which were full of leaves and noises echoing from within.
This tree was scrawny, with thin branches popping out awkwardly, not flowing upwards gracefully. It looked dead, the bark a dark, muddy brown. It was mysterious and it drew his attention, just like the boy sitting on it did.
He smiled, he was minutes away from the mystery boy's spot. Every Morning, Will would breeze by him with a smile and a wave. The dark haired boy would glance up from his novel with a slight smile and nod in acknowledgement. That was it. But Will loved it. It was his little secret. The nameless boy and the nameless path that belonged only to him.
He wasn't sure why he'd never talked to the boy before. He saw him every day, but after not saying anything the first few days he saw him, it got harder and harder to get words out of his mouth.
He had so many questions for him.
Where does he live? Wills's family lived at the edge of civilization and he thought he knew everyone else that lived around there. There really weren't that many.
How did he find this place? It wasn't exactly a well known place and as far as Will knew, they were the only two that were aware of it.
What book was he reading? The boy always held ancient looking books, the corners worn out and the pages stained, that looked to be written in a different language.
However, all of them were left unsaid. Maybe he was afraid of breaking the spell. Like, if he learnt anymore about the boy and the mystery was solved, his childish fantasy would crumble beneath him.
He remembered the time he found the path, he didn't think he would ever forget. He'd been 12 years old, going into his second year of high school, and thirsty for an adventure. His father was a highly respected doctor, and wanted nothing more than for Will to follow his footsteps. Being a stubborn child with curious eyes waiting to discover the world and all of its possibilities, he didn't like the idea of his future being narrowed down to the medical field.
After a fight with his father when he'd announced he wanted to be a singer (his career dreams passed in waves at the time), he ran out of the house, upset. He liked to wander around the forest to clear his mind, and they lived at the edge of civilization, miles of forest spanning behind their miniature farm-like house. His feet kept moving, one foot in front of the other, until he wiped his eyes free of tears and found himself trudging along a well trimmed path that cut through the maze of trees. Tall trees formed a canopy of leaves that blocked the sun and closed the path elegantly, and he fell in love with it immediately. He found his feet pulling him there again and again, until it became a part of his life, a part of him.
He smiled at the good memories.
A rusty brown and orange bird soared in front of his face with a chirp, almost as if it was greeting him good morning, then buried itself in the green on the other end of the path. He laughed, this place was weirdly magical. Or, it was just an ordinary forest, but in his mind it felt magical, his imagination made it so.
He closed his eyes, reveling in the sensation of freedom.
He popped them open in a panic when his front wheel snagged on a solid root in the dirt. He flew down to a not-so-cushiony looking patch of slightly muddy earth. Reality hit him hard in the face before he lost grip on it completely.
He woke up to a cold finger poking his cheek. Hesitantly, he cracked open an eye and peaked at his whereabouts. Shadowing him was a porcelain faced boy with delicious chocolate brown eyes, a worried frown, and dark, scruffy hair. He had always thought the mystery boy's hair and eyes were black when he saw him settled on the second highest branch in his tree. He always matched perfectly with the tree, but up close he looked more lively than the tree; he looked real and even more beautiful.
The boy clouding his thoughts sighed loudly. "You're awake." He plopped down on the ground at Will's side. "I got worried when you didn't bike by this morning."
Will's eyes popped open fully and locked on the mystery boy.
"You should be more careful," he continued. "When you didn't show within an hour of your usual time, I knew something was wrong." He shook his head and stared at the trees above them. "I walked 10 minutes down the path you usually come from until I found you laying here looking dead."
It was strange to hear his voice; it was distant, disconnected.
"Oh." Will sat up and rubbed his neck, embarrassed. "What happened?"
"I dunno." The boy looked at Will, but not in his eyes. "You tell me."
When a bird flew out from the cover or trees on their right, chirped, and hid back in the forest on the other end, Will started to remember. He remembered shock. Then panic. Then losing control.
"I was biking with my eyes closed," he voiced his thoughts out loud. He glanced back and saw the root that had caused this, and pointed. "And then that happened."
The boy shook his head and got up, shifting from foot to foot awkwardly.
Will stretched and followed suit. As soon as he was on two feet, the boy took a few steps back.
"So... thanks for, uh... looking for me and caring," Will said.
Will noticed the boy looked really nervous, fidgeting, biting his lip, and playing with the long strands of hair that fell into his face. "Yeah."
"My name's Will, by the way." He smiled.
"Uh... cool." Mystery boy glanced his way quickly, then turned around. "I've got to go," he whispered. And then he walked straight into the woods at their right and disappeared.
Will blinked. That was strange. He sure lived up to being a mystery boy.
He picked up his bike to find the front wheel deformed and obviously not fit to use. He sighed, turned around, and started walking home, dragging the bike at his side and replaying their exchange again and again in his head.
With the front wheel of his bike bent awkwardly, Will set out on foot the next morning. He ventured through the thick forest (their backyard) for 10 minutes until he was on the path that climbed up the land diagonally.
He started missing his bike when he realized he wouldn't be able to make it all the way up the path to the boy's tree in a decent amount of time. Biking there took half an hour when the path's conditions were good, so walking would be at least three times as much since the ground was muddy.
His usual routine was biking to the tree, then going a few minutes more so it wouldn't seem as if he was biking along the path solely to see the boy, and then turning around to go home. It was a good bike ride of about an hour, and it energized him; prepared him for the long day of classes ahead.
Sometimes on the weekends he would explore further, curious about where the path led, but he never found the end. As far as he knew, the path continued until an ocean prevented it from doing so. He'd traversed through miles and miles of woods, looking for anything new, anything unusual like the boy in the tree, but there was nothing other than the occasional fox or deer that would stare at him wide eyed until he passed.
He had gone down the path the other way a few times, but there was a large ravine that he couldn't figure out how to cross. It was a few minutes out; a sudden, steep drop in the ground that curved and raised again after a stream of muddy water. Will could barely see the other side and had no idea if the path continued.
It was Sunday today. He had a whole day's worth of time and he didn't want to worry the boy again, so he decided to take the trek to the tree.
He thought about yesterday's events again. He was puzzled by it all. The boy had seemed so distant, and then he'd just ran into the woods in the middle of nowhere. Who did that?
They'd barely even gotten to speak. As soon as the conversation had turned in the direction of finding out anything about the boy, he'd closed up and disappeared. He supposed it was better than the way they were going, never saying anything and just waving at each other shyly, but still, it wasn't how he'd imagined their first conversation. He'd always pictured them getting along immediately. Like, they'd be excited to finally share the place with someone. He thought they'd talk animatedly, their words overlapping because they had so many stories to share. He'd ask all of his questions and the boy would also have a million questions to ask him.
Maybe he was too much of a dreamer. It was why he was disappointed so often.
He was disappointed when people would tell him he couldn't sing for his life, when all of his siblings were fantastic musicians. He was disappointed when he couldn't play the guitar or the drums. He was disappointed when he'd finally learned to play an instrument, the flute, but then dropped it down the stairs and broke it, and his father wouldn't buy him a new one.
He was disappointed when his grades weren't above the 80's, because he the he felt like he couldn't be good at anything. He felt like he was letting his father down.
He was disappointed now, looking at the tree, which was empty and alone. Time passes quickly when your mind is running a marathon, and he'd already reached the tree, faster than he thought possible. Only now did he notice the strain in his leg muscles and the urge to take a nap. He'd over exerted both his body and his brain on the way here, and now that he'd stopped, he didn't want to ever move again.
He circled the tree slowly, but the boy was nowhere to be found.
He felt the bark, which looked jagged but was much smoother and softer than he'd expected. He grabbed onto the first branch, getting a feel of it's strength, before pulling himself up. He climbed a few branches higher before giving up and sitting down, settled against the truck with his legs resting on the branch. He wondered how the boy climbed as high as he did considering how small he was. Will had only made it up half the tree before he started feeling dizzy, and the boy was always near the top.
He'd always expected a wonderful view from up there, but it really wasn't that special. The tree was only about half the height of all the other trees, so the only unique thing about the view was seeing the path from a new perspective. It looked smaller, less meaningful, and all the little obstacles to trip over like rocks or branches couldn't be seen.
He listened to the birds chirp as his eyes started feeling heavy and his thoughts started getting foggy, and soon enough he fell into a deep sleep.