Unexpected Forms of Resurrection

CHAPTER I

Gwen had her headphones on in her small backyard in a neighborhood on the borders of the urban growth boundary. To one side of her average sized home she shared with her brother, Elliot, and her father, laid the city and more homes, to the other the forest. Her short, cropped dark brown hair pulled back from her face only by the black headphones prevented it from falling forward into her way as she moved her head to the music coursing through them as she pulled weeds and attended to her precious Lilacs and other flowers and herbs. Her rich violet tank top and torn jean capris provided little relief from the heat of the spring day. As she moved back and forth to the sound of the new Mumford and Sons album pounding into her ears in her Portland yard, she barely had time to yelp in surprise ad she noticed Arthur standing behind her with a grin on his face before he had tickled her with a fern branch on her exposed neck.

"Arthur, you insufferable twat! How did you get back here!" she exclaimed after quickly composing herself after the very girlish giggles she had made a moment before when she had been brutally attacked with a fern branch.

"Well, seeing as I was in the forest fooling round with Gwain and saw a perfectly good fern branch lying on the path, I took it upon myself to do the great deed of showing it to you and graciously let myself in through the gate," he said with a stupid smirk on his face at catching her off-guard.

"Well, where is Gwain then," she haughtily replied looking around for Arthurs pranking friend. He warily eyed Arthur who was still standing above her while she was still sitting 'front of her flower beds. He was, per usual wearing a red t-shirt and denim shorts, his dark blond hair flopping in his face. His brown Converse trainers well-worn from his many antics about the neighborhood and rest of the city, often accompanies by Gwain. She thought, being 15, he was far too old to be still running around like a child. But there he was in front of her, with the same grin and energy he had since he was born, when he and Gwen had grown neighbors and being nearly the same age, they were close friends.

"Ah, Gwain is most likely wandering the woods, most likely looking for Percy or your brother to pick on." He said, still without wiping the stupid grin off his face, and continued, "well come on Gwen, everyone is out there! I miss you!" He added jokingly pulling on her arm holding the spade, she noticed, making sure she didn't have full swinging motion with the spade. Arthur knew from experience that a seemingly harmless mini-shovel hurt A LOT when Gwen wanted him to sod off.

"Argh! Fine" She said, relenting to his pitiful attempts to flirt with her as she brushed off her pants and trudged off after Arthur, over the fence and into the woods on the other side to join her past-schoolmates. Now summer torturers.