The next day I ran back down to the forest; it has been becoming my only escape to real life. When I'm with nature boy, I forget all of my problems and I just loose all of my inhibition-not in a dangerous way, but in an exfoliating way….I can feel my shell dissolving, leaving a raw and open core exposed to the world. But it doesn't matter, because the forest can be my masquerade. I smile as I run on the dusty, gravel path that leads to the forest. I am wearing my running outfit, as usual, and a pair of ugly black socks. I felt the wind beat against my alabaster hair. Images of my past kept trying to invade my mind but I kept pushing them away. I wasn't going to let my past haunt me when it shouldn't. It was behind me; it was my past. It shouldn't affect my love life…wait, did I just say that….now.

I crouched down and crawled into a small opening in the woods. It was a tight squeeze but I'm skinny. I like finding different pathways to the woods, because it awakens the creative spirit.

"Laurie? Is that you?" I hear Nature Boy's voice. His voice used to be a little bit sinister and dark….kind of murky and melancholy….at least on the inside. Most people probably couldn't detect it, because it had been cloaked with a witty, cocky, assertive tone. Sometimes I wondered if most people are like that, but none of us take the time to notice. But lately, there had been a hint of jubilance in his voice, constrained but almost trance-like. She felt it, too. Both of them had been transforming. Maybe it was the elegiac nature of new love sprouting. It wasn't just superficial giddiness; it was bright white darkness and sinister light, the different symbols of the world twisted into weird perceptions and warped perspectives. But not all deformity was bad; if looked at from afar, it was beautiful.

"Yeah, it's me," I said, smiling. "Who else spends their whole day in the forest?"

"Me," he said.

We laughed, and joined hands. They ran towards a flowing stream, the embodiment of all time. Nature Boy cupped his hands and tasted the clear, exuberant water. I winked at him, and did the same. We gazed into the depths of the dreamy, translucent water and watched the fish swim. Looking closely, I saw a green salamander creep out from under a sandy rock, peeking his black little eyes towards the world. I smiled. They lived in their own little universe; their own little realm, not constrained by thought or conformity. They were so peaceful and serene, just going about their daily life with no worries whatsoever.

I stood up. "What do you want to do today?" I asked.

"It doesn't matter," he said.

And he was right. It didn't matter what we did, as long as we were together.

We ran in the woods, racing each other, testing our strength and durability. Then we fell on the ground laughing and smiling. We were seriously growing inseparable. The same fear kept haunting me: what if he's my brother? Wouldn't this be wrong?

Even though, technically, we were just having fun together, running around in Mother Nature's habitat, I knew that it meant more. I could tell that he knew that it meant more, too. It was mutual love; it penetrated the flesh. It wasn't skin-deep; it felt like the fibers their souls were woven from were crafted specifically for each other. They matched, like an intricate web of crystals inhabiting their souls that were chemically drawn to each other. Not in that "we have chemistry" "romance" kind of way. It was more than that. You know that theory where they say that there is one "Mr. or Mrs. Right" where one person is created specifically to be with a specific other person, and other people might come close to fitting, but no where near like the one person who was right? And from that theory came the theory that there was love at first sight, that the first time you looked into each others' eyes, you knew you were meant to be together? Well, what if God somehow messed up in the process, and two people who were actually brother and sister were "made" for each other?

I'm confused, but I try to push it out of my mind so I can just enjoy the day. But Nature Boy could sense that I was upset about something.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing," I said.

And he let it go, because we both have dark secrets from our pasts that we didn't really want to talk about right now. He understood. That was just one of the many things I loved about him.

We ran towards the beached and stepped our sandy toes (I took my ugly socks off) into the icy water. We smiled and splashed the water at each other.

"Race you," I said, and we swam towards the dock. Nature Boy got there first. This time. Then we went under waters and opened our eyes and watched all of the beautiful, fascinating creatures. I held his waist and resurfaced, staring into each others eyes. And I couldn't resist. I pulled into a kissed, and we kissed, for almost two minutes, and then we went back under water and watched the creatures, observing their natural, organic ways, so full and whole. And I knew one thing: they got it….what life was really supposed to be about, they got it.

And then I asked myself (silently, no one heard my soul sing out but me)….what was so wrong with falling in love with your brother? If the love is pure, and based on things beyond the material world, then what was so wrong about it? What made it so taboo and proscribed? All of a sudden it didn't make sense, at all. Nature doesn't conform, I realized. Nature's eyes create the concept of right and wrong, in it's own pure, natural way. And really, I decided, all human beings are brother and sister, because we are all the product of God and Mother Nature.

For now, that was good enough. I'd go back to it later, but for now….I was just going to enjoy nature with my only friend, my only sibling, my only lover.