15 years later
Silence surrounded the boy, as he walked. Not even the leaves of the mighty trees around him could be heard rustling; and there were no animal sounds, no noise at all.
It was happening again. Countless times had he been in this peculiar forest before, countless times had he admired its mighty dark trees, their crowns so far above him, and always had he wondered what exactly it was that made this place so utterly still and quiet at the beginning of nightfall...
He could not find an answer. And still, more than once a week, he would return here, because something inside of him told him that there was a secret hidden in these woods. A secret that had been waiting for him for a long time...
But again now, as so many times before, he didn't find anything. And since it was already 7 pm and his mother would await him for dinner, Gabriel Potter started to walk back home.
It was quite a long way to get back, their house being about a mile or so away from the southern border of the huge forest, and when Gabriel finally stepped into the doorway, nearly an hour had passed.
As soon as he had entered he was rather fiercely pulled into a hug by his mother who seemed to have been standing directly behind the door.
'Where have you been, son, I was worried!'
Gabriel smiled. His mother was always worried about him. Especially since -here a pang of sadness filled him and his smile faded somewhat- his father had died in an accident four years ago.
'I was in the forest' he replied.
'Again?' she asked with a frown. 'What is it about those woods that you like so much?'
'Dunno mum. I just... like to go there'
It was the kind of answer he gave every time when that question came up. He wasn't exactly sure himself why he went there so often... apart from that strange feeling that told him to do so.
'That forest is dangerous. Wild animals and what not,' said his mother worriedly.
'I'm always careful, don't worry'
She gave him a look that clearly said she didn't believe that he was being careful when in those woods, but didn't say anything more on the subject.
Fifteen minutes later dinner was ready. His mother had made mushroom soup. While they sat at the small wooden table and ate, Gabriel asked his mother with his mouth full something he had been asking her forever, just every time in a slightly different way.
'Mum, do you think there are things like... like miracles? Things that seem impossible but happen?'
Anna, his mother, lowered her spoon and looked at her son with a troubled expression on her face.
'Are you talking about magic again, Gabriel?'
He had expected this, of course. They had talked about it so many times...
'Gabriel,' she continued, 'I know that you like the idea of magic. Every time you talk about it your eyes brighten up in a way they usually never do. I wish I could see them always like that... but we live in this world, son. And although there is sometimes a lot more to things that most people see or want to see, we have to accept reality. Magic is a dream. It is not real.'
She didn't say it in a harsh tone, his mother was much too kind for that. Therefore Gabriel never felt hurt whenever he received an answer like this one, but still there was a certain amount of sadness that crept up inside him... because his heart, for some reason, believed otherwise.
'I know mum. It's just that... whenever I go into those woods I feel... something. Something like...I don't know... like something's pulling me.'
His mother smiled a little bit sadly.
'You have told me that so many times, Gabriel. Of course I believe you, but there are always some places that make us feel comfortable, that give us a sense of being home. For every one of us. In your case, those woods seem to be such a place. There doesn't need to be any magic involved in that...'
Gabriel looked down at his soup. His mother was so wise in her way, but she just couldn't understand how he felt.
After dinner, and after he had helped washing the dishes, he went into his small bedroom and sat down on his bed. Tomorrow he would have to go to school again, spring holidays were already over. The thought annoyed him somewhat. Gabriel had never really liked school. Not because of his marks -they were quite alright- but because the things he learned there seemed more often than not unimportant and... somehow incomplete to him. Like there was something crucial missing, all the time.
And also he still found it slightly irritating that he would have to walk almost four miles to school. He appreciated the nice location of this house, but he never really understood what had made his grandparents build a home so far away from a town or a village. Living here meant to be by yourself rather often. He didn't know exactly how his mother thought about this but she never showed any signs of irritation when she came home after having made the groceries. His father, however, had always been clearly fond of the house, and the remoteness of the place. He never said why though. And maybe it was because of that that his mother and he still lived here...
Gabriel had turned fifteen two weeks ago. It had been a quiet, but nice birthday. He had seen some of his few relatives, like his uncle Simon, or aunt Amanda, who lived in France and came especially on his birthday for a visit. Yeah, he thought, it really was a nice day...
Suddenly, thinking of his birthday, he remembered the present he had gotten from his mother and walked to an old drawer in the corner of his room where he took out a little shiny...something. His mother had said that it was something like a heirloom, something that -as her father had told her- had passed from generation to generation in the family, over centuries and decades.
Gabriel looked at the thing. It was a golden ball. And on it, in small barely readable letters, was written:
I open at the close