The Forest

I wake up and all I can see is a beautiful blue sky with white fluffy clouds above me. I get up and I’m in a big, green field, completely alone, but if I’m being honest I’m really comfortable here, I like it. I look around and see an isolated small cabin just crossing the woods, and I think it’s a good idea to go and check it out, just to know exactly where I am. 

 

I start to walk towards the woods and just as I’m entering it I see a cute little rabbit along my path. I decide to wave at it and it just stares back at me, as if expecting me to do something else, so I try to grab it but it starts running away and I just decide to let it go and continue my walk. A few more steps in and I find the biggest, leafiest tree I’ve ever seen and wave at it too, surprisingly the tree waves back at me! I decided to try and talk to the tree, maybe it will talk back. 

– “Hello, tree,” I say in a somewhat loud voice. 

I wait a few seconds but there’s no response, just as I’m giving up and about to leave, a really thick voice, that scares all birds nearby away, talks back. 

– “Hello, child”, I’m amazed but try to stay calm, not a big deal. 

– “How are you doing today?”

– “Same as always, child. How are you doing today?”

– “I’m doing quite well, actually”

– “Oh, I’m glad. What brings you here?”

– “Well, I really don’t know, I just woke up over there,” I point to the field I came from, “and I’m trying to get to that little cabin to know where I am. If you know where we are, though, that could help me.”

– “Oh, child. I couldn’t tell you if I knew, it’s been years, decades since I’ve been here, time goes a lot slower in the forest, believe me, someone must have told me, but I don’t remember at all. If you find out, let me know, would you?”

– “Oh, for sure, tree, it would be my pleasure!”

– “Thank you, I wish you the best.”

 

I wave goodbye to the tree, and I see a branch moving back and forth as a way of waving back, and I continue to walk. “What a nice experience I just had!” I think to myself, excited to discover which other experiences I might have on this trail. This forest is bigger than it seems. 

 

I smile when I encounter a small deer lying on the ground, as I get closer, even as I’m trying to be quiet, I step on a leaf and it cracks, grabbing the attention of the deer right to me. I would’ve thought the deer could be scared, but it looks completely peaceful with no fear in its eyes, just pure serenity. It’s the most beautiful deer I will ever see, I’m sure. The deer raises its ears, attentive to what I’m doing, curious. I greet it in a sweet, high-pitched voice.

– “Hello there, deer, would you happen to talk just like the big tree?”

 

I wait with a smile, hoping hard that the deer will talk back at me. The deer starts to move, and my first thought is that he might just run away, but it doesn’t, it just stands up and stares at me, with those same eyes. 

– “Is it really you?” asked the deer, confused and… happy.

– “Well, I guess so”

– “We thought you had forgotten about us!”

– “What do you mean? It’s my first time here, I’ve never seen any of you before.”

– “You loved coming here, you were truly amazed by all this forest, but then you started hating it, whenever you came around you were always mad and didn’t even greet us anymore.”

– “What are you talking about? That isn’t true!” I’m starting to get angry at his accusations.

– “Well, don’t worry, it’s okay, you haven’t come in a long time, just don’t forget us anymore. Please”

 

I stand there just watching, thinking, trying to remember, but I can’t. I smile awkwardly and continue the path I was in. I notice it’s starting to get dark, I better hurry. I start to pick up a faster pace until I see the cabin right in front of me, with the lights on. There’s a welcome mat in the front door. I step forward and knock at the door, I wait but seems like there’s no one inside. I try to open the door and it’s unlocked, so I go into the cabin and take a look around. I close carefully the door, turn around, and I see an old lady sitting down on a brownish, old couch. I stare at her, she stares at me, and I see her eyes traveling through my body like she’s trying to identify me, tears start forming in her eyes and she speaks.

– “Darling, it’s you, it’s you.” tears ran down her face uncontrollably.

– “Who are you? And where am I?” I sound almost terrified.

– “Darling it’s me, don’t you recognize me?”

– “Who?”

– “I’m your mother, this is your home.”

– “No you’re not, and no it’s not. You’re not my mom, and this isn’t my house. Tell me where I am!”

– “Oh, sweetie, we’ve been looking for you, for years, but you never appeared. We gave up just a few years ago, sure you wouldn’t come back.”

– “No! Nothing you say is true!”

– “Do you remember what you look like?”

– “Well, kind of. I have brown hair and hazel eyes, I’m average height for a teenager, and I’m medium size.”

 

She stares at me, still crying, takes my hand as I resist, and takes me near the fireplace, where there’s a mirror. I stand in front of it. My heart shatters, and my eyes start to water down. I look old and wasted, I look like I haven’t slept in days or years, and my hair isn’t brown anymore, it’s gray. I start to see every part of myself, leaving the eyes for last. I get to them, and that’s when I remember everything. I remember every single detail in my life, I see every single person I’ve ever met, I see my family, my friends, my kidnappers. Everything starts making sense, the forest was never there, and this wasn’t a cabin, it was all in my mind. Did they drug me? Did I imagine everything? 

The End