Memoirs of an open mind

Part three: We don’t go beyond the forest

 

The following day nothing truly amazing happened. Celica could not get over the impression from encountering this Gwarockie called Gnarly-Jack; almost like it all was one big dream for her. And the more time she spent thinking of it the more she actually started to think it had all been some part of her imagination. Considering she hadn’t let her imagination flow since she barely could reach the second shelf in her mother’s house, this extreme outburst of fantasy could be a side-effect.

She dared not ask anyone for they would call her silly and laugh at her for not knowing any better. No, Celica was once again on her own. The way she had always been and perhaps the way she most often preferred.

Uncertain if it had all been a dream or not Celica spent most of the day helping her mother with tasks in the household. She knew it would pay off, letting her go out on longer trips later.

That night Celica did not sleep very well.

 

“Up n’ about again are you missus?” the watchman asked. “Lost her doll has she?”

“No, I’d just like to go out and visit the road for a bit.” Celica lied.

“Isn’t anything on the road for a young lady innit?” said the watchman heartily.

“Nevertheless I would like to go.” Celica persisted.

“Ah. The spirit of the young, now who would I be to stop them ladies from venturing forth? A cruel cruel man would I be, aye so I would.” The watchman said. “Then again I belong to them watchmen, being my job to look after them fo’ks innit?”

“I will only go a bit down the road, I’ll be back before noon I promise.”

“Now don’t you go doing all that mischievous thingy you teenagers do, hear me well missus?” the watchman asked with a worried voice.

“I promise.” Celica lied.

“Rightey-o then. On your way you be! Don’t make me regret this.”

“Thank you, I’ll be back soon!” Celica cried.

“Something’s telling me I’ll regret this big time.” the watchman said.

He would…

 

Celica couldn’t hide that she did feel a bit scared when she finally entered the woods. Her first destination for the day was to visit “The Feathergun” and talk to Gnarly-Jack, she didn’t find him there though. If he wasn’t there then perhaps it was all her imagination?

So she circled the village until she came to the southern part and went to the woods. The southern watchman wasn’t as watchful as his northern colleague, being asleep and all. Celica took her first steps, admittedly they were the hardest. She felt a strong force within her screaming for her to stop, but she didn’t. When her body gave up and let her walk forward her heart started raising, begging her to turn around. She wouldn’t. Finally her mind started to play tricks on her, conjuring shadows at the corner of her eyes, scaring her to reconsider. She didn’t want to.

In the forest grew many things she had never seen before, there were these things people used to call mushrooms but she had never tasted any. She could recognize them from the tales though, they had feet, sometimes large, sometimes small. Then came the funny-looking hats in different shapes and sizes, they too varied in colors Celica noticed. Nobody had told her this and she was amazed from just how many variations of mushrooms there could be. Some were edible and others weren’t she had heard, but which one?

Celica saw a mushroom with the most beautiful vibrant colors, it was white with red spots all over it. It almost glowed in the rays of sunlight cast between the trees, this particular mushroom looked very delicious. She figured if it looked good it probably was. So she picked one up to try it, just a small nibble.

As she progressed to take her first bite the mushroom suddenly got struck out of her hand and crushed under an invisible weight. She gasped and put her hands to her mouth to force herself from screaming. Then she remembered to blink, so she blinked.

Suddenly she saw a faint movement amongst the trees, it tried to blend in amongst the shadows but it only enhanced the current shadow making it noticeable. The more she blinked the more she saw it moving about.

“I know you are there!” she said loudly.

No one or nothing answered. Celica was a bit disappointed. Then she smiled a little, being the clever girl she was she thought about provoking whatever was following her into doing the same thing again. She had no clue the mushroom she just tried to eat was referred to as toadstool and that it was one of the most common poisonous mushrooms found in forests. She only knew that it didn’t want her to eat one of these mushrooms so that was exactly what she would try to do once more.

She ventured a little deeper into the woods until she saw another one, not identical to the previous one but similar enough. She plucked it and this time started to bite it, nothing smacked it away from her this time. Disappointed she took a big bite and swallowed. Nothing…

Celica sighed.

“You shouldn’t have done that.” a voice echoed through the trees.

 

“You should not have done that.”

She blinked as fast as she could, it was there alright. Always in the corner of her eyes, keeping its distance.

“Show yourself!” she demanded.

“Oh no no no! Why would I ever do that?” it answered.

“Gnarly-Jack, is it you?” she wondered.

“Wrong! Although I’ve heard of him, isn’t he a bit shady for your company?” the voice chuckled.

“Ha. Ha. Ha. Who are you then?”

“For humans it’s a bit hard to explain, you grasp only parts of the world. I am and I am not, I exist among you but I also exist somewhere else. I tend to the trees and keep them from harm.” it said.

“Like a gardener then?” Celica asked.

“A gardener?!” the laughing came from all directions at once. “No young human, a gardener I am not. However if it amuses thee I won’t stop you from recklessly degrading my tasks.”

“Are you a Gwarockey?” she then asked.

“Wrong again.” it sounded amused. “For Gwarockies can easily be seen using your eyes, see you can manipulate them. No, I cannot be seen as well as them. It is my strength… And my weakness.”

“Why is it your weakness?” she asked.

“I can never stop moving around. It’s the way I’m created see? If I ever stop I’ll die.” it said.

“Sad.” Celica confirmed.

“Far from it I’d say. Many of my kind don’t like it, me however? I love my abilities, no worries there.”

“So what’s your name?” she asked.

“Elgar.” it answered.

“That’s pretty much a human name!” Celica said giggling.

“Because it is. My kind does not use names, I have simply chosen one fitting this situation and am likely to change it when I encounter a human again. Now human, would you tell me your name?”

“Don’t!” something whispered inside her head. “Don’t tell him. Don’t tell him!” it continued.

“My name is-“ Celica started.

“-don’t tell him-“ the voice interrupted.

“-my name…” Celica froze for a second.

“Yes? Your name?” Elgar asked.

“Is Emma.” Celica finally said.

A snickering echoed left to right, right to left. “No it isn’t. Tell me your real name girl.” it almost demanded.

“Why do you care what my name is?” she asked.

“Now we are friends yes? Friends need to know each other’s names.” Elgar replied.

“We are hardly friends and you don’t even have a name!” Celica said.

“Now you listen...” Elgar suddenly sounded uncontrollably mad. Then a sigh came through the whole of the forest. “The mushroom you just ate is poisonous, I can help you but my powers are limited. If you don’t give me your name then I won’t be able to help you.” Elgar sounded calm again but the edge was still there. “I tried to save you once but you ignored it, remember?”

“Lies!” multiple voices this time. “All lies! Don’t listen, don’t believe his wretched lies!” they encouraged Celica.

“And if I don’t give you my name?” Celica asked.

“Then we can’t be friends and I can’t help you.” Elgar’s voice seeped through Celica as if it was drenched in poison itself. She felt discomfort.

“No friends. Can’t be friends!” the voices cried.

“Can’t or won’t?” Celica asked.

“What’s the difference?” it exploded in furious anger. Elgar’s voice shattered into million smaller voices, more high pitched. “WITHOUT ME YOU WILL DIE!” they said. Then they united into a distorted lower voice. “You won’t survive.”

“I don’t trust you.” Celica said.

Elgar shrieked, the sound could shatter glass. Then came a sonic boom which threw Celica backwards into a tree. She hit her head and fainted.

 

When she open her eyes again it was dark outside, she had a fever. Her insides felt like they were soon going to be leaving one way or the other. Celica knew from the start that Elgar hadn’t lied, at least not about the poisoning. She had never been poisoned before and she would make damn sure it would never occur again. But right now she was sure of it as she had been sure of anything in her life, this had to be poison. Only problem was she had no clue how to get rid of it.

“Elgar?” she murmured softly. But no answer came.

She blinked for as much as she could endure before getting too dizzy to continue. She could neither see nor sense any presence besides herself.

Celica was afraid, she hadn’t prepared for a situation like this. To be all alone in the woods past noon without anyone looking for her or knowing where to look for her. She knew she had no strength to return home, albeit she wouldn’t die in the woods but she would definitely suffer for a long while. That much she knew, being the clever girl she was. And even if she would die Celica figured it wouldn’t be the fear of death that would scare her the most but the fear of suffering. 

She took out her three pink-colored rocks and started to roll them in her hands while tears slowly dripped from her cheeks. Celica tried not to focus on the pain but it truly was hard. With the energy she could conjure she tried to think of where the voices came from and from whom, why did they warn her? What was the danger of trusting Elgar? And why did she choose to trust them instead of Elgar, they were just as strange to her as Elgar had been.

Celica did not know the answers and grew tired after a while when she realized she was just going round in circles with her reasoning, every time she stopped thinking about the voices her pain made itself known again, so she chose to continue asking the same questions.

After a while Celica realized she had trusted the voices because they had sounded so scared, like they too knew what it was to put your trust into someone else’s hands and being let down. Besides Elgar did not feel genuinely nice, not like the Gwarockey she had met the day before.

 

“Excuse… Oy! Excuse…” something with a gravelly voice spoke.

Celica woke up from her uncomfortable sleep, she was sweating from the fever and shivering. Her stomach had stopped aching but the nausea was still present. She looked deliriously around, her vision blurred. She couldn’t see the owner of this strange voice.

“Oy! Oy!” the grunts came closer now.

Celica looked at her feet and there it was. A toad, or a toad-like creature, only perhaps with more plump features. Its skin had a rougher texture, almost scaly like a dragons and it shimmered at times in light blue. This toad-like thing was no beauty to look at, its tongue grotesque as it licked itself whilst focusing on the girl. Others would probably scream at the sight of this hideous little monster, but not Celica. She feared little else than pain itself, so when laying her gaze upon the grunting thingy she felt happy to be in someone’s-or something’s-company.

“Hi there!” she whispered in a soft voice.

“…I!” it responded in its deep almost coughing attempt to speak.

“Where do you come from?” Celica asked.

It looked mesmerized, like it knew what Celica wanted to know but didn’t know how to answer. So it lifted one of its feet and pointed at a rock. “…ock! Ock!” it grunted.

“You mean rock?” Celica corrected.

It nodded. “Ock! Ock!”

“You live inside that rock?” she asked.

It nodded again. Confirming by saying: “Ock! Ock!” then it looked at the pink stones in the palm of Celica’s hand which she had kept open when she was sleeping. Its eyes looked as if they were going to pop out and it licked itself again.

“What’s your name?” Celica asked.

It did not know how to respond. “Name?” it mimicked.

Celica pointed at herself. “My name is Celica. Celica.” she smiled. “Your name is?”

“Rrx.” it responded.

“Arghx?” Celica asked?

It shook its head. “No. Rrx.” it responded.

“Rrx then?”

Rrx nodded, then again started looking at the stones. Celica smiled. “You want the stones I bet?”

Rrx licked his left cheek as a response.

“Perhaps if I give you all of these stones you will help me?” Celica asked.

Rrx nodded. He lifted three fingers. “Three stone, three wish.” Rrx said.

“Wishes? No, I only need help getting back home.” Celica murmured.

Rrx did know how to respond. “Three stone, three wish.” it repeated.

“Are these wishes magical in nature?” she seemed a bit suspicious.

Rrx smiled and nodded. “Magic! Magic!” it shouted.

Celica found it hard to believe, nevertheless she gave Rrx one stone. His tongue hit the little pink mineral in front of her and within a split second he had swallowed it with a loud gulp. Rrx belched.

“Wish? Wish?” it asked.

“Cure me?” Celica asked without really believing it would do anything. Rrx’s let some saliva drip from its lips onto its left hand, it then hopped a bit closer to Celica. Celica was really grossed out from when Rrx smeared his foul-smelling saliva onto her bare scraped knee. She then found herself feeling better, it was like a when a strong grip started to loosen up and within her she could feel the pain fade. After ten seconds Celica could breathe normally and the fever had gone. She scratched Rrx on its neck, it seemed to enjoy the gesture as it closed its eyes.

“Well aren’t you my little knight in shining armor? Thank you!” she sighed heavily.

Rrx said nothing and pointed on the remaining two stones. “Trade? Two wish?” it grunted.

“Might as well, you have proven to be a reliable trader haven’t you?” she giggled. “But I do not know what to wish for yet.”

“Give stones now. Wish later. You speak, Rrx hear.” it said.

“Wherever I go?” Celica asked.

“Anywhere, everywhere.” Rrx confirmed.

“You got yourself a deal then little friend.” she said and gave him the remaining two stones.

Rrx swallowed them both as fast as he did the first one. The gulp was loud, the belch even louder. It seemed very satisfied.

“Before you go.” Celica said. “I would want to ask you something.”

“Wish?” Rrx asked.

“No wish, only a question. Is it okay?” Celica wondered.

“One question, no wish. Ask.” Rrx nodded.

“What lies beyond this forest?”

“Meadow. Meadow.” it answered nervously.

“And what happens by the meadows?” she wondered.

“Rrx no answer. Girl no ask.” Rrx responded. It looked uncomfortable.

“But why can’t anyone tell me? Do I have to go there myself to find out?”

“No go. Wrong go. Scared go.” Rrx said.

“I shouldn’t go?”

“Yes no. Stay woods. Here safe.” it said. Then something really strange happened. Rrx shifted its color from light to a darker blue and its eyes changed, they were almost human now. “We don’t go beyond the forest.” it mimicked in someone else’s voice. It must’ve heard one of the elders say this a long, long time ago. Then it regain its natural color, the eyes resumed their toad-like appearance. “I go. You wish, I hear. Bye girl.” it then said and started to hop away towards the rock which presumably was his home.

“Bye!” Celica waved.

“Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.” Rrx mimicked whilst hopping away.

 

Celica knew she should turn around and go home. Somehow she didn’t feel like it. Besides, she was highly unlikely to get outside of her village again for at least a couple of years since she had been away for longer than she promised both the watchman and her mother. Her mother! She would be worried sick by now Celica thought. No matter, her mother could yell all she wanted but Celica had to find out the truth about the meadows. And since nobody would tell her, she had to go there herself it seemed.

Some would dread to discover anything beyond this point, since the tale of the meadows had always been a forbidden topic. Though fear itself could be a strong tool to drive away curious children, it was not even close from scaring Celica. She had gotten thus far, she had met beings no one had ever known existed and she would blame herself for the rest of her life if she didn’t see this through. There would never be another chance like this one, she knew it!

Perhaps one day the world went back to its normal boring state? No one knew, no one but Celica could notice it anyway. No, this might just be the one time she got to find out. And she intended to find out.

 

Her rug sack three stones lighter and her body rejuvenated she stepped on the ancient path that led through the forest yet again. This time she wouldn’t stop until she came through to the other side.