Seasons

I couldn't believe how long this was taking. It had been nearly three hours since Kelsey, Kel by most, asked me to meet her at the tree. I gaze up at the tall tree that better resembles an oak than a pear tree--no pear tree was so tall or so broad. I had only been five years old when I first found the tree in the forest surrounding the city. It was off the path leading to an old quarry where many of us liked to go swimming.

The existence of Magic was made public to the world three years ago, but even before that, when I first found the tree, I knew something about it was important. I stumbled upon it by accident one day when I was attempting to hide from some bullies and had no doubt that this tree, taller than the others and so thick it would take at least four men holding hands to circle it, was caused by the magic seeping into the world.

I’m thirteen now, and not once have I ever found anyone else near the tree. I had brought other people to look at it, but only people I knew I could trust. Some even had the luck of finding me while I was at the tree already, like Kel. I’d heard of people trying to find it without me, but for some reason, they never could. The track would be gone, or a clearing would sit where the tree should be. Once I heard that someone spent all day searching, and they had to send a rescue team to find him because he couldn’t find his way home. Even after hearing these stories I know I can find the tree every time, and while waiting here, I know the tree will let Kel find me. It always worked that way.

I sit with my back against the rough bark. It is early autumn and the tree’s leaves are just starting to turn the color of fire, more vibrant than the trees around it. The limbs are so full of fruit that many of them have begun to bow under the weight, and the smell of the golden ripening pears is almost overwhelming. Some of the fruit has fallen, and the slightly pungent scent of rot mingles with the sweet smell of the pears. I glance up at the sun filtering through the leaves and wonder where Kel is; the drone of the insects in the forest, the flies buzzing around the rotting fruit, and the warmth of the sun all combine their efforts to lull me into a daydream, and then into sleep.

*****

I snap awake to the sun hanging low in the sky. I yawn and stretch in the chill winter air. “Shit, it’s getting late,” I mutter as I haul myself off the ground. I’m grateful for the second-hand jacket and pants that kept the bulk of the chill off me as I slept; although the sun is warm the air is still icy. I brush a strand of hair from my face and gaze up at the barren branches of the tree. I must have been asleep for two or three hours. The tree always managed to do that to me. Something about it made me want to stay and sleep there forever. I stop to look through the trees for a moment. From here I can see the river, the steel grey waters flowing smoothly but swiftly. I let out a long sigh, watching my breath come out in white clouds.

I turn to gaze at the tree again. There’s no fruit left, of course, only a few leaves clinging stubbornly to the ends of branches either unwilling or unable to let go until the spring. The lack of fruit leaves the air sharp and vaguely metallic. The bark has turned gray from the cold and lack of moss around the base. It has been five years since that day I fell asleep under the autumn sun. I turn to start the long trek home, hoping I will be home before dark. I know I will make it back, but why does it have to be such a long way home. I glance back at the tree as an icy wind blows past and snow begins to fall in soft, gentle puffs.

*****

I grin as I gaze into the branches of the pear tree once again, the smell of the flowers soft and sweet on the breeze. The air is alive, and I feel its energy flowing through me. The birds chirp and flit through the high branches. The tree is in full bloom in the late spring air, and the scent is light and sweet on the wind. It’s been some time since I last visited. Maybe two, maybe three months, but four years since I woke up that winter’s evening. I guess the tree won’t blame me. A lot had been going on after all. The most recent of which is the wedding under this very tree just hours before. If I’m being honest, I didn’t know if I would be able to come back. I’m here now though, my muscles pleasantly stiff from napping under its green and white canopy. I place my hand on the bark, feel the warm roughness of it. I close my eyes, letting the sounds of the forest lull me as they have done so many times in the past. This time sleep does not take me: it is too early for that and having just woke again, it is time to move on.

*****

I run as thunder booms overhead. There is a flash of lightning so close that I hear the crackle before I hear the thunder. The rain comes down in sheets, plastering my hair to my face so I have to toss it back in long wet strands. The rain is pouring down as though the sky has cracked under the pressure of the heavens.

I slip on the muddy track and for a moment am laid out on my stomach three inches deep in the mud. I roll sideways as something hits the ground where I had been just a moment before, spraying me with water and spattering me with more mud. Then I’m back on my feet, running, running until the water looks like it’s falling towards me and the drops sting my flesh. Another tree explodes next to me with an intense impact of energy and thunder. My ears are ringing and the only thing I hear is the pouring rain and the howling wind.

I catch a sapling seconds before a steep slide down the ravine and into the river. I had missed a turn, and I cling to the small tree to regain my bearings as something dark barrels past down the ravine. I keep running, though the path I’ve walked so many times looks unfamiliar and cruel from the rain.

What could have been mere seconds or maybe hours, I finally make it to the tree. Swaying violently, the leaves adding their own rasping song to the sounds of rain, lightning, and fire, I collapse, my back pressing hard into the bark, and close my eyes. The wind and thunder are deafening--but there’s something else. Something like a roar in the distance. I try to focus on the scent of the tree but all I can smell is mud, rain, and the sharp scent of burning and ozone. With that, I refocus my attention on the warm bark against my back and will the protective power of the tree to hide me the way it could hide from all those but me.

*****

I open my eyes to the sun once again low in the sky. I feel a hand on my weathered cheek. I look up and smile for the first time in what feels like decades. I press my back to the reassuring bark of the pear tree and get, painfully, to my feet.

“I’ve been waiting for you,” I mutter, tears starting to form in my eyes. I have been waiting many years now. Long hard years. Years that have put an ache in my bones and lines on my face. Years that have bleached the color from my hair, bent my spine and gnarled my hands.

She smiles at me. Her short hair is still unruly and dark, her face unlined and fair. Her eyes all the shades of the forest as it begins its descent into flaming colors. I glance at the sky as tears begin to roll down my cheeks.

“Now you know that isn’t true. I’ve been waiting for you since we were thirteen.” Her voice sounds like bells. I smile ruefully and nod.

“It has taken me this long to find you again, I guess. No matter how many times I tried. I just couldn’t bring myself to accept it, to accept that you were gone. I have missed you, truly. Can you forgive these old bones for the pain I have caused you?”

“You have not caused me any pain Kai. You yourself were in pain, and I could never fault you for that. I’m happy I get to be with you again soon” With that utterance of my name, the name she had given me so many years ago, I break into hopeless heaving sobs.

It takes a long time before I manage to pull myself together. The sky darkens to twilight and the sun nearly sets. By the time I refocus myself, she is gone, and once again I am alone.

It is early Autumn and the leaves are just starting to turn color. The limbs are so full of fruit that many of them have begun to bow under the weight. The smell of the ripening pears is almost overwhelming. Some of the fruit has fallen, and the slightly pungent scent of rot mingles with the sweet smell of the pears. I glance up at the sun low on the horizon, filtered through the leaves, and finally let myself accept where Kel has been all these years.

I step over the roots to the other side of the tree and look down. A simple headstone sits against the base of the trunk, thick roots encasing the edges from long years of the tree growing around this simple memorial. I knew the name on it. I had carved it there myself when I was eighteen on a cold winter’s day before drifting to sleep. I had smiled and cheered when I had dreams of the wedding we could never have under the blossoming tree we loved so much. She had protected me during that dark summer storm where grief had led me to face monsters I didn’t know could exist.

I take something out of my pack. It is another stone with my own name carved into it. I place it next to hers. The roots move and spiral out, altering to embrace both stones and permanently affix them to the base of the pear tree. I sit next to the stones and feel the tree finally accept my plea. As my body fades into the earth to be with Kel once again, I smile.

*****

“Hey, Ben! Have you seen Kai? They haven’t been to the diner in a while. I was getting kind of worried.” The portly diner owner asked, wringing his hands a bit as Ben walked in for his lunch.

“Oh, Kai? They finally found Kel, and we don’t expect them back for a good long while.”