Spring Break

The sun was held high in the sky. The weather was neither cold nor hot, it was just nice. There was not too much wind that day, just a light breeze now and then. The swing moved back and forth in a monotonous way; the trees holding it for it not to fall. The birds sang with the morning sun and danced from tree to tree. She looked up to the small pieces of sky that were visible through the manes of leaves. The sky was clear with just a few white clouds here and there that gave a sense of life to the sky itself.

She sighed and looked down at her feet swinging with the swing itself. Today was the last day. Tomorrow would be another day different from the ones before. She would go back to the same monotony of life but right now she still could enjoy what was left. Too much had happened the day before, and during the week itself, and in the week before that sitting peacefully on the swing did not quite fit her now.

It all started the day everything began. Same swing, same trees, same woods, same day, same time. It is a rule that no one should enter the woods. She did, she had always done it. For some reason unknown to her no one else did, no one dared to do it. Yet she didn’t care. The woods were nice and quiet. She had made them her shelter. Throughout the years they had always been like that. However, something changed at that time. She closed her eyes and went back in time.

“Sing me a song,” he said, “sing me a song that would tell the world.”

“Tell the world what?” she asked.

“The truths and the lies,” he answered.

“What for?” she asked again.

“'Cause no one likes to hear them,” he said.

“That’s a lie!” she exclaimed.

“No, it is not,” he answered, “it is a truth that you just marked as a lie.”

“Explain,” she said without asking.

So he explained.

“People like hearing lies disguised as truths, and hate hearing the truths which they believe are lies.”

She smirked.

“You are a funny little man,” she said.

“And you’re not much more than a quiet woman,” he responded.

“Why would you said that?” she asked a little offended.

“Because I’ve seen you throughout the years, you just come, sit on my swing, and remain quiet looking at your surroundings,” he said.

“But you don’t quite know me, I just come to relax here.”

“Lies!” he screamed angrily. “You’re a liar just like the ones out there!”

“No, I’m not!” she screamed back.

“I’ve followed you to the edge of the woods and you just go back home, no friends nor acquaintances ever enter your home, you stay alone until night falls, and the rays of the sun illuminate the sky for you to come back”

She went silent.

She went through his words in her mind.

She looked down at her feet.

She looked up to the sky.

She took the ropes of the swing and lay down swinging back and forth.

Everything moved and remained still.

“Show me the way,” she asked.

“It’s a long way,” he said.

“I don’t care,” she affirmed.

“You will fall,” he said again.

“Then I would stand up again,” she said.

She sat again on the swing and looked at his eyes.

He did not move.

Neither did she.

They remained still.

One.

Two.

Three.

“Get out the swing and go up the trees,” he said, “I shall sing while you hold tight, for the trees will move. We will get to the land where no one dares to hide for they fear of the monsters that there reside.”

“Is that what these woods hide? A land in which monsters reside? The reason no one dares to get inside?”

“Monsters, lobsters, mobsters, roosters, imposters. They are all to be admired!” he said without responding to her inquiry.

She kept thinking, kept inquiring, but she stopped asking.

“Now,” he said bringing her back to Earth, “hold your breath ‘cause this will be a spring break you will never forget.”