Week Ten Storytelling: Evergreen Everlong

The forest had always been full of wonder for me. The way the sunlight filtered in through the trees or the scent of the woods after a summer rain. Everything about it seemed magical.

Regardless of the weather, every day I walked its paths and uncharted ground alike, unwilling to spend my time elsewhere.

Everything about this place feels so wrong.

“Neena!” my mother snapped, whispering angrily under her breath. “Get your head out of the clouds!”

I smiled politely at the pair of people at the table across from me. We were at some fancy new Italian restaurant downtown, and I could feel the weight of my mother’s gaze. The air conditioning is nearly as cold as that look.

“So, Hunter, what do you like to do?” I tried, ignoring the urge to bolt and never come back. The man in front of me’s mother made eye contact with my own like my question meant something.

I wish I could just fake being ill again. It had worked three blessed times before my mother figured it out.

“Hunting,” he replied, nodding his head.

“Really,” I managed breathlessly. I care too much about the creatures in the forest to even fathom it. Could Mother have picked a worse ‘suitor’?

I knew he was talking, but it just sounded like meaningless babble.

“Deer are my favorite,” he finished as I caught the tail end of whatever he was talking about.

“Me too!” Maybe I was wrong. Maybe I can do this.

“Really? Do you use guns or arrows?” His eyes lit up in interest.

I stood woozily. That is not what I meant at all.

“They’re my favorite animal.” I shook my head. “Excuse me, I need to go to the restroom.” Squeezing past my mom, I made it safely into the bathroom. How long before the check arrives?

*

“He is a perfectly nice boy. I don’t see what the problem is!” my mother insisted on the drive home.

“Even after I told him I love deer, he spent twenty minutes talking about the best ways to skin one!”

“Well at least you’d never grow hungry with a man like that. I don’t know how you think you’re going to survive with an Environmental Studies degree.”

I banged my head lightly into the glass window. I don’t need anything but the forest.

As soon as she pulled up in front of our house, I leaped out and made a break for the woods.

“You better be back inside before dark!” she called after me.

Just how old does she think I am?

I sighed, finally relaxing in the quiet sounds of the forest. If I could just live here, I would.

I followed my favorite path, relishing in the familiar sights. There is no place like this. Nothing else in this world brings me this joy.

I took a right near one of the larger moss beds and ascended the hill. When I reached the top, the view of the sunset disappearing beneath the trees assuaged my irritation and bitter resignation left over from the day. “As long as this is here, I need nothing else.”

I stood and waited until all of the color had drained from the sky.

“It’s so peaceful.” Every time my mother forced me to meet another guy or berated my love for nature was washed away by the tranquility of the night.

Just before I was about to go, I saw a flash of light down the hill.

What was that? Carefully making my way through the dark, I descended down to where I thought I’d seen the light.

“Nobody’s here.” I glanced around, but there wasn’t even a sign that someone had recently passed through. “What did I see then?”

Despite having excellent night vision, the forest seemed especially dark here. “Was this evergreen always here?”

It was massive, much taller than the other trees surrounding it. Behind it stood a whole grove of beautiful pines.

Transfixed, I walked towards the secret I had stumbled upon. Moving reverently around the largest tree, I came into an open space. It was full of dancing lights, far more than I’d seen from the top of the hill.

There’s no way this is possible. Colors swirled around me as I basked in the warmth. Yet it feels so right.

“Neena,” a quiet voice behind me whispered, and I startled.

“How do you know my name?” A tall thin man stood before me, swathed in rich shades of green.

His laugh was music and the wind whistling through the trees. “Because you belong here.” He gestured to the quiet area, and the words rang true in my heart.

“Who are you?”

“I am Evergreen. This grove is sacred. It is only visible to those it chooses.” He stared into my eyes. “You are kind and pure-hearted. You know only love for these woods.”

“They are my greatest treasure. They’ve always been my home.”

His smile was sunlight through the trees, it was beauty incarnate.

“Stay. Spend your days with us.” He stretched his hand out to me.

And I took it.

Author's Note: To be honest, I forgot it was Wednesday today. But I still think this came together better than last week's Native American tale. The story I chose this time was of Neen-i-zu, an effervescent girl whose mother tries to set her up with a hunter. She refuses, but the wedding is decided upon anyway. When she goes for a walk, she disappears, and later the hunter says he saw her in the Sacred Grove with a fairy named Evergreen. 

I wanted to take this story and make it a bit more modern and actually detail Evergreen and Neen-i-zu's meeting. I gave Neen-i-zu a more plain name but kept the name Evergreen. I decided to actually name the hunter character Hunter to make him feel even more one-note. 

While this story didn't turn out like I imagined, I'm not mad at it.

Bibliography: "The Fairy Bride" published by Henry Schoolcraft

Image Information: "Forest Evergreen" by Unsplash.