ami blackwelder - guardian of the gate

Guardians of the Gate

Book 1 and 2

Enter a world of elfin romance When a human and an elfin fall in love, what happens in forbidden romance?

Ami Rebecca Blackwelder

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Books one and two of the Guardian Series. Copyright © 2009 by Ami Rebecca Blackwelder Original Artwork © 2009 by Ami Blackwelder

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Creative Endeavors books may be ordered through local book venues and online retailers or by contacting the author: http://www.amiblackwelder.blogspot.com

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

ISBN: 1449557562 (Print)ISBN: 9781449557560 (eBook)

Printed in the United States of America by Lightning Source in association with Createspace publishing.


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http://www.amiblackwelder.blogspot.com

http://www.amiblackwelder.blogspot.com


Book one: Spring represents 3 months of seasonal birth of Evelyn. Book two: Summer represents 3 months of seasonal departure of Evelyn.

Prisoners of Pride

Book three: Fall represents 3 months of seasonal death of Evelyn’s worldBook four: Winter represents 3 months of its seasonal rebirth.

An Inquisition of Innocence

Book five: Evelyn represents 6 months of death in Michael’s worldBook six: Lynia, represents 6 months of rebirth in Michael’s world.

Roses Bleeds Red

Book seven: Elijah represents the twin that brought deathBook eight: Lilac represents the twin that brought life.


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Praise for Guardians of the Gate:

“I really like how you capture Michael's trepidation about asking Evelyn out, the angst, the worry. He is an interesting character. Certainly something the YA's could sink their teeth into. –Diane

“Great characters with a well-defined love story.” -Amanda “Well drawn characters, and skillfully painted scenes make this an effortless read.” –McikR

“You have a good plot line here, as outlined in your pitch, and two interesting characters in Michael and Evelyn. Michael is a very likable character, a potential poet who is also athletic, quite unusual.” -Gerry McCullough,

“This is a fine piece of writing. It is romantic, thoughtful and engaging. There is a good premise here and a confident execution.”- Michael

“Let me start with telling you that you write well. You capture the scenes and make dialogs sound real. Teenagers, boys and girls alike, will most certainly love this. Michael is a bit of a strange boy, but he is someone likeable and that is what this is about.” –Peter

“I like the romance behind this. I am positive teenage girls will swoon. That seems to be the way into their hearts and you seem to be on the right path with these novels. I think it is neat to have this incorporated into high school and the drama that ensues is humorous and heartwarming.” -T.L Tyson


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“I'm not used to the melodramatic descriptions in the narrative, but I think that's what attracts the teenage girl in all of us. In any case, it's juxtaposed pretty nicely with the high school setting”. –John

“I have to say that your writing is most impressive. Your characterization is superb, these are characters that all young adults will relate to. You have described the setting vividly.” -Patrick Armstead

“I think the YA audience will love the premise of this, and identify strongly with the main characters. You invoke a plausible context with you evocative descriptions, and maintain a fast pace, driven by authentic dialogue. I think this book will do well.” -Tony

“A good book for the YA market. Enjoyed it thoroughly, and as a teacher, find that it something the kids would be into. Good pace, lively characterization and fine descriptions. This is very polished, right out of the gate...

I can tell you did a great job with editing before you self-published! Once they get inside, the target surely won't be disappointed. More than anything, your dialogue rang true to me. I've got two teenage boys, and both would love this story! Evelyn and Michael both seem like very compelling main characters, you've drawn them well.” –Kim

“Oh, this is so romantic! I think your pitch is hot - I know I love the idea of forbidden love, and YAs will flock to it. But you also have quite a plot constructed, which will attract the more plot/adventure/magic fans. I also love that you've made Michael your main character - great to come in from the guy's


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perspective. Both Michael and Evelyn are ideal characters for YA.

What really won me over, though, is your prose. You are a poet, an artist. I loved Michael's description of first seeing Evelyn. This will totally MELT hearts. Choosing first person is smart, especially for YA books. The readers become intimately related to the main character from the start. Beautifully written, with a plot that is reminiscent but not a copy of the recent YA bestsellers.” –Lizzi

“Love the wonderful imagery, tone of phrase and use of Emily Bronte poetry!” -Kendall Craig

“This isn't something I would normally choose to read, but I really enjoyed your opening chapters - Evelyn, Forest, Kiss. You have an uncanny knack of being able to describe your characters and settings without it being a drag on the pace of the story. Michael's pursuit of the new girl at school is well-handled - the should I shan't I ask her out, try to kiss her etc - something everyone can relate to. You've set things up nicely, and I'm more than happy to put this on the shelf.” –NA Randall

“I could see myself getting completely lost in this heartwarming prose. You capture the emotions of the YA genre well while your description and back story doesn't slow down the story.”-Jo Ellis“This is a lovely story. Oh to be young, foolish and in love - great for the YA genre. Your characters and dialogue are realistic.”-Phyllis Burton

“This is a classical frame of love and passion balanced with the reality of a fate yet unknown to the characters or the parts they should play in the final scene.” C W


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“Your writing is quite beautiful. The lunch with Taylor and Laura seems very natural and YA and Lee and Sarah speaking French, is a nice touch. His shyness in asking her out is so typical of young boys when I was young. This is very well written.”-Tony

“You write really well and capture the teen POV really well. Unusual for this kind of novel to have a male MC (and POV) I really like your writing a lot and think this is a great teen read.”-Jane


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Summary:

Within the small town of Green Mountain Falls, Colorado, there exists a quiet forest where a world undiscovered awaits. When soccer player, Michael Cole, of high school Green Mountain Falls sees the new girl Evelyn, coy yet intoxicating, walk into his senior English class he is forever changed.

His passion for her takes him deep into her heart and deep into her mystical world. Will their forbidden love be able to sustain them as their separate worlds collide, taking Evelyn and Michael on a magical journey into adventurous and perilous realms where dangerous creatures are determined to defeat them?

There are eight books to this series. Each novel is comprised of two books. This is the first novel in the series. High school will never be the same.


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Other books by this author:

Prisoners of PrideLike a Budding Flower: Personal PoetryThe Water Jug: Personal ShortsThe Day the Flowers Died


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For Tasha


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Poetry used in Guardians of the Gate, book one:

Day Dream

By Emily Bronte

Wind and Window Flower

By Robert Frost


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Preface:

I awaken at the sounds of clawing and howling in the night. I hear it. It is so close now. My body is sweating and I jump up from my bed. My heart is beating fast, faster. My eyes open and widen to the window. They fixate themselves to the clear glass. I hear clawing outside and a rustle in the trees. Then I see it, a dark shadow in the tree outside. Under the light of the moon I can make out its long, sharp teeth resembling blades, glistening and shiny.

Its ears are long and covered with black fur. Its face is blue-black leather with stone dark eyes and small red pupils, and its stare pierces through my darkened window. .Its face is like a child’s and yet wolfish like a monsters. Its paws are huge and dark with fur covering its body, hanging over its eyes like eye brows. It opens its mouth and howls a loud scream, one long dark scream meaning

–attack.


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Guardians of the Gate, Book 1: Spring

Table of Contents:

Month One: March

Evelyn

Forest

Kiss

Waiting

Family

Closer

Folklore

Month Two: April

Brother

Questions

Tensions

The Practice

The Gate

Magic

Month Three: May

Floating

Danger

Aspen

Rival

The Game

Shadows

Protecting


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I remember the first time I saw her, meandering like a ghostly vision up the hallways of Green Mountain Falls High. Like an artist or a writer, I noticed all the details others missed. My father used to tell me, ‘Michael, you’ll make a great poet someday.’ I didn’t know then it was she who would inspire the poetry in my own life.

Poetry of passion…

Poetry of torment…

Month one: March

EvelynHer snow brown boots cover her feet and her high white socks stick

out over the top. Her white leggings are snug and tight, wrapping around her small legs until they disappear underneath her light blue jean skirt. A small bit of her white shirt can be seen underneath her green jacket. Her golden brown hair is highlighted by the late morning sun, shooting through the English Class window and into the hallway.

We are both heading in that direction. She pushes her hair that dangled past her breasts over her pale face as if to hide her beauty, but there is no dimming her effervescence. She shines like a lost jewel discovered for the first time by all the eyes upon her. Whispers echo through the halls in wonder at this new girl to our boring town. Her caramel skin is accented by her hair which spreads over her body like choppy waves in a sea storm. Her fluffy rose colored lips glitter with ruby color. Her emerald, almond shaped eyes speak to me as I stand there paralyzed with my mouth agape.


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Cheerleader Tanya pushes her way through the crowds gathering in the halls before the next class bell. A clique of jocks stands at one end of the hall while another group of kids with alternative styles stands at the other. A few girls giggle in secret near their lockers with hands covering their mouths and eyes peering over at the new girl. She drops her class schedule and bends down to pick it up. Tanya’s cheerleading athletic shape bumps into the new girl and she falls over hitting her knee.

I rush over to help her back to her feet, extending my hand. Tanya smirks and we all knew she did it on purpose. She knows I disapprove from my heavy glare and hurries away from the scene. I know Tanya well, or I should say everyone knows Tanya. Her large tall frame is the perfect base to the cheerleader’s pyramids and the streak of blond she highlighted her dark shoulder length hair with was the talk of last month. It didn’t take much for gossip in this town. She goes to all of the sports games at my school. I play on the soccer team. She often attends to gawk at the athletes when she isn’t practicing cheers with her squad or cheering for our football team.

‘Are you alright?’ I speak the words like I am attaching plaster to a door with my father, without elegance or eye contact. I am too taken aback by her presence for that kind of innocent intimacy. She places her hand in mine and smiles. I become lost in her eyes in that instant and yet never feel more connected. Her touch is like a volt of electricity surging throughout my body. I pull her up and her tall, lean figure, appearing frail from the distance becomes sturdy close up with well defined muscles underneath. I look at her schedule and a silent smile defines my lips and flushes my cheeks as I take her to the English classroom.

Her presence in the room is fresh, like the beginning of spring after the heavy snowfalls of winter. The snow is still falling in Colorado, despite the start of spring, and seems like it will be for a while. It will be a couple more months before we will see what flowers the spring brings to our small


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town. Like the new spring flowers that bloomed each year, she is a flower of her own kind. She walks towards the back of the classroom and plops into a seat. I am drawn to her and want to sit next to her, but am hesitant with my anxious nerves.

I settle for the seat in the front row where I usually sit next to Robby. Robby’s disheveled, layered brown hair looks like a mess. Of course this is nothing new. He pays less attention to his appearance and more attention to his academics and beloved soccer game. We've played soccer together since we were kids and making it on the high school soccer team was a dream of ours that came true for both of us.

The class bell rings and the students file into the room leaving their last moments of freedom behind. They sit studiously and focus in their seats, knowing Mr. Roth takes no excuses for tardiness or misbehavior. In this honors English class we all take education a little more seriously. His wide frame is dressed always in an impeccable suit and his dark short blond hair is immaculately combed and parted to the left. Mr. Roth adjusts his spectacles and looks over his attendance sheet to read her name, Evelynia.

‘Class, please, say hello to Ev-e-lyn-ee-a’ he slows down each syllable to pronounce it correctly. She has just moved here from Alaska and will be joining our Senior English class.’ As she corrects him, saying her name I know my life would never be the same.

‘Please, call me Evelyn’ she says succinctly as she shyly brushes her hair over part of her face, trying to hide behind it again. The class turns around to see this new spectacle in our school, our quiet and boring run of the mill High School. She settles back into her seat, realizing she has drawn attention to herself. I can see her squirming, and then an awkward smile appears that says, ok you’ve all looked long enough, nothing to see here, turn back around now.

A few of the kids giggle while others whisper as we turn back to face


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our midyear English quiz- all of us but me. I gaze around the classroom from my desk and whilst Mr. Roth is focused on the papers on his desk, lean back in my chair like I am about to yawn and roll my head in her direction. Her face is subtly soft. She glances up and I see her eyes, peering from behind her hair which highlights her heart-shaped face.

I smile and her eyes dart quickly back down to the quiz in front of her. The class is quiet and it feels like we have been there for a long time, too long. When the bell rings and everyone jumps up, ready to leave and head for lunch. Robby jumps up full of vigor and heads towards Evelyn. I watch as he takes her book bag from the back of her chair, in a most cordial and old fashioned way.

‘I’ve got it, thanks.’ Evelyn says, struggling to pull the bag back and managing to squeeze between the classroom wall and Robby to make a quick exit out the door. Robby smiles as he watches her delicate features vanish from his line of sight.

‘Nice try, Robby.’ I tell him. ‘Maybe next time you won’t scare her away.' We have been friends since elementary school and he is more like a brother to me now. I follow Robby out of class and as we walk down the hallway, we watch her as she glides through the halls. Everyone turns their heads as she goes by, gossiping, wondering. It is not just her drawing the attention of so many eager faces, but the idea of something new to our lives - something to break the monotony of our everyday. New is exciting. New is different. She is both.

She walks angelically, as if she is sailing across the halls instead of walking across them, but of course one foot did go in front of the other. Perhaps it only seems that way to me, because I am so taken by her. Her wavy, long hair sways back and forth as she moves. I lose sight of her as she turns the corner. Robby is anxious to get into the cafeteria to eat lunch. Why is she walking away from the cafeteria? Isn't she hungry?


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I sacrifice my curiosity for satiating Robby’s appetite. We walk to our usual table and join four other friends. I sit between Laura and Sarah. Robby sits across from me between Taylor and Lee. Laura strokes her blond hair with a wooden comb which she demands refines her locks for her role as head cheerleader. She has a crush on Taylor and says he has dark chocolate skin that tastes sweeter than the mounds chocolate bars (not that she has ever had the opportunity). I try not to keep that mental image in my mind for too long. As I sit down she is quick to tell me her thoughts on this new girl.

‘Did you see her? Her skin is ghastly.’ Laura sounded like a bird crooning in pain which I could only deduce was from her extreme jealousy. I place my lunch tray in front of me and grab the plastic covered sandwich. I answer her as I unwrap it.

‘She’s in my English class.’ I say plainly. Sarah brushes her elegant long brown hair away from her face and behind her ears to eat and listen intently. With her hair brushed behind her I can see the few freckles across her nose and over her cheeks which she tries to hide with make-up. ‘I thought she looked nice.’ Nice is an understatement, but I don’t want to give Laura any more fuel to be jealous.

Taylor turns my way when I say, nice, because he knows that is my word for hot, of course he would just say hot. He has no inhibitions. Taylor is another soccer player on our team who sits across from Laura every day at lunch and is still oblivious to her preoccupations of him and I know when lunch is over he will head straight to me and try to weasel out information about this new girl. His blond high-lighted streak in the middle of his dark hair marks him from a distance. If Laura and he ever finally get together they may just be the quintessential jock couple of the year.

‘You are going to have to show me her sometime. Everyone is talking about her.’ He pauses in thought and then continues, ‘I know, tomorrow I’ll meet you outside of English class before heading to lunch.’


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Taylor responds.

‘Wait at your own risk.’ I retort with a glint of humor behind my eyes and quirked brows. Taylor knows my interest when I described her appearance as, nice, and he smirks before eating his cafeteria food. Sarah crunches down on her apple and studies the variety of vegetarian delights on her tray before picking one up and eating it. She smiles at Lee who sits across from her and her right cheek bunches up in a high corner of her jaw line.

‘I saw her in the hallway before lunch. I thought she looked sweet.’ Sarah defends. Her words spoke less about Evelyn and more about herself. Sarah was as naïve as anyone could be at seventeen.

‘Always seeing the best in people.’ Lee jumps eagerly into the conversation if it meant to converse with Sarah. Lee’s Chinese features give his dark eyes a chiseled almond appearance. He is gifted with computer, a typical cliche. We used to joke with him about it when he first joined our soccer team, but since he hacked into the school computer network last year and was suspended for a month, the jokes have become more of praise. He reaches across the table and grabs a few carrots from Sarah’s tray.

Her lips press tight and she speaks a French phrase that none of us know except Lee, but from the tone of it and Lee’s retreat, it must have meant something in English like, don’t touch my food. Sarah’s long brown hair sits perfectly trimmed like she used a ruler to cut the edges straight and her fashionable appearance is only trumped by Lee’s designer jeans and Laura’s school cheerleading uniform.

Lee and Sarah are the only two at our table that can speak a foreign language. Lee knows Mandarin and French, but Sarah speaks fluent French. They never have much in particular to talk about in French, but the usual


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phrases about weather and well being and the less common phrases usually involving food, but they seem to enjoy the little French they do communicate with one another. I think Sarah just likes the idea of all things foreign. She fidgets with her fingers and pinches her face in childlike fashion when she is not eating and talking.

Additionally, they both always come to school dressed impeccably, something Robby could never aspire too. Robby twitches his nose when he ponders in deep thought which is too often for most of the students here. His verbose, over the head way of speaking lacks most of the local colloquialisms and common elocutions necessary for keeping the attention of most girls here, but he impresses the teachers which is where he spends much of his time.

He desires to attend Yale upon graduating, a school I have longed to get into most of my academic life. I have lived in this small town most of my life and am itching to get out of this place. Across from our table is where most of the cheerleaders sit along with Tanya. Laura would normally sit with them, but her current focus has been Taylor these past few months.

Like Tanya, Laura is quick and efficient to defend her turf. The cheerleaders are the talk of the school and if something or someone else mandates that attention away from them, they are effective in putting it, he or she back in its place. On the other side of the cafeteria is another table filled with ripped jeans, concert shirts, greased hair, and tattoos. Near the wall of the lunch room is the large table full of football and soccer players –the athletes.

I sat with my friends there last year, but this year has been different for me, Robby and Lee trying to buckle down on our studies to ensure the acceptance of a top ten school. We try to separate ourselves from the parties and loud lunch hours in hopes that our sacrifices will pay off in the end. Interspersed throughout the rest of the café is everyone else neither notable nor influential, but filling the spaces of seats.


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The bell rings to announce the end of lunch and we split up as we each head to our next class. My next class today is Physical Education. I head to the gym to change and then the track and field outside. That is when I see her. She is in her white gym uniform, sitting on one of the benches, waiting for her name to be called. It hasn’t been but about an hour and yet I feel like I’ve missed her.

‘Evelyn.’ The coach calls and her sharp piercing eyes dart up. She lines up in the third lane spot where Mr. Phillips points.

‘Michael.’ The coach calls again. I jump off the bench and stand next to Evelyn in the fourth lane. We all have our positions on the track. Standing next to her, it is difficult to concentrate. She smells like Jasmine flowers. Our gym instructor Mr. Phillips wants to assess our running speeds, so we need to run once around the track against the clock. If we cross the finish line under five minutes we pass, and over five minutes we fail. Most of us are timed at just over four minutes. A few of the class stranglers clock in at six and seven minutes.

I never have a problem running as I practice every other day with my friends. When we aren’t playing soccer on the soccer field we are playing hockey. The whistle blows and we attempt to outrace the others. Evelyn and I run side by side with only white chalk lines dividing us apart. We run head to head for the first two minutes and then I smile and wink as I pull past her. She returns my gesture with a shy laugh that she hides by looking down at the ground while she runs. I clock in at three minutes and thirty seconds, the fastest in the class.

She completes the run in just over four minutes. She ranks eighth in the class after everyone has finished running. Not bad for the new girl. I heave while I race off the track and up to the benches where Evelyn sits. Her breathing is soft and fluid. There is no perspiration on her body like


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there is on all the other students including myself, and though she clocked in as eighth in the class, she looks like the one who has exerted herself the least.

‘I hear its cold in Alaska.’ I look at her as her hair tousles in the Colorado wind. The next group of kids line up for their assessment. Mr. Phillips blows his whistle a few times, indicating a few false starts. Evelyn wiggles her feet over the dirt ground, playing with the sand with her sneakers. Her arms are secured with her hands holding each side of the bench.

‘Yes, it is.’ Her voice is soothing and warm like lemon tea. Her coy smile fixates on me for a moment before she draws her head down.

‘You must be used to the cold weather in Colorado then?’ I ask clumsily. She looks up and nods her head as the sun glistens over her face, gold jewel colors radiate from her complexion. She looks away from me and her eyes cast down at the shadows on the dirt field from the afternoon sun. Her honey colored hair wraps around her face like a canopy and drops to her hands. She looks comfortable as she basks in the sun. I turn my head to look at her closely, to see the sparkle again, but it has past along with the sun. ‘My name is Michael.’ She looks up again at me. ‘And you are Evelyn?’

‘Yes.’ She looks like she is about to say something more and then the bell rings. The class runs inside for showers and she follows behind the other girls. The next two classes move boringly along until the final bell rings and I pack up my things and jump into my truck to head home. My mom and dad, Sue and Henry, wait for me at the dinner table as I arrive late having stopped by the local library to pick up a few books we have to read for our English class. Despite what jokes my athletic friends make, I am studious and have been preparing to go away to Yale after graduation.

‘I’ve made your favorite tonight, steak and potatoes.’ Mom says


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standing over the kitchen stove. ‘Take a seat and I’ll be right there with you guys. My favorite two men in the word.’

‘So how are things going Michael?’ Dad says and begins eating now that mom has joined us at the table. My dad is a man of few words and when he begins eating, I know the conversation for his part is soon over.

‘It’s fine. I did well on my English quiz today and picked up a few books for our reports due next term. Though I speak about school, all I can really think about is her.

‘That’s good, glad to hear it.’ Dad smiles and then continues eating. At night I can only think of her: her hair, her eyes, her scent, her skin, her voice. She is intoxicating. I go outside to kick my soccer ball on the driveway in the dark. I cool off my mind and let the chilly breeze wash over me. Then I head back inside to a restless sleep.

The next day I spend an extra ten minutes in the bathroom getting ready for school. For me that is a lot more extra time than usual. I wash my short, dark hair twice and stare into the mirror on the wall. I rub my fingers over the two pink pimples against my nose. At least my blue eyes are strong in color to distract girls from the imperfection. All the girls say my eyes are the first thing they notice about me, followed by my elongated lashes. I have to admit I’m kind of proud of my eyes, though I had nothing to do with getting them. I shave my chin as I do every morning or the stubble from my hair begins to grow and grab my cologne and spray my clothes a few times.

When I get to school, I wait anxiously for my first three classes to pass so I can go to English and see her. I head to the back of the class, knowing she will be there soon. She walks into class just as the bell rings and returns to her seat from yesterday. I smile at her awkwardly and she politely smiles in return. I try for a conversation, but my throat tightens at the thought. What do I say? I’ve already asked her about the weather.


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Normally, I would have no problems talking to girls. I am quite popular. But she is different. When I am near her, I feel different. I sit quietly, smiling at her for the rest of class until the bell rings and everyone heads out. I notice Taylor hawk eyeing me and wiggling his finger indicating that I should usher myself over to him quickly or all hell might break loose. I weed through the crowd and manage to get to him before Evelyn disappears completely.

‘So, where is she?’ Taylor asks in impatient anticipation.

‘She left the room before I did. Didn’t you see her?’ I retort. Taylor raises his brows and in obligatory surrender, I point to the tall, lean figure in a blue jean jacket turning the corner at the end of the hall.

‘The girl dressed from the 80’s?’ Taylor giggles heavy. I hadn’t thought about it. I hadn’t noticed it staring into her eyes and finding myself lost in her flowery scents, but he was right. She was dressed like she was from a different time. Taylor digresses from his launch of attack on my affections for Evelyn and concedes my wording of looks nice from yesterday’s lunch. ‘But you are right. She is hot.’ He presses his lips together with a sound like a kiss slipping through them and he finishes with, ‘damn, those long legs are fine.’

For the next few weeks all I can do is think about her. I manage to say something in the second week like ‘ah, um, do you need my notes?’ She nods her head, no. Undiscouraged I eagerly rush to open the classroom door for her as she leaves the English class when the bell rings, along with three other students finding their way there, taking advantage of my chivalry. If I was the teacher I would have marked their names on the black board next to detention: Julia, Harry, Cynthia with big red marks. Today these three block my path through the hall, keeping me from watching Evelyn's delicate figure glide out of my line of sight as I had grown to enjoy the past weeks. Harry and Cynthia stop in the middle of the hall talking and I get stuck behind them. Then Evelyn turns the corner, disappearing.


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It is in the beginning of the third week when I mutter something like, ‘do you need any paper,’ while dropping my own paper on the floor, distracting her from saying anything back to me. I look up at her with puppy eyes and manage to squeeze out of my mouth, 'would you like...' and then the bell rings. I wanted to invite her to lunch, to sit with me at my table. I figure this will give us time to get to know each other better, rather than sitting in silence in English and gym class.

At the end of the third week I finally muster the courage to ask her out on a proper date without feeling she will reject me completely. I see her pencil break half way through lecture notes and I pull out an extra one out of my bag to hand it to her. Can she see right through me? Maybe I should not be so attentive? But she seems so fragile to this small town and doesn’t seem to know many people.

‘Would you like to go out tonight? I speak slowly, not realizing fully that I am actually asking her out and she is actually listening. I may have been imagining it as I did so many times in class. ‘I mean if you’re not busy over the weekend.’ The words spit out of my lips from a frustrating three weeks of denying myself the privilege of conversing with her. But it is Friday and I don’t have exciting plans, unless one calls soccer practice with friends exciting, so I brave the embarrassment of my impulsive question.

‘Where?’ She replies. My eyes open up wide with excitement as she talks to me and it hits me that this is real, not in my head. She is talking with me and I am mystified by her presence.

‘The Main Star Cinemas, it is up the street from where I live, thirty minutes from the school.’ She hesitates in her answer and then in apologetic tones says,

‘I...I can’t. I’m sorry.’ She looks at me like she desperately wants to


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say yes, but can’t.

‘Perhaps you would rather go with some other friend?’ I look down at the desk and play with the pencil in my hand.

‘No, that’s not it. I’m just…I would just…rather do something closer to home.’ She looks at me and away and back at me as she says this.

‘Ok,’ I say hopeful with my eyes widening. ‘Where do you live?’

‘Across from Lake Forest.’ She tilts her head to the left and her hair falls away from her face and emerges is the warm heart-shape of her forehead to her jaw line.

‘Way over there?’ I giggle.

‘I like to stay as close to home as possible in the evenings, if you don’t mind?’ Her tone becomes serious.

‘There is a movie theater across the street from Lake Forest near where you live, Major Cinemas. We could go there?’ Evelyn ponders the thought for a moment. ‘It’s a date?’ I say like a question and when she returns my smile it is confirmed. ‘I’ll pick you up around sevenish?’ I conclude and Evelyn hands me a piece of paper where upon she has scribbled directions to her house. A glitter of happiness sparks in my baby blue eyes and I wait for her to look at me again with her engaging emerald eyes. I carry an achieved smile on my face throughout the rest of the day, a smile everyone at the lunch table was quick to pick up on.

I anxiously drive myself home and park the truck in the driveway behind my mom’s Volvo. I run up to my bedroom and throw my hands into my closet, passing over the array of clothes I have collected over the years.


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Nothing seems right. I don’t want to appear too decadent. I don’t want to appear too casual like I don’t care. I find a dark blue pair of jeans and a nice brown wool sweater. That might look nice. The jeans are causal, but expensive. The sweater is elegant and also has a casual feel to it.

I run to the bathroom to fix my hair. I stare at myself in the mirror and notice my hair has blown into some kind of strange upward spiral from the windows rolled down in my truck. I knew it would happen. My hair is always a mess when I leave my windows down. But I wasn’t thinking about my hair as I drove home, I could only recall she said, yes. I wash my hair with a new shampoo my mom bought.

It has a nice balance of fragrance, but not much of a perfume smell. I shave again just to be sure of hiding any stray stubble that has grown in the last seven hours and then dress. I go downstairs to eat dinner and then rest in the lounge room until it is time to leave. Moments pass slowly while I tap my fingers on the table and though it must have only been about twenty minutes, it feels like two hours. Finally, it is time to go and I’m can’t wait to see her.


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Forest I pull up to her house across from Lake Forest and park slowly near

the curb. It’s a blue and white house. It has a white picket fence and a comfortable fell. My watch shows 6:55 pm. I walk slowly with tried confidence up to the door. I over hear a noisy conversation coming from the nearby open window which is covered with white curtains, and hear a man’s deep voice.

‘You need to be careful Evelyn.’ He speaks with authority. Another voice, soft and female speaks.

‘Evelyn can’t stay locked up in our needs forever. She is young and she should be enjoying her time here. Let her have her fun now.’

‘For now. But he must not ever find out Evelyn. It would be too dangerous for us, for him. You must fulfill your duty in the end. We can’t have the council talking about it.’ Then the conversation stops. I knock twice on the door and Evelyn opens the door with an irritated expression on her face. But as she sees me, she smiles and I let out the breath I have been holding.

‘Would you like to come in?’ She asks me with a tone telling me she is really not sure if I would.

‘Of course, I would like to meet your family.’ I say without delay.

She opens the door wider and a tall woman with a pale face looks at me. She has a few dark freckles around her cheeks, long black hair hiding her ears the same way Evelyn’s hair does. She has perfectly almond shaped


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eyes and the same bright emerald color I’ve grown accustomed too after staring into Evelyn’s eyes over the past three weeks in school.

She stands next to a big sofa in the living room. A tall lean man with shoulder length white hair with several strands hanging over his ears, also with almond shaped eyes but with a paler shade of emerald stands next the tall woman. As he reaches towards me, welcoming me, I notice a scar deep on his right cheek from his lip to his lower eye.

‘Michael…These are my parents, Eve and Nile.’ I walk over to them and politely reach out my hand to shake their outstretched hands.

‘It’s nice to meet you. I’m Eve, Evelyn’s mom.’ Eve says. As I hold her hand, I note her hands are soft and warm. Her smile is inviting.

‘Yes, it’s a pleasure to meet one of Evelyn’s friends.’ Nile smiles and nods his head to me, but behind his eyes is a careful gaze and resistance with this intrusion into their lives. A small girl about the age of three and a half years comes running through the living room with long curly black hair past her shoulders and dark emerald eyes. Her hands are waving in the air and she speaks so quickly I can hardly keep up with her.

‘Mommy, mommy is this Michael?’ She looks at me. ‘Michael, Michael. It is nice to meet you. Evelyn told me you were coming over tonight. I hope you like our house. I’m Venda. I live here too.’ For a three year old little girl she is very precocious. I quietly laugh with my hand over my mouth at her noisy entrance as it has brought all attention away from me and directly onto her. Eve smiles and puts her hand gently on her daughter’s head, drawing Venda to her.

‘This is Venda, my youngest daughter.’ She says with a giggle. Nile’s face lightens up and the stern expression on his face, which he had as I


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walked in, disappears behind Venda’s puffing cheeks that now hold his smile and affections. I laugh aloud with them and the tension at once lifts in the room.

‘What time is the movie?’ Niles asks.

‘It begins at 7:30 pm,’ I explain and I have the tickets already. I will have Evelyn back soon after the show.’ I say with certainty. My father raised me to be polite and responsible and I have usually followed his good example most of the time. We say our goodbyes and I walk her to my beat up old Chevy truck which I vacuumed and washed for this very occasion. I open the door for her before getting in myself.

Her small frame and tender face appear so delicate, but after having pulled her up off the high school floor when I first met her I have felt her strength and seen close up her defined muscles hiding underneath her exterior. ‘Tighten your seat belt.’ Evelyn pulls the belt around her with a smirk across her face. I study the crooked smile for a moment, trying to understand it, learn it.

We drive up to the cinema near Lake Forest which is about five minutes from where they live. Evelyn is quiet in the car and deep in thought. I don’t want to disturb her, but I want to see her face. I try to think of something to say, something which won’t sound too desperate in making conversation, something which won’t sound stupid.

‘Your parents seem real nice. Venda is delightful!’ Evelyn turns away from the window laughing in her deep emerald eyes and shakes her head.

‘Yes, Venda is quite a mouthful, Lucky for you, you don’t live with her. I am sure after a week with her you would be gnawing on your own wrists.’ She laughs again this time whole heartily and I laugh with her.


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‘Are you comfortable?’ I inquire.

‘I’m good. Thank you for inviting me.’ She says earnestly. ‘I don’t get to go out often. My parents don’t like me too. They like me to stay close to home.’ She speaks in short rigid sentences, like she doesn’t want to say what she is saying, but feels compelled to explain.

‘Protective huh?’ I ask and she shrugs like she doesn’t want to say more. ‘Well, I hope you like the movie. You know this small town can get pretty boring.’

‘Yeah, my parents like boring. That is why we moved here.’ She looks at me with those words and then looks away out the window. ‘They worry so much.’

‘About you?’

‘About everything.’ She stares at the forest as we pass it.

The movie is a comedy and I see Evelyn jump out of her seat a few times in the dark, giddy. I want her to feel comfortable about the small town –population 775, and my home town for most of my life. I am respectful and polite so I don’t throw my arms around her to kiss her incessantly, though it is what my heart pulls me to do. She is not like the other girls in this town and I don’t want to scare her away. Any other girl would be pawing me during the movie and they wouldn’t mind a kiss from me, a soccer star, but with her I am restrained.

With her it feels as though every movement is being watched. The movie is over too quickly. I look at my watch and it is 8:45pm. I want to talk to her more, but we can’t stay out much longer since I promised to have her back soon after the movie. But Evelyn looks happy and her disposition is


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relaxed, so, I talk myself into inviting her for cake and coffee before dropping her home.

‘That was a hilarious movie, thanks for taking me.’ She says with sincerity and I know already if we never saw each other again I would greatly be missing her coy and child like smiles.

‘Yeah, it was.’ I move closer to her. ‘Would you like to get something small to eat before heading home?’ I speak with my eyes whenever I am with someone I like and I really liked being with her. Likewise, my eyes were true to form and widen and bat at the sounds of the words flowing from my mouth, at the ideas that would keep her close to me.

The girls I dated in my sophomore year said they loved to see my long eyelashes bat up and down when I became excited. But when it came to Evelyn, I sometimes found it hard to think of anything to say, like every reasonable thought was fleeting from me and only babble remained.

‘Sure would be nice.’ She speaks softly and assuredly. I’m glad she does not sound worried or anxious. I take her to one of my favorite weekend cafes. There are many books on the shelves, paintings on the walls, and an eclectic mix of music from around the world playing on any given day. We sit at a table near the window and the Lake Forest is just a few walking blocks from it. I notice her eyeing the forest as we drove past it to go the movies and then again when we drove past it to get to the café. She looks out of the window of the café and stares at it sternly.

‘Is there something about the forest that makes you love it so much?’

‘What?’

‘The forest,’ I smile, ‘you seem to enjoy looking at it a lot.’


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‘Oh, I’m a nature person I guess.’ Her face leaves the seriousness behind and reflects humor, quickly realizing I’ve noticed her preoccupation. ‘You can pull the girl out of the country, but you can’t pull the country out of the girl.’ She smiles in return.

‘Something like, that.’ I laugh. Our traditional coffees are brought shortly to our table. No order is needed. There are only two items on the menu, the special Lake Forest coffee and the special Lake Forest coffee cake. I pointed to both listed on the side wall with two fingers up in the air when I walked in and the waitress Gloria knew immediately what I wanted.

Her reddish short cropped hair slides across her shoulders as she gets our coffees and cake and as she walks towards us me, I notice her black and white laced waitress uniform hangs on her thin body needing a tighter fit. I have been here many times. I am accustomed to how this café works and all it has to offer. Sometimes the groups of kids wanting to get away from authority come here, smoking in the back and drinking coffee with a touch of rum they brought in from a drugstore.

Sometimes poetic kids from school hang out on the lounge sofas, reading poetry and every Friday night is open mic night. Someone would inevitably make a fool of themselves reading something they had written in prose or poetry form. Usually it was very entertaining and occasionally one or two nice stories or poems would be heard. The café had a local magazine and they would publish a new piece every month. This gets the creative crowds into frenzy every time the month approached its end.

I walk over to the book self and pull out a few of the local stories they have resting there. The books are covered with a bit of dust. I brush off the covers. There is a story on the hunting of Colorado and another story on weapons sold in the area. I return them to the shelf and grab a few other books from a different area, because from the look in Evelyn’s face as she was staring at the covers, I knew she wouldn’t be too interested in hunting and local traditions. Evelyn smiles upon my return to the table.


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‘Find anything?’

‘I think I have.’ I say, looking into her emerald eyes. A question pops into my mind and I interrupt her gaze with the books on the table. ‘Why did you move here?’

‘Our family needed to relocate.’

‘What do your parents do?’

‘They are in the conservation business.’ She looks down at the books and fumbles her fingers over the first few looking concerned. Then she looks up again with a smile, ‘What do your parents do?’

‘My mom, Sue, is a teacher at the local University. My dad, Henry, works as a ranger in the area.’

‘So your dad is into conservation too?’ She says with a giggle that seems to imply more than she is letting on and I look at her with a questioning eye. The coffees are warm against the cold night air of Colorado. They taste like butterscotch and mountain air. None of my friends from outside of state can ever imagine what it tastes like.

Evelyn rumbles her fingers through the top book on the table, a book on local traditions and cultures. Underneath is a book on local folklore. The cover is blue and green like the ocean. It has a picture of angels and fairies intertwined like they are dancing on the water. She hides her eyes under her hair, dangling over her heart shaped-face and shyly scratches an itch on her shoulder and I notice her first imperfection, a deep scar over her right shoulder bone hiding underneath her silky green blouse.


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‘Hey, look at this.’ I pull it out from underneath her hands. The book is thick and probably very old. I flip it open to the middle page. ‘Wow, look at these pictures.’ A picture of a few little people hiding under a log sits on the right page. On the left page is a picture of a dancing pale faced fairy with a purple silk dress and pixie wings, white and long. Evelyn smirks and a funny smile spreads from cheek to cheek, one I have not yet seen. I flip the book again further towards the back.

‘Look at this one.’ I say with a more serious tone. I forget my light humor for a moment and become sucked into the mystical pages of the book. A half-horse, half-man sits on the right page. The half-horse man jumps into the air and holds up a golden sword. On the other side sits a delicate figure, a tiny girl with a fragile looking face with almond shaped eyes and long curly hair.

The picture is in black and white and when looking into the eyes of the small child on the page I cannot help but wonder if her eyes are emerald in color and if her skin is caramel in tone. I look back up at Evelyn, but she has turned her head away, gazing into the forest that she seems to love so much. I try to look out into the forest in her direction to see what she is looking at, at what is drawing her there, but all I see are trees.

‘Evelyn?’ She looks my way again. ‘You seem preoccupied.’

‘I’m sorry, it is just…’

‘You would like to get going now?’

‘Please.’

I drive her home, silly we could have walked it was so close, but I felt the necessity that she felt about getting home and I didn't want to delay


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the inevitable any longer. I stop the truck by her house, walk her to the front door, and smile. She tells me she had a good time. I hope she is not just being polite. We stand there under the lightly lit moon and brightly lit stars, under this blanket of an otherwise pitch black night, waiting. I am not sure what we are waiting for, but I wait.

Silence fills the air and I can see Evelyn squirm in her stance. Perhaps I should kiss her hand? Perhaps I should just say, ‘see you later?’ Perhaps I should give her a hug? The thoughts mount and muddle, but then one dominate thought is all I can think about being so close to her.


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KissI knew I should not be thinking about kissing her on the lips so soon.

I am a traditional boy from traditional Colorado. I was raised by a traditional family. Plus, she is going to think I am forward or rude or worse, she may just slap me and shut the door in my face. I tell myself this convincingly, but while I do I watch myself like one does when having an out of body experience walking closer and closer to her.

I pull her head towards mine and gently with the lightest touch like a flower blowing in the wind, press my lips against hers and we kiss. It is only a few moments, but it feels like it lasts the entire night. This is what we were waiting for. In fact after she walks inside her house and closes the door, I can hardly remember anything else about the movie, the café, or the books. All I can remember is her and me and our kiss.

Yes, it was our first kiss and it was not just me kissing her. I took the step forward, I pulled her head to mine, and I reached my lips out to hers. But behind her lips she was reaching out to mine too, behind her eyes she was calling to me, and in her movement and in her touch she was in every way as much as I was, kissing. A smile spreads across my face as long as the Colorado Mountains, from one end to the other.

This is not a dream of mine I shared with my closest friends. This is not a day dream while sitting in class. This is all real. The kiss, her kiss was real and I was smitten. I would not be the same Michael I was when I walked out those doors at 6:30pm this evening. I would not be the same Michael ever again.

I fall to my bed, closing my eyes, and immediately went to sleep. I


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didn’t have to dream about what it was like kissing her, I knew. My dreams couldn’t be more vivid of her. This new revelation of how it felt to press my lips against her soft rosy lips would stay with me forever, of that I was sure. There was no incident, there was no pain, and there was nothing strong enough to make me forget the memory of her kiss and our first night on her porch under the dark star lit night.

In the morning I almost did not want to wake up. The dreams I had of her kept me under my covers and in a trance for quite some time. But I knew something better than the dream waited for me on the other side. I rubbed my well rested eyes and jumped out of bed, anxious to see her again. It is Saturday morning, after our first date. I quickly shower, eat the cereal my mom fills up for me, head out the door and down to her street. I am about to pull into her road when I see her.

She stands in a long silk green shirt going down to her ankles with a white thin rope tied around it. Her eyes glisten under the sun and radiate green like her long silk shirt. As she slides away from her house and into Lake Forest across her street, I see her move clandestinely inside the woods and in a few seconds she is gone.

I pull my old truck over to the side of the road, before her street, jump out speedily and run up to the forest where I saw her. It takes me a few moments to orient myself and then I see a sparkly green shirt run behind the trees in the distance. I know I shouldn’t follow her in there. I could feel where this is taking me. It couldn’t turn out good. She will catch me and we will fight or I will see something I don’t want to see, something to take away from our perfect union.

Why am I compelled to follow her? Why do I have to see where she is going? I don’t listen to the voice inside my head saying, turn around, turn around now and go back to your truck. I am too curious. I am too entranced. I have to know the truth. Why does she love this forest so much? Why was she constantly staring at it as we drove past it last night? Why is she there now? As I follow her, her pace becomes faster and faster in the variety of


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trees surrounding us like a blanket above, hiding us in quiet secret from the rest of the world.

The forest is filled with varieties of trees. The Blue Spruce with gray brown bark, dark evergreen needles towering over us, Bristlecone Pines with dark white lines and white spots on their evergreen and red brown bark short enough to make me feel tall again, Quaking Aspen with green white bark and broad foliage of bright greens and dull greens which is a nice middle length between the other two trees.

Even the Cottonwood begins to show its yellow green bark and broad leaf foliage of shiny green one month into springtime. She is prancing through the forest like she has lived there all her life, like she knows which turns to make, where to jump, what to miss and where to land safely. I think I can keep up with her; after all, I beat her on the race track we had at school in gym. I came in first. No one was faster than me. I have been the quickest runner in my class all my school life. I ran after her, faster and faster.

But she is faster -she is faster than me. I can't believe what I am seeing. Was she feigning her way all through gym class, humbling denying the class the privilege of seeing her agile abilities? Was she really this modest? She could be a first- rate track runner at school, able to jump over hurdles and whatever perilous obstacles are thrown in her way by gym teachers , and still make it to the finishing line first. No, I am not going to be able to keep up with her. I am not going to be able to see where she is going today or why. Her silk shirt and sandy gold hair becomes smaller as it draws further and further away from me until it disappears altogether.

I stop and look around. I am lost. I hadn’t thought this through before I started running towards her. How am I going to make it back out of the forest? I remember coming from the other direction and so I start heading that way. I begin walking until I realize I am walking in circles. I get anxious and a little scared. Then I notice a light, however dim, shinning through the thicket of trees. It looks like the light from the cinema we went


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to last night. I can follow it and find my way out of here.

The forest is dark under all the trees, but the light from the cinema shows the way and I think how poetic it is that our first night is what saves me from being lost. It takes me about twenty minutes, though running after her felt like only about five. I step off the forest trail and onto the pavement. Across the street is her house. I know I shouldn’t ask, because I know it is; however small a grain, still a lie, but I have to know. My body is compelled to move toward her house and I knock on the front door. Eve opens it and the lie comes out of my mouth as quickly as it pops into my head.

‘Why, hello Michael.’

‘Hello, Mrs. Eve.’

‘No need for the Mrs., Eve is fine.’

‘Eve,’ I politely speak, trying to force the word Mrs. back into my mouth, ‘is Evelyn here?’ I know the answer to that question. Of course she is not there. She is gallivanting around the forest. But what did her mom know about this? Would she tell me anything?

‘No, I’m sorry she is not here at this moment. May I leave a message for her?’

‘It is a bit urgent. Do you know where I might find her?’ Another lie I could add to my long growing list.

‘I believe she said,’ her eyes trail off into the distance and her answer is delayed a few seconds, ‘she was going to the library to pick up a few books. Perhaps you could try her again later?’

‘Yes, I could do that. Do you know when she will be back?’


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‘Perhaps try her this afternoon.’

‘I will. Thank you Mrs. …Eve.’ I say, remembering too late to drop the Mrs.


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Waiting The day is restless for me, waiting for Evelyn to get back from her journey in the forest. But I patiently wait it through, walking down the streets near my favorite café, sipping the traditional butterscotch mountain taste coffee of my town, listening to the café’s soft music saturated with slow guitar strums, and reading a few of the books off the shelves.

Do her parents know she was not at the library, but prancing along in the forest? Questions flood my mind and it doesn’t take long for me to miss her, for my mind to wonder back to her and then I remember. I remember the book we looked at before she seemed so distant, so reclusive like she was having a secret conversation solely between her and the forest.

Gloria brings me my coffee with a flirtatious smile, ‘no date today?’ I look up, politely smiling. Her red short hair is cut just below her ears, and she looks cute in the black and white waiting uniform, although it still looks too big for her thin figure but I never took much interest in her before Evelyn, and I am now taking even less. I sit sipping my coffee and then stand up to reach for the book off the shelf.

It is still there, it is still old and the cover still captivates me. I hold my hands over the thick ripped book, caressing the cover a bit with my fingers as if some magical secret will seep through its pages and awaken inside of me. I laugh at myself for the thought of it and open it up gently to avoid ripping any fragile pages. I skim through the first few pages with pictures of nymphs, fairies, and trolls. I read through the next page twice, slowly.


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This book contains Folklore brought to us by our ancient ancestors passed down from generation to generation. The following are stories and accounts of the town’s harbored old legends of magical worlds mixing with our own.

Along time ago, from the time man discovered the forest, he had a longing to learn its secrets, driving him further and further into it, destroying it as he sojourned. As he longed to discover it, this journey led some men to uncover a world unlike their own. Wrapped up, interwoven so much were the two worlds it was hard to know where one world ended and the other began.

Walking through the woods of the natural world and then as easily as crossing over a fallen tree, the forest would become a different forest, a different world, a world full of ‘Beasts and Angels,’ telling secrets to these men with their movements, words, and existence.

The new sky filled with purples and oranges, glittering like gold and air that smelled fresh and free, creatures beyond imagination and endless green meadows, lakes and sky. Silver lakes, emerald lakes, pink and purple and yellow flowers undulate in the green meadow breeze. Each man felt stronger in this new world, something inside him began to grow.

But as man grew, their world declined. Their existence was a secret no longer and man began to covet their world for himself. The mystical creatures bound together, creating a creature so dark and dangerous they were afraid of its very existence, but feared if they had not created such a thing that man would destroy their forests and their world would be forever lost.


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The mystical creatures established a boundary separating man’s world from theirs and created the golden gate. No man would be allowed to pass through the gate from that time on until such a time that man could prove himself no longer an unintentional but inclined and natural enemy to the creatures and forests of magic.

I close the book and take a breath. Mythical or not, it is a lot to take in. I look up at the clock hanging up over the menu on the wall in the café. It is still ten minutes fast and reads a quarter to twelve. I think of Evelyn and wonder if she will be returning home soon. Then a nudge in my back from behind brings me back to the moment.

‘What are you doing here?’

‘Robby.’ I say with disappointment in my tone.

‘I’m, I’m…just waiting. What are you doing here?’ I deflect. I did not want to go into the details with him about my evening with Evelyn. I can tell he likes her and he is my best friend. I don’t want to hurt him with any ideas he may entertain about the two of us. She turned him down when he tried to carry her books. I took it to mean it was a fair game. I did not regret talking to her, or inviting her out, or her accepting my invitation. But Robby did not need to know any of this.

‘I’m just hanging out with Lee and Taylor.’ He points over to the two of them sitting in the back of the café on a sofa that opens out into a bed. The bed is usually turned down in the evening and the sofa set up for the afternoons. It is a comfortable environment and everyone enjoys letting loose here. Lee motions his hand, telling me to come over to him. I stand up carrying the book under my arm and walk to him to sit down on the sofa next to Taylor, facing him. A coffee table sits between the two sofas and Taylor is already on his third piece of cake.

‘You really shouldn’t eat like that, Taylor,’ Lee says concerned, ‘our


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game is coming up and you need to be in top shape. Remember, it is against our worst enemy this year.’ He says with a serious face and then laughs, ‘We have to destroy them.’

‘Yes, leave them in shame with their heads between their knees.’ Taylor pushes the third piece of cake away and looks over at me.

‘So what did you do last night? I didn’t see you. I thought you were coming out with us to practice?’

‘Yeah, I was going to and then something came up. Next time?’ I thought about the sweaty long night of practice in comparison to going out with Evelyn. There was no comparison.

‘You sure have many secrets these days. Are you not going to tell us what you did last night?’ Robby asks in a suspicious tone and sits down next to Lee with his cup of coffee in hand.

‘It was nothing.’ I could see the answer was not going to satisfy them, ‘really it is just…’ another lie, I could feel it coming out already as much as I tried to keep it back inside of me, ‘…that my mother wanted me to help her with some tedious work around the house and I couldn’t get out of it.’

Robby’s head shakes back and forth like he understands and is even sympathetic with my grief. Lee and Taylor say in unison, ‘that must have sucked.’ They are really buying it? The story seemed plausible? Are they really this gullible or do they just trust me this much? Though, they don’t live at my house. They don’t know my mother preferred I stay out of her way with everything she tries to get done. It could have been true in another house, another family, another universe. Who am I to argue with their new found sympathies for me?


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‘So you will be out later tonight with us to practice then? We can’t get the game together without you there.’ Taylor piles the guilt on thick. His face is like a concerned teddy bear and the girls all think he is one.

‘I’ll try.’ I say with strong determination. I knew I was going to try. I also knew a bigger part of me was not. It is that part of me which wondered what I would be doing tonight with Evelyn.

‘Well, I’d better get going, I have to…’ another lie, ‘pick up some books and study for an exam I have in Biology. I’ll catch up with you guys later?’ I couldn’t believe it. My game buddies always had my back and now apparently all it takes is a day for me with Evelyn to turn my back on them. I am ashamed for a moment, but the moment is fleeting and not at all as dominate as my excitement about returning to her. My friends head out of the café and I tell them I’ll catch them later.

I wasn’t going to the library, I wasn’t going to study. I didn’t even have an exam. I know where I am going. I am going to Evelyn’s home. I have to know if she came back and if she misses me like I miss her. I race to her house on foot this time, because the cafe is only a few blocks away and I leave my truck outside my favorite café. Gloria said she’d keep an eye on it.

I almost thanked her, but turn away too quickly from her and headed down to Evelyn’s street. I may be losing my small town manners too. Her house is only a couple blocks from the café. The walk is easy, well more of a sprint really. I never knew this discipline of running in soccer would serve not only my family and my school, but my heart as well.


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Family I walk briskly up to Evelyn’s door and her father Nile answers quickly as if he expects me. He must have seen me coming. Did he know I was waiting for her to come back while I sat at the café? Could he sense how much I longed to see her again? He looks me up and down with a suspicious glare and then smiles calmly, turns around and gives me room to breathe.

‘Evelyn.’ He calls out her name and it sounds sweet like honeycomb and resonates in my ears. I let the sound of her name stay there a moment and then notice Evelyn before me. Her gold skin hues compliment her emerald eyes, and she carries a scent of lilacs today.

Her skin tone surprises me, contrastingly darker than both her mother and father’s pale skin. I think I'll eventually grow numb to her dangerous beauty, but I never do. She is more beautiful than I remember, though close up I note another imperfection, a miniscule, almost invisible, white, thin scar in her chin. Nile calls out to her again, ‘Evelyn,’ and as she bounces over to the door, her smile brightens at the sight of me.

‘Michael?’ She still smiles. That is a good sign.

‘Would you like to hang out somewhere this afternoon?’ I say it quickly, hoping if she says no then the words will not really have existed.

‘Yes. I would.’ She says in a matter of fact tone. I hesitate in disbelief. ‘Would you like to come in first?’ I follow her inside. The house feels more warm and comfortable then before and her younger sister Venda


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is waiting by the door to greet me as I come inside. ‘She missed you. She likes you so much.’ Evelyn giggles at the expression her younger sister makes. I try hard not to burst out in laughter myself.

Venda sticks her tongue out and puts her thumbs into her ears, like she is making moose ears and wiggles her hands back and forth. I hold back my laughter for a few moments and then it pops like a balloon and all comes out of me. She runs back into the long hallway that leads to the kitchen and then back again to the front door where the living room is. She is fast too. Her motions remind me of Evelyn in the forest this morning and I think their family must have won some kind of genetic lottery.

Venda is clearly trying to get me to chase her, but I am hesitant in an unfamiliar house and unaccustomed to the rules Nile may have. ‘Go for it.’ Evelyn reads my expression and I burst forward. I chase Venda up the hall and back down into the living room where I had first seen Evelyn’s parents.

Venda jumps onto the couch and I tickle her until she starts laughing with tears pouring down her pink cheeks. I stop only to let her breathe. Evelyn comes over to me with a look of much approval on her face and sits down next to me while Venda tries recuperating. Nile walks into the room and Eve follows him.

‘Are you kids having fun?’ Eve asks without it really being meant as a question. Nile just smiles and then casts a strong look at Evelyn. They walk in the direction of the kitchen and I smell soup boiling in the pot.

‘Wow that smells delicious.’

‘Would you like to try some?’ Evelyn asks softly almost like a whisper. ‘My mom makes it. It is her special recipe. You will love it. I promise.’


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I nod my head. How could anyone ever say no to such an angelic creature?

‘Yes, I think I would love too.’ We hop off the living room sofa and I help Venda to her feet. She is very light for a girl that can spit out words in the pounds. We walk to the dining table set up in the next room adjacent to the kitchen and I notice six place settings.

‘Is there someone else joining us?’ Nile and Evelyn look at each other in a way that tells me they don’t want to speak about it and Venda jumps up to her seat with an extra cushion so she can reach the table. She sits properly with her hands in her lap, waiting patiently. She has very good table manners for someone so young.

‘This other setting is for Wind.’ Eve stirs the soup out of the main bowl and into the first few smaller individual bowls decorating the table, ‘he’ll be coming by later tonight. He is…Evelyn’s brother you know. Did she tell you she has a brother?’

‘No.’ I look over to Evelyn and she looks annoyed.

‘His real name is Ky-el-in. She says it slowly so I hear the name clearly, ‘but everyone calls him Wind, because he thinks he is so fast, faster than anyone else.’

‘Well he is, Evelyn.’ Nile retorts.

‘He brags too much if you ask me.’ Evelyn responds with a roll of her eyes.

‘Your family seems to have a natural inclination for running.’ I say


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to Nile. ‘I myself am a very good runner. I have always come first in my class since elementary school.’

‘Really?’ Nile responds surprised. ‘That is good to hear. We don’t get enough disciplined young men these days.’ He puts his spoon into the soup. ‘Everyone is so reckless these days. It is not like it was long ago when men were more reliable. You knew what they would do even if you didn’t like it. Now men are a most unpredictable thing.’

‘I suppose man has always had an unpredictable nature.’ Eve slips.

‘What makes you think we have a knack for running? Did I do something in gym to impress you that I am unaware of?’ Evelyn says smiling.

‘You always impress me.’ I say without thinking and she blushes pink at the table. It is a beautiful color on her skin, against the caramel coloring. Now that I had discovered it, I am quickly trying to think of other ways to embarrass her.

‘What is that smirk on your face?’ Evelyn asks like she doesn’t really have to ask, because she already knows.

‘Nothing,’ I blush too caught in the act. I put my spoon into the soup and into my mouth. Its flavors explode with herbs and fragrances I cannot identify and the flavor slides down my tongue and throat. ‘This is amazing. I have never had anything quite like it. What ingredients did you use?’

‘My own special herbs from my own special garden.’ Eve says and everyone at the table starts laughing, including me though I am not quite sure what the joke is. Everyone finishes their meal and I am quite full. I am not full in the I need an excuse to leave the table way, but in the I am completely satisfied kind of way that comes with eating just the right amount with just the right amount of flavoring.


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‘You want to get going now?’ Evelyn asks me and I look at my watch, it is 2:45pm. It is approaching three already. I get a bit nervous because I want to take Evelyn to the park since I know her love of nature, but it takes a good thirty minutes to get there and then we have to find the parking space.

The park closes at four officially. We will not have much time to enjoy ourselves there now. My face becomes concentrated and Evelyn smiles at me to make sure I am fine. I smile back at her, reassuring her. Nile and Eve say goodbye as Evelyn and I leave the house and Venda sticks her tongue out at me and pouts from my absence on the living room sofa.

‘You’ll see him again.’ I hear Eve comfort her as Evelyn and I walk out the door together.


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Closer It takes about thirty minutes to get to my house which is close to the park I wanted to take Evelyn to this morning. It is already three-fifteen and I know my mom will be home by now. She works part time at the University and loves to spend ‘quality time’ with her family. Though there is not much quality as she is always telling me to not get in her way while she is working. I think she really took part time hours so she could spend as much time as she needs taking care of the house.

She never did like maids or other people taking care of things for her and she couldn’t find enough time to take care of it the way she wanted when she worked full time. She used to be away most of the day at the local University. I would love this quality time if I ever got to use it with her. My face grimaces with the thought.

‘Is that you Michael?’ Mom calls out to me while I walk through the front door. Who else could it be when the only other person that walks through the door without knocking first is my dad and he does not get off from his work until five. He doesn’t mind though, he loves working as a ranger.

‘Yes mom.’ I roll my eyes. I walk Evelyn into the study that my mom usually uses to put together odds and ends from around the house. Sometimes projects of sewing quilts together I will never use, or organizing photos in scrap books and all those kinds of homely activities she loves and never had a chance to do when she worked full time.

I knew she would be in there as it is usually where I would find her. ‘I wanted you to meet Evelyn.’ My mom gets up from the floor, away from her books and piles of projects and looks up. Her face is bright and her


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smile brighter, waiting to hear the story from this new creature to our small town who has graced our home with her presence.

‘Well hello, it is sure nice to meet you.’ Sue says with a warm smile. ‘Where have you been hiding her?’ She says in the, it’s a small town and so you can’t hide anything from anyone here kind of tone.

‘She just moved here three weeks ago.’

‘Where did you move from?’ Sue asks inquisitively as if this now is more interesting then the knick-knack hobbies and house cleaning she has gone to part time work for. She gives her undivided attention to hearing the answer from Evelyn. Evelyn shies away and I can tell she is not used to being open with everyone and I quickly answer for her. I know my mom will be partly disappointed for not being able to begin a conversation with the one new arrival to this town in the past year, and the one new girl I have brought home in just about the same amount of time.

‘She is from Alaska. Her family moved here to relocate for work. They are into conservation. We are going to head upstairs. I’ll see you later.’ I pull Evelyn’s tiny hand into mine and lead her into my room.

‘Your mom seems nice.’ Evelyn speaks softly.

‘Yes, she is. She is a very decent mom.’ I had to be fair to my mom, as much as she irritated me. I knew she was caring, loving, and did everything she could to help and protect me in life. Though high school brought new stresses to our relationship, I did owe it to her to delight in her good qualities at least once in a while.

‘She is a great cook, and talker. I bet her and Venda would get along great.’ I laugh and then Evelyn laughs. Evelyn moves around my room


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gracefully examining my life, stroking her fingers over a gold medal I won in a race last year in high school and looking at the glass cabinet filled with other awards I had won in athletics and in soccer.

‘You weren’t kidding. You are a fast runner.’ She says. I smile softly and she continues with her thorough inspection. She moves her eyes over paintings I bought from rummage sales. They are pictures of trees and mountains. She then looks over at my window, peaking outside, noticing the park nearby which was to be our second date.

She moves closer to me and we sit on my bed, looking up at the glow stars I stuck to my ceiling when I was in Middle school and in my curious ‘about the universe’ phase. I hadn’t taken them down yet. She enjoys looking at them glow and glimmer almost as much as she enjoyed staring at her forest. I get up from the bed and pull out a handful of CDs from one of my dresser drawers and ask if there is anything she likes in particular.

‘Anything soft with nice melodies.’

I pull out my Phil Collins CD and play ‘Against All Odds.’ The song always reminds me of my longing for the one who will fill my soul completely, the exact match to my heart: to find her, to know her, to love her. I always thought at how that reality would in fact be against all odds. I walk back to the bed and this time Evelyn is lying down on top of it. I lay side by side with her, our eyes gazing at my ceiling and as we listen to the music, our hands begin to touch and wrap themselves up in each other. The words fill my room.

‘Take a look at me now, I’ll still be standing here and to wait for you is all I can do and that’s what I have to face, take a good look at me now…I’ll still be standing here and you coming back to me is against all odds, but it’s a chance I have got to face….’


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As old as the song is, it is one of my favorites. As the song ends, I see a tear in Evelyn’s eye and watch as it rolls down her cheek. She tries to wipe it before I notice, but when it comes to her I notice everything. We lay still like that on my bed for what feels like eternity, hand in hand, eyes to the ceiling, with a secret tear between us that I pretend not to notice, but eternity doesn’t end so it must have been sometime shorter than that.

‘Michael, are you upstairs?’ I can hear my mom below coming up too quickly and I pull myself up and Evelyn follows. I open the door to my bedroom,

‘I told you I was going upstairs mom. What do you want?’

‘What do you want for dinner?’

‘Anything is fine mom.'

'Is Evelyn staying for dinner?’ I hadn’t thought that far ahead. Was she? I look over to Evelyn and she sits completely still on my bed.

‘Would you like to stay for dinner?’ I can see from the twisted expression on her face that she dearly wants to and is torn at what to do. She thinks about it for a moment.

‘Could I call my parents and let them know?’

‘Yes, of course.’ I smile big. I prevailed in the battle of whatever it was she was debating inside herself. I give her my cell phone and she makes a call.


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‘No, Nile. I am not coming back soon.… I realize it is getting late, but I am here with Michael and I want to stay for dinner,’ another pause, ‘he can take care of that tonight. He doesn’t need me there all the time….I know it’s been,’ she looks over at me, ‘different lately but if you’re concerned, maybe you should stay with him tonight….ok, I’ll see you around seven. I love you too. Bye.’ I am content, knowing I had been on the winning side of her argument, but surprised, because as long as I had know her in the past three weeks I never heard her so forceful and headstrong. I did not know her shy demeanor and cautious words could ever be anything but gentle.

My mom prepares the meal downstairs ready for us to eat at five-thirty. My dad walks in and we are already sitting at the table, waiting for him to get home so we can begin our meal. My dad hangs his winter coat on the coat rack near the door and takes off his heavy boots. Though spring has begun, it was still chilly outside from the winter weather just a few weeks earlier and my dad always bundles up as a result of it.

‘We have a guest today.’ My mom shouts across the room as my dad makes his way to the dining table.

‘Oh, we do.’ My dad lightens his mood at the sight of Evelyn like he has finally gotten over me without a girlfriend for the past year. He heads to his seat on the left side of the small square table adjacent to me, and my mom sits on his right. Evelyn sits across from him, closer to me. I can see she is starting to feel comfortable around me and that makes me more comfortable too. ‘I’m Henry, Michael’s dad.’ He says before sitting down.

‘I’m Evelyn.’ She smiles awkwardly, looking at her plate of food. We each take a bite. Evelyn enjoys the veggies, but scrapes the meat away from her. She does not seem big on the socializing. My mom made pot roast and boiled vegetables and as great as my mom’s cooking is, I cannot help but remember Eve’s soup and how in comparison to the pot roast it is missing something.


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‘So, what brings your family here? I hear you are the new girl in town.’

‘Dad!’ I interrupt him with a stern look on my face. ‘She is from Alaska. Her family moved here to relocate for their jobs.’ I know how my dad hates to make small talk and I can see in Evelyn’s face she hates it even more, so I hope after the formal greeting and quick introduction into her life that the conversation will go into being non-existent. But somehow moms have a way of reading your mind and mine seemed to be bent on embarrassing me as much as possible.

‘So you know our little Michael here was winner of the soccer competitions all through Elementary school. He just adores the sport.’ Sue says with a grinning smile on her face.

‘Really, that good?’ Evelyn looks up at Sue and than me. No, my mom was not going to let this one go. She had been alone in the house since she got home and she loved nothing more, aside from her beloved projects, than to talk about her little boy. Except that I wasn’t little anymore and every time she used the word little and boy I could feel hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I begin to slide slowly down my seat and my face must have been blushing red, because Evelyn looks at me with such an endearing look and I knew it was coming.

‘I remember when he first started walking. He was such an agile little boy, I couldn’t keep up with him. He wanted to run around everywhere and get into everything.’ She smiles proudly like I had achieved something great at that age. ‘But that is Michael, always trying stuff out. He loves to ski you know and he helps Henry out at the ranger station too.’ She makes her googly eyes at me, ‘such a helpful little boy.’ Little boy, mom I am seventeen I scream inside my own head.

‘I can’t tell you how proud we are of him. Some boys get into so


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much trouble, but not our little Michael. Even when he was seven he knew the difference between right and wrong. One of his friends, Robby I think, stole a candy cane from a candy store in December when everyone was busy getting ready for Christmas with decorations and Christmas trees.’ Oh no, not this story too, I scream inside my head again.

‘Michael marched right up to him while I walked them down the street back home and Michael told Robby he had better return the candy cane or he may lose presents from Santa come Christmas time.’ I lowered my head in shame and thought, Mom you are getting it all wrong. I didn’t actually believe in Santa at that time. I knew he was a fraud since I was five.

Yes, she wasn’t going to let me get out of here without embarrassing me of that I was sure. If Evelyn was at all unsure of where she stood on her feelings with me I was sure this would seal the deal right down the side of I have better things to do now.

Dinner took hours to get through in my mind, but it must have only been about an hour, because after dinner I looked at my watch and it showed 6:30pm. I suggested we walk around outside a bit and Evelyn enjoyed the idea. We walk around on my front lawn and down the street quietly while I blushed at memories of dinner time at my house.

‘Your mom is very nice and your dad too.’ Evelyn says with assurance. ‘It is nice there. It is very…’ she scrambles for the right word, ‘normal.’ She is satisfied with the word she has chosen. I reach for Evelyn’s hand and take it into mine. If we are able to get close on my bed, getting close on the street should be easier. Evelyn holds my hand tight and we walk further down the road together.

Our arms sway back and forth as we press forward and her hair blows vigorously in the breeze which has just blown past us. She brushes the hair away from her lips and eyes and I help her with one loose strand dedicated to sticking to her lips. My fingers wipe over her tender soft mouth


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and her eyes look down at my hand. Her lips press together in unconscious nervousness and then release and my fingers release and then the loose strand is free.


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Folklore As we pass the local park, the sign reads in red: closes at 3:00pm due to maintenance, but Evelyn hops over the rope and pulls me over into the park with her. I laugh in surprise at the idea of this gentle girl breaking the law.

‘I knew you would like it. I was going to bring you here earlier, but you weren’t home and then I knew it would be closed and we would not have time.’

‘Thanks for the thought.’ She says with a grateful smile as we run up through the park together almost to its other end. This time I have no trouble keeping up with her. We sit together in the silence of the park where the sleepy sun is slowly lowering behind the mountains in the distance and a dark blue sky with white brave clouds will soon be receding away into a blanket of darkness. We lie on the grass which is a bit moist and stare at the sky, only this time the stars are not glowing stickers on my ceiling. They are real stars and they are strongly shinning above us.

‘I love that star.’ Evelyn points over to the collection of stars that looks like the big dipper to me and she points to the brightest one. ‘In the mix of all going on up there, in the middle of all the starlight chaos, this star burns brightly to be seen and noticed.’

‘And she is noticed.’ I whisper to her as if she and the star are one and the same. She turns over towards me, leaning into my lips, and kisses me. The wind blows gently across our somehow warm bodies and the smell of her fragrance like honeysuckle today tastes so sweet in my mouth. My blue eyes must have been something she adored, because instead of staring at the nature encompassing her, she is lost in my eyes for the first time too.


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The sun rolls backward into the sky, telling us goodbye and the dark blue sky begins to fold away as a blanket of brighter stars appear in the early dusk sky. I know she will have to be going home soon, but can’t pull myself away from the moment that is fitting into my life like a perfect puzzle piece that was once missing.

But I know I have to and when she pulls herself up off the moist grass she pulls me up too. Not because she has my hand, but because the force between us is so strong. It is as if she turns left my body will innately follow and if she turns right my body will bend to her jester.

‘I have to get going. I wish I could stay, but it is all so complicated.’ She says almost as a side note while we walk through the park to my house and get into my truck. I drive her home and it is just about seven. I know Nile will be pleased since Evelyn told him that is when she would be home. I hope this responsibility means he would let me see her again.

Saturday night is rough. Without her next to me I feel like a piece of me is missing. But my soccer friends want to practice and I remember earlier I had said I would try to make it out to today. I want to try to limit my lies as much as possible. I call up Robby and he calls Taylor and Lee. We meet at a vacant field near the school about fifteen minutes from Lake Park and Evelyn’s home. The field is dark, but lit up by street lights in the parking lot and around the field.

Taylor pulls up with Laura in his truck. Robby, Lee, and Sarah pull up in another car together. Taylor throws up the soccer ball and kicks it with his knees. Laura cheers for him with such exuberance I can tell she must have moved her way into Taylor’s arms. He could keep the ball going for far longer than any one of us and he had the longest time record for keeping the ball in the air. That was his specialty. Mine was being the fastest runner. Robby is a great goalie and Lee is good at running the ball with me down


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the field, keeping it away from the opposing team. We each had our role on the soccer field and off the field too.

Sarah plays with us for fun, though she is not very good at the game. Lee enjoys having Sarah around and runs with her up the field, showing her how to pass the ball back and forth to the players. Robby waits impatiently at the goal for the ball to come his way with his eyes pacing over the field so that he can dive or jump and block the ball before it penetrates his calloused hands. Taylor and I fight for the ball, playing against each other on the field, perfecting our defensive game.

We play until eleven when the bugs begin to circle the lights like it is the last supply of food on earth. Taylor drives Laura home and Robby drives Lee and Sarah home. I drive home alone with my heart hoping I will see Evelyn prancing around somewhere outside, but my mind knows better and I knew she will be somewhere closer to her home.

Sunday morning I awaken to the sounds of my own torment, I shout Evelyn’s name and scare my mom. ‘Are you alright up there?’ She yells from downstairs in the kitchen as she is preparing our traditional Sunday morning breakfast of eggs and toast. It takes me a moment to realize I am in my own room, in bed. It was a dream. I can’t remember the dream. I can only remember feeling helpless and losing Evelyn. I jump in the shower, dress, run downstairs and quickly eat my breakfast. ‘What are you up to this morning?’ Sue asks inquisitively. Henry is still in bed sleeping. It is Sunday morning.

‘I think I’ll give Evelyn a call.’ I can see the glitter in my mom’s eyes as I said those words and then a smile crosses her face. I take my cell phone out and called Evelyn’s number.

‘Hello?’ Nile answers the phone.

‘Hi, it is Michael. Is Evelyn home?’ I hear a rustle in the background


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as the phone is passed to Evelyn. Then I hear whispering, ‘just tell him.’

‘Hi, Michael,’ the sound of her voice is like the sweetest symphony, ‘I’m not sure I can make it out today. I have a lot I have to do and perhaps I’ll see you at school?’ That was it. I wouldn’t see her today. I had missed her already.

‘Alright, I’ll see you tomorrow then. Have a good day.’ I hang up and my mom could see the expression on my face was not one of happiness.

‘Maybe you should try Robby today? You have missed him several times this week. Usually you two hang out all the time?’ I had to admit it was not a bad idea. I had been neglecting my other friends the past week when Evelyn and I started hanging out together. But I had just seen them last night. It is not like I had forgotten them altogether.

I didn’t want to return to my world of soccer and friends in boring Green Mountain Falls. I want to be a part of her world and so I jump into my truck and go back to the café where we had our first coffee together. Gloria quickly notices I am alone again and begins to flirt as she brings me my coffee. I am ashamed to admit I hardly notice. I pull out the old Folklore of Colorado book resting on the shelf between two other books and open it up at the table I sat at with Evelyn over by the window. I flip the book back to the page with the half horse half man and the delicate looking girl on the opposite page. I look at her picture and then read the short story below it.

The fragile Elfin

Born of the sun, of the moon.

Stardust dancing under their lights

Mingling together,

Formed a rare beauty of light.

She sits waiting for her bloom.


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Half of her pulling towards her human self,

The other half pulling towards her Elfin kind.

She was born in unity of both sun and moon,

Of both man and angel,

She will bring unity

To two separate worlds.

I pass over the other pages I have read already and make my way towards the middle of the book, glancing at a few pictures of larger male elves with broad shoulders, and more athletic bodies. A few pictures of smaller female elfins all seem much smaller next to their male counterparts, and more agile in appearance because of their lean bodies.

They are all drawn with long ears, pale faces and long hair, some with black hair, some with white and some with blond, but always long and straight. Their eyes are almond shaped, some with eyes of turquoise and some with eyes of emerald. I read the shortened poem below that looks like an excerpt from a larger piece of writing.

Protectors of our world and theirs,

They wave their hands,

Complexions fare,

From nature to magic,

The gates they turn,

The forests hide them,

Their world won’t burn,

Beasts lurk in the night,

Keeping watch,


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Kept at ranges tight,

Battles ensuing,

Claiming rights,

Human wailings,

Angels fight.

I close the book and know my curiosity has driven me over the edge, ‘Beasts and Angels,’ elves, half-horse half-men, mystical lands, magic. I have to get out of this café. I walk down the road and Gloria watches me leave quickly after shutting the book with desperate eyes. The next week in school I think I will be drawn closer to the reality of the world I have known my whole life which will allow me to forget the silliness recently filling my head.

But seeing Evelyn somehow makes all of it impossible. Her presence somehow makes magic seem possible. Then my mom schedules a weekend for me to visit my grandparents in Colorado Springs and the last weekend of the month I have to unwillingly and reluctantly leave Evelyn and all the folklore behind to endure some good old fashioned grandparents.


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Month two: April

Brother The beginning of the new month brings with it Monday at school. I think it will be easier sitting next to Evelyn and it will somehow quench the thirst, the desire for her, somehow lessen it, and somehow put everything back to normal. But sitting so close to her only makes me long to be near her more, to know everything about her.

Everything she does captivates me, the way she slides into her chair coyly and quietly, the way her eyelashes bat quickly when she is flustered, the way her lips puff up when she disagrees with something the teacher says. Slowly my concentration of getting into Yale goes into the backdrop of my life.

Tuesday, I try to focus on my English lecture notes, but her sweet smell today of honeysuckle and lilac scents keeps my sensations less on Mr. Roth and more on her. Gym is always a difficult time to talk to her as it is for everyone to hold a conversation, because the coach separates us into girls and boys and scrutinizes us like a hawk. It makes me anxious to talk with her even more.

Between Nile, the coach and my variety of teachers loading me with homework, I feel like there is an unspoken social decision to pull her from me. It is like when your mother tells you, you can’t eat that cookie. All you can think of is eating that cookie. It doesn’t even matter that you are not hungry, and it doesn’t even matter that there are other cookies at a friend’s house. It is that particular cookie you need, because you were told not to eat it. Evelyn is my forbidden fruit.


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The English teacher eyes me to keep me from talking to her in class. The gym teacher, Mr. Phillips, separates us at gym. Nile keeps a close eye on me when I am with her. Contrary to what their intentions are, it is this separation which makes me need to be with her all the more. Our eyes glaze over each others.

Occasionally she tries to get involved in today’s activities of hurdle jumping. She enjoys the easiness of it all though she doesn't let her abilities show. She pretends to struggle with a few hurdles and I can see in her face that she wishes the activity was more difficult. I laugh at her, but can’t help but wonder why she is faking it all.

Wednesday after school I drive Sarah home. We pass Lake Forest on the way to her house, and I see her. She is wearing her silk green top that falls down to her ankles wrapped tightly together by a thin white rope. She crosses into the forest. My eyes are pulled to follow her. I tell Sarah I forgot an important paper back at school and if she wouldn’t mind walking the rest of the way to her home since it is just a few blocks up from the café. She doesn’t seem to mind that I pull my truck around, hiding it behind the café shop.

I know this time how quick Evelyn runs and I know the forest a bit better. So, I think I might be able to keep up with her. I follow her past a few trees and bushes and then the forest becomes thick and dark though the sun is above us. The trees act as a canopy hiding the sunlight from us.

I run quickly, knowing at any moment I can lose her in this thick wood with her agile movements and speeds, but I have to know where she is going. I have to know what she does here and why she loves being here so much. For a moment I am jealous –jealous of the forest and of the love Evelyn has for it. I wonder if she has any feelings as strong for me.


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I watch her jump over another log and suddenly, I feel someone pulling me backwards. I am flung roughly to the ground, and hit the soil of the forest hard. I look up to feel the heat of the sun beating through the thicket of trees and streaming into my eyes.

I make out a long blond haired robust figure with thick shoulders, a pale face and almond eyes that remind me of Evelyn standing over me. I am on my back feeling vulnerable to this unknown assailant and for moments I see my life flash before me. My face cringes and my eyes fill with fear. Is this a mugger? Am I going to be murdered? Who is this enemy? Then I hear her and everything is quiet inside of me.

‘Leave him alone.’ Evelyn shouts to this man two times her size. Just give me a moment and I will get onto my feet and fight him for you, you don’t have to fight my fights. But before I can get the words out of my mouth, I deviate to asking myself how could this tiny creature be so brave? ‘If you don’t step back I will make you.’

‘He is following you. He is going to find out about you and we will all be in trouble.’ The figure says. His thick ripped jeans and dirty white tee shirt reflect he has been in the forest for some time. Twigs are caught on his bare feet and the thought occurs to me that he has no shoes on his feet. I wonder how his feet can bear the feel of the rough terrain of this forest: the wet soil, thorny twigs and hard rocks. I imagine if I had done the same my feet would be worn to shreds and I would be more tired than I currently am. But there is no blood, tears or exhaustion in him.

‘He is no trouble. This is Michael. He is my friend.’ She lowers her hands to me and helps pull me to my feet. She pulls me up easily as if she is lifting a feather from the ground. ‘Sorry about that Michael.' I stand up next to her with my fears slowly fading. Having her beside me keeps me calm. 'This is Wind. He can be a bit over protective of me.’

Wind, I think to myself, I remember his name mentioned before at


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the table. This is Evelyn’s brother. He has eyes like Evelyn, but his hair is long and blond and looks nothing like her sandy beach colored hair. His face is pale white and nothing like her caramel colored skin. But then, her parents do not share the same color hair and skin color either, and so the question just as quickly flees from my mind.

‘So, this is Michael.’ His words sting me like the scorpion tail to a bug and the look in his eyes is fierce. His scratchy voice sounds upset. I look at him, quickly turning my eyes away from him trying to avoid confrontation. He stares like a wild animal stares, waiting for its prey to give in and waiting for it to turn its eyes away from him so he can charge at it and win.

But he does not seem as big and frightening as he did when he stood over me moments ago whilst I was lying on the forest floor and he does not seem as intimidating with Evelyn by my side, though he is still about two feet taller than I am. When he looks away from me and back over at Evelyn, his eyes become bluish and then emerald again. It is a slight change and quick, but I notice it and I wonder if Evelyn’s eyes ever change color too.

‘What was that about, hitting me?’

‘I am sorry about that. I just get nervous when it comes to Evelyn. I have to watch over her. Sometimes she has so many distractions and she does not see the danger coming towards her.’ I can understand that. I have seen her oblivious to danger at school and on the streets it is like she is sometimes in a world of her own. A big brother protective of his little sister, it made a lot of sense. But there is something in the way he says, so this is Michael, and something about the look in his eyes that tells me he is more than a brother. Wind helps brush off the twigs from my hair and the leaves that had fallen onto my pants during the scuffle, and these thoughts seems to fade.


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‘What are you doing here, Michael?’

‘I saw you from across the street where I was having coffee and I wanted to talk to you.’ Evelyn smiles at the thought of this and Wind's eyebrows raise irritated.

‘So, you’re a friend of Evelyn’s?’ Wind interjects. ‘You are a friend from school?’

‘We have English class together at Green Mountain Falls High School.' My careful tone against his suspicious eyes suddenly makes me feel as if I am betraying Evelyn or revealing more about us than she would want.

'So, you are this new trouble in our lives. 'He says aloud, not sure he means to say it out loud. Evelyn moves closely to me as if to defend my presence.

'He is a good friend and he is no trouble. 'She walks to Wind and whispers something into his ear. Wind's face becomes less agitated and calmer. 'Come on, Michael, we can talk now. Wind will be leaving us.' She looks over at him with a serious face and Wind walks briskly away, surprisingly easily without looking back and without the look of fight in his face that I would expect from a rival for her hand.

Perhaps he is only her brother. Evelyn takes my hand and shows me the array of forest trees. I am almost lost in the feelings that wash over me, the same feelings I have whenever I am near her. She moves like she is one with the forest, like the forest is one with her and I can see in her face for the first time, with certain clarity, that she is not only gazing at the forest like a man admires something foreign to him, but that she is gazing at the forest with the same kind of love one has for their family.

There is a protective and subtle warrior feel to her in this forest,


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walking with her side by side. She is stronger than she seems in class, at the movies, the cafe, at my house, or even at the park. She is at home here. She is sure of herself and stronger here than anywhere else. Perhaps it is something similar to what my father feels for the forests of Colorado.

He loves the woods and nature which is one of the reasons he moved here with my mom when I was born. He dedicates his life to protecting it from being destroyed by all its enemies: man, disease, bugs, and fires. Being a ranger is not just a job to him, it is his life. In that way I can understand Evelyn's passion for it. She does not have to speak of this passion. I can see it with clarity in her emerald eyes, sparkling as a hint of sunlight shines upon them as it breaks through the canopy of trees above us.

'Where did Wind go?' I brush up against Evelyn, close to her ear.

'I think he is heading back home.'

'What did you whisper to him that made him back away from here?'

'I told him I would be home soon and to not worry about me. I am very capable of taking care of myself.' But I wasn’t sure if that was the full story.

'I guess we shouldn't wander around too late then?' She watches a few birds stretch and flap their wings overhead in the trees and then fly away in the distance.

'I should be heading back now, but let me walk you out so you don't lose your way.' The walk is easier than I first remember and I feel I am growing accustomed to my way around it. I wave good bye to her and she says goodbye with a squint of her eyes as she goes into her house. I walk back to pick up my truck and head home. Sue is sitting at the dinner table


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with an anxious look on her face, waiting for me to get home.

'Where have you been? Your friends Robby and Taylor have been calling you and I didn't know what to tell them. You weren't out with them? I thought you were going to practice soccer with them today?'

'Well...' I stumble with my words trying to think of what to tell her, but how can I convey with such precision what my heart is feeling. To try to explain, I will fall terribly short and it will feel like a betrayal to everything I am feeling. 'I was going to go out with them, but we only just practiced last night on the field near the school.'

'So where were you, I was starting to get worried when I didn't hear from you. I thought maybe you had been in an accident or something.'

'I just drove Sarah home,’ I felt good about that part being the truth.'

‘And?’ And what, she wanted more? ‘Why were you so late, its dark out now and Sarah does not live that far from the school.’

‘And,’ I could feel it coming up again, ‘I went to the café to study a bit and have a coffee.’

'I wish you would have called to tell me. It is getting late, Michael. I realize you are in high school and growing boys...' there was that word again, boys, she made me cringe, 'need their space, but I am still your mother.' Yes, that part was still true. But how can I explain to her how involved I had gotten in my pursuit of her, of my need to know where she was going and what she was doing.

But my mom did have a point, it was getting late and I didn't realize how late until she had pointed it out to me. But point or no point, I


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was not going to feel in the wrong about this. How long had I been reading the folklore? How long had I spent following Evelyn in the forest? How long had our walk actually taken? It felt like only minutes to me and it was all rolled up into one gloriously moment. But it was late and when I looked outside at the sky I could see the sun was about to sleep. I headed up to my room after dinner. I desperately needed sleep of my own.

The rest of the week is slow while I wait for the weekend to be with Evelyn. The only moments of quietness I have with her are in the two classes we have together and the occasional glances, smiles and laughs we share. Sometimes we nudge each other in the hallway and I walk her to class.

We never share lunch; for lunch she is always missing. I have to have her to myself on the weekend, time to talk and just be with her. But when the weekend arrives she tells me she is too busy and she is so sorry, but she cannot go out with me now. What did I do? I can’t help but to go over every moment we had, trying to figure out what I did wrong.


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Questions The morning is warmer than it has been for the past few months. The sunlight from the warm spring sun streams through my window and spills over my bedroom floor, enveloping my bed and soaking into my face. I enjoy the sun, but I miss the winter.

The winter lets me sleep in and allows me to forget that I need to wake up. This morning I had been lost in my dreams of Evelyn, the forest and folklore and I wasn't sure I could get up. But the sun beats down upon my face and lets me know I need to move, because today is Thursday, a school day, another day to see Evelyn.

I am excited with the thought, not just because I will see her caramel toned skin, dreamy eyes, and hear her symphonious voice, but because I want to ask her questions which have been weighing on me. We have been awkwardly smiling at each other since she told me she could not go out with me last weekend and I was looking forward to breaking the ice and speaking with her again before we grew into full-on, no-talking friendship mode. My dreams brought these questions to the foremost of my thoughts.

My subconscious must have been working on them while I slept and, unable to resolve the questions lingering in my mind, waiting for me to find the courage and strength to ask her about them. In English I wait in the back of the room for Evelyn to arrive and sit next to me like we had done for the past month now.

Mr. Roth had grown accustomed to my new seating arrangements and because I was a major soccer player for the school and had been relatively responsible so far all year round, he let me get away with it…until now. I wish he had not spoken up today, because up until now I had


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successfully pushed mine and my family’s dreams of me going to Yale into the back of my mind for a more productive and passionate train of thought –that of Evelyn.

'Robby, I need you to move to the front.' He rubs his blond mustache. Why, why is he getting in the way of my life now? Like he read my mind he answers me quickly and quietly as I slip into the seat in the front row, 'your grades are slipping and I can't have one of my star athletes fall by the way side because I didn't take care of his learning.'

My grades, I had forgotten all about my education ever since that first day when I saw Evelyn in the hallway and took my breath away. I didn't have time to study anymore. I tried to find the time. I told my parents and friends I was studying. But as I replayed the past month over in my mind, I actually could not remember any time that I actually did sit down and study.

Was Mr. Roth right? Was I falling to by the way side? I move up to the front of the classroom and once settled, flip open my folder and look over the past few quizzes I had completed and stared at the numerous red marks on each one of them, and the big red scores on the top of each quiz: 70, 65, 75. My jaw drops. I hadn't even noticed.

Evelyn walks into the room as I close my blue colored folder and I sit back in my seat. I can't deal with my grades right now. I have too many questions on my mind about her. After class I follow her out of the room and ask if lunch is a good time to talk. I know her routine. She ditches lunch as far as I can tell, at least in the cafeteria, and then reappears magically for gym. But I can't wait for gym to talk to her.

Gym is full of running and jumping and often the coach divides the class up into boys and girls and each group is separately evaluated. When anyone begins talking the coach gives us the 'hawk eye' and we quickly


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become quiet. Thankfully, she smiles and tells me she will be there in a minute and to save her a seat. I am excited at this new thought, finally sharing lunch with Evelyn. This is something I never thought of before, because there was no reason in it. She was never here for lunch.

When she returns, I am sitting at my usual table with Taylor, Laura, Robby, Sarah, and Lee. We have grown accustomed to our table of six, but when they found out I had saved a seat for Evelyn it brought some concerned expressions from around the table.

Well really only one concerned face, Laura’s. She is always easily threatened by new girls, afraid someone will steal her hubby, Taylor, though he isn’t really her hubby. But I saved a seat for Evelyn anyway, despite knowing Laura is full of newly born fears. I can’t worry about Laura now. I have my own concerns.

I am surprised when Evelyn taps me on the shoulder and takes her seat next to me. She had walked up to me quietly and I hadn't notice her there until I felt her hand on my shoulder. I could smell the scent of jasmine she wore today with a hint of lilac and I know it is her. Laura makes a tense face. Evelyn is very beautiful and I would venture to say, the most beautiful girl in the school, but then I am biased.

‘Nice to grace us with your presence.' Robby's face is full of approval and his cheeks blush red for a moment at the unexpected arrival. 'It’s nice to finally share a table with you Evelyn.' Evelyn smiles her shy smile and Robby is all too happy. Laura lets a glare in her eyes escape behind her smile and then wraps her arms around Taylor. 'So is she a friend of yours, Michael?' Robby says in a tone that fools everyone else in to thinking it is a simple question.

But he has been my friend since Elementary school and I knew him better. I knew in the back of his mind was a voice so small he wished himself it was not there, but it was and it was a voice of rivalry. Lee and


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Sarah just smile at each other, not wanting to be bothered with the change in mood at the table between Taylor and Laura. Then Lee speaks.

'So, how are you finding it here at Green Mountain Falls?'

'I like it fine. Everyone is very friendly.' Evelyn tilts her head towards me.

'It’s nice to meet you finally. I'm Sarah.' Sarah smiles and Evelyn returns the gesture. There are a few moments of awkward silence and then the five of my closest friends go into their usual routine of conversations, complaining about the food for lunch and classes, teachers, and homework. In this moment Evelyn turns to me and is so close, her lips touch my ear. She whispers to me in a delicate, almost secret moment.

'What is it Michael?' She asks. I want to speak carefully, annunciating each question. I know how reserved she is, but the words flow out of me like a dam bursting its banks.

'Where do you go for lunch? Why are you never here?'

'Is that it?' She laughs with surprise. 'My sister Venda, you’ve met her. She doesn't like to be away from her family for too long. She worries about me and has been having nightmares.’ She rubs her forehead in heavy thought. ‘So, my parents bring her to the park across the street during my lunch hour so that we can spend time together.' She resettles in her seat. 'It helps her adjust to this move and has helped with the nightmares.'

‘I’m glad she is not having nightmares anymore. She must be going through a lot?’


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‘Yes, she does sometimes.’ Evelyn says, but quickly closes her mouth to hide any more words.

'Why do you go into the forest so much? What is it about that place?'

'I told you, Michael, I love nature. I enjoy being around the sounds and smells of the forest and I miss it when I am not there.'

'Why did your brother look like he was going to kill me when I told him my name?'

'You can see he is over-protective of me. That is all it is.'

'It seems like something more.' My mind races and more words purge out of me, 'I can't help it Evelyn. Everything about you seems like so much more then you are telling me. How do you know the forest so well to go prancing through it so quickly if you have only just moved here?'

The words slipped out too quickly for me to take them back. She doesn't know I have followed her into the forest only to lose her. Nor does she know that I had lost my way and had to follow a light from the cinema to find my way out again.

'Prancing?' She looks at me with a serious question in her face, a wrinkle on her forehead and cheeks that blush as they squish up.

'I'm sorry. I should have told you, but I saw you the morning after our first...' I was grabbing for the words...'date’...and you weren't at home. I saw you running through the forest at such unfathomable speed; it was like you had lived there your whole life. But you have only been here a month.' I look at her face and she tries to look understanding, but fighting inside with the stronger anxiety underneath. ‘I’m sorry I should have told you, but I


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didn't want to embarrass myself so soon after finally getting the courage to ask you out.' She smiles at those last words, courage to ask you out.

'I am an agile runner like you Michael, surely you can understand.' She makes it sound all so normal, like I am noticing things that aren't actually there. 'But how did you see me running through the forest? Were you…were you following me?' Ok. I didn't see that one coming. I was comfortable admitting my eyes had accidentally fallen upon her on a perfectly innocent visit to her house, the morning after our first date. But admit to following her?

It might take her over the edge and force her to get a restraining order against me. I wasn't sure what to say. I wasn't sure I could admit the truth to myself, that she overwhelmed me. I cradled with the truth of that for a moment and upon reflection knew I couldn’t keep the truth from her. That would not be fair since I require the truth from her now.

'Yes. I'm sorry.' These words become second nature to me now. 'I didn't mean too. It's just that I saw you and you seemed so unreal. I was compelled to follow you. I was compelled by you.' I was getting ready for her to stand up, slap me in the face, and walk away for good. I could feel my heart inside me racing, pulsating with each syllable from these words. This tabloid full of questions seemed to be one big blur, one flash in my mind: racing, pulsating, pulsating, racing. Then the pulsating stops with one word from her.

'Ok.' She says in her sweet voice with grief behind her eyes. I wasn’t expecting that from her. I can see anguish, her anguish. I didn't want to cause her pain. This is not my intention. I can see the pain though she tries to hide it. All she wants me to see is the forgiveness.

I do not know where this pain is coming from, if from knowing the truth of me following her, if from me knowing she is a more agile runner


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than she lets on in gym class, if from her now knowing the truth she will leave me and never speak to me again. I hoped it was not the later.

'Are you...'with a pause, 'Ok?' I have to feel around for a more definitive answer, for a better explanation of her feelings on all of this. But she only nods her head.

'I really should be going now. I told Venda I would try to see her before I go to gym.' Maybe she wasn't ok. Maybe this is her polite way of telling me it is over. Perhaps she is too shy to make a scene in front of everyone. Perhaps it is not her style. She is getting up and though she has answered my questions on recent events, they seem unfulfilled answers and still haunt me.

'She seems pleasant.' Sarah says when Evelyn had gone. 'You ought to invite her to join us on one of our skiing trips.' The six of us spend at least four weekends a year skiing in the Aspen Mountains, sometimes skiing, sometimes toasting marshmallows. It is our little get away from the boredom of what is our small insignificant town. I know Evelyn would love it and smile at the idea and then fret at the thought she may have just left me for good.


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Tensions Friday is filled with anxiety. I only receive a few short smiles from Evelyn in English and gym class. I worry if everything between us had changed. We did not go out on the weekend and this week becomes one big blur of silences and awkward smiles ending with me opening my curious mind with questions. Maybe I couldn’t blame her for leaving me? I had followed her and then bombard her with questions, and then didn’t fully trust every answer she gave me.

If I am the cause of her departure from my life, I have to accept that, but I can’t. It is the longest day I ever lived through mentally though I know every day has the same number of hours. What did her short smile mean? Was she avoiding me? I look back in her direction from the front of the classroom and try to smile wide like I had when she would smile back at me. Her mouth curls up. Was that a smile? Where is she looking? Her eyes dart to the door.

After class, Evelyn comes my way and I see her flawless skin and remember her hidden imperfection on her right shoulder and over her chin. She smiles a jaunt smile, the smile I have grown familiar with when I am around her. I fill up with ease and my face lightens from its tension. She invites me to the forest with her. This week she was distant and today she decides to close that gap between us.

Was it all in my head? I am relieved to hear her say those words, would you please come with me to the forest after school today. I can't wait for the school day to end. But inside I had the nagging question of why she was so distant and now so close and imagined it might have had something


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to do with her family or her brother?

When the day finally ends, I meet her at Lake Forest and we walk over to an orange blossom tree. She pulls a yellow purple quilt, with bits of unraveling thread out of her back pack and lays it over the bristles in the soil of the forest under the tree. We sit down on the quilt beside the tree. I normally would be surprised by it’s over developed leaves, unlike those around it, which are just beginning to mature in the beginning of spring, but I don’t question it today. We stare into each other’s eyes and it is like the week never happened.

It feels like we have picked up right where we left off. Maybe it is being in school. She sits with me and I brush my hands through her hair. Then we lay side by side like two annual flowers growing in harmony over the course of a year, growing to know each other, yearning to be close, and a feeling that if the other were to be plucked away, something inside would wither and die.

We lay there for sometime lost in our thoughts of each other, our feet dangling over each others, rubbing together innocently like children do. How I long to be inside her mind and see what she is thinking. I know how I feel about her, but her feelings evade me. She is as hard to read as a book with no pages.

'Do you have any more questions for me?' I shudder at the thought. I knew how anxious the last set of questions ended for me and I didn't want a repeat of it possibly going in the wrong direction again. Yet another part of me had a nagging which would not ease. I hesitantly say, 'no,' with a smile and then add, 'for now.' As the sky’s colors of orange, purple and blue flow into each other, I feel as if the forest is flowing into me, beckoning to me, and pulling me to it. I realize it is no longer a feeling I have for only Evelyn.

I am beginning to understand the longing she feels for the nature around her. The setting of the sun tells us it is time to leave the forest and


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head home. It is not much of a journey for her, but for me it will take at least thirty minutes. We walk, her folding the quilt up into her backpack and I helping her, our hands clasping over each others. I wish she would not leave me.

But I know she will. It is a reality becoming more and more familiar to me. We will be together. We will become close. She will leave. I will yearn for her. It reminds me of the cycle of life of a frog or butterfly, birth, growth and then death, only for another to be born and the same cycle repeats itself.

Friday evening fills me with excitement and ends with me tied up in knots. We go to her house and her mom, Eve, prepares a meal possibly tasting better than the last mix of exotic herbs and flavors. Nile and Eve, Venda, Evelyn and I are all sitting at the dining table like a family that has been together for years. It is becoming familiar and Venda's laughter and antics always ease any tensions Nile and I bring to the table.

Somewhere between finishing my meal and helping to clear the table, Wind walks inside the house. He quickly rushes into the dining room where we all are laughing and his face has an angry wrinkle pounding across his forehead, his lips are a deep purple and pressed hard together making them appear very dark against his fair skin.

'So, this is it then?' He says with a stern tone in his voice. 'This is what it has all come down too.' We all turn towards him and Eve and Nile's faces fill with concern. Venda jumps out of her seat and runs over to Wind, throwing her arms around him, only she is so short she can only reach up to his knees. Evelyn jerks around and looks him right in the eyes.

'Why do you have to make everything so difficult?' She lunges at him with her words.


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'Me?' He is startled. 'You don't fulfill any promises you have made to the elder council. They are filled with angst. You are here to protect the forest, the gate from ...from...the likes of him.' He says quickly and then seems to have regretted what he has said as if some secret has been revealed.

He continues accepting his new found lack of judgment, 'you go towards the very ones we are supposed to keep hidden from.' Nile and Eve look at Wind with sternness shaking their heads and Wind lowers his head, looking like he has betrayed them in some way. 'I'm sorry...but I just can't keep this in anymore.'

He scurries away from the dining room and storms out of the house, slightly slamming the door behind him. I look over to Evelyn and to Nile and Eve. I want to ask them what this is about and what Wind means, but I can see from their expressions they have a lot on their minds, more than simply the concerns for a son who has momentarily lost his temper. Evelyn pulls me away from her parents and walks me up the stairs to her room. As we walk away from the dining room, I can see distinctly the concentrated look of disapproval from both her parents. Yet they say nothing to her.

It is the first time I see her room. It is not what I had expected. I expected something dreamy, something beyond the real. But it is simple. It is comfortable. It is the room of a high school teenager. CD's are stacked on shelves, and a big bed rests in the center of the room. White curtains are drawn over the windows.

A few books lay on the floor next to her school books and school folders. The only exceptions to this are the paintings, paintings of the forest she visits, Lake Forest. They look like originals with thick paint dried on white canvas and they decorate most of her walls. Evelyn pulls me to her close enough for us to be kissing, but instead whispers softly to me.


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‘Please sit on my bed with me. We have to talk.’ I guess she will be explaining to me the actions and words of her ‘brother’ and I brace myself for the words that will be coming. I am not sure I am ready to hear the words aloud; words I know to be true and yet words I fight to keep in the back of my mind, hidden in the crevasses where I shoved the nagging questions for so long.

‘I guess I don’t have to tell you that he is not my older brother. But what you might not know, although might have suspected on some level is that he and I are…well we…were together.’ There, she had said it. The words were out and she could not take them back no matter how much my heart is fighting it.

She braces me, holding my shoulders and stares into my eyes. ‘There is more. I’m sorry if this hurts you, but it has to be said. I don’t want to lie to you.’ I gulp as I swallow. ‘He and I are, were actually intended to be married.’ My eyes widened married?

‘But you are only seventeen?’ The words slip out instinctively. Her arms drop from my shoulders and to her sides. Her eyes are intense. The color brightens.

‘I know this is hard for your kind…’she bit her lip...‘for you to understand.’ Yes, this is a bit hard to take in. ‘It has been kind of an arranged thing since my birth. We were expected by both our families to eventually begin our own family and follow in the traditions of our kind…’ she bit her lip again, ‘our people.’

‘So, you are not getting married now…at seventeen?’ The last words carve a knot in my throat as I try to swallow, seventeen?


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‘No, no. It was kind of a prolonged engagement. We would have been married sometime later. But you can understand now why he always seems so intense and angry around you?’

‘Yes…that makes sense. I can tell that something is going on with him.’ That is an understatement. ‘But why did your parents tell me he was your older brother? Why not just tell me who he was to begin with?’ She looks at me with compassionate eyes and then I think I understand.

‘Wouldn’t that have hurt you?’ She says honestly. ‘Why tell you anything when I myself did not know where this is going. You were just a friend and then you were so much more so quickly. My parents can tell you are becoming a significant part of my life, of who I am and they couldn’t hurt you either. None of us knew how to broach you about Wind.’ She looks at me with regret. ‘I’m sorry it took me this long to tell you about that part of my life. I just didn’t want to hurt you or him and I didn’t know how to go about it without hurting someone I cared about.’

Watching her sit with me on her bed for the first time, under the ceiling light which enough to reveal her expressions and leaves enough shadow to keep a portion of mystery, it is hard to be angry with her. I understand why she kept the secret from me and I understand why it is important to her.

‘It is ok.’ I say reminiscent of the forgiveness she showed me at lunch with my indiscretion. Of course to me my indiscretion of following her seemed much more suited for anger than hers of keeping a secret from me that may not have been my business anyway. But she was beginning to know my heart and she knew that she owed my heart the truth. Questions that had long been in my mind, questions that were still festering, pop up as we sit there.

But we had gone through a lot today and I didn’t want to raise any more reasons for confusion and angst than what had already transpired. So, I


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forget my questions for now and enjoy the embrace we share on her bed under a sky quickly turning dark and cold.

‘Do you have to go now?’ She can see a pull in me that I am trying desperately to ignore.

‘I promised my mom I would be home early. She is worried about my academics after receiving a personal call from Mr. Roth. I have to stay home most of Saturday and study.’ I say with disappointment on my face.

‘You should get going then. I have a lot of explaining to do with my parents and I will be pretty busy tonight with…’ she struggled to find the words…‘certain things.’ We say our goodbyes, never my favorite part of being with her, and I head home.


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The Practice I stay home all of Saturday and study as I promised my parents I

would. Saturday my friends call. We have a game coming up and we all want the opposing team to go down in flames. Therefore it was essential for us to meet up and practice with each other as we had prior every game this year.

We practice on the streets outside my house, passing the soccer ball to one another and trying to outwit the other as skillfully as we can. But we have come to know each other’s tactics and can read the expressions on their faces so well that it is difficult for any of us to outwit the other.

‘So, you and Evelyn, are you dating?’ Taylor says without hesitating while kicking the ball to me.

‘Yeah, we have been spending time together.’

‘She seems real sweet and gorgeous too.’ I force a smile to my face and in the corner of my eye I can make out Robby wincing. ‘You always get so lucky with the girls. You are like a magnet to them.’ It is true I had my share of flirtations, but I never found anyone I truly felt this much for as with Evelyn.

I thought about trying to explain that to him, but then remembered this is Taylor. He doesn’t understand feelings. He understands actions and he understands beauty. It isn’t that he is especially shallow; he’s just simply not capable of anything more.

‘So, are you two an item now?’ Robby asks quietly, trying to hold


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back the common rivalry between us when girls show up in our lives. He is attractive to the girls at our high school. He is, an outstanding athlete at our school, but somewhere between the neglectful attention to his appearance in clothes and hair coupled with his high IQ, he always comes across aloof to the girls. He is unable to hold their attention past short conversations and after the novelty of being with an important athlete at our school wears off, they face the harsh reality that they cannot relate to him and don’t care for his lack of style.

It is a good thing he is a good soccer player, because this has made sure he did not end up a social outcast and ensures he is always invited to the most popular parties. I helped him get onto the soccer team. What would the years of high school soccer have been like if my best friend was not a part of them, running side by side with me?

I hold my tongue as I answer him, knowing many details will either annoy him or cause jealousy inside of him. Neither of these I want. He always had been my best friend and still is the only person I have ever been close to until now.

‘We have been hanging out lately. I don’t know if you can call us an item.’ No, we weren’t an item. That much is true. We are more than that. We are more than Taylor or even Robby could understand. We are the same, yet different. We are each other’s breath. We continue to play for several hours under the dark night sky while I secretly listen to the night, wondering if she will tell me any secrets about Evelyn that I desperately want to know.

But the sky is quiet and keeps her secrets far from me. Robby kicks the soccer ball hard at me and I am not sure if he is agitated because our end year game is coming up or because he is frustrated with me for withholding my secret about Evelyn. I try to focus on my playing instead, because I have been neglecting it and I know how important this game is to the team, the school and to Green Mountain Falls. Lee focuses better on the game than usual. His eyes are intense on the ball and he is much fitter than the last time


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we played. He can keep up with me which is something difficult for most players. Robby lets Lee run the ball with me and he falls behind us.

We run for a while up the street and away from the house, kicking the ball back and forth to each other. Taylor quickly runs up behind me, steals the ball and turns it around to race in the other direction, towards the house. Robby laughs and chases the ball with Taylor. It seems our practice teams have formed, Taylor and Robby on one side, and me and Lee on the other. Unintentionally my house has become the goal set by Taylor and Robby and the far house at the other end of the block farthest from my house is Lee and my goal.

The goals somehow fit into my mind with ease as my mind races to run from the world I know here in Green Mountain Falls, into Evelyn’s world. I run with Lee faster and faster and the practice from running after Evelyn in the forest allows me to run even faster. I can see the surprise on Lee’s face. His eyes widen, knowing I have not been practicing with them, and wondering where this extra yard of strength and dexterity has come from. I hit the ball with the side of my foot, turning it around and back away from my house.

As I run with the ball further and further from my home physically, emotionally it is like each step is tied to me, pulling me from my life and taking me somewhere into the arms of Evelyn. This makes the run easy and passion filled. We make it to the other side of the street without interference from Taylor or Robby. I hit the ball past the invisible goal line and I make the first goal of the night. When I look back, Lee is breathing heavy and struggling to keep up with me. I realize then how much I have improved over the past month, even though I had neglected both my studies and my soccer practice. Though I was neglecting my practice with my team, I was still running, running after Evelyn.

I am not following guidelines or rules, running within a set distance or inside a set boundary. I am running after someone I know, someone I am falling in love with, without the lines, without the rules, and without any set


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end. This taught me something I never learned in all those years of practice through Elementary and High school. All my life I ran with my legs. Now, I am learning to run with my heart. It is amazing how much adrenaline and fuel there is inside of you when you run with passion.

After reaching the goal, I slow down seeing Lee struggling to catch up to me. We play for a few more hours, the ball pushes back to the house and then up again to my designated goal. Robby is less agitated when he kicks the soccer ball past his goal point, taking his rival stress out on the game and scores his team’s first point. Sweat drops from our faces, our tee shirts are soaked with perspiration but, we are used to this and love it.

We play in rain and in the snow and in the heat of the sun. We play in all seasons, in all weather types and never let ailments get in the way of our game. I, like the rest of my teammates are loyal to two things, each other and the game. None of us know any other thing to be loyal too and until recently I did not think it was possible.

But Evelyn is someone I was not expecting and when she walked into my English class the first day in March, I knew my loyalties were being torn apart. There is something stronger than friends, something stronger than the game. There is a force I didn’t know how to describe, and until recently did not even recognize. When my dad calls out we finish practice and pack up our gear and my friends head back to their homes. My dad is reading a newspaper at the dining table. I glance at it as I pass by him.

What is happening in Colorado’s Aspen Forest?

Gradual, long-term changes to the forest and recent wide spread death of Aspen trees. Death of many century old Aspen trees is changing the appearance of some of Colorado’s landscapes. Is man to blame? Is nature? Are they both? How can we save our forests? Take an in depth look at how our forest is changing and why and what we can do about it.


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‘How did your practice go son?’

‘It went well. I think we will be ready to win our end game this May.’ I pour a bowl of cereal and eat with my dad at the table. I am hungry and the cereal fills my stomach up after running for a few hours and working up a sweat. I wonder about the article and what is causing the changes in the forest and if this would affect Evelyn. Did Evelyn know what was happening? Did she have answers?

‘That’s good. The whole town is watching you guys and if you can pull this off we might win back our respect.’ My dad looks serious and winks at me with his words. I nod my head in response and it ends our conversation. Then, I eat in silence. He never talks much and I am tired. I walk upstairs to shower and stand under the rushing water with my eyes closed, taking it all in.

Then I go to my room, shut the door, and listen to music. I listen to the mellow sounds of John Mayor and Jack Johnson. Somehow they take me away to a place of calm and I can forget about everything around me, a busy day gone wrong, any stresses, I can forget everything, but her. I would not want to forget her, – ever.


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The Gate Sunday morning the light trickles over my face and tickles me awake from a funny dream I was having. I wake up laughing and a need to go outside. It is like the air whispers to me to follow it. I shower, dress in jeans and heavy boots and a winter coat. I am like my dad in that way. I enjoy bundling up for the chilly weather. Spring brings warmth, but the cool breezes always remind the small town that winter has not long passed.

I jump into my truck and drive out to the forest, waiting. I’m not sure why I wait there of all places, as if somehow I know by doing so I will see her. I don’t have to wait long. She comes out of her house with a long dark shirt, falling just below her knees and she wears it with a tiny gold belt like rope. I guess I was right to wait there. I am beginning to know her well and knew here is where she would be this morning.

This time I will catch her. I will finally know what she is doing and why she is here. I know the forest much better and I know the places Evelyn likes to wander. She has shown me a few of her spots on our excursions. I know her speed and I am learning how to keep up with her. She is agile and fast. But I am used to running and I know how to follow a soccer ball.

I will use my skills to keep up with her. I watch her gracefully prance through the forest like a deer, past the Rocky Mountain Juniper’s red brown leaves, past the Lodge pole Pine’s dark yellow and green evergreen and the other trees in that area. She hops over tree stumps and grassy mounds quickly without pausing and then stops, surrounded by lush trees and bushes.


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She passes the barren grass where she laid the yellow purple patched quilt a few nights before. She waves her left hand in the air in circular motions, small and then bigger around and around, opening a light, a bubble of air, a hole. She walks into it and disappears. She disappears in the spot where we sat together on her quilt next to the overgrown orange blossom tree whose leaves cascaded around us and were in stark contrast to the usually barren trees of the forest this time of year.

What is she doing? What is that bubble? Where did she go? Questions race through my mind, but like the night when we first kissed, I see myself move forward without regard to my questions. I walk up to the air bubble resting still in the clear forest air and stare inside of it.

My eyes feel as though they have deceived me and it takes a moment for all of this to register and then I push myself into the glowing hole slowly as it is beginning to shrink in size. I recklessly roll onto the green grass on the other side.

The air is fresh and the sky is light. I see her prance away over light green meadows with pink and blue flowers decorating it just as agilely as she has darted through Lake Forest. When I look back I see a golden gate, and an orange blossom tree hanging over it. I look to her and she is now over a hill and in a thicket of bushes. I scramble to my feet.

To my left is a huge boulder about the size of my house, red brown in color. As I stand up, the boulder lifts up. What looks like stone hands and stone feet begin to take shape, the boulder begins to walk forward in the direction of Evelyn and it turns slowly down a distant hill. For this stone creature his steps are few with wide long legs. A few blue lights flicker around me and whisper something I cannot hear clearly. The sky sparkles in its blue and orange colors and I run over the meadow towards Evelyn.

White horses run in the distance faster than I have ever seen with


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maroon manes covering their strong white colored bodies. A few big birds, like oversized eagles, fly above me with long blue wings and white bodies. ‘Caw caw caw,’ they sing. Mushrooms, the size of my head, sit in patches in the dense part of this forest behind me. I run up behind Evelyn.

She turns around and snaps my arm into her hands and with one motion I fall to the grassy mound. She holds me down, standing over me with my face to the grass. Her sandy-gold colored hair dangles over me and I wonder if I am in pain or ecstasy. Moments become long and then she yells out to me.

‘Who are you? Why are you following me?’

‘I followed you from your house. I’m sorry. I just had to see where you were going.’

‘Michael?’ She turns me over to see my face. ‘The truth of me being there registers quickly with her. She helps me to my feet easily like she did when Wind threw me to the forest floor. ‘Then you saw everything. You saw me open the gate?’ She says this with a mix of fear and happiness.

‘I saw something like a bubble, a hole, I don’t know if I would call it a gate…’ I stumble in my words, ‘I saw it over there,’ I try to point with my finger, but my arm is still held in her hands. I didn’t know if I should try to escape or enjoy the company. ‘Could you…do you think you could let me go now?’

‘Sorry.’ She says and releases her grip.

‘You sure are a lot stronger than you look, Evelyn.’


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‘We all are stronger than we appear to be.’

‘We who…who are you?’ Her emerald eyes glow bright and she somehow seems stronger than she did yesterday.

‘My eyes, what do they tell you I am?’

‘I…I don’t know.’ I only get lost in her eyes every time I look into them and I can’t seem to think anyway, so I thought it better if I avoided them all together this time. It seems to work until I smell the scent of jasmine and honeysuckle from her skin as a slight breeze blows by us.

‘Look closely, look at me.’ She pulls me up off the grass. ‘I did not want to endanger you by bringing you here. I didn't want to involve you in any of this.' She brushes the hair away from her face. 'But you are drawn to me as I am drawn to you. I can't hold you away from it any longer.’ She walks me over the next hill and below is an emerald lake the color of her eyes, glistening under the sun in sliver color like the first day I saw her face under the sun outside in gym class.

‘I come here for my strength. When we are gone too long we lose our vitality, our abilities weaken and our bright eyes become pale in color. Maybe you noticed the change in mine yesterday?’ I did not want to admit to knowing that. I did not want her knowing I noticed every detail about her every day since the first day she walked into English class: the color of her hair, eyes, the clothes she wears, the smell of her skin on a particular day. But I did.

‘Yes. Your eyes looked quiet tired last week and pale in color.’

‘…Because I had not been here at this Emerald Lake for over seven days.’ The color of the lake fuses with her eyes and they seem to be at one here in this spot. It is like watching someone sleep for hours and awakening


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to feeling refreshed. ‘My ears,’ she rolls her hair back behind her ears and I realize I am seeing them for the first time and I see they are elongated with a point at the end. ‘My eyes,’ she opens them wide for me to see their almond shape and I get lost in them. ‘My agility,’ as she is speaking my mind wanders to her in the forest.

She flees from me in haste and then darts back with her face close to my mine, her lips barely touching my cheek. ‘Do you really not know who I am?’ Ideas fly into my mind almost as fast as they escape it. Looking at her makes it hard to hold onto any one of those thoughts for too long. The mythical stories of all the mythical creatures I read about in the café fills my mind with ideas. I can’t open my mouth to say the words.

‘You know who I am.’ She says. ‘You’ve always known.’ Her eyes open wider, her pupil pierces mine. ‘I have wanted to tell you for so long. Couldn’t you feel me telling you? Everyday you’d watch me and every day I wanted to tell you, but couldn’t explain it with my words, I couldn’t break the code.’ The code? ‘Leaving Wind was hard enough for the council and then this, in love with a human.’ She whispers.

‘But you don’t need words do you?’ She was right I didn’t. ‘You can see me. You can hear me without me even speaking to you. You know who I am.’ She smiles with assurance and jumps into one of the trees above me, her feet dangling off of one of the branches above my head. She is like a cat jumping with no effort at all. ‘You know who I am.’ She whispers to me as if I have to say the words aloud to make them real.

‘Yes.’ I say with my eyes closed and then I open them and see her. ‘I know who you are. I know you.’ I speak slowly mystified by her words, in love with a human, mystified because she loves me too. Mystified because if I am the human than what is she? And then the words that were in my subconscious slowly make their way to my conscious mind and out of my mouth so clearly and without regret, I say ‘You are an Elfin.’ She smiles contently.


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But even as the words roll off my tongue I speak them with disbelief, as if being here in this magical world somehow allows her to break all the rules of nature, to be anything she wants. She could be an elfin, she could have mystical powers that I could never even dream of, but once we go back through that gate, back to my world she would have to return to being Evelyn, sandy beach haired Evelyn who sits in the back of my English High School class in Green Mountain Falls, Colorado.

‘Now we don’t have to live in secret anymore and I haven’t broken any codes. You followed me, I did not invite you. You knew who I was, I did not tell you. We don’t want to break the codes. I don’t want to put your life into danger. You are in danger enough by simply knowing the truth, by being here with me now.

‘Danger?’


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MagicMy body begins to feel light and I float into the fresh air. ‘What…

what is happening?’ Evelyn laughs harder than I have ever heard her laugh.

‘Embrace it Michael. Fly with your feeling.’

‘How is this happening?’

‘You’re in my world now, Michael. My father told me once that humans will each react differently to our world depending on who they are. Some will manifest abilities to fly, others will be able to run faster than us, and still some will gain incredible strength.

My father says it was written that a human had the ability to become invisible and he was a great threat to the elves here. He had to be destroyed. I don’t know all the possibilities, but I do know you don’t need to be afraid of it.’ She laughs again watching my face grow from enchantment to fear. ‘Don’t worry it will only last as long as you stay here.’

‘That’s good to know. I don’t think I could manage this in Colorado.’ My body floats up into the sky and I hover over the boundary of the hills and the Emerald Lake below me. I try to move back toward Evelyn, but I keep pushing myself unintentionally forward. She laughs again.

‘Silly boy.’ That word again, boy, and I’m reminded of my mother’s tone and am ripped back to reality. She jumps over ten feet up into the air


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higher than I could ever jump and grabs hold of my jeans and pulls me back down as she lands on the hill below us. ‘You’ve got to get a handle on that thing.’

‘Boy, do I really seem like a boy to you?’ She laughs and her curly hair falls over her face.

‘Sometimes,’ she pauses. ‘I forget about your world, your time, it is different to mine.’

‘Your time?’

‘We age differently in this world.’

‘How?’

‘This place, its magic, the lakes keep us young. Time moves much slower here than in your world. A month passes in your world and it is like a day to us in ours.’ I try to quickly add the math up in my head. She is seventeen. If one month to me is a day to her, in a year to me she would only be twelve days old. I gasp at the thought. In a year to her, I would be...I was estimating...about thirty years old. Thirty times seventeen is about...estimating again...five hundred years old in my world.

‘You are five hundred years old!’ My eyes glaze over at her in amazement.

‘Five hundred and ten.’ She says with a sparkle in her eyes. I try to grasp the reality of her answer but she deviates to another thought. ‘Maybe we ought to fly somewhere and you can practice your new gift?’ She laughs again. We run over the hills with undulating flowers and when we hit the greenest meadows, I jump into the air and fly. I pull myself up into the sky


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ami blackwelder - guardian of the gate

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