Good Bye Forset.

I wrote this in the spring and forgot to post it. We were re-reading it and thought it was pretty funny so we decided to post it anyway...

We went to the park today. There is soooooooooo much garbage all over the ground. Why is everyone tossing their trash on the ground!? In our park!? It just doesn't make sense! I counted 16 Robins, and if all the Robins suddenly decided to collect all the garbage in the park, they could of all gotten 200 pieces each easily. Trash outnumbering Robins? Not good.

There is an irony to this.

I'm not sure what the point of this is.

Some one lost their glove.

Right in front of the parking lot.

Why?! Why!? Why!?

A plastic sheet wrapped around a tree.

This looks really nice doesn't it?



Look closer.




This is behind the Park.

Look Mom! A wild Coffee Cup! It's a disposable one too! 

What a lovely scene. But I spy a coffee cup.

An abandoned shoe.

His Buddy was hanging out there too. 

A "rare" piece of leaf litter.

The pond went shopping for Liquor.

 Of course, the park is beautiful too. But if this trash keeps building up, it might look completely different.  Below are pictures of my brothers enjoying nature, and some exceptionally beautiful pictures of our park.

A resident of the park.

One of the bazillion Robins hanging around. I looooove Robins!

Who knew marshes where so pristine looking?

This just looks so perfect.

Seagulls are nice too!!!

Isaac ice fishing.

Mom and Nan.

Isaac leads the way for Alex and Daley.



Alex fell into a hole.

There is something so Epic about this.

Off we go!

A path leading to...Somewhere.

Element Part Six

Aspen woke me up just before dawn.

"Listen!" She whispered, leaning over me, eyes blazing with anticipation. She was deathly still, yet trembling with excitement. I sat up, making the grass beneath me rustle. She put her finger to her lips slowly and gave me a scorching look. I froze.

She sat erectly, head high, her hands folded in her lap. She blinked her eyes slowly, cocking her head and doing another bird impression.

Off in the distance, a bird started a trilling song. Another joined it, its voice a series of chirps and chips. A third thrust its voice into the mix, its song whisking my thoughts off to exotic lands where giant flowers bloomed lush, and brilliant.

And then the enter forest erupted into song. A swirl of music filled the air and danced around me, stealing my breath, and dashing off with it, laughing .

Aspen looked rapt and peaceful, joyfully alive and glowing. I glanced at my reflection in the water, and saw that I looked much the same, despite my filthy clothes and greasy hair. I was a Goddess of the Wild Hunt, A Nymph of Destruction, A Lost Soul of the Chiasm. Something to be feared and loved, something to be hunted . I was raw power.

Terror swept over me. I had to get away from myself. I was not a person, I was a THING.

My horror was cut short by the sudden stop of the bird song.

"Wasn't that wonderful ?" Bubbled Aspen, childish innocence gushing out of every pour. "Its music isn't it? I think its the best."

I wasn't listening. She looked so fragile. I could hurt her. I could slacken my hold on my powers for one millisecond and hurt her. And that was the last thing I wanted. I loved Aspen, despite having only just met her. I loved here like you love a sibling. When your parents say "Here is your baby sister." just after she has been born, you love her instinctively. You have only just met her and you love her even though you know nothing about her. That is why you love her. The any thing about her. The innocence that hangs off them because they have no idea of what they could do. That is why I loved Aspen. Some how she had that same complete ignorance about what her future could hold, and she just came into my life even though I had nothing to do with it. And if I hurt her, if I hurt her...

I stood up hurriedly. I started to walk off into the woods.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm leaving. You should to. There could be anything out here." I didn't turn around.

"Your leaving without me?!"

"Yes." My back stayed to her.

"You can't!"

"Why?" I was honestly curious, but I still didn't turn around.,

"Because, because, you gave this to me."

I turned around to look at her. She was holding the cup I had made the day before. It was cupped in her hands, cradled in her palms like a bird. A hideous clay bird.

I stared at it. Then at her face. Then back to the cup. "What?"

"We're friends." Her voice was pleading. "Aren't we?"

I looked hard at her face. Her eyes were begging, begging for one thing. A friend.

"Fine. You can come with me." I was probably going to regret it.

"Yeeeeeeeeeesssssssss!"  Aspen squealed with delight, leaping up and running over to me, flinging her self around my waste. I noticed that the cup was still held carefully in one hand.

That's how Aspen joined me, really.

                                                             *  *  *  *  *  *  *

The Prince was scribbling signs and runes in the dirt. They where in the  south end of the kingdom, in the forest, which, it turned out, had a name . It had been engraved into his mind by an offended farmer, who had been completely unaware he was scolding the future King. The Forest was called Mort Salt. The Prince was deeply confused by this name, but he thanked the farmer any way, even though he felt that the farmer didn't deserve thanks because he hadn't been asked a question. The random squiggles and lines he was scrawling into the dirt was a simple tracking spell specifically designed to locate any magical activity.

But there was no sign of any magic at all. Despair was pressing on his heart now, whispering to him, telling him to give up. The Prince stared with solid determination at the tracking spells.

Suddenly, there was a flare of magical activity. The Princes heart leapt, flinging the despair away. The flare wasn't far away, and the owner of it was making its way steadily towards the camp. If the Prince's camp moved now, they would intercept the flares owner in 2 days, maybe less.

A smile spread across his face. He didn't now if it was Lillian for certain, but, some how, he had a deep set feeling it was.

And she wasn't alone.

                                                       To be continued.

Bog Birthday.

Yesterday was Alex's Birthday. He is officially 7 years old!!! We went out to Bernie's Bog for a cook up.

The Birthday Boy!!!!!

My friend Katie.

Dad setting up the fire.

 

                                                                           

Alex and his friend Even.

Seamus cutting down a tree.

Setting up the "camp." Mom and Nan on the food.

Katie and I being cool.

The food.

                                                            

Moms homemade cookies. As you can see they where very popular.

Christine and Ian hiking to the camp.

Roasting Smokies.

 A lovely scene.



The gang.

Alex going down a hill.

Even going up a hill.

Katie took this picture. Isn't it great?!

Malcolm.

Isaac behind a tree.



I fell into a hole.



I fell into a deeper hole.

Rebecca!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Element Part Five.

After I finished screaming I sagged against a tree, trying desperately to not look at the saturated ground where the child used to be. I didn't want to be there, plain and simple. My mind kept supplying the image of the child melting. So, I left the clearing as quickly as I could without becoming any of the Elements. Water, I need water.
 
Go through that grove of saplings, there is a stream over there. Said my annoying/helpful powers, but I didn't particularly mind at that moment.

I stumbled to the stream, bent over to drink, and saw my reflection in the water. I had never looked so tired, bedraggled, dirty, scared and angry in my life. My hair was greasy and tangled, there where shadows under my eyes, and my once lovely purple dress was in rags. How long had I wandered around in a daze? I went through all the nights I had spent in the woods. Unlike the days I had spent out there in the forest, I remembered the nights with absolute clarity. I almost laughed when I realized that I had spent a week and three days in my post traumatic stress trance. But I was alive and breathing, not in jail, not at the gallows, so to heck with how I looked. As long as I was very much not dead it was good enough for me.

 

I drank. A lot. Water had never tasted so good. Being alive had never felt so good. I was happy.

 

I stopped guzzling water. Was that...? It was. I could hear someone whimpering in the trees. It wasn't scary, it was weird. I stood, titling my head in the direction of the noise. It was coming from a large yellow birch, whoever was in it was hidden by the dense greenery.

I walked over on tip toe, careful not to startle whoever was up there. I peeked up into the thick foliage. There was a child in the tree. She looked to be about six, with bronzy cocoa colored skin and a bob of black hair. Her clothes consisted of a white tank top dress that was ragged and torn, as well as covered in dirt stains and water damage. She was curled up in a fetal position, clinging to the branches beneath her. And protruding from her back was a pair of russet colored eagle wings. They where beautiful.

"Oh..." I breathed.

At the sound of my voice the child gave a yelp, flinched away from me...and fell out of the tree. I dove underneath her, catching her before she hit the ground. I moved faster than my brain did apparently, as it took me a moment to process the fact that I had transformed into the half wind half person thing again. The child was trembling in my wind arms. Up close, you could make out the fact that her hair was in fact made of long skinny black feathers, the width of a hair strand. Her eyes startled me just a tiny bit, they looked as though they belonged to a hawk, but they were wide with terror and didn't look threatening at all.

"You aren't," She whispered, cocking her head and pulling off an amazing bird imitation. "You aren't going to lock me up, or take my feathers, or," Her eyes got even larger. "Or call me a freak?"

"Of course not." I found my self saying while trying desperately to pull my particles back into human form, and finally succeeding.

"Oh good. " She said, wiggling out of my arms and landing neatly on the ground. "You are very pretty. Your hair looks like chocolate. I have never had chocolate before but I imagine it to taste like heaven and dew. And sweet. Whatever that means, because I have never had a sweet thing before, though I would like to try one. Your eyes look like trees too. Fairy tale pine trees. The ones with soft needles, that the princesses sleep in and wake up smelling exactly like the tree."

She smiled at me, waiting for an answer. Unfortunately I had been rendered speechless by her small declaration of why I was pretty.

"I haven't freaked you out have I?" She said anxiously. "You are the first person that I have met other then the guards or the Prince that has been nice. Mia and Lina don't count because they are like me, only different."

I continued to stare at her. She stared back. I tentatively broke the silence. "Are you thirsty?"

"YES!"

"There is a stream over there you can drink from..."

She dashed over to it and bent down to drink, then froze. "Lina says I must not drink without a cup because it is bad manners. And I must not slurp because that it is bad manners, too. Do you have a cup?"

"No..."

"Then I cannot drink." She said sadly, before falling silent and staring forlornly at the stream.

I sat down beside her and scooped up some of clay that lined the streams banks. I shaped it into a vague cup shape, covered in lumps and cracks. It was very soggy.

Ok powers, please turn this into a cup. I don't know if you can do this but if you can...

And why should I do this?

Because this kid will not drink without a cup and she really wants to have some water.

There was no answer but suddenly I was holding a dry handful of clay. A clay cup to be exact. It was the most flawed ugly cup on Captera, but it was a cup.

"Here." I held it out to her.

"How..." She gasped, then leapt to her feet. "Your her! Your the Element! The Prince accidently mentioned you one day, and that we would hold you with our might and stuff like that and that he needed my feather and Lina's hair and Mia's whisker and that he was sorry but he had to and with you he could stop the war and what is a war and I ran away so he couldn't because he said that we needed to be in the circle so we could bind you and " She heaved a breath and I jumped in so I might have the chance of being heard.

"Wait, what is the Prince calling me?"

"He called you his Element." She said slowly. "Because you can control the four elements. And he calls you his because he created you with magic. Just like he created me."

"Why does he want me?" I could here the confusion in my voice.

"So he can stop the war that he started. He doesn't like it."

"Oh." I was still confused but not as much as before.

She reached out and took the cup from me, cradling it in her hands. "I don't have a name but Lina called me Aspen."

"I'm Lillian."

"I know."

"Um."

"The wind told me, because I am it. They told me like bees, buzzing in my ears." She dipped the cup the cup into the river, then brought it to her lips. She paused.

"Bzz, bzz."

I swallowed. She drank.

"I'm going to sleep now." She informed me, then curled up on a patch of moss.

I looked at the sky. It was getting dark. I lay down a few feet away from her, and watched her for a bit. Eventually, I closed my eyes.

Good night.

Good night yourself.

And I was asleep.

                                                                  *  *  *  *  * 

The Abyss was almost gone. The last threads of her mental state where slowly dissolving, reminding her of her past body, that had long since vanished in time.

She shifted, theoretically. She had to imagine all of her movements nowadays.

Theoretically, she closed her eyes.
  
Theoretically, she sighed.

Theoretically, she opened her eyes again.

Theoretically, she spoke, whispering to the Prince to please, please hurry, for she
                                                                                                                              was
                                                                                                                                    almost
                                                                                                                                               G
                                                                                                                                                 O
                                                                                                                                                    N
                                                                                                                                                       E
                                                                                                                                                           .

                                                             To be continued

Element Part Four

I drifted through the forest, eating the few berries that I could find and drinking stream water. I was in a daze, my mind replaying the battle field scene, a never ending mental horror. My powers tried hard to pull me out of my mind but it was all in vain. I was wasting away, utterly destroyed by what I had seen.

It was melodramatic, I agree, but the prince had led us, his people, to believe all was right in the world. He lulled us into an oblivious stupor, lied and most likely forced our husbands, sons, fathers and brothers to fight in a war they hadn't known existed until then.

There was so much I didn't know still and I was already battered by the secrets.

I eventually did rejoin the physical world, but it wasn't very gentle or reassuring. I had been lying in a clearing, sunbeams and butterflies decorating the air, grass and moss lacing the ground. I had meandered in and out of consciousness, and I then I heard footsteps.

"Miss..."

Go away, I want to be alone, I thought. But only my powers can hear my thoughts so protesting was useless.

"Miss, the Abyss, she be waiting."

I don't care. My thoughts where bitter and hurt.

"Miiiiissssssss," Whoever was speaking had turned their accented voice sing-songy. "She be waaaaiiitinng."

I realised the voice belonged to a child. I sat up. The most unearthly terrifying child stood at my feet. She was about three feet high but she seemed much bigger. Her black hair was wild and tangled, yet she also looked flawless and combed. There was a feral glint in her unnaturally blue eyes and a quirk in her lips. She was skinny and slight. Her loose, long sleeved blue dress hung off  one of her shoulders. I was frozen with fear.

"Miss, I was sayn' that the Abyss be wanting to wake and you be'n too slow ain't helpn'."

"I-I-I-!"

She leaned over me and I scrambled up and back, slamming into a tree.

"We is alllll getting impatiiieent!" She had gone back to a sing-songy voice and was grinning from ear to ear at my fright.

She walked over to where I was standing.

"Get away from me!" Panic coated my voice and threw it up three octaves to high.

She plopped down on the ground, then looked up at me. Her voice started to waver. It went dusky.  "The Abyss, she be sleeping, but she wants to be waking. Miss, she be waking."

The strange child.

Slowly, she began to dribble out of existence. First her eyes trickled out of her face, then her face trickled into her neck, on and on, slowly, carefully. She was liquefying. A living, melting candle. I screamed and told myself to look away but I couldn't. All I could do was scream.

                                                                    *  *  *  *  *

"Why is it taking so long?" The voice said.

The Prince's back was arched, his head thrown back, eyes wide. Mist was streaming out of his mouth and the voice was coming from it. From him.

The prince went back to normal. His throat was raw and sore but he answered the mist. "She got away, I told you. We are looking, but she is evasive. We know that she is at the south end of the Kingdom, somewhere in the forest."

Silence.

The prince gasped, then went back to the arched back pose. The voice rattled from his mouth once more. "Very well. But hurry. I do not wish to sleep any longer. I do not have much time."

The prince fell to the floor, heaving breath after breath. The possession had come suddenly, and not at the best time. He had been in the dungeons and the Forces would have seen it. The prince got up and strode to the exit. He tried very hard to ignore the sounds the Forces made when they moved in their cells, lost in layered shadows . The sloshy sound as Water shifted around in the stale puddle she slept in. The rustling of cat's ears that came from Earth's cell. The soft noise of... The prince stopped walking, and stood frozen beside Wind's cell. He looked inside. There was no one in it. Just a large hole was where the small barred window had once been. Stone walls. Stones are earth, which means...

He whirled around in a panic, seizing the bars of Earth's cage.

"What -did -you -do!?"

"I let her go." The voice of the speaker was catlike, and each vowel was a hiss. The face was hidden by the darkness of the cell. "She wanted to fly. She has rights. Its your fault we're like this."

The prince jerked back as though she had swung a poisoned blade at him.

"Be quiet!" He snapped at her. Then softer, sadder. "Be quiet."

He turned around and left the dungeon.

For a few moments the only noise was the drip, drip of the water leaking through the roof. Water was the first to speak.

"Thank you." Her voice was soft and gentle with a hint of underlying power.

"I didn't do it for you." Came Earth's huffy reply, "I just wanted to see his Cruelness in shock."

"I know that you cared about her too... Mia."

Earth bristled, "Don't call me that. She is the only one who can call me that."

Water smiled. "And she called me Lina."

Earth smiled flatly, "And you called her Aspen."

There was no answer from Water. Then she leaned forward into the light. Her face was moist and frog like, her hair forever wet and dripping, long seaweed like strands trailing on the ground.

She stared at the dark cell where Earth sat, hidden from view, but you could tell that Water saw her despite that.

"Only I call her that." Water snarled.

Earth didn't move, didn't speak. Neither did Water. Then,

"Water..."

"What?" Anger simmered under her voice.

"I'm Earth right?"

"Yeeeesss."

"You're Water, she was Wind..."

"Earth what are you getting at?"

"What I'm getting at is that the three of us, you, me and her, are Three of the Four Forces. So my question is..."

"What Earth, what is your question?" Water was getting impatient.

"Where is Fire?"

"I- I don't know."

"Exactly."

Both where confused, and both hoped that whereever Aspen was, she was safe.

                                                             To be continued