Beneath The Willow Tree

Vida woke up on her bed. She saw the morning sun peeking through her bedroom window.

“How long was I asleep?” Vida rubbed her eyes and fixed her dreads.

She tried to remember what had happened before she had fallen asleep, then it all came back to her. Her stomach dropped as her memories started to pour in

“Oh god.” Vida thought. She immediately made her way to the infirmary after freshening up. She walked by the cafeteria where they were serving breakfast, confirming it was morning.

Vida got to the infirmary doors and hesitated. A long pause ensued.

“Why did I have to mess up so badly.” Vida looked at the legs of Hendrix she could see through the infirmary.

Unbeknownst to Vida, Hendrix was well and speaking to Jessica about the experience, but Vida could only see Hendrix’s still legs.

“I don’t deserve his attention.” Vida walked away from the infirmary, walking towards the courtyard to clear her head.

“So the world went black, then what?” Jessica sat with a clipboard on the side of Hendrix’s hospital bed.

“I could feel a faint pain on my neck, but nothing excruciating. And then I heard this voice.” Hendrix scratched his head as he tried to remember the details.

“What did the voice sound like?” Jessica leaned in towards Hendrix in curiosity.

“Nobody I recognized. I’ve heard the voice in a dream before, I think. Gravelly, deep. He sounded dead, if that makes any sense.” Hendrix grew confused at his own words, but Jessica seemed to nod in understanding, so he continued.

“This man came out of the shadows. It seemed like the voice belonged to him. Then he started talking about someone dulling my senses, and how we are one. I don’t really know what he meant by any of that, but then he said he knew my Mode and that he would give me his strength as a weapon. And that’s when this thing showed up, I guess.” Hendrix pointed to the pitch black electric guitar that leaned against the wall next to his bed.

“What do you plan to do with that?” Jessica pointed her pencil at the guitar.

“I don’t know. I want to play songs on it, since I’ve never had an electric guitar, but I don’t know how this guitar holds that man's strength.” Hendrix pondered over the question in his head as he stared at the guitar.

“And what did this man look like?” Jessica leaned back in her chair as she asked the final question she had prepared.

“He had long scruffy hair. I couldn’t see his face, it was covered by this blank white mask with eyeholes. I could see his eyes, though. They were really yellow and really sharp-looking. It reminded me of an owl.” Hendrix continued without noticing Jessica’s reaction. Her eyes widened like the pieces had all been put together.

“He had this really raggedy cloak on. The shoulders had feathers on them, and under the cloak he wore an all black outfit. I can’t remember what he wore specifically, but I can remember how his military boots sounded.” Hendrix scratched the back of his head as he tried to remember more, but he couldn’t.

“That’s… That sounds like…” Jessica put her pencil to her lips, thinking to herself.

“It couldn’t be him.” She thought.

“That sounds like-” As Jessica was just about to get her thought out, Chase barged into the infirmary with no regard for the current conversation, followed by Amora.

“Hey, dude. I think you should talk to Vida right about now. She’s not doing too good.” Chase signaled Hendrix to come with them.

“Sorry, Jessica. I have to go. I’ll hear what you have to say later.” Hendrix got up from his bed, grabbed his guitar, and rushed out of the infirmary.

“Wait!” Jessica was too late, Hendrix had already passed the doors. Jessica let out a sigh as she gathered her thoughts and wrote on her clipboard.

The three kids moved through the hallways.

“What’s wrong?” Hendrix asked.

“She hasn’t gotten over what happened yesterday. She keeps saying it’s her fault. I tried to comfort her, but… I think she just needs you right now.” Amora’s words shocked Hendrix.

“Me? Why me?” Hendrix thought. He got flustered for a second as the thought crossed his mind that he might be special to Vida.

“Oh, wait. She just needs to hear it from me. She needs me to tell her that I’m fine.” Hendrix nodded to himself as the group continued walking.

“There she is.” Amora got to the courtyard doors right in front of the two boys, pointing at Vida through the glass.

Vida sat under the willow tree, sobbing into her hands. Hendrix’s heart sank at the sight of the tears dripping from Vida’s hands, he quietly moved through the courtyard doors.

Hendrix took a seat on the dirt next to Vida without her noticing.

“Why are you crying?” Hendrix asked simply. Vida jumped at the sound of his voice, quickly wiping away her tears.

“Oh. It’s nothing.” Vida sniffled and stared at the ground, hoping Hendrix would believe her.

“Are you thinking about yesterday?” Hendrix didn’t believe Vida’s lie.

A few seconds of silence followed.

“I’m sorry.” Vida whispered as she began to tear up again. Hendrix caught the whisper as he turned to her.

“There’s nothing to be sorry about-” Hendrix’s words were cut off.

“Yes there is! I put you into that state. I could’ve killed you-” Vida’s words were cut off in return.

“Just like the time I almost killed you.” Hendrix’s words caused a few seconds of silence before he continued.

“I still don’t forgive myself for doing what I did on the street that day. I don’t know how much it hurt, and I don’t want to know. It would just make me hate myself more. Yours is different.” Hendrix looked up at the leaves of the willow tree.

“Do you remember when we were little, and you used to bad mouth those kids that tried to bully me?” Hendrix let out a little smile. Vida stared at Hendrix’s face, trying to find the correlation.

“Yeah. They used to push you around, and you just let it happen. It made me kind of mad.” Vida chuckled.

“Yeah… After the day you told them off, I knew I wanted to do everything in my power to make sure you knew how much those actions meant to me. I’m still figuring out how to thank you properly, but one day I’ll do it right.” Hendrix’s words were met with a dazed silence as Vida digested the speech.

“You’ve done way too much good for you to get hung up by this little mistake. I’m fine, see? If anything, I’d have to say thank you for caring this much about me. I really didn’t think you’d be crying over it.” Hendrix smiled at Vida as she chuckled through her tears.

Vida jumped at Hendrix in a hug. Hendrix gave a couple seconds of frozen shock, before softly returning the hug.

“As awkward as you are, Hendrix, you always know what to say.” Vida thought. She smiled to herself.

Chase and Amora smiled through the glass.

“This is frustrating.” Chase groaned. Amora furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.

“What? This is such a happy moment!” Amora looked at Chase for an explanation.

“I mean, it’s like one of the rom-com movies you used to make me watch. She clearly loves him, she just doesn’t know it yet.” Chase put his arms out towards the glass in a gesture that said “Obviously!”. Amora burst into a fit of laughter.

Akilah walked towards the couple, reluctantly holding a tiny sunflower in her hand that Kai had picked for her, who was walking behind her with his brother.

“Hey! The gang’s all here.” Kai threw a thumbs up.

“Is Vida doing better?” Akilah asked Amora.

“Yeah!” Amora was still recovering from her laughing fit.

“Alex and Bloom want all of us to help with the decorations for some tradition they have. Something about a hollow, what was it?” Taro turned to Akilah for an answer.

“I don’t know what it was called, but I guess it’s some holiday they celebrate. We’re gonna have a big festival for it on the thirty-first. It sounds fun.” Akilah nodded.

“Hm.” Amora thought to herself.

“Halloween?” Chase asked the group.