LXVII | Soul

❦

Even without its leaves
and its red fruit clusters,

I know right away

it's a rowan tree.

What other tree could it be?

It looks like the one
at the back of the school.

There's that nook
where Rowan always sits.

It looks
exactly the same.

Rowan pulls me
past the metal barrier.

We walk up to the tree.

It's much farther
than it looks.
We walk for a long time.

The tree grows bigger
as we approach it.

Rowan touches
the tree trunk.

The bark
crumbles
in her hand,

revealing

a space

inside.

She looks at me
with that expressionless expression.

Her fingernails
dig into my skin.

Tears fall from her eyes too.

'I'm sorry.'

Hair shields her face as she speaks.
'I'm sorry, Clyde. I'm sorry.'

Is she apologising
for disappearing?

I pull her head up,
wipe her tears
with my fingers.

The tips of her ears
turn red.

She turns away,
drags me into the rowan tree.

The hollow space
like a cave
is woven with white branches
that glow.

The trunk of this tree
is a network of branches growing together

rather than
one block of solid trunk.

We sit
facing each other.

I watch Rowan's
burning
coal-black eyes

and she watches me.

[Read the full story at novelconbini.com!]