• Enerae L. Haunt

    Love is all you need. Love and die loved.

    Treasure

    S.
    Mahrt

     

    Six years ago my life ended. Yet, my soul still exists. I am a lost soul, wandering through the hidden forest, a forest that is hidden from life and death, a forest that somehow escaped the eye of the creator. Therefore it is also a loop-hole in time.
    How I got here? I don’t know. Why I’m here? I don’t know. How to leave? No one knows. Yes, there are others here with me, but they claim to not have died- like I did. They can’t see the things I see, they can’t believe the things I do, and they haven’t experienced the things I have. They are not lost souls- just wandering bodies.
    In the forest it is as if we are in a different realm. We can simply socialize, all accept me. I’m antisocial. So instead I do what the others cant- I watch my friends and family move on with their lives. I watch them all, from inside the shed. More like my shed since I’m the only one who can see it.
    I am Enerae L. Haunt, and I am a lost soul. How to get found? Believe.
    -----------------------

    I wander through the forest, on treetops, over hills, through caves, and back to the shed. The forest seems to have no end. No life of any sort lingers here- only the bodies of the others. Up on the tallest tree all you can see is more forest. The sun neither is up nor is down, yet light still here.
    Finally I come to a stop outside the shed. When I walk in I’m met with the nice smell of the ocean. I’m on a beach with my family. While in the shed you can watch your family on earth. You appear to not be there- I’m simply a ghost: neither heard nor seen. They seem to be in peace so I leave. Once I’m out I start to feel something wrong. When I turn back to the shed door, there stands him.
    He stands there, looking at me with his fire eyes. At one point their red as dancing flames, at the next point their black as space. He has no emotion on his face but, when he speaks you hear it all.
    “Enerae… I’ve been looking for you. When you died you didn’t show up. And now I find you here in the ‘hidden’ forest?” He spoke as if every word was of great importance.” Why are you here I wander? You are a dead soul.”
    That when I got feeling back into my legs and ran. I ran away from him… but no one can escape from death.
    I ran from him. I ran from the forest itself. I ran out of fear. I ran from the shed. I ran from life. As I ran I felt the little life I had draining out of me. I was slowly leaving. Then there was no more life, I had no more feeling. I couldn’t run any more. The last thing I heard was a scream escape my mouth. Then I was gone.
    ----------------

    After time my feeling began coming back. Still no light, but by now I could hear. I could hear people screaming, people laughing, and I could hear a fire burning. And below all that noise I could hear a whisper, almost inaudible.
    “You ran, and didn’t look back. You have courage, now arise.” the voice said: neither high nor low, girl nor boy, friendly nor threatening, and not at all recognizable.
    So I did. I stood up and once felt the sensation of falling. I opened my eyes and could see only darkness. Yet, I could still hear the sounds, and feel the warmth of a fire nearby.
    “Your heart is weak… now go and fix that.” Said the same voice as before.
    I counted sixty seconds before the screaming and other sounds stopped. Then twenty before the light came. The light was blinding. I swear my heart skipped a few beats as I fell through the light.
    When I hit something the light dimmed. It took only few seconds for my eyes to adjust, and then I realized I was outside the shed once again. Only this time I wasn’t alone. Before me lay a little girl, who was sobbing. When she looked up at me I saw the most beautiful green eyes ever, a mossy green that matched the green of the forest floor.
    “Wh-who are you?” she asked, quietly. ”Can you help me get back home? I’m lost… where am I?” from her voice you could tell she was about seven years old. She had brown hair, green eyes, pale skin, and a small voice- I knew this girl from somewhere.
    “What’s your name? I’m Enerae, and I’m afraid that I can only help you a little.”
    “I’m Lilack. Please help me get back home.” By now she was just sniffling.
    “How did you get here?”
    “I fell…from the window, then woke up here.” Now, I think, she was done crying.
    This poor little girl seemed to be like me. She was most likely dead since she could see the shed. There were so many things this girl hadn’t even faced in life yet. She was younger than me, by much, yet she was still the same as me- dead. She was like a younger me that I never look back on:
    When I was seven, my parents were still together. That year a lot changed. My mother started drinking. My father started to not care. My mother wanted a divorce. My father started beating her, and then he started beating me. I still remember the pain of the belt on my back. I still have the scars to prove it. That was the year I was introduced to pain, suffering, consequences, and death. That was the first year I also went being homeless, physically driven to be sick, mentally driven to be sick, and mentally, physically, and spiritually alone.
    In Lilacks eyes I see that same hurt. Love is all you need. Some day Lilack will see that. For now let’s worry about bringing her back to life.
    “Come Lilack, let’s go for a walk.” At that moment the light in the forest seemed to lighten at Lilacks smile. When she took my hand, my heart skipped a beat.

    ----------------

    We walked for what felt like forever. Then we returned to the shed. When we went inside we were in a room. Not a familiar one either. In this case the shed had chosen to take Lilack somewhere. Really I didn’t mind. It’s not like we can choose where the shed takes us. In the room there two people with us, two gorgeous people. A couple I think.
    “Mark? Do you ever wish… that Lilack was with us still?” asked this woman, who seemed to sound a little like Lilack.
    Lilacks eyes began to tear up again. I knew these next words would determine how long Lilack cried.
    “…Faith, no matter how hard we wish, not all wishes come true… No, she needed to get away from us… Now she is, and always will be, my little angel.”
    Then after that breath taking speech, Lilack began to sob. Not of fear, but of happiness.
    “Enerae, what is love? What keeps the earth spinning? What keeps us from dying?” those where the very words I thought I’d never hear a seven year old say, but she did.
    “Lilack, we can dwell on the past, or keep moving forward. No fear can stop the courageous. No power the strong. You’re a strong little girl, keep moving forward.” My simple words of wisdom.
    We exited the shed, to get some fresh air. No one could ruin this marvelous time for me. I felt happy, down to earth, excited for the future, and loved. I’m pretty sure Lilack felt the same way as she fell asleep in my arms. With a slight smile on her face she did really look like an angel.
    What could’ve caused this little girls’ death? Separation- from loved ones? Not enough encouragement? Lack of love, altogether? What? Why?
    I fell asleep too in the mossy forest bed- to the sweet lullaby of an angels snore. No dreams stirred me, no sound awoke me. Peacefully we slept- in the protection of each other’s arms.

    ----------------


    We awoke-in what seemed like- the next “day” mid evening. There in front of our moss bed lay a rolled up message, tied with a green lace. It read:
    Dear Enerae and Lilack,
    I have been watching you and would like to invite you to come back. You have three days to stay in the forest until I come and claim your dead souls.
    - D
    For some reason the letter from him didn’t bother me. He could take us right now- what difference would it make? We would both be taken to death some day, so why not now?
    Sadly this wasn’t the best thing for Lilack to hear. But even when you could see the fear in her eyes, she wasn’t crying.
    “Enerae?... how come I can’t go home? Why am I here?” she said again being scarily serious.
    This little girl blew my mind with her “before her time” questions. So young, yet she still had the traits needed to be successful: a caring heart, the excellence of listening, good questions, and a loving heart and mind.
    “Well, I don’t know why Lilack. What happened before you showed up here?”
    “Well… I was visiting a hotel with my parents and all I remember is looking out the open window, then feeling the air rush past me as I… fell. Really I don’t know what exactly happened, but it happened for a reason. I just don’t know why…”
    She spoke to me using little detail, and no emotion- yet still told me everything she knew. The thing that confused me most about Lilack was her wisdom. She knew all the questions yet only few answers. How?
    “I think that we just have to do what is meant to be done. We just have to believe. What do you want to happen next?”
    “… I don’t know…I want to… stay with you.” she said, with tear forming in her eyes. This time she wasn’t crying out of fear, happiness, or sadness- only the fact of being loved.

    ----------------

    Love is gentle, love is kind. Yet comes in many forms. I this case it is simple. It is the love of caring. A love that cares, listens, helps, then never leaves.
    “…If you want to stay with me… believe you can…believing is how you get found.” I said starting to cry myself.
    How this little angel does it- no one knows. Why? Because she can love.
    “Enerae, I now believe- in love.”
    I knew what she meant- not couple love but the love of a friend/sister. I used to not believe in love- now I do.
    How to leave? Love.