When Nature Wins

Nature decided to rear its ugly head in a last bid to bring destruction to the very society that took too much. Grotesque vines twisted through broken windows and trailed down streets. Wind whispered through quiet alleys looking for any sign of life.

Rustling came from a corner of the herbery as Adeline sat up, dirt smeared across her face, and chesnut curls as wild as ever. She pushed up her glasses as she scanned the room. Bouncing to her feet her heart sank.

“No, no, no,” she said to herself as she whirled to her feet and started grabbing papers that were scattered across the floor. A letter.

Adeline, you can bring nature and society together. You are our last hope. I’m sorry how things ended. If this fails, society collapses and I don’t know what will unfold. The trees trust you but they are being lead to madness from the poison being spread like rhyzomes. If you survive but don’t succeed, you need to find your way out of the forest before it sets ablaze. Fires will end this entire world. Maybe I’ll see you when this is all over.

- Felix

She folded the letter and tucked it into her pocket of her dress. The herbery was creaking and groaning, pots swinging from the ceiling clattering against each other as leaves rustled across the stone floor.

Adeline went to her work table to see beakers broken and a green jelly substance dripping down the side. Drip. Drip. It formed a puddle and seeped into the crevices of stone.

What had she done. What hadn’t she done? It was all laid out perfectly and something, somewhere went terribly wrong. Slippers pattered across the floor as Adeline flung the front door open.

Her hands flew to her mouth as she took in the scene in front of her. Her herbery was located a little ways into the forest and she could not see a path out in front of her. Vines covered in thorns criss crossed and grass grew tall and wild.

The wind whipped her curls as she stepped out under the brambles and tried to see the path back to her town. Sweat started to bead on her forehead as her eyes squinted ahead.

Find your way out of the forest before it sets ablaze…

She had to find her way back to town. Adeline stepped back into the cottage to make a bag of the few items that weren’t destroyed in her cottage. She was fumbling through her drawers when she found a small black box with numbers on it. Something crinkled on the back. A note: if you’re alive, station 8.

Station 8? She flipped the small handheld around and saw a knob at the top with numbers. She twirled it to the number 8 and waited. Would something happen? She heard crackling and she pressed it to her ear.

“Hello? Hello?” her voice was hurried. No one said anything back.

“Damnit, how does this thing work?”

She tossed it in her bag, knowing she had to get out of the herbery.

With her spell book tucked into her bag and a knife gripped tight in her hand she fled the shop. She cut down brambles to free her path, her cotton dress pulling back every so often as she tried to find her way through.

“Addie, Addie!” she hear a muffled voice. “Addie, sweet Addie, I hope you’re okay.”

She wiped the sweat from her brow and scrambled through her bag finding the source of the sound. She gripped the black box, putting it up to her ear.

“Addie, I hope you’re making your way out of the forest. Head north to the Whispering Sea.”

She put the box to her lips, “Felix, Felix, is that you? I’m cutting down brambles trying to get out of the god forsaken forest. What the heck happened, what went terribly wrong?”

“Addie, if you hear this, just know the spell backfired. Nature was one step ahead and water of purest form was supposed to be used. The very pesticides society was killing off nature with was poured back into the reservoirs by the trees in a last bid to end our reign.”

“No! They agreed to peace terms if we stopped putting pesticides into their soil. We were all supposed to live in tandem.”

Silence.

“Felix?” She huffed, he’s probably busy trying to fix this mess.

Adeline pulled a compass out of her bag and headed north. She had to get to Felix. So much was left unsaid. Maybe they could still find terms that were suitable for peace with nature.

Trees towered over her, branches wild. She could feel vines growing through the ground at a rate faster than she had ever observed. It was tough not to trip over them as she made her way out.

A rustling sound came from nearby and she whipped her head around to see a tornado of leaves forming. It was whipping through the trees and taking branches in its mangled form, heading right for her.

She picked up her pace when she saw a gnarled arch of branches and a road beyond. She ran with the whirlwind of leaves chasing behind her and flung herself out into the road as it passed her by.

“Addie, don’t bother looking for your family in the town, they traveled north as soon as the alarms sounded.”

“I’ve just made it out of the forest.”

“I’m so sorry Addie, I’m sorry we couldn’t get this right. You’re absolutely brilliant and don’t let this bring you down. Addie, you hear me? You are the most fascinating person I’ve ever met and this was not your fault.”

She stopped in the street and hugged the black box to her chest. Felix’s voice was soft and calm in this mess.

“Felix, I have so much to tell you.”

A crackling of fire bursted from behind her as the forest lit up in flames. Heat blasted out from the woven branches she just popped out from.

“Shit.”

Addie started running. The town was a mess of broken glass, trees growing out from windows. Thick grass was covering doors and growing out of bricks. No sign of life.

The Whispering Sea, she had to get there. It was about five miles north of the town.

“Addie, we’re getting people on to boats in the Whispering Sea, we’re going to try and travel through the straight to find a new home.”

She ran with the box pressed to her mouth, “I’m on my way!”

Her feet were cramping in her flats that had no business being used for running through cobbled streets where vines were trying to trip her every move. The fire was traveling into the town behind her.

That’s when she realized. The forest was committing suicide. And taking down everything in its path. They didn’t turn their back on the peace agreement so that they could be the sole suvivors and thrive without us contaminating them, but instead they decided to take down everything. Until nothing is left and life had to figure out how to restart itself.

Adeline was panicking now. She had to get to the boat. She could cast a protective spell and her, Felix, and her family could travel across the sea. The fires can’t spread across water. Right?

Her eyes scanned the street when she saw a bicycle leaning against a crumbling building. She ran over and hopped on it. She tore through the town, dress and unruly curls flying behind her, scarlett flames dancing at her back.

She darted around trees popping up through cracks in the road and vines stretching their arms to grab on to the bicycle. Nature was fighting back.

“Addie, we’ve got most of the town on the boats, I hope you’re on your way soon.”

“Felix! I’m on a bike. I’m on my way!” she held the box to her mouth with one hand as she kept the bike steady with her other hand, almost veering into a bush growing larger by the second in the middle of the road.

“Addie, I’m waiting by the sea. The salt air feels good and fresh. I think we have a chance. The first few boats have left.”

A flock of birds suddenly came careening down from the sky. She hadn’t seen a single sign of life until the birds emerged. She peddled hard and fast, birds swirling around her trying to throw her off balance.

Her bike tipped and she rolled across the cobblestones, her side scraping on the smooth rock.

She flipped to grab her spellbook from her bag as the birds flew up into the air again, turning in one motion to head back down at her.

She flung her hand out and screamed an incantation. The birds turned into feathers that swirled around her and stuck to her hair. She blew out a breath and fell back on to the street when she felt the heat. The fire was spreading across the dilapidated buildings now. Everything behind her was on fire.

She jumped back on her bike, her scraped skin dripping blood as she swerved through the streets.

The town got smaller behind her as she traveled through the path that connected her to the Whispering Sea. Grass grew taller than her along the path, flowers towering as if they were heading straight for the sun to burn up and die. Pollen was falling in buckets around her, blurring her vision. Still not a single soul was on the path.

“Addie, I feel like I never got to tell you this.”

She pressed the box to her ear with one hand on the handlebars.

“You were always the hero in my story. Even if it doesn’t feel like it. I can’t wait to curl strands of your hair around my fingers and look into your emerald eyes through your glasses. We’ll fix this mess. Together.”

The wind and pollen were sending streaks of tears down her face. Or was it Felix’s words. She had to get to him, to tell him how she felt. She was so wrapped up in saving the world. She remembered how his raven hair would fall over his eyes as he worked in the herbery with her. His delicate hands holding glass beakers. She could see his brow scrunch up when he had an idea forming. Sometimes, she would catch him looking at her like he wanted to wrap the moon and gift it to her.

God, how could she be so stupid. Her last memory was her yelling at him to get out. He didn’t agree to the peace treaty at first but that’s because he didn’t understand nature at its very core. The delicate blend of ecosystems that kept our world afloat. He was scared, that’s all.

“Felix, I’m so sorry….”

Her bike hit a rock and she went flying over the handlebars. Vines crept out from the tall grass at her sides and latched on to her wrist.

“No!” she grabbed her knife and sliced through one as it shot back into the grass and disappeared.

She was on her feet now, running, running for Felix and her boat to somewhere new. In the end, he had trusted her. Trusted her to find the peace between their people and nature. No pesticides, no cutting down forests, no more being greedy with resources, and less pollution. He left the herbery, kissed her on the cheek, and trusted her.

Thick drops of rain bounced off her head. The fire was still spreading behind her, made worse by the dry grass that was flopping over on to the path she was running on. Her lungs were cramping as she tried to breath in the mix of pollen laden air and smoke.

She could smell salt and waves and hope.

“Felix, I’m so close, she cried out into the box.”

Her legs wanted to give out but she kept going. Rain was misting her face as her curls flattened against her cheeks and her dress clung to her legs.

The sea crested in the distance.

“Felix, Felix!” Adeline shouted into the unknown ahead. She pulled her bag tighter and picked up the skirts of her dress.

“Addie, I’m so sorry…”

“Felix, I’m coming up the bend now,” she managed to belt out in between breaths.

She saw the wood sign telling her the Whispering Sea was up ahead. It warned of mermaids that will sing you sweet lullabys and take you deep into the murky depths.

The rain whipped sideways as she ran out on to the sand that filled her flats. The salt air dried out her lips and her eyes were burning from the pelting rain.

She stopped in the middle of the beach and scanned the area. The entire path behind her was lit with fire but stopped as it neared the line of sand.

“Felix!” she yelled.

She fell to her knees as she realized there was no one in site. The black box crackled.

“Addie, if you’re still listenting, I love you. I love you so much.”

“Felix, where are you? I love you more than all the stars in the-” the box cut her off before she could finish.

“The boats have all been destroyed. I am going to let the sea take me now. I’m sorry I couldn’t wait any longer. It’s all over.”

Was he ever talking to her? Was this box ever even talking to her at all?

She threw it across the sand and tucked into herself with her arms pulling her head down as she sobbed.

The fire was closing in around her as waves twelve feet high crashed out in the ocean. She crawled on hands and knees to the waters edge, lulled in by the sweet songs tumbling through the white capped waves.