EVANORA

Sitting on a towel in the front seat of a strange car being driven home was all very new to Evanora and she was anxious to get out of her wet clothes and maybe take a visit to the forest to view how tall the seed tree was now. Houses flashed past the car with the secretary talking incessantly about adhering to the school rules and why she got soaked in the first place. It was obvious to Evanora that she was the type of lady who was never picked on at school and knew nothing of the pain being harassed continually brings to ones self worth and trust levels.

A vision of her drunk father sitting on the front porch flashed into her mind and she didn’t want the secretary to see or have anything to do with him in that state. Was she given the power of foresight as well as courage from the seed tree? She reached out and tapped the secretary on her arm to pull over as she wanted to walk the rest of the way home and try to dry her clothes off. After two sets of traffic lights and one wrong turn the secretary agreed and let Evanora out two streets away from where she lived. She thanked the lady for the drive to almost her home and then she closed the car door and the secretary drove away. Evanora closed her eyes and saw in a fuzzy image her father throwing empty beer bottles on the porch and smashing them while singing old country songs and she knew it would be best to wait out his intoxication and stay away from her home.

The forest was calling to her gently....

She felt it and at once turned her head to see the tips of the trees over the houses in front of her.

"Im coming..." she whispered to them and at once set off along the footpath and then down between two houses and in to the paddock with the forest in full sight now. Her clothes were still wet but gradually draining of all the water in them. The one thing that annoyed her most was that her shoes and socks made an awful sucking sound with each step and she could hardly wait to feel the pine needles on her feet once she took the wet socks and shoes off. Because her father was home and now in a state of complete unpredictability she thought it wise to move into the first 3 layers of trees to avoid him seeing her if he was in the backyard. It was doubtful he was there because all of his beer was in an ice chest on the front porch and that was like a magnet to him...until it ran out then he was one angry man who would stop at nothing to get another drink into himself to calm his 'nerves'.

Evanora stood where the grass ended and the pine needles began and took her wet shoes and socks off and put them in her school back pack. She turned and looked at the back fence to her home which was some distance away and then walked into the forest just as she had wanted to do three trees away from the paddock and proceeded to the large tree that showered her in pine needles the previous day and coming out of the forest she hugged the tree and exhaled deeply.

“Im back...I missed you” she whispered quietly and again the tree shivered on the spot raining pine needles down on Evanora and she smiled. She followed the path back to the edge of the clearing where she put her school bag down as if in respect to the tree spirits and the site she was now standing in. Her eyes beheld a wondrous vision. The seed tree was now as tall as the pine trees around it and its branches had woven themselves in and around the first 5 layers of trees surrounding the clearing as if making it a protective barrier and defence system against any intruders with the exception of Evanora.

Flowers bloomed everywhere and all changed colour repeatedly as Evanora called out inside the clearing...

“I’M BACK”

All of the trees swayed and bent this way and that in appreciation to the arrival of Evanora back to the heart of the forest. This most magnificent seed tree extended a branch and touched Evanora so gently on the top of her head in recognition of her presence and the flying Orchid that was summoned when she was going home yesterday appeared and fluttered around her head changing colour and flapping its petals excitedly. Evanora smiled and bowed to the congregation of trees and spirits.

She walked up to her mothers hand and sat down in the middle of her palm and closed her eyes. At once all the trees stopped moving and felt what was happening. Evanora was summoning all the love she could and sending it to every tree in the forest. She opened her eyes and the orange glow was there filling every space on her mothers hand with soft orange mist. The mist grew in size into the shape of ball above Evanora’s head. This ball throbbed as it grew and the mist became a solid orange ball hovering some six feet above her mothers hand. The seed tree stopped changing the colours of the flowers on its branches and all the pine needles stopped falling from the pine trees. The ball expanded in size and intensity. Evanora sat crossed legged gazing at the centre of the seed tree smiling as the ball above her head exploded sending orange mist silently in a 360 degree circle outward to all the trees in the forest. Every tree was penetrated by the mist and shivered as the mist made contact with it. A fresh layer of pine needles coated the forest floor and Evanora looked at the seed tree and whispered... “That was my love for all of you” and she bowed her head in respect. The fingers of her mothers hand quivered and gently closed over Evanora. The hand made by the tree roots glowed bright orange while holding Evanora, the finger nails all looked like cumulous clouds that flashed white light and mist every so often between the finger tips and the forest was vibrating on an extraordinarily high level of intensity. Evanora was home and safe and was learning to use the gifts she was given so quickly.

Because she had arrived with more time to spend in the forests heart she slept again cradled and nurtured in her mothers hand and again more information was passed into her subconsciousness as she slumbered.

Dreams of being weightless and flying through clouds of sliver and gold filled her heart. It was as if her soul had left her body and was flying away free unencumbered by the horrors of her father and that of school life. As she slept she felt as if she was free falling into a dark hole and her physical body was allowing itself to heal from all of the emotional struggle it had been through. Having never really slept for such a long time for fear of her father pressing home his advances at any given time the mood took him, being able to truely sleep was a great benefit to her emotional and physical stability.

She felt something fluttering next to her ear. It was pulling her back from the deep sleep she was in and the glow that was all around her mothers hand. The fingers that so gently had curled around her uncurled and she opened her eyes and stretched her arms upward. Evanora yawned and saw what was fluttering around near here ears. It was the Orchid flower beating its petals to wake her up. What a magnificent way to be awoken after such a refreshing sleep she thought. The Orchid settled on her shoulder and stretched its petals every so often looking more like a butterfly than a flower. But this flower had a scent that was heavenly and Evanora was pretty sure butterflies didn’t smell this nice.

She remembered her dreams about her soul flying and the blackness of being in such a deep deep sleep. Her mind and body were totally refreshed and alert to all that was happening around her. She could hear things...new things she had never heard before. At the same time it was if she could taste the air with her tongue. Her senses had moved into over drive and everything around her made her body react with each discovery. Evanora turned her head this way and tasted the smell in the air of honey suckle flowers and she heard the bee’s collecting pollen and chattering to themselves as they hurried about from flower to flower.

Some distance off she heard squirrels squabbling over nesting burrows and she looked up and saw a hawk circling the clearing. She closed her eyes and asked if she could see what the hawk saw. Visions of the clearing below and the trees around the outside circumference all leaned back to show Evanora sitting in the middle of her mothers hand some 400 feet away. Evanora smiled and opened her eyes. She looked at her side and while her eyes were closed berries and some strange fruit had been placed there by the seed tree to her side to replenish her energy levels and she began nibbling and savouring the divine flavours mixed with unusual textures of what she had been given.

As she ate her food the orchid on her shoulder fluttered off to open and close its petals in front of her face. Normally this would be at a time of deep sadness but now it was different it was if it was instructing her to try some of her new powers. That was how she saw it. Evanora looked at the Orchid and then at the fruit then back to the Orchid.

“Do you want something to eat as well little one?”

The Orchid was fluttering like a humming bird and so Evanora concentrated on a berry next to her and asked it to come to the Orchids side so that she may eat as well. The berry rolled around a little bit. It vibrated quickly then slowly rose up into the air and took its place next to the Orchid. The vibration in the berry stopped and it was suspended in the air all by itself with Evanora looking on smiling at both of them together.

The Orchid wasn’t hungry but perched itself on the floating berry and stopped waving its petals to and fro and this also stopped the delicious aroma that the fluttering petals on the Orchid gave to Evanora as she ate her fruit.

If she could make a berry float in the air all by itself could she make anything else float around that was bigger? She had to try. She focused her gaze on a pine cone near her mothers hand and sure enough it vibrated and came to her and landed in her open hands and settled there all by itself. She looked around for a sign of recognition from the forest but alas there was none. So she moved on to a bigger object. A sizeable fallen dead branch with pine cones all over it. It vibrated and then floated upward into the forest canopy then she bought it softly down to the ground again. Once again she looked around to see if the forest would show some sign of her making full use of her powers but again there was nothing.

She stood up...

She closed her eyes and concentrated...

The fingers of her mothers hand went flat and not curled....

She breathed deeply in and slowly exhaled through her nose....

She pictured clouds in her mind....

She extended her arms that were by her side outward....

The mossy covered tree roots beneath her feet that were shaped in her mothers hands twitched beneath her....then she couldn’t feel them......

She opened her eyes.....

She was floating six feet above her mothers hand....

The forest responded with limbs thrashing around wildly and the seed tree bought forward two flower filled branches one for under each of her arms and gently hugged Evanora in recognition of what she had just done and achieved. The flowers on the branches pulsed with changing colours and Evanora could feel the love from the seed tree and the forest. She hugged the seed tree back and it lowered her back onto her mothers hand. It was at this time Evanora looked out of the forest and toward her home. She didn’t want to leave but she had to get back home before the sun went down or her father might try something different to hurt her. The powers that the forest had shared with her had given her confidence and courage but her father was evil and she didn’t trust him at all and would rather be prepared for what might happen if it was going to, to impress the forest, the orchid and seed tree with all she had learned for the day she stood up and with open eyes ascended into the canopy of the trees creating another ball of love and dispersing to all the trees in the forest . Then she floated down to where her school back pack was and put it on her back. She bowed and turned to walk out of the forest when she felt fluttering at her ear. She stopped and saw the Orchid pulsing beautiful colours near her face and it flew in close and kissed her cheek with its flower lips leaving golden pollen there that glittered in the sunlight. Evanora smiled and blew a kiss back to the Orchid and set off for home feeling the best she had ever felt in years. She hugged the first tree she met just before she crossed the paddock to her home and again it shivered dropping so many pine needles she was scared to look up in case the tree was now bald.

It wasn’t...but it was sad to see her go.

Now she had to face her drunken father and potentially defend herself all over again, the smile faded from her face as she climbed the back fence. When she landed on the ground she took her wet shoes out and put them back on. She didn’t want to give hm any course to attack her verbally or physically.

She walked along the side of the house past the hot water service and couldn’t hear any signs of life from the front porch so she quietly opened the front door and crept inside. She was being very careful to walk in certain places on the floorboards she knew didn’t groan with old age.

Where was he?

She walked into the kitchen and there on the kitchen table was a meal, a fruit juice and a card leaning up against some flowers in a vase that was her mothers.

Dear Ev

Im sorry for all the shitty things I have done

please forgive me

love dad xxx

Now she was suspicious and looked at the writing on the card and the meal on the table again. It didn’t make sense...he had been so horrible to her for years surely he couldn’t change over night she thought? She was hungry and thirsty so she picked up the orange juice and took a sip. It tasted ok so she gulped all of it down.

This was the last thing she remembered...........