Isabel sat on her bed in silence as she had since learning of her brother’s death. Never saying anything or doing anything other than thinking. Her brother was dead. Her little brother. Gone. Forever. She just couldn’t wrap her head around it. Even after half a year, it was still so confusing.
They had just been talking about some new book that was coming out. Daniel had wanted to buy it for her but she said no. Didn’t want him wasting any money he didn’t have to on her. And now all she could do was wallow in a seemingly bottomless pool of regret and lament.
What if she said yes to the book? It was a longshot sure, but you never knew. Even the smallest action can lead to the biggest consequences.
The Singers had been nice enough to let Isabel stay exactly where she was. They hadn’t expected anything from her other than to show up at mealtimes. They were understanding people, the Singers.
Most other people would’ve had her out on the streets for wasting so much time wallowing instead of moving past it and facing the real world. But then again, most people weren’t the Singers. Most people hadn’t seen the hell that Isabel was staying in before coming to the Singers, but they had. And most other people hadn’t owed the young West as much as Sherry did. After all, he saved her life more than a thousand times over in their opinion.
And if giving his beloved older sister a place to grieve was an option, even if it was for such an extended period, it would be considered the least they could do. What Daniel West did for the Singers would probably never be repaid.
Isabel, who had still been sitting quietly looking off into space, suddenly found her attention being drawn to her phone. She didn’t know why she even bothered charging it anymore. It wasn’t like anyone who mattered would be calling her.
The screen lit up with a short animation of a letter of mail swooshing onto a pixelated platform. She froze. Only four people had her number. Two were the sort of folk who only used their phones to make calls, one was Sherry, who’d Isabel heard complaining not ten minutes ago of her ‘stupid cellphone dying so quickly’
The other person was her brother, who was supposed to be dead. But there it was. His contact’s profile picture taking up half the screen. Her entire being reeled in confusion.
‘How? The news articles say he died en route to the hospital. So who’s…?’ But she was like a moth to a flame even with that heart shattering fact hanging over her. Tenderly picking up the phone and reading the message she blanked.
Open your door.
This was the message she’d received. Cryptic and not from Daniel. For getting her hopes up she was tempted to not do anything of the sort if only to spite whoever sent said message. But her curiosity got the best of her. Getting up from the bed with a slight creak from its aged metal springs, she walked to the door.
She put her hand on the knob and pulled. Trying to walk out of the room she found herself bumping into a large something. But before she could try to get a better look at it, she felt a strong pair of arms wrapping around her and lifting her into the air.
Confused and panicking she squirmed and writhed until she heard a voice speak to her in a scolding fashion. “Now Izzy, is this any way to greet your brother? I came all the way over here to see you and-”
But he was cut off as Isabel stopped struggling and started crying into him at the sound of his voice. He was alive! He hadn’t died like the reports said and he was standing right in front of her.
Daniel and Isabel stood there for quite some time as he held her shaking form, whispering soothing words into her ear. He thought of how devastated she must’ve been when the only real family she had left was gone.
Sherry, who was relieved to hear he had lived through the attack and his resulting injuries, had talked with Daniel beforehand to set up this moment. She’d told him all about Isabel not speaking and the shut in lifestyle she re-developed.
After comforting his sister and talking for a long time about nothing except him, she finally went to bed. He could see it in her eyes, the stress and exhaustion piled up and lying in wait. Much to his expectations, she put up a fight.
A fight he won easily with his seemingly endless amount of energy. As he laid Isabel down on her bed he thought of his own fatigue. Physically he was fine, but mentally and emotionally, he was drained. From surviving the explosion, to talking with his mother about the months he missed out on as well as the issues and circumstances that resulted from his diagnosis, and then trying to comfort his sister after half a year of mourning.
His head felt heavier and heavier with each thought and example, and soon he couldn’t tell whether it was the convenience or his desire to sleep that had him lying at the bench at the foot of his sister’s bed. Isabel’s light, rhythmic snores was the last thing Daniel heard before succumbing to darkness.
-
Opening his eyes he felt his heart sink. This was not Isabel’s room. It wasn’t even the Singer’s house. Had he been kidnapped? No, why would they leave him untied beneath a tree. Getting up he looked around and he appeared to be in a clearing surrounded by forest.
There was no sign of anyone- “Hello, Daniel.” He jumped higher than he’d have liked to admit. What stood before him was…nothing. There was no one there. Confused, he looked around before hearing the same voice.
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“Hmhmhm. I’m right here, dear.” Still, no one there. Now he was upset. ‘Where are you? Why do you keep messing with me?” The voice’s laughter rang out once again, behind him! He turned on his heels, suddenly noticing his lack of socks and shoes.
But again, nothing there. Looking at the tree before him, he had a thought. Walking up to it he stared for the longest time before sighing. “You’re the tree…aren’t you?”
“Well, I’m more than just a single tree. I am every tree. Every bush, flower, river, and sea. I am everything.” The voice was laced in a swelling pride. If Daniel didn’t know any better he’d swear that he’d heard a smile just then. Its good mood was infectious as Daniel found himself feeling less annoyed and more confused.
“So~ did you kidnap me? And if so, how? You’re kind of a tree.” Daniel felt the air grow slightly colder. “And every bush, flower, river, and sea!” He quickly followed up with. The air warmed. ‘Pretty thinned skin for a tree, huh?’
“I have brought you here to talk. You are the first to speak with me since….ever. None before you have ever heard my call. A call I have been giving since the first inklings of man came to be. Why have you answered only now?”
The voice, Daniel was unable to determine its gender, spoke with a deep hurt. A hurt Daniel didn’t understand at the moment. “What do you mean? We have never heard any calls, not that I know of. What are you? And why have you brought me here?”
Both sought answers to quell their curiosities. Daniel wished to know of his purpose under the tree and the voice wished to know the reason it was ignored for so long. How was he supposed to know? He was barely out of high school for heavens’ sakes. But that wasn’t something the voice should know.
Should he mess up and say the wrong thing, make the voice angry, or screw up any other way, there was a sneaking suspicion that the warmth in the air wasn’t the only thing that was going to disappear. Deciding to roll with dice, he took a gamble. A really, really stupid gamble if there was ever one to take.
He got bold. “I don’t know why we haven’t responded. In fact, I didn’t know you existed until you whisked me away to this far away place. What are you? And I don’t mean the trees and the like. I mean…are you God? Is this Heaven? I need to know exactly who or what you are before I even attempt to help you figure this out.”
Like the voice said, he’s the first and only one who had answered the voice’s call. If he was such an important figure there was a low chance that anything deadly would be done to him. As previously stated. A really, really stupid gamble.
“I am not this God you speak of. I am what I am. I am the trees and the rivers and the-” Daniel cut the voice off. “So you’re, what, Mother Nature? The Earth? Better question, are you the ground that I walk on as well? The water I drink and the air I breathe?”
The voice had given an irritated grumble at being cut off, something about rude children with no respect, but perked up at Daniel’s deductions. “By your understanding, yes, I am the Earth. I believe you Humans once called me….Gaia. Mother Earth.”
“Gaia? Okay then, Gaia, how do you know what we call you if you don’t know why we haven’t answered you calls?” He was not trying to sound condescending, it was a question asked for curiosity’s sake.
“When you answered my call, you opened yourself up to me. This has been the reason I was trying to call out to you Humans. You are the only ones left who have yet to answer my call. In essence, you are now a part of me and me of you, however we are still both one and of ourselves. Have no…worries….”
“So I guess that means you can read my thoughts?” Silence. ‘Caught red-handed, I see. Hehehe.’ “Wait, so does that mean that you know everything I do? Will it be that way for any others who answer the call?....Gaia?”
Gaia spoke very dangerously, and then very softly seemingly from every direction at once. ”What- What is THIS!? What is the meaning of this? My beautiful lands....my sparkling oceans....my silent ones. How could they have done this to you? How- WHHYYY???”
Daniel could feel her burning anger, the profound lack of understanding, and the hollow despair running rampantly between both of them. It was overwhelming and painful, and he nearly lost control of himself. Slowly kneeling on the ground closest to the tree he placed a hand on its trunk.
“G-Gaia…you need…..to calm yourself…please….” Slowly the anger ebbed. Her lack of understanding only grew as did her despair. But these Daniel could handle. It was the anger that hurt, the anger at the suffering of her and her children.
Daniel didn’t need to ask what caused her to become so out of control with emotion. The answer was clear. When she spoke of them being one, it was established that a connection between the Earth herself and Daniel had formed thus allowing him to feel her pains and pleasures.
But this also allowed her to reach into the deepest areas of his mind and explore. Now, even though Daniel had graduated high school a little less than a year ago, he was a knowledgeable young man.
He read and wrote and practiced and studied with the best of them. Up to date, more or less, on current events around the world. This included economics, social industries, the latest in fashion, the latest in war, and of course…environmental issues.
-
Gaia, prior to Daniel’s arrival, had no real sense of self or heightened senses of understanding. Up until this point it was more along the lines of her being instinctual in behavior and nature. This fact and way of life was uprooted once he answered the call and they became connected.
While they were talking, Gaia had been filing through all of his memories, feelings, idea, thoughts, goals and dreams, everything. She was learning so much about herself other than what her instincts had made apparent. But it was when she got to the information and memories of ‘current events’ that things got heated.
The discovery that not only were her children not responding to her class, they were ruining her. Slowly she was being killed. Her blue oceans and waters being ruined by these ‘chemicals’ and ‘pollutants’ had her breathless.
Her lands being torn asunder in search for ‘oils’ and ‘domination’ robbed her of any jovial thought. What domination? They ruled nothing! This was her body, her temple and sanctuary and these vermin ruined it. Ruined her. Unforgivable. Intolerable! Completely unacceptable!!
Then she heard him. He was calling out to her. Calling out to help her as he was, too, in great pain. She felt his hand touch the trunk of the tree in a desperate move to gain her attention. Gaia’s rage slowly drained away if only for the sake of the child that lay in torment before her.
She felt it. She felt the difference in him. If what she had seen and felt was correct, then he was the key to stopping any of this from reaching its fatal finish. She had only been truly sentient for a few short minutes, but she would not allow herself or her children with her to perish at the ignorant hands of Humans.
Without another word, Gaia sent Daniel back into his slumber. He would be waking up soon, and then he would do her work for the good of her children. ‘Yes. We’ll rid my body of these pests. But first we must have certain questions answered and matters attended to. Daniel will need brothers and sisters to help him. This shall be the beginning of a beautiful new age.’
She waited in anticipation for the days to come. It was happening all so quickly, but then again being slow would only kill her faster.
Meanwhile Daniel lay on the bench drenched in sweat as he peacefully continued sleeping, not yet aware of Gaia’s plan.