Thorns with fragrance

15

Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live. - Norman Cousins

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

-Monday evening-

Kelsey heard shuffling outside the washroom followed by the sound of water gushing down from a tap. After a while, she straightened up and ran her palms down her skirt as she turned the knob and pushed against the door, walking out into an empty washroom. She looked around for a second and heaved a sigh of relief “Great” she muttered with a smile, content that she would not have to interact with anyone as she picked her back up from against the wall and swung it onto her back as she put on a monotonous smile and walked out towards the back of the college building to where the race tracks were. This side of the college was dead silent as everyone had left and the only sounds now were the clicking of Kelsey’s heels. 

She walked over to her usual seat on the bench at the side of the tracks and sat down, placing her bag beside her, she unzipped it and fished for her water bottle and pills, on finding it she uncapped her pill container and sighed as she unscrewed the water and placed two white pills onto her tongue and swallowed, draining them down with water.

As she started to look up, she felt eyes on her, like she had been for the past few days, ‘Am I starting to hallucinate?’ she thought to herself as an unfamiliar aftertaste registered onto her tongue.

She looked around but saw no one, so she flushed down the bitterness on her tongue with water and brushed off the eerie feeling.

__________________________________________________________________________________

-Present day-

“Hey beautiful” Ken said breathily as he gave Jane a once over, his eyes sparkling as an admiring smile adorned his face 

“Hey Ken” Jane said as her face lit up and her heart started to pound as she stared at Ken with her face flushed 

Ken finally cleared his throat as he looked back up at Jane and gave her a wide smile as he ran his hand through his previously somewhat tamed hair. Half of his face was sunlit with the light from Jane’s windows, his large deep green eyes glistened and as Jane glanced into them, her heart started beating even more against her chest.  

She forced herself to look away from his eyes and her gaze moved down to study his outfit. 

Ken was wearing mustard and white striped button-up with the top few buttons open exposing his chest, he had a corner of it tucked into blue washed out high raised jeans. 

“You look great”  

“You look so pretty”  

They said together and chuckled, nodding in acknowledgement  

“Let’s head out?” Ken asked with a charming smile as he let out his hand that Jane gladly took as he led them out of her apartment building. 

“I hope you don’t mind our mode of transport I have hired for today Milady,” Ken said with a mischievous grin as they walked down the stairs  

“I don’t trust that smile one bit,” Jane said with an excited grin as she walked down the stairs with her yellow pump heels clicking beneath her. 

As they finally reached the end of the stairs, Jane’s eyes wandered around looking for what might be their ride and her eyes finally landed on a motorbike at the end of the street and she whipped her head to the side to look at Ken who stood staring at her admiringly. 

Ken smirked at her and raised his eyebrows “Whatcha think about it?” he said smugly  

“Let’s go! I have always wanted to ride on one, are you kidding?” Jane said squealing  

Ken couldn’t knock the wide grin off his face as he felt a spark of pride in his chest making him wrap his arms around Jane instinctively  

Jane stiffened being caught off guard but quickly returned the hug by wrapping her arms around Ken’s waist 

Ken pulled away after a moment and gave her an endearing smile “Can you be any more perfect Jane?” Ken whispered under his breath as he cupped Jane’s face and stared into her eyes 

Jane’s cheeks started to redden as she tried hard to maintain eye contact and not look away from Ken’s intense gaze. 

Ken chuckled as Jane awkwardly gave him a tight-lipped smile “Let’s go have fun, yeah?’ he said as they turned and walked towards the motorbike, with small content smiles on their faces. 

Ken passed Jane a black helmet as he raised an identical one over his head and swung his leg over, sitting on the motorbike as he nodded behind him, indicating Jane to sit. 

Jane grinned as she copied Ken’s actions and swung her right leg over the seat and hopped onto the seat as the motorbike wobbled a little making Jane gasp as Ken chuckled and reached out behind him to help steady Jane “I got you” he said with a smile  

The vehicle roared into life as Ken started it and accelerated “SHOW OFF” Jane screamed over the roaring of the engine making Ken laugh as he balanced himself. 

Jane’s body jerked onto Ken’s back as the motorcycle zoomed ahead making her clutch his jacket.

Jane couldn’t knock the grin off her face as the wind blew against her face as they rode through quiet streets, her surroundings rushing past her in a glance making it hard for her to blink, worried she’ll miss the experience for a second.

Jane was so occupied taking in the ride that she didn’t realize or fully register the buildings and homes around her turn to rows of tall trees until the speed they were zooming with had to be compromised when the path got unsteady because of the gravel on the forest floor.

She quickly looked around and took in the familiar surrounding of green that she had walked into ever so often to get her mind off things before she met Kenneth. 

“We can stop anytime you want” Ken called out as they crawled through the forest, making Jane lean forward with her body rubbing against Ken’s “Just a little further, you’ll know when to stop when you see it” 

Soon enough Ken stopped the vehicle in its tracks as his eyes set on the breathtaking sight in front of him.

There stood a large and proud tree in the dead middle of the forest tracks, its trunk singularly as large as its peers around. 

Ken took a long moment to let his eyes trail to the top of the gentle giant as he stared in awe. 

Jane smiled to herself as she tapped Ken on his shoulder indicating to him that she was getting off as she gently held his arm and stood up, her body hovering over the seat as she swung her leg over the seat and jumped onto the ground with the tiny rocks beneath massaged against her feet. She quickly removed the helmet and ran her fingers through her air-tangled hair and grinned as she took a deep breath of the fresh air surrounding them and let out a content sigh.

Ken quietly parked the motorbike at the trunk of a nearby tree and removed his helmet, placing it at the foot of his bike, all the while staring at the sight in front of him.

Jane mimicked his action and places her helmet next to his as she hesitantly linked their arms which Ken gladly encouraged as he looked down at his side at her and used his other hand to intertwine with hers, a wide smile painted across both of their faces as they looked back ahead at the beautiful large and wide tree trunk that stood out in the midst of identical but different trees.

It felt like nature had picked its favorite as the space around this elegant and tall giant was clear and smooth and had an even mixed layer of dry and fresh leaves. The trunk had a symmetrical long carving reaching the middle that looked like it was hand-carved.

Ken finally broke the silence between them and spoke over the rustling of wind against the tree leaves and the distant and spaced out chirpy song exchange of the birds and said “ This is amazing but…” he paused and tilted his head as he turns to look at Jane and continued with confusion laced in his tone

 “How did you find this place, Jane?”