Sam walked listlessly through the trees. He’d gotten some terrible news today. His mother had a major heart attack, came out of nowhere, she didn’t make it. She was fifty-eight, in good health, no pre-existing conditions. She was to young. She was also the only family Sam had left. His father had passed away twenty-four years ago, Sam was only six at the time. He barely remembers him. Sam and his mother were close. He would call her every night and once a week they would meet up and walk through these same woods. They had walked through these woods every week for as long as he could remember. His mother told him years ago that when she was dating his father they would often stroll between the trees and talk for hours.

  When he got the news the first thing he did was head to these woods. It was in these woods that he always felt closest to his mother. No matter what was going on in their lives’ things were always alright in the woods. When he was rebellious teen, they would often fight but whenever they walked through the woods it all melted away. He could tell his mother anything under those leaves. Those trees were his safe space. Now that she was gone, he went there to feel close to her.

  As he walked the wind rustled the leaves and he almost thought he heard her laughter in that soft sound. He could have sworn that around the next turn or over the next rise he would find his mother waiting for him. As the sun started its descent through the sky, he almost felt like things were still right in the world. As long as he stayed in the woods, she would be with him.

  Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

  Soon he could hear the soft babbling of the spring, and the splashing as it fell into the crystalline pool below. The water here was clear and cold during the summer, frozen and clear in the winter. It was here that Sam felt her presence most. For by this pool they had had most of their talks. It was also by this pool that she talked the most about his father. She had told him about how it was at this pool with the moon and stars high over head his father had asked her to marry him. It was here that she told him she was pregnant. And it was here she had gone when she got the news he had been killed in a car accident. It was also here she told Sam his father would be proud of the man he had become.

  It was by that pool that Sam finally allowed the tears to flow, here he finally admitted she was gone. As he sat by the pool weeping for what felt like moments, but judging by the moon and stars what must have been at least two hours, he felt a calm wash over him. He felt like his mother was there in that moment. He felt that she was at peace and wanted him to be happy. All to soon the feeling started to fade and exhaustion set in. So he got up to leave, but as he left the clearing with the pool he heard on the wind, “I love you son, with all my heart.”