To Nothing Special, With Love

What drew her to the woods that day? She would never know.

The summer months had left Leslie listless and cranky. Unlike the other teachers, she loathed the break time, hated the dashing of her routine. She volunteered to teach summer school as well as any other summer programs she could. The single life she led couldn’t even begin to spend the money she made teaching, never mind the added income of that summer work. She did it because she didn’t want to be alone.

 Agreeable enough, her looks were middle of the road, she grudgingly admitted. Her breasts were big, her waist small, but her feet and hands were giant, like a man. And she hated how her ears stuck out and her calves were just a little too wide and her arms were hairy. Leslie did not think it was her looks that prevented her from “landing a man” as her friend, Darien put it. But she also didn’t have an idea as to what was preventing her from meeting THE ONE and falling in love, so maybe it was her looks.

“You don’t put yourself out there.” Darien said over his 3rd cup of coffee.

“What does that mean?” She said, slowly ripping and rolling a soaked napkin into moist, white worms.

“Where do you go in the course of a week?” He replied with an arched eyebrow. Impeccably over-dressed for a town with a population of 1936 people.

“School, here, library sometimes, Piggly Wiggly.” She shrugged and re-crossed her legs under the table.

“That’s what I mean! Who you meeting in those places?” Darien asked with a tone that called her stupid seven ways. Isabella from behind the counter interjected.

“Marcia met Homer at the Piggly Wiggly.” Darien turned around to glare at her.

“Precisely Bella. HOMER?? This is your example of a catch?” He stood up, hand on one hip, gesturing wildly with the other.

“I didn’t say that, all’s I said was…” Isabella said in her quiet way while wiping the counter in small circles with her dishrag.

“All’s you said was nothing of value. Shhhhh.” Darien cut her off and mocked her accent, something he often did. He then returned his gaze to Leslie, “You gotta be in it to win it. What about that convention in Kenosha?”

“Yea, I guess I could go to that.” Ms. Lester had been badgering her to go for weeks. Said they wanted some new blood, someone open to new ideas, not stuck in old ways, like the “old biddies” to go and represent them.

“You guess? See? That’s your other problem. You are so wishy washy, no passion, no spontaneity, no conviction.”

“Darien? Let her be.” Isabella said without lifting her eyes from the newspaper.

“Bella? Stay out of this, I’m just trying…” Leslie stopped listening. Her eyes rested on the woods next to the lake, across from the diner. She felt her heart quicken, then slow its beat again. That’s odd, she thought. She finished her coffee, kissed Darien on each cheek, and then headed home.

 Around 2am, she awoke with a start. Sitting straight up, she strained her ears, glanced around quickly to see what could have jarred her. Leslie was normally a heavy sleeper, so she was surprised. What happened next was even more surprising.

 Some unknown force compelled her into action. Robotically she pulled back the covers and swung her bare legs out of bed. She picked up a pair of jeans from the green chair in the corner of her room and slipped them on over red underwear. She left the bedroom, her feet so sure of their destination it required no thought on her part. From the hooks at the front door, she lifted an old Irish knit sweater she had inherited from her grandfather when he died. To her knowledge she had never worn it. She opened the door and stepped out.

Down Schoemocker Rd, a 13 minute walk, no cars or people up at this hour in her small town. A left onto Pearl St., a short cut thru a rundown gas station parking lot, then she was on the street where the diner was on one side and the woods on the other. Maybe I am sleepwalking, she thought, but she knew this was not the case. She shivered, her stomach rumbled. An animal noise made her jump and her barefooted steps strayed slightly farther out into the street. But nothing was deterring her. Before she knew it, she turned right and was walking into the woods. No one would know she was there. And this made her happy.

Her eyes adjusted to the shifting diamonds of moonlight falling on moss and weed of the forest floor. Fallen trees, grasses and branches threatened her unprotected feet slyly from under innocent piles of vegetation. A rush of adrenaline entered her system and her eyes seemed to focus in a way she had never previously experienced. She walked, hearing nothing but her heart, her breath and her footsteps. The word “wild” floated up to her center of consciousness. Then she was in a clearing.

And there was a man there. 

*****

I’m looking for some help. I’m at a loss. I put this story down, hoping for someone to feel what happens next…

And also? I wouldnt be upset if more than one person plays. THEN maybe we can all discuss and shit.

Im just saying…