A Day in The Woods

 Years ago in Chicago, Illinois, a fair and unblemished state of America, lived a family of great wealth who grew to be the symbol of purity and great status of their neighborhood. Each day, dozens of children swarm their great mansion, pleading for bountiful gifts the family would offer to them. The family was governed by a wise but stern man, the patriarch of the house, a manly adult man named Ruther. 

         Ruther lived with dozens of house staffs and maids who kept the house tidy and in good shape, their number so many that almost all women from the neighbourhood were applied under his governance. He was stern but everyone loved him as behind his unkind looks and attitude, he paid them good money and would secure their needs whenever they plead for help.

         Everyone in the household was patient with the man's solitude towards them, because above everything they do and perform to aid his needs, his dullness and gloomy aura would always be enslaved by the presence of no one but his one and only son named Tommy. 

         Tommy was the exact opposite of his father. From heel to his blonde head, one could deny he was the rich man's heir. The boy was cheerful, merry, honest and undeniably kind. Kids from their neighborhood were all friends with him, in return of the kindness, the home was their home. Mr Reynolds didn't mind the outsiders staying for a while in their big mansion, although pissed and annoyed with the noise he hears each and every visit, he was happy seeing Tommy smile the brightest grin his eyes had seen.

         One fine day, the mansion went busy over something special and more relevant than Mr Reynolds' work in his logging company that was the largest in the state of Illinois. The sun shone bright high across the sky, there were no clouds and the birds sang loudly along the low lying branches of the apple trees on their backyard. The staff went frenzy as each clanging plate that passed the main ballroom clanged loudly against the brittle wine glasses held by another staff. Tables were everywhere and the bright ruby-embedded chandelier that swung at the center part of the ballroom's high ceiling glittered the brightest. 

         Tommy ran out of his bedroom in his favorite blue vest and glaucous shorts. The tap that went from his running black shoes echoed across the long hallway. Each of the staff that appeared along Tommy's way swayed a bit to the other direction where the boy was not running along. The boy reached the stairs and soon, he found his dressed father near the winery's door. Mr Reynolds smiled as he touched his son's skin. His hug was the warmest, to him it was his everything. The chandelier gleamed from above them.

         In the middle of their sweet and gratifying hug, Mr Reynolds' cloak pocket shook and vibrated against his skin, he pulled out from there his long black telephone and spoke in a low cold voice above Tommy’s small head. He soon engaged himself in a conversation with the other person on the line and casually laughed and smiled simultaneously after every second their words turn into live air.

                 “Ugh ok”, Mr Reynolds laughed and hanged up the conversation with the slightest laugh Tommy had heard from the moment he stood there silently, listening to his father talk with another person on this fine day. “I’m sorry Tommy, but I need to go to work first before meeting your friends for the giveaway”.

                 Tommy’s bright smile became the exact little copy of his father’s usual everyday grin.

                 “But dad, it’s my birthday. Can’t you at least set aside your work at least for today?” Tommy silently asked. His eyes were directly set upon Mr Reynolds’.

                 Mr Reynolds smiled and kneeled down to reach Tommy’s tiny round face with his huge hands. His boy’s face felt smooth against his rough fingers, so delicate that he cannot erase the light feeling he was feeling the moment his skin touched his.

                 “I’m sure Mr Sanders will understand. I’ll invite him to join my party. Don’t go”, the boy whimpered.

                 “Oh Tommy, I wish it was Mr Sander who needs me today, but it’s the boss from our partner company who called, and they need me to talk about the investments that they’ll be doing”, Mr Reynolds calmed him down. “But I’ll head back home as soon as the meeting’s over. We’ll party as long as you want when I come back ok?”

                  “Dad, can I come with you?” Tommy suddenly asked. “All I really want to do today is to spend it with you. That’s what makes it special dad, please?”

                  Mr Reynolds was suddenly shuffled.

                 “Tommy, how ‘bout your friends?” he asked.

                 “Don’t worry about them dad, I think they’ll understand. I’ll meet up with them after we return from your meeting. I invited them all for the party actually so no worries about it”, Tommy replied swiftly.

                 Mr Reynolds smiled and stood up, took his son’s gentle hands by his and walked down the wide hallways and out from the great front door. The sun was shining brightly along the tree-lined pathway. At the end of the tiled pathway was the house’s car. The two went inside the car and drove freely across the streets outside.

                 “Where are we going by the way?” Tommy asked, now in a cheerful manner.

                 “Remember the forest where we used to eat with your mom?” Mr Reynolds asked nicely. He plunged into his son’s clothing and pulled out from his son’s neck a blue shiny necklace tampered with what looked like orbs with stars as decoration. The orbs were round and were made from pure glass.

                 “Oh!” Tommy said. “Yes, I always want to go back there! That’s where mom gave me this necklace”.

                 Mr Reynolds was gleeful with Tommy by his side and so he hugged his son once more as the long vehicle drove nearer to the wood side where the trees were tall and the earth was good.

                 Tommy stepped out of the car first and scampered inside the mini tent where Mr Sanders and his crew where waiting. The businessman hugged the boy immediately and kissed him on his forehead.

                 “You’re growing fast Tommy!” Mr Sanders said merrily in a high tone. “Happy Birthday!”

                 “Thank you Mr Sanders! You’re invited to my party tonight!” Tommy smilingly replied.

                  Mr Sanders had Tommy juice that his crew handed him from his car and they chatted for minutes while sipping from their bottle and eating from the berry cake that were handed to them together with the juice.

                 After minutes of nothing but laughter and exchanging of awful but still quite acceptable kid jokes, Tommy looked around the corner of the tent and felt quiet immediately.

                 “Where’s dad?” Tommy asked confusingly.

                 “Oh maybe he’s checking out the forest before we fashion this into our new project”, Mr Sanders laughed as he sipped nicely with his juice. “Carry on with the jug!”

                 Tommy was more confused. He turned around agitatedly.

                 “Fashion? New project? What do you mean?” Tommy asked, his brows were crossed together and his face grew pale.

                 “Yes. This forest is our new site for the hotel that we are going to build. Your company is our most trusted logging company among our partners. Your father was the one who suggested this place, actually”, Mr Sanders said.

                 Tommy looked shocked, much to Mr Sanders’ confusion of how the boy’s cheerful smile and laughter were drowned momentarily. He never expected that they’ll talk about stuff about work in the first place and he knew Tommy was uncomfortable judging from the boy’s pale and un-glossy look that grew right after the boy momentarily dragged down his cheerful tunes. Tommy then looked like he was distracted rather than peacefully sad, and his skin color went paler, being so brown and tanned, he was now dark and unhappy to look at. The boy stood up and buzzed his head as he got up with his knees. Mr Sanders observed how the boy was slightly shaking.

                 “Excuse me sir”, Tommy whispered in a low tune. “…I’ll just go to my father for a few minutes. I reckon I have something to tell him sir”.

                 “Are you sure you’re alright?” Mr Sanders asked worriedly, tapping and feeling the boy’s upper part of his neck. “You look sick”.

                 “I’m alright Mr Sanders, I think it’s the juice…I’m not really used with the flavour. I’ll be right back”, Tommy answered, trying his best to look normal and sound normal.

                 Mr Sanders watched as the boy sprinted along the narrow path of their beloved brown tent and into the earth path outside, the boy disappeared behind the trees as he sprinted through them.

                 “That’s funny”, Mr Sanders whispered to himself as he took another sip from his juice.

                 Along the wild and raunchy forest pathway, Tommy hurriedly sprinted along the earth, avoiding rocks and tiny shrubs along his way. He started to catch his breathe after minutes of running. He looked from afar and searched through each tree that he passes for his father.

                 From his left, he drove his feet toward the high ferns where at the back the wide fern leaves, wearing a similar cap with the leaf symbol on it was Mr Reynolds who looked happy while gazing upwards to the high braches of a nearby sycamore tree. Tommy hurriedly darted over to where his father stood and as he stood behind him like a statue who was catching his breathe, he let out a deep and uncovered sigh.

                 “Oh Tommy, what are you doing here?” Mr Reynolds said. He didn’t bother to look distracted from the boy’s presence in the scene. “Do you remember this place?”

                 When Tommy nodded, Mr Reynolds smiled and spread his arms across the air as though he was receiving applause from a large crowd in front him. The air blew cold and Tommy, snatching the moment with his sharpened tongue as he flipped away his coat, eyes planted deeply upon his father’s.

                 “Is it true father?” Tommy asked peacefully, although his eyes were telling the other way. With his stare, his father saw fire along with the question that was raised.

                 “What?” the reply coldly went.

                 “…that this place will be taken down for your project?” Tommy asked in a higher tone.

                 “Tommy, you know how lifeworks. Demand is everything and it will always pile up as long as we work with it”, Mr Reynolds replied, trying to sound comforting as possible as he saw Tommy’s eyes starting to form small crystal tears.

                 “Dad, this is mom’s haven!” Tommy shouted furiously out of his young flawless voice. “…you know this is important to her, important to me! And I wish it’s important to you too”.

                 Mr Reynolds sighed deeply and kneeled quietly in front of his son, as he reached out his hand to tap his boy’s shoulder, Tommy slid backwards and stood there quietly, still looking unquenched and bothered.

                 “I mean, why dad? Mom built this place with everything she had. This is where everything she loved grew and nourished. Her animals that she rescued while she was out there doing her job are all here!” Tommy said vigorously.

                  “Tommy, I know it’s hard for you to do so. But after your mom’s demise, this place…it doesn’t feel like it’s the same anymore”, Mr Reynolds answered, still in a low pitch voice. “…and I thought it will somewhat help you move on”.

                 There were too many red flags.

                 “…what? I don’t want to move on dad, I want to cherish what mom had cherished and I want to protect this place from anyone who wants to destroy it!” Tommy shouted. “…if it’s you, then will it mean different?”

                 “…well your mother isn’t here now Tommy”, Mr Reynolds snatched out of his mouth.

                 Tommy looked above from his chin and stared deeply against his father’s eyes. He saw nothing but plain and doubtful eyes staring back at him as he was there dwindling with his tampered emotions and unquenched desire to be heard and to be acquainted with his will of keeping in touch with the forest.

                 Just as Tommy was about to say another word, a deer momentarily jumped from behind a huge rock and started to walk carefully towards them, shocking both Mr Reynolds and Tommy. The animal was staring at them and from Tommy’s mind, the creature was soft and delicate, an innocent inhabitant of the peaceful woods they were in.

                 “Get back Tommy, it may hurt you”, Mr Reynolds whispered as he put withdrew a hand in front of his boy to stop him from touching the approaching creature. “Stay away from that, it’s a wild animal”.

                 “What?” Tommy said, crossing his wet eyebrows as he looked from his father to the creature near them. “It’s a deer, it won’t hurt you… unless you do something that might trigger it”.

                 “It’s a beast, stay away from that. It had not been tamed for a long time!” Mr Reynolds shouted as his boy was quietly walking towards the animal.

                 “Dad, look. It’s gentle and it’s friendly. I bet he’s the same age as me”, Tommy said, noticing the signs that indicated the fawn was a boy.

                 Tommy was dazzled with the fawn’s shiny eyes. T him, they were telling something and behind their sparkle, a tale was waiting to be told. The fawn was happily brushing its body against Tommy’s hands when suddenly, in cold thin air, the fawn was turned back, as if triggered and surprised heavily. Tommy was worried and confused at the same time. He looked from behind him and there from where his father was standing, Mr Reynolds stood cold and silent, but across the air were his hands that flipped out a gun that Mr Reynolds had snatched from his coat, aimed directly towards the young creature.

                 Tommy stood up momentarily and shocked after Mr Reynolds’ actions, he was staring at the gun and both he and the deer was shaking. The fawn, scared and triggered, turned back and started to dart over the small shrubs that bordered the pathway and as it was about to leap over the huge boulder where it came from, the sound of a heavy and sharp gunshot sliced the cold air and from the distant shrubs and ferns where the boulder was placed, the fawn’s body tumbled down against the rock and fell to the grass motionless. Blood was printed against the rock’s rough surface and it started to drip down to the fawn’s quiet body.

                  Tommy was frightened and did not move from his place as if his knees were paralyzed and senseless. He watched in horror as the fawn fell down to the ground, he knew it was now dead. He looked up to Mr Reynolds who soon held down his gun and returned it inside his coat.

                 “That was it dad…” Tommy whispered. “You killed it!”

                 His voice had now grown insolent and ungrateful. His tone reverberated across the mist that started to cover the woods.

                 Tommy started to walk backwards, breathing heavily while his eyes, although silent a while back, were on fire again. Deep and ungrateful as they were moments ago.

                 “Do you ever wonder what that will cost you?” Tommy shouted. “You’ve grown blank and you’re not my father who cared for me!”

                 As Tommy walked backwards, approaching the scattered sycamore trees and away from the fawn’s dead body and from his father, he wiped down his tears that kept his face wet. His anguish was bombarded enough to seize his senses. He was feeling down and his heart beat as fast as it could, diverting his pulse from his veins onto his breathe that he was trying to catch the whole time. He felt the grass beneath his shoes, they were soft like the fawn’s fur, but as he looked across the scene, he saw no smoothness from where the shrubs had revealed his father’s image. He felt twigs from his back, pricking him deeply against his skin. Then from the turning of the alley, once swept by the sorrow he had suffered from death, he felt stones against his ankles, they were tough and violent to touch. He soon felt his ankles weaken as the stones threw him out from the alley, knocking him over from the position he was in. He fell down as the rocks behind him scattered across the grass bed. In horror, Mr Reynolds saw blood from the stone where Tommy’s head had fallen. He scampered fast across the grass and touched his son’s neck gently with his rough hands. To his horror, the violent beating of Tommy’s heart against his son’s veins were nowhere to be felt. Tommy’s eyes were open but no breathe of air came out from his nose nor from his mouth. Tears fell from the boy’s face as he laid his head down against his father’s arm. Mr Reynolds soon had tears of his own. He hugged his beloved boy and wimped silently across the stained grass. The forest was soon covered with mist and all was quiet as the day approached its end.