The secret behind the path of secrets

There are words better left unsaid. There are plenty of unanswered questions that remained lingering pass every generation. There are things that had happened that doesn't need to be shared with everyone, and are only meant to be buried in the hidden shadows of secrets.

Secrets, they are meant to be kept. Unawakened in where it is hidden. But sometimes, the temptation plays; the temptation of telling. And it chases away our intent of keeping a secret. A temptation that plays us like an instrument very well.

Jasper clenched his hand on the grip of his bicycle. His palms feeling the familiar leather. His lips partly open as his expressionless eyes were fixed on the ground. 

Benjamin Westley was announced dead this morning, and the reason behind his sudden death is unknown. 

Benjamin wasn't a friend; wasn't someone close to Jasper either, yet the boy left an irremovable mark of thought in him. 

Yesterday close to sunset, Jasper had seen Benjamin alone in the back of the school, often a quiet unused field. Under the shade of a forty year old oak tree, Jasper sat next to the boy. 

"Do you know that one strange narrow path inside the Thornwood Forest?" Benjamin asked which brought an evident surprised expression on Jasper's face. He glanced at Benjamin but before Jasper could say a word, the other boy spoke, "I could feel now that you're forming a thought about me in your mind. How unusual I talk, move and look. It does fit the description of an outcast like me. How unsettling it is to suddenly ask you about the path in the forest, surely isn't a good introduction to a first time talk is it?"

Jasper turned his gaze to Benjamin. He was right. This was the first time he talked to him. Benjamin was a different kind of student in East town of St. John. A boy considered as an outcast, a lone wolf and dull in his nature. Little is known about him, which makes him more strange.

Jasper carefully chose his words inside his head. He might say something offensive, and he didn't want to offend Benjamin.

"The unusual thing is that you don't talk to anyone, but you did with me. Saying something about a path, what made you ask about it? Tell me because both you and that question caught my curiosity." Jasper said.

Benjamin curled his lips before speaking. "I caught your curiosity? The same thing happened with me when I figured the path inside the Thornwood forest. I was so drawn to it. I was drawn to know where the path leads to. And let me tell you, I satisfied my own curiosity by walking into that path. I found out more than what I thought I would."

"Treasure?" Jasper asked. He didn't know what else to say. What else could Benjamin find that is more greater than treasure?

The other boy chuckled. "No. Well, we consider some things a secret don't we? If I tell you, I know you won't believe such thing, yet. And I don't see enough reasons to tell you something that will only make you think I'm too ill as a person."

"I'm not a skeptic like the rest, just so you know. I'll be glad if you tell."

Benjamin squinted his eyes on Jasper. A confused look Jasper was receiving. Silence surrounded them as they both sat there waiting for each other to say something. 

"This path, this path isn't just a path that will lead you to something you are expecting. It leads you somewhere where we find things that are difficult to believe. I figured this path as I was walking alone in the Thornwood forest. The only path next to the Schewsmere river. Would you want me to continue and tell you where it leads to?"

The curiosity inside Jasper grew more. "Where?"

"A hermit of secrets."

Jasper was startled. He really wanted to burst a laugh in front of Benjamin. 

A hermit of secrets? That sounds ridiculous, but he didn't want to ridicule Benjamin's words. So he managed to brush his confused look away.

"I'm starting to see your face telling me that I talk no sense to you." Benjamin said. 

"No. That is a false form of thought. May I know more about this hermit of secrets? And why was he called the hermit of secrets?"

"Because he keeps secrets, and he tells them. Every secret you desire to know, is in his hands. It is difficult to believe, I tell you, but it is nothing but the truth. You are the first person I told this about, and it's either you believe me completely or continue giving me an unsettled look."

Jasper, shook his head, trying to assure Benjamin that he was convinced. 

But how is that possible? Jasper thought.

"He knows every secret the universe holds?"

"He does know."

"How many times can you ask about a secret?" Jasper asked.

"Once. Only once. Nothing more than once."

The sunset glow hit both of their faces. Making their eyes glimmer. "The sun is about to set." Benjamin stood up fully. "I need to go. Keep those words I tell you. Soon you will completely believe in them."

Jasper walked further the path. His curiosity was prevailing. This was it.

The Thornwood Forest.

the path next to the river.

He continued ahead until he stopped right in his tracks. His gaze met a shack. A staunch but dilapidated shack.

"What is your business here young boy?" Jasper shivered as he heard a voice behind him. He turned and saw a man. A compact look he carry in his glazed eyes. A man who looks like he lived a hundred years ago but managed to survive. His clothes was raggedly dirty. 

"Were you..." Jasper stopped and skimmed the man. "It's you. It's you the hermit of secrets!"

The man didn't seemed moved by his surprised words. 

"Who told you about me young boy?" The man asked in a devoid tone of emotion.

"A mutual of mine, his name was Benjamin. Unfortunately, he died, just yesterday. I knew you because he told me about this path that leads to where I am standing now."

"So you believed him? You believed him that I am something no ordinary? Well what secret would you want to know young man?"

"What is the reason behind Benjamin's death? The real reason?" Jasper asked, evidently eager to get an answer.

"A wonderful question that is. As an unfathomable hermit of secrets, I tell secrets. Benjamin, that young innocent boy, died because he asked for a secret and he told a secret."

Jasper gave the hermit a skeptical look. "What secret did he tell that caused his death?"

"He spoke to you about me. One should never tell another about me, or else they'll be receiving death." The man said, taking a step forward as Jasper took a few steps back.

"How about you, young boy..." A smile formed across the hermit's face.

"Can you keep a secret?"