Under the Willow Tree

A girl wakes up not knowing anything, but remembers a boy. When she finds out who she is she doesn't care, and she finds the boy.

The Willow Tree

By: Aura Quartz

~

I woke up, my vision was blurry then got focused. I saw a clean white ceiling above me. I looked to the side, and saw that I was in a hospital room. I tried to think of what day it is, but I couldn’t remember, I couldn’t remember anything. Not my name, my parents, siblings, nothing.

As I sat up a man walked through the door.

“Ahh, great you're finally awake.” He said.

I looked at him and didn’t say a word.

“What’s the matter?” He said, “Oh, I’m your doctor.”

I looked at him more. Then a lady walked in.

“Tom, why don’t I take his.” She said, “Besides Mr. Reid's allergies are acting up bad again go check on him.”

He sighed. “Okay.” He said and walked out of the room.

The woman sat down in a chair next to me.

“Hi I’m Marie, what's your name?” She asked softly.

I still stared.

“Would you like to be my friend?” She said, “It gets kind of lonely here sometimes.”

I nodded.

“Can you talk?” She asked.

I nodded.

“Why aren’t you talking?” She asked.

Finally I mumbled, “I don’t know.”

“Could you tell me your name?” She asked.

I didn’t know what to say because I was to embarrassed that I forgot it.

“No.” I said.

“Why not, I told you mine.” Marie said.

It was true.

“I don’t know.” I mumbled.

“Could you speak louder.” She asked.

“I-,” I said, “I don’t remember.”

“Do your remember anything?” She said.

“No.” I said.

She got up and left the room.

It soon became night and I slowly drifted to sleep. In my dream there was a boy, for some reason I felt like I had known him for forever. He looked 12, the age I look. The dream went on with us going to a park and playing with each other. Then it ended.

I woke up and thought of one word, Argo. That was the boy’s name, Argo.

The man from yesterday came in.

“How are you?” He said, “Looks like you’ll be here for a while.”

Nothing came out.

“So you're not going to talk, while can you write?” He asked.

I nodded and he handed me a crayon and a piece of paper. I started to write lines. I really liked drawing. I drew a full box of crayons on the paper and more paper.

“You want more crayons?” He asked.

I nodded, he left and Marie came with more crayons and paper.

“Here, you go.” She said nicely.

I smiled and said, “Thanks.”

Then Marie left the room. I looked at the paper and took a gray crayon and started drawing. I didn’t even know what I was drawing but it was something. Once I was done I looked at it. I drew the boy, Argo.

Then I wrote Argo on the bottom of it, and for some reason I smiled. I set it on the chair next to me. I ate breakfast then lunch then dinner. Usually the doctor's wouldn’t come in during the day so I’d read books.

When I fell asleep my dream was the same but the boy was saying something, but I couldn’t understand it. Then it ended again.

I woke up, and saw on the clock it was 4:00 in the morning. I tried falling back to sleep but couldn’t. Then Marie walked in.

“Hi.” I said.

“Hey, you're already up?” She said.

“Yeah.” I said.

“Sorry about not seeing you yesterday, I had to do a heart transplant.” She said, “So, have you been drawing anything yet?”

“Yeah.” I said and handed her my drawing.

Her face had whitened. “Incredible.” She said.

She dropped it on my bed and ran out of my room. She immediately came back with some work people. She showed the people and they all stared in amazement.

“She doesn’t remember a thing, yet how did she draw a picture of him?” She asked.

“How do we know she doesn’t remember anything?” A person said.

Marie looked at me and asked, “What is your name?”

My face went red, and nothing came out.

“It's okay.” Marie said.

I shrugged.

After that everyone left and Marie was still there.

“What is so amazing about it?” I asked.

She looked at the paper. “Argo,” She said, “where did you see that?”

“I don’t know, he was in my dreams why?” I asked.

“Because he is real, his name is Argo.” She said.

“You know what, if you're a doctor how come you haven’t told me my name?” I asked.

“Well,” She said nervously, “your life wasn’t exactly nice.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“If you really want to know I can get you your full police report.” She said.

“I do want to know as soon as possible.” I said.

“I can get it today.” She said and walked out.

What was the matter with her? I mean what is so bad about someone’s life? I mean, I could have a family I could have friend's.

I grabbed a new piece of paper and started drawing. When I finished I looked at it and saw a willow tree on a cliff. When I draw it takes hours but I never notice it.

Marie finally came back, put the papers on the chair, and walked out.

I grabbed the papers and looked at the first one.

Name: Aura Marie Quinn

Date of Birth: May 8, 2004

Gender: Female

Height: 5’4”

Weight: 112 Lbs

Hair: Brown, long

Eyes: Light Blue

Skin: White

Family: None all deceased

Mental History: Severe Depression, anxiety, Suicidal thoughts and attempt, at age of 10 was admitted into mental hospital for insanity

Health History: Jumped off cliff into pond age 10, Stabbed 11 times and beaten up age 12, No memory age 12

Sketch of her:

(No pictures were ever taken of her)

I set the folder down, I hadn’t even known I was crying. This was why Marie didn’t want me to look at it.

She walked back in, and sat down on my bed. I gave her a huge hug and was crying.

“Is it all true!” I said crying.

“Yes, but you don’t have to be that person, you be you.” She said softly.

We stopped hugging.

“But what it didn’t say was how I got here.” I said sniffling.

“No,” She said, “I already gave you the report, I’m not gonna hurt you even more.”

“What, I can take it please!” I asked.

“Fine,” She said, “you were a normal kid till you were the age of 9. Then that's when you started going mental. You were admitted to a mental hospital for children/teens. You sometimes would lash out, and be so angry, because you were so lonely. Then you met him.” And she picked up the picture of the boy.

“Argo.” I said.

“Yes, Argo. Both of you had been through so much,” She took a deep breathe, “both of your families were murdered. Both of you were young, both of you were mental. Both of you were lonely.”

“I-I,” I mumbled, “think I’m still insane.”

“Why would you ever say that,” She said and hugged me, “you aren’t insane you're you.”

“I-I think that b-because,” I cried out, “I don’t feel any pain that my family was murdered.”

“No, no it’s okay. As I was saying, you and Argo were the perfect match for each other, you were inseparable. You two were like brother and sister, you two against the world.” She said.

“Wow.” I said.

“You two slowly got worse, so we split you guys up into different parts of the hospital. Someone would always watch you two at night, and you both cried at night because you missed each other. So we decided to put you two back together, and you two improved and became normal.” Marie said.

“We kept each other sane.” I said.

“Yes, those were your exact words. Soon you two at the age of 11 started school, everything was going fine.” She said, “Then one day, you and Argo were walking to my house after school because I took care of you. And you said you saw a man, a bad bad man, who you recognized.”

“He was the man who killed my family?” I said.

“Yes, you said he was staring at you and Argo.” She said.

“He killed Argo’s family too.” I replied back with.

She nodded. “That night you said, ‘He is gonna kill us all, we’ll all die under a willow tree. Heck I’m insane, I deserve to die. Let him stab me, let him!’ You were sitting in a corner saying that, and you were so far gone, Argo couldn’t even calm you down.” She said.

“I dreamt of Argo,” I mumbled, “and I sitting under a willow tree on a cliff over a waterfall.”

Marie went white.

“That was the place.” I said.

Marie looked away.

“That was the place I tried to kill myself at and got stabbed wasn’t it! Tell me!” I spat out.

“Y-yes.” She mumbled, “So I took you and Argo back to the hospital. You stayed there and some days we’d let you outside. You two always went to that willow tree.”

Everything went black and I had a massive headache, then I saw a picture, a memory. I was under the willow tree, that day Argo hadn’t wanted to come with me. I was all alone, then the bad man appeared. I hadn’t been scared at all.

“Heh, finally I get to finish one of you.” He said.

“Why?” I asked.

“Huh?” He said confused.

“Why did you kill all those people?” I asked.

“Because I wanted to.” He said.

“Okay get on with it then,” I said, “nothing could beat having this as your last view before you die, it’s truly beautiful.”

And at that moment Argo was standing next to the tree.

“I get to finish both of you!” He said.

“Argo, run.” And as I said that the man took out a knife and stabbed me in my stomach.

I looked down, saw all the blood, and fell to the ground. Immediately Argo took out a pocket knife, and stabbed the guys hand. As I laid there dying, it was the worst view ever, my friend dying to. The bad man stabbed me in the legs. Then Argo got stabbed on his chest too. Argo threw the man off the cliff into the water.

Argo ran to me. “N-n-no you can’t die! Come on!.” He screamed.

The bad man didn’t fall but was on the ledge, and grabbed my foot, Argo grabbed my arms.

“If I’m going down you're coming with me!” He yelled.

“Never forget me Argo.” I said and my hands slipped out of his.

Then it went black.

I woke up dazed in the hospital room, doctors were everywhere. Everything was dizzy.

A doctor shined a flashlight in my eyes and said, “Come on stay with me.”

My eyes closed again, it felt like I hadn’t slept in years. It felt so nice to close my eyes.

I opened my eyes, and everything hurt. I turned my head, and saw that I was in a different room. I felt my face and felt one of those tube things that are by your nose to help you breathe.

I stared at the room for 5 minutes, then a doctor walked in.

“I’ll get Doctor Marie.” She said and walked out.

A couple of minutes later Marie walked in.

“How you doing sweetie?” She said and smiled.

“Well,” I said, “honestly I don’t know.”

“Well you seem to look okay.” She said.

“What happened?” I asked.

“When I was telling you the story, you blacked out, and your heart had over worked it self. Which when it does that, especially to kids there is a 70% chance their heart will fail and they will… die” She said and held my hand.

“But I didn’t?” I asked.

“No, you survived. We had to put you in a coma to check on your heart, and it just wore off.” She said.

“Marie.” I mumbled.

“Yes sweetie?” She asked.

“When I blacked out, I remembered something.” I said.

“What?” She asked.

“I remembered how the bad man stabbed me and Argo. And he was on the edge of the cliff and grabbed my foot, Argo tried holding on but my hands slipped out of his, me and the bad man fell into the river at the bottom of the cliff. I remembered seeing Argo cry and scream when I fell.” I said heartlessly.

Marie hugged me. Now it felt as if she were my mother.

“I remember the coldness of the water, of it engulfing me in the river.” I mumbled.

“Shh.” Marie whispered.

She let go of me, and I quickly dozed off to sleep. I hadn’t had a dream, well if I did I didn’t remember it.

I woke up at 6:00 o’clock in the morning. Marie brought me my breakfast and left. Then as I was staring at the ceiling I finally noticed, I don’t even know what year it is, or what day it is!

Marie walked in my room.

“Hey Marie?” I asked.

“Yes sweetie?” She said back softly.

“What day is it, and year?” I asked.

“It’s May, 2016.” She said.

“When will I be able to go outside?” I asked.

“Not ever.” She said sternly.

“Why?” I asked.

“Because I said so.” She said and left.

I knew something was up. So I had a plan, to go around the hospital looking for doors. It was afternoon, the busiest of times so everyone was gone. I wandered through the halls, until I turned a corner, and there he was.

The boy from the picture, but bruised, cut, and had a terrified look on his face. He looked at me.

“Hey, do you remember anything?” He asked.

“Only, seeing the water come closer.” I said.

“Do you get them too?” He said.

“What?” I asked.

“Visions.” He said.

“Visions?” I asked.

“Yes, either from the past or the future.” He said.

“I mean yeah? I guess.” I said.

He looked around, grabbed my arm and ran into a storage closet nearby. He locked the door.

“We are in danger, this place isn’t what they say it is.” He whispered.

“What do you mean?” I whispered back.

“It isn’t 2016, it’s 2076. Aura we were experiments, we are extraordinary.” He said.

“What?” I said.

“You have wings, I know everything, don’t tell anyone I talked to you!” He said.

Then someone knocked on the door, and was yelling. Then he mouthed, I’m sorry and bashed me on the head with a bucket. Everything went black.

I opened my eye’s and was being dragged out. I saw 2 big men holding Argo back. He looked like he was mental. That was his cover.

“Solitary confinement for him!” Marie yelled.

She helped me up.

“Are you okay sweetie?” She asked.

“Yeah, ow.” I said.

“What happened.” She asked.

“I don’t know, I was walking around looking for you because I wanted to show you my drawing. Then out of the blue he grabbed me, locked me in a closet, and started punching me.” I said covering for him.

“Sweetie next time just call for a nurse to get me.” She said.

“I don’t like it here, there’s bad people. Take me away from here!” I said, and hugged here.

“Okay sweetie.” She said.

We walked to my room, and I showed her my willow tree. She kissed my head and I slowly fell asleep.

Author's Note

Its not finished, but any thoughts about it? This was actually a true story that happened to one of my friends so I wanted to share it (Except for the magical part). The mental and murder part is true.

Reviews

[Deason]

There are far too many times that a story I am reading is predictable from start to finish, so it is great to come across something so carefully pieced together. I enjoyed your attention to detail and how you invested the time in creating genuinely developing characters! I am looking forward to reading any continuation you have planned or have already written, as the background behind this story is powerful. It takes some true talent to turn pain into beauty like you did with this piece, and I hope that you continue improving your skills! (Also, the tube that helps you breathe is called a cannula tube, or an NC. Just thought I'd share that for future reference)

[Sylvia]

I sadly did not, i don't know who their by but they look a lot like the real people.

[Christopher Miller]

It is interesting. Your grammar is actually better than a lot of what I see on here, too. I only mention it because you did in your bio. I hope you continue working on it. I love the last line. I also have to ask, did you do the pictures?