Eucalyptus

A song that I turned into a short story

 

We Must Have Cut Them Down in Our Sleep

“Hurry! This way, over here. I see a place where we can hide” Jeremy kept firm hold of Claire’s hand and urged her forward.

            “It feels like we’ve been running forever” Claire’s voice came haltingly as she struggled to form words through her heavy breathing. She tripped and fell over a root. Jeremy hastily picked her up and set her right again and they hurried on. Behind them three men on horseback crashed through the brush drawing ominously closer.

            “Here, this is it!” Jeremy found his opening, a familiar bamboo grove he had visited many times on his wanderings in the woods. Quickly and quietly he slipped behind the green stalks pulling Claire in after him.

            “Do you think they will be able to find us here?” Claire whispered as they crouched together in their bamboo fortress.

            “Shhhh!” Jeremy warned as the clopping of hooves finally reached their hiding place.

            “Can you see them?” One of the horsemen called out to the others.

            “No, I don’t see them.”

            “Well they can’t be far, let’s keep going.” The hoof steps pounded away deeper into the woods.  

            “We’ll be safe here,” Jeremy murmured in her ear as the night fell in around them. “The grove will protect us; we can stay here until the coast is clear. Do you know the story behind this bamboo grove?”

            “No.”

Jeremy took Claire in his arms and held her close. She lowered her head to his chest and listened to his heartbeat.

            “They say a long time ago a boy came and planted them here. He thought when the stalks grew up the leaves would block out the rain. This was a silly idea of course because the leaves aren’t very big at all…” Jeremy’s deep voice began to fade away into the dark oblivion. On a cliff high overhead a grand castle stood guard. The moon full behind it cast an ethereal glow on the young couple hiding behind the bamboo thicket.

            “Jeremy, it’s getting so cold” Claire uttered her last concern.

            “Everything is going to be okay,” he assured her clasping her even tighter in his arms. Their breathing deepened, their eyes closed, and they nodded off to sleep. Then the world was bright again and the chill of the early morning air woke Claire with a start.

            “Jeremy? Jeremy!” Claire called out his name, but heard nothing in return. “Oh no! Oh no, oh no, oh no” every utterance fell like tears to the ground. Claire had never felt so alone, she reached forward on her hands and knees searching, but felt only sharp, painful stumps. “Jeremy!”

            “Claire!” A handsome young man rode up on a big white horse. His eyes were tired, his hair disheveled. He hopped down and walked over to the young girl on her knees. “We have been looking for you all night; it’s time to come home.” Two other horsemen rode up to join him; they let their reigns drop and waited quietly. Claire lowered her head defeated. “Come on now, it’s time to come home,” the handsome young man reached down his hand to help her up. She had no choice; she took his hand and let him pull her to her feet.  Her hands and knees were bloody from the stumps. Claire looked again; the bamboo was gone, only the stumps remained. The young man lifted her easily onto his horse. He climbed up behind her and together with the other two horsemen they rode to the castle high atop the hill.

            As soon as they reached the top Claire’s eyes found the sight she longed most to see. “Jeremy!” She broke free of the horseman’s grasp and ran to Jeremy who was sitting on a rock overlooking the wood where they had spent the night. “Jeremy, what happened to the bamboo?” Her eyes were imploring, her voice was pleading.

            “We must have cut them down in our sleep, in our sleep we must have cut down all the trees,” his tone was serious. He looked at her hands and knees and a pained look came to his eyes. “I’m sorry about the stumps.”

            “Claire!” The young horseman took her arm, “let’s go, this is getting old.”

Claire threw herself around Jeremy’s neck and held on as long as possible.

            “Goodbye,” she murmured.

            “I’ll see you in the night,” Jeremy gave her a wink as the horseman succeeded in pulling her away toward the castle gate.

            The sun spent an eternity in the sky that day, but when the moon had won finally its right to hang full over the castle Claire climbed out her window and made her way to the rock overlooking the wood. A smile lit up her face when she saw Jeremy’s large frame looming in the distance. She sat down on the rock and waited for him to come to her. He sat down next to her without a word and the two looked over the vast woods below them.

            “You know, without the bamboo surrounding us we can see for miles tonight,” Jeremy broke the silence and looked calmly at Claire who was looking back at him with mischief in her eyes.

            “I think I can see a distant light,” Claire pointed to a twinkling in the distance far beyond the castle and the surrounding woods.

            “We need to find out what those are,” Jeremy stood up and offered his hand to Claire who readily accepted. The stood for a minute more in the ethereal moonlight looking at the distant lights. Then they made their way down the hill and hurried through the woods searching for something more, something far away in the distance.

Author's Note

This story was an exercise I did for a creative writing course. I wrote it based on the lyrics of one of my favorite songs, but am thinking of turning it into a longer story. would like feedback on the writing style among other things.