Chapter 1

It was a cold wintry morning as Sheila went from one table to another serving milkshakes. She was a young beautiful lady of nineteen with her rich long hair reaching down to her waist. She had dreamy green eyes that seemed to sparkle. She had a jovial smile and confidence unlike any other. She however didn't seem herself as she went about her job that morning. Her mind was troubled and it was evident in her stride and her gaze. She had her head down and her hair in her face which was unlike her. Her feet were wobbly too and she had tripped and spilled a milkshake on a male customer. The man, in his tuxedo, was probably a member of the high class. He had arrogantly yelled at Sheila telling her to ‘get out of his sight’. She had dragged herself back to the counter where Camelia who had been watching the happenings and who knew why Sheila looked so down stood waiting.

“I think you should go up to your room”, Camelia began as Sheila set down her serving tray on the counter.

“But I'm okay”, Sheila replied, feigning a smile.

“No, you're not. That right there was the third time you tripped and spilled a milkshake today”.

Sheila tried to protest but Camelia would have none of it. “My diner, my rules. Get up there and take the rest of the day off”.

Sheila hung her head down knowing fully well that there was nothing she could say to win Camelia over. She took the elevator and Camelia watched her go. “A day off wouldn't do much to hurt business”, she muttered to herself.

As Sheila stood in the elevator, her mind sought the cause of her troubled mind. The day was her mother's death anniversary. Her mother had died over a year ago but she still felt the sorrow and the void that her absence had left. Her father had died when she was younger so she essentially had no one to take her in. Camelia, the daughter of her mother's best friend had taken her in. Camelia owned a big building and she used the lower floor as the diner, Sheila's workplace. The upper floors were the living quarters and she leased one of the rooms there to Sheila. Camelia had been so kind to her and she had become family. Sheila entered her room and took a book from her reading table. She wanted so much to keep her mind from thoughts about her mother. It only reminded her of how lonely she was. Since her mother's death, she felt a kind of loneliness and space that she couldn't fill no matter what she did. To make matters worse, everyone seemed to look at her with a kind of pity that made her feel out of place. She had friends from high school but they rarely talk anymore since she seldom goes out to social functions. She was always either busy at the diner or indoors.

She took a look at the novel she had picked. It was ‘Moby Dick’, her favorite. She had read it only a couple of hundred times. She looked at the cover and smiled at nothing. Her mind was wandering again. She thought of her mother, of burnt sandwiches and omelets gone wrong. She thought of hikes and picnics and all the dangerous adventures they had been on. She thought of bedtime stories of princesses and giants and although she was a decade and nine years old, the memories still brought a wry smile to her lips. She paused in her reverie as she thought about Camelia. She was a good guardian but she couldn't fill the shoes of her mother. If she had been younger when her mother died, she would have had a harder time settling down. Camelia had provided her with a house but she still had no home. She had no one and as Camelia had no children, she was usually alone and lonely. Work gave her an amount of closure but she couldn't go on working forever. Her workmates were very friendly and it sometimes took her mind off of her loneliness but it was usually only for a limited time.

Putting down the novel, sheila went to her window. She stared into the woods. It was a mix of green and white as the snow filled the forest floor. It seemed so beautiful, so serene that she decided she should take a walk and maybe clear her mind. And so she took a scarf and headed down the elevator again. She went by quietly wanting not to disturb Camelia. Camelia was at a table and she had her back to the door and so she didn't see Sheila as she left the diner. Sheila took gloves from the rack by the door and went out. Sheila looked out unto the road and beyond it, into the woods. The road was slippery and cold. Snow had been cleared out of the way and there were skid marks on the road. She looked on towards her destination still captivated by the entirety of what she saw. She was completely focused and as she walked across the road, she didn't see that she was in danger of being hit.

*

Perhaps it was the thoughts perhaps not, Sheila felt it before she heard or saw it. There was no pain. The car had grazed her by a few meters. She was lucky. Camelia had screamed from inside the diner and she was beside her before you could say ‘Jack Robinson’.

“Are you okay? Are you hurt?” Camelia asked checking for broken bones and bruises.

Sheila smiled, it was the smile of an old man who was dying rest assured his legacy would be preserved. “I'm alright Cami. I wasn't hit”. Camelia heaved heavily in relief. “What are you doing outside? I thought you were in your room resting up”.

“I wanted to see the woods. I felt it calling out to me”.

“I don't think that's a good idea right now. Maybe you'll go later”, Camelia suggested. At this point, Sheila was on her feet and with Camelia’s support, they headed into the diner. After helping her to a seat, Camelia got her a milkshake, “ It will calm your nerves”, she said.

As Camelia went off to attend to some customers, Sheila began thinking again. For a brief moment, she had seen something that came close to her life flashing right before her eyes. She had been scared out of her mind despite her composure when Camelia had reached her side. “Is this the end?” she had thought. She had thought of all the things she never got to do. She thought about the fact that she had no best friend, no relationship, and nobody to mourn her passing save for Camelia. She had thought about what people would have said. Would anybody miss her? She wondered.

Camelia broke into her thought with the snap of her fingers. “I think you should go up and rest and maybe take the day off tomorrow. You look like you could use it”.

Sheila opened her mouth to protest but then she stopped. There was no point arguing. Camelia would have her way anyway and she might rest up that day and go into the woods the day after. She only nodded and half dragged herself into the elevator. She looked as though the world was resting on her shoulders. Camelia watched her go dejectedly. She had tried her best to make Sheila happy and welcome. Sheila had recoiled when she had first arrived and she had understood that. She was still in mourning at the time. She had given her the space she needed while trying to form a bond. She had not to succeeded in making a connection but they had learned to live in harmony. However, Sheila's sadness lingered and it formed a wall around her. She didn't go to any social functions and she had no real friends. Eva who took the afternoon shift was the only thing close to a friend that she had and they weren't even that close. She had a routine, from the diner to her room and back to the diner. She went out only if she wanted to lend a book from the library or if she wanted to pick up some groceries. The long and short of it was that she was headed on a straight-line course to depression. Camelia heaved a heavy sigh and turned at the doorbell. It was Eva.

Sheila got into her room for the second time that day. She fell heavily unto the bed. She was tired of the monotony of the life she led. “I have had enough”, she whispered to herself quietly. “I will have to do something before I die a lonely lady”. She took one look outside the window again. The woods were beckoning to her. She felt a feeling in her and she couldn't place her mind around it. It was the same kind she had felt when the car had nearly grazed her. It felt like a surge of electricity and she loved it. She would go into the woods that day come hail come high water. She would sneak out. The thought of sneaking out made her feel excited and she wondered, ‘ was this the feeling of fun’.

She rolled into a ball and giggled surprised at herself. She soon fell asleep and she had a dream. She had gone down and out through the diner. She had gone into the mass of trees and she had felt free. She had jumped wildly about, laughing wildly and happily. At that moment, she had never felt so alive in her entire life. She would run for a while and wait to pick up a flower here and a flower there. She was having the fun of her life when suddenly, she heard snapping twigs and branches and saw the headlights of a car coming through the trees. She stood transfixed as a deer staring at the headlights. As the car crashed into her, she saw her mother behind the wheel, and she awoke. She was sweating so much, her pillow was drenched. Fear was written all over her face. She stood up from her bed and looked out the window for the umpteenth time, she had made up her mind, she would go. If only to satisfy her mind and her curiosity.

Doning her scarf, she took the things she needed and headed out of the room, flicking the lights off. It was late evening and the snow was now falling hard but she wasn't deterred, she would go and be with nature for a while. She took the elevator down and saw that the diner was packed full. The cold outside must have been the reason for so many customers - she thought. It was to her advantage anyway, she could go out without being noticed. She pulled the scarf to cover her face better and she walked out of the diner. She felt chilly as the cold air blew against her face. She thought to go back at once but then she remembered her vow to satisfy her curiosity and continued into the green. There was no speeding car this time around and she walked quickly in case Camelia or Eva glimpsed her back and noticed her. She soon reached the mouth of the woods and peered into the darkness that awaited her and took a deep breath. “Here we go Sheila, there's no going back at this point. It's now or never”. With this, she headed into the woods, stopping once in a while to admire a flower here and there. She thought the heard a waterfall nearby and decided she might find it and take pictures of it. Her fun life was just beginning and she would enjoy every bit of it.