Adelaide Chapter One: The Girl And The Clearing

She sat alone, poised with a pen in her hand. She desperately tried to think of words to write, but none came. The girl sat there staring into space, waiting for some kind of inspiration.
Why is this so hard for me? she thought. 
The house was actually quiet for once. The younger three Preston children were playing outside, Mrs. Preston had fallen asleep on the couch with a book on her face, and the dogs had run themselves tired and were now passed out on the kitchen floor.

She knew she had to write something, but she didn’t know where to start. She pushed aside the long brown bangs that always hung down into her eyes. They always seemed to be in her way, but she refused to cut them off.

The subtle smell of freshly mowed grass and someone grilling something wafted in through the open window. It was summer, but she has quite a bit of school work to finish. This included the book report that she was trying to write. She knew that she hadn’t written nearly enough this year. She also that she would have to do a lot more writing in her upcoming junior year of high school 
I wish it would all just go away! she thought to herself.
She had wanted to spend the summer with friends, or sitting out in the hammock reading her favorite book, or maybe even get to those library movies that were due soon.

Sighing, she put her pencil down. Sure, the book she had chosen was a good one, but how was she supposed to turn all of her notes, which were currently sprawled out all over the dining room table, into a readable book report?

Frustrated, she pushed her notebook aside and decided to start on something much more interesting: Astronomy.

She had been utterly delighted to learn that instead if chemistry, she would be using her dad’s old college astronomy textbook. She pulled it towards her smiling at the thought of her dad sitting in a college dorm pouring over the very pages that she would be reading today. Even though it wasn’t completely accurate, Pluto not being a planet anymore and all, the old book still held a sense of wonder for her. She could read it for hours, and never tire of learning from it. That was certainly one good thing about being homeschooled; she could make her own schedule.

Along with her three younger siblings, her two older sisters and her adopted brother, she had been homeschooled her whole life and she couldn’t imagine living any other way.

Her life was pretty much School, family, and the occasional get together with friends. Her adopted brother, Kenny, was also a big part of her life. One year older than her, Kenny was adopted when he was six years old. His parents had lived in Australia, but moved to England before he was born. The girl was only five when they had brought him home, and she couldn’t even remember a time when he wasn’t there. They had placed him in the same grade as her, so they did pretty much everything together. They had been best friends since he came. They called themselves the twins, and besides the fact that he loved sports, and she loved photography, the shared everything, including friends, books, school, a love of drawing, and a passion for all things musical.

Of course, today he had baseball practice while she was stuck at home trying to get those last few weeks of school done. When she finally put away her school books for the day, her younger siblings had broken the pristine silence of the dining room. She sighed and decided to wander in the woods that surrounded the house. She grabbed her camera and quickly walked out the door before one of her siblings could stop her. The weather was perfect. Not hot enough that you boiled, but not so cold that you had to wear long sleeves. It was perfect flip-flop weather.

She smiled to herself and began to make her way towards the small foot path that wound its way through the woods. The birds were singing, and there was a light breeze gently blowing the leaves on the trees. The scent of honeysuckle was very strong. She smiled thinking of the summer that Kenny had decided to build a tree house just above the large honeysuckle bush that took up residence in the yard. She slowly made her way down the path, snapping photos as she went; a flower here, an interesting tree there, plus the occasional bird or adorable gray squirrel.

She was so enchanted with the scenery that she quickly lost track of how far she had travelled into the woods. She wasn’t supposed to pass the tree with the red “X” painted on its trunk. 
"How could I have missed that?" she said quietly.
 She began looking for it, but it didn’t take her long to realize that she had missed it. She turned around and started back up the narrow path towards the house. She soon stared to see the familiar pathway again, but soon after finding the tree with the X, she spotted something new; a small path, very easily missed, hiding between two rather overgrown bushes. She nervously glanced at the sun. It was still high in the sky, so she knew she still had some time. After a moment of silently debating with herself, she made up her mind to explore this new pathway.

The trees seemed much closer. It was almost as if they didn’t want anyone to use the small overgrown pathway. They pressed in and shielded the sun, not quite letting it shine through the tangle of leaves and branches. Sure, it was a bit of a tight squeeze, but a photographer never passes up an opportunity like this. She pressed on, confident that the trail would widen eventually. After walking, or rather pushing through the think trees for about ten minutes, it did. The tiny path opened up into a large clearing. The trees still blocked most of the sunlight, but she could see the massive tree that was growing in the middle of the clearing. Easily the width of a hundred smaller trees grown into one, and extremely tall, although completely devoid of leaves, it was a beautiful sight. Bathed in the green sunlight that filtered through the surrounding trees, with birds fluttering in and out of the branches and squirrels playing in the thick roots. She stood awestruck for a moment before she remembered her camera. She took a few pictures, and then sat down at the base of the huge tree. What a peaceful place. She could have spent hours there.

As she sat listening to the sounds all around her, they all abruptly stopped. The birds stopped chirping, and the wind just barely discernable, so very high up in the topmost branches of the great tree, fell silent. All the sounds of the woods had been replaced by an eerie quiet that sent chills up her spine.
"I think i've been out to long." she said to no one in particular. 
She stood to leave, and then froze. There was a sound, almost a whisper, but growing to a shout, she heard a voice calling her name.
“Adelaide…Adelaide…”