The Secret Glade

A boy sat on his own. “Living here isn’t so bad” he thinks to himself as he looks around. The local garden was a place of tranquility, a place one could go to relax. Situations that day had seen the guy to the same spot he came to in the garden, a glade he sometimes called the fountain glade. The most secluded, least visited but easily the most beautiful place in the whole garden, about the size of a baseball field. It was a slice of heaven. The walls were 10 feet high, covered in an array of flowers of different types, colors and fragrances from all over the world. There were some he could name but most he couldn’t. When the sun shone brightly enough, the whole glade lit up in such a way that it left you breathless at the site no matter how many times you saw it. The centerpiece of the glade, of course, was the fountain. It was perfect clear crystal with the clearest of water. Inset with precious stones of all kinds that, in the right light, made the water turn into a rainbow color. They would also send off different colored light throughout the glade. The flowers had a weird reaction to all this; they glowed. The whole glade came to life. The earth in the glade had a heartbeat that matched the guy’s own and he felt at home there as he doesn’t anywhere else. All the locals knew that he was the only one that went there. They knew he was connected to that glade in some way so the council made it law that no one was allowed in the glade except the guy and those with his permission. They didn't know why and many commented that it shouldn't be done but their arguments fell apart when they saw him enter the glade. They renamed it Jason’s glade after the guy. Jason wondered why people bullied him. Was it because of his glade? Was it because of the council's ruling? He just didn't know. It was because of the constant harassment he was there in the glade right now. He knew that the glade was the physical form of his soul, that he could never show anyone else, but he did wish that the rest of him matched. Then as the thought vanished, as his thoughts always do in the glade, he laid back and soaked in the beauty, loveliness and rightness of his glade.



Several hours later, Jason woke up. He saw that the sun had set; the moon had come out in its fullness and left a soft light over the glade. “Oh no not again” Jason said, once he had realized what time it was, “Mum will go off her head”. So he raced home and on arrival saw his mum waiting at the door. With a disapproving look on her face she said “Let me guess; you were at the glade and lost track of time”. “Sorry mum I fell asleep in the glade and when I woke up it was night”. “Well just get inside before your dinner gets cold”.

That night Jason dreamed. He was walking in a forest that seemed to be a mixture of his glade and something else. He was amazed. That something else had the feel of something very close to him yet not. He walked until he noticed he was on a path that led from his glade to somewhere in the distance.Emotions ran through Jason as he walked along the path. Anticipation, anxiety, excitement, nervousness and a strange sense he’d find something important at the end of the path. So he flew down the path hoping he was right.  As he saw something in the distance, he slowed down to a walk. It was a person and as they got closer, Jason saw it was a girl. They both walked faster and faster until they stopped less than an arm's length away from each other.



Jason looked the girl over as she did him. “Who are you?” Jason said his heart racing for many reasons. “First off where are we?” asked the girl. “I don’t know. It seems to be a mix of my glade and something else”. “That’s what I was thinking”. “So that means that something else is your glade. Wow it must be amazing”. How he was shocked. Another person's glade? Someone else has a glade holding a similar secret to his and just as beautiful. “Yours must be too. Why do you think we’re here?” “I don’t know but what ever the reason I like being here” Jason said as he looked the girl straight in her eyes. She surprisingly blushed but looked him in the eyes as she said “So do I”. After that there was a silence as both avoided each other’s eyes until the girl spoke. “With all of this I never thought to ask your name”. “Jason, Jason Lohrey. What’s yours?” “Mine’s Leila Emmett”. Jason felt for some reason that he had to find her. Little did he know she was thinking the same thing. They were both lost in their thoughts about the other when the whole place started shaking. They were being moved back from whence they came. “What’s happening?” said Leila, scared out of her mind. “I don’t know”, Jason replied, “We seem to be moving back to our glades”. They grabbed each others hands. “Will we see each other again?” “I promise you we will". “Jason!!!!!" she cried. Tears were streaming down her face and Jason's heart ached. "I will find you Leila” "I'll wait for you". Then they let go as they couldn’t hold on any longer. They were shot down the path to their glades. When Jason reached his, he let out a yell of anguish. He woke up and cried and cried and cried until he fell into a deep, nightmare filled sleep.



Jason woke the next morning with an aching, dry throat, a pounding head, red raw eyes, his face, pillow and shirt covered in snot and tears and exhausted to the very depths beyond measure. “What happened?” he tried to say but it only came out as a rasp. Just then his mum walked in and, when she saw him, she asked him what had happened. Of course he couldn’t answer so she said to him to stay in bed and she’ll do something up for him. “and don’t even think you’re going to school. I know the toll it could take on you if you went like this. I’ll just tell the university supervisor that you can’t come.” With that she left the room. She returned shortly with a glass of orange juice, some toast and a warning that if she sees him out of bed she’ll flay him. Having a whole day in bed gave Jason a chance to think. As he did he started to remember, he got an amazing revelation but he was so weak and in the end he didn’t have the strength so before he passed out he wrote himself two notes, both for himself, put his name on both, hid one and put one on his bedside table. 





He woke up a couple of hours later and didn’t remember the notes. He looked on his bedside table and discovered a glass of orange juice and some toast so he ate them. After finishing them and having a brief rest, his mum walked in. “Jason you’re up and you’ve eaten your breakfast. Good now remember rest up”. She picked up the plates and walked out. As the door shut he looked on the table and saw and an envelope with his name on it. Curious he picked it up, opened and read it. This is what the note said:

Jason, you won’t remember writing this but don’t get freaked out it’s alright. This note will explain. You had a dream last night but it wasn’t an ordinary dream. Your soul was ‘transported’ to a forest that was a mixture of your glade and someone else’s. You found a path and followed it. You noticed it lead from your glade to another’s. You went along the path ad met a girl. Her name is Leila Emmett. You made a promise to her to see her again. You must find her! You will not remember everything all at once. That will come in time. But know this: You must find her and see her again. It’ll be then that everything is made clear. Look in the drawer. There is another note for you but you must not read it yet. You can read it only when you have found Leila. Always keep with you. Only when you have found Leila and read the other note will you understand what happened. Good Luck. 

From Jason



Jason sat there stunned. “How could this be?, Is this true?, Is she real?” and other thoughts like those were running through his mind. He starred at the notes for ages, thinking about what he could do, if indeed he should do anything. After reading the note for another countless time through he made his decision. He got his bag, filled it with clothes and other stuff he needed to take, went to the kitchen and stole some food, slung his guitar across his back, put his bag on and sneaked out the door but not before leaving a message for his mum tapped to the door. It explained to her what he knew about what happened, why he was going and not to worry about him. With his bag slung across his shoulder, his guitar across back ready, in case he needed to busk, and with enough food and money to last him a month or two, he set off to find Leila and find out what had happened. Little did he know that by making the decision to find her, he set off a chain of events that will take him and Leila on a journey through the impossible, past the unthinkable, beyond the realms of nature’s great order into something that could only be called magical.