For most of the children, childhood was the time to create a lot of dreams. Childhood was the time where children could freely fantasise about who they wanted to become one day and how they wanted to live their lives one day. Childhood was the time where children could shamelessly beg for attention and get spoiled.
Did every child get to experience them all? Some did. Some just did not. But they were all living under the same stereotype of being children: innocent, playful, spoiled and free.
Being the the only child that lived in the forest under Mosley's protection, Finch had been nothing but the same as other children, except for being spoiled and being free. Finch had never been introduced into any special events that could make her feel like she deserved to be spoiled and to get any presents that she wanted. She never had that privilege of being someone's special. For as long as Finch had understood, Mosley had given nothing but shelter and food for her throughout her life.
As for being free, she started to realise she was far from that concept. All her life, she had been caged in the forest, could not go places like any other normal humans would. If the boys did not come to the forest, she would have never met anybody and being stuck in the forest with Mosley and the trees.
Edmond had told Finch many things about being a child who lived in the village. He told her that had been attending many festivals in the town to celebrate few of important days in a year. One of them was during the end of the year when the snow was thick on the ground and children stayed at home opening presents and eating delicious foods.
"Aunt Jennifer gave me a new toy and new clothes last time." Said Edmond to her in the night where they were sky gazing at the forest. "She loves me very much. She brought me lots of sweets as well from Claremont. Have you been to Claremont?"
Finch had no idea of what Edmond was talking about. She shook her head, embarrassed for not knowing it.
"Really?" Edmond asked in disbelief but there was a smug on his face. He was so glad and certain that he would be the first one to tell Finch about Claremont, the capital of the whole region.
Finch nodded. "Tell me, Edmond."
"It's where the most delicious sweets came from. The King and the Queen live there. It's a beautiful place. It never rains." Edmond remarked. His brown eyes were lit with happiness as he recalled the memory of him visiting the capital with Aunt Jennifer last year. Edmond had so much fun spending two weeks in the land where the sun was always shinning so bright.
"You don't like rain Edmond? Are you gonna go there again?" Finch asked him. She envied him very much and her heart felt hurt as she thought about Edmond going away from Easton.
"No, Finch. I don't like rain. Rain makes people sick." Edmond mumbled. His mind was thinking about his brother who was unwell at home. Neil and he often got sick because of the rain and cold weather. He did not like it one bit when he got sick, despite the full attention he would get from both his father and Ms. Jill. He preferred to play outside in the sun.
Finch noticed the sad expression on his face. Seeing that, she felt sad too. "Don't be sad Edmond. You will live in Claremont." She said with heavy heart as she did not want Edmond to leave her.
"I'll take you there, Finch." Edmond vowed. Although he was still a child, he was determined to go there with Finch.
"I can't leave, Edmond." Finch said. There was sorrow in her face and voice.
"You have to, Finch." He insisted. His brows were knitted together. He did like the idea of leaving Finch here. "We go together."
"I can't, Edmond." Everytime she thought of going away from the forest, there was a prick in her heart, making her clench her dress in pain that creeped down into her spine. "Mosley said I can't leave the forest."
"Why? Is Mosley bad to you?"
She shook her head.
Edmond frowned deeper. He looked at Finch harder, trying to understand the reason. "Why?"
Finch was not sure what she had to say to Edmond. She had been hiding everything from her other friends. But she felt unfair if she had to do the same to Edmond. She did not want to lie to him. Somehow, her mind always fought her to tell Edmond the truth until her tongue could not hold him back but to spill it out. "I'm cursed." She announced lowly.
"What's that?" Edmond was more confused now than before. He never heard of that word before.
"Um… Cursed. Like someone turns something into something else." Did that make sense? Finch asked mentally as she did not know how to explain it to Edmond whose his eyebrows were furrowed deeper.
Edmond twitched his upper lip in annoyance as Finch had just spoken strange things that he had never known about. He could not comprehend of what she was trying to say. But he was acting coy about his ignorance, afraid that Finch would see him as a stupid boy. What he had learned from his brother was that, stupidity led to having no friends to play with.
"Okay." Edmond said lowly.
"Do you understand me, Edmond?" Finch raised her left eyebrow. A slight nodded from him had geared her up to reveal the truth. "I will turn into a bird and will never turn back into a girl."
"But then you can fly." A quick respond came from Edmond who had not been fully understanding of what the girl meant. Having the ability to turn into a bird was something awesome to him. So why would Finch be afraid of it?
"You won't see me anymore, Edmond, if I turn into a bird."
Then it struck him there, being unable to see Finch anymore hurt him as much as it hurt Finch. The girl had become a true friend of him that he did not want to let go. All friends that he had in the village was nothing compared to Finch's genuine interest in playing with him. That was enough to make him promised himself that he would do anything for her.
"I'll protect you, Finch." He promised. His innocent childish voice, somehow, sounded stronger than adults' voices.
It warmed Finch to her heart. She could finally tell someone the truth about why she had to stay in the forest and she felt she had less burden in her shoulder now, graceful that she did not have to lie to Edmond. Deep in her heart, she knew that she could trust him.
Turning into a bird had always frightened her. Mosley had warned her many times to not leaving the forest for she would never ever turn back into a girl she was now, once her body stepped out of the forest. The woman never really explained how Finch end up getting cursed and Finch never asked anything about it. She had accepted the fact that she would have to live in the forest and put the dream of living in the village into the back of her mind.
Now that dream came back in front her face, waving at her cruelly and mockingly.
A day had passed since Edmond left her in the forest. Finch had been sitting under the tree in front of her oasis, dreaming about living next door to the boy. The coin that she got from Edmond was still in the palm of her hand. It had now become something that she treasured the most, something that she would keep for the rest of her life as a token of her friendship with Edmond.
She looked down at the coin on the palm on her hand, her finger traced the texture of it as her eyes concentrated on a dandelion drawn in the middle of the coin. She then flipped it over to see what picture the coin had on the other side. When she saw the picture on the other side of the coin, she gasped in horror and threw the coin away as she stood up and ran back immediately to her oasis, slamming the door shut as hard as she could.
It was a picture of a small bird, gracefully standing on a stick, looking at her. An animal that she could have become. The one that she was always afraid of.