Edison was still dragging her along to who knew where. Dorrie was still hounding the boy for making her walk this long and Edison was persistently ignoring her.
"We are about to reach there. Be patient."
Their street was such that there were two-storey wooden houses in a row on both sides of the road. They all looked similar except for those which were newly renovated or had their lawns well taken care of.
They were at the very end of the street which led to a forest. Or at least that's what it looked like to Dorrie. The trees were taller then any house in the vicinity. She could see nests on the branches of many of them. Still she couldn't understand why Edison brought her here.
"What are we doing here? Edison, why did you wander around here to begin with!" Dorrie exclaimed.
"I was trying to familiarise myself with the area. I stumbled upon this place then. It looks like a live horror story but it's beautiful from inside. Come with me." Edison said gleefully and started walking with a renewed gusto.
A thick metal wire separated the road and the woods. Edison crawling under it and held the wire up for Dorrie. He tilted his head and said, "Come on."
Dorrie groaned and did so with reluctance. They walked through the trees- dry leafs rustled under their feet, birdsongs resounded high up in the clouds of green leafs which seemed to glow in the sunlight.
There was a lake enclosed by the trees. The water sparkled in the sun. It reflected a clear image of the trees, blending into them completely.
"Isn't it nice?" Edison grinned with pride over his discovery.
"It's beautiful!" Dorrie said. Her eyes shimmered in awe.
"Come on, we can sit there." he walked to a big tree and brought out a blanket from his bag. He spread it out on the ground, sat down and patted the space beside him.
Dorrie sat down and said, "You came equipped." Edison smiled sheepishly at that.
Suddenly, he got up and scrutinized the trees around.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"I'm looking for a tree I can climb." he was still busy inspecting the trees.
"Why would you want to climb a tree?"
"Because it's fun to look at everything from above."
Dorrie stood up in a hurry and said with enthusiasm, "I want to climb a tree too."
Edison frowned at her and claimed solemnly, "Girls don't climb trees. You sit here and wait for me. Unless you want to get hurt."
"No! I won't get hurt. You will but I won't."
"Fine! I'll climb. You follow behind me." Edison admitted defeat in front of the stubborn girl.
He climbed steadily. After stepping on a stable branch he would stretch out his hand for Dorrie. Her movements were clumsy compared of his smooth ones. Not to mention her near slips which got her scolded every time. She didn't know that her every step was making Edison's heart beat a tad bit faster than the one before- who knew when the girl would drop on her ass and get hurt.
They were sitting on two opposite branches of the tree, high up from the ground.
"Look Edison, we are so high up!" Dorrie was giddy from looking below. The broad smile never leaving her face.
Edison laughed and said, "Yeah, that's how it feels when you climb for the first time."
"When did you climb for the first time?" she looked at Edison with inquisitive eyes, her arms were wrapped around the tree-trunk with her cheek pressed against it.
"My grandpa taught me when I was a kid." Edison smiled but Dorrie could feel something else in that smile, maybe it was loneliness but she didn't mention it.
"But you are a kid now." was what she said.
"I am not a kid. I was, back then, but now I am not. You will see when one day you have to ask me to protect you." he sounded very defensive after all which male liked to be called a kid, no matter the age. More so by a girl.
"Yeah, sure." Dorrie rolled her eyes and turned her head away from him though something in the woods in front caught her eyes. She pointed to that direction and asked, "What's that?"
Edison turned and found the spot, "Oh that, that should be the last house in this street. I think they own this land. I saw a board that read Samson Property."
Dorrie found the name familiar, "Samson, I have heard of them before. Nobody goes near their house."
This piqued Edison's interest and he asked, "And why is that?"
"They stopped residing here a long time ago. I haven't seen a Samson around, ever. Everyone says that the Samson family had been very unfortunate and that their misfortune started after moving into that house. Now they say that going near that place would make bad luck follow you around."
"Do you believe that as well?" Edison's face was a mask of disbelief.
'Would it be too much to take in if I said I've always wanted to see that house?' Dorrie thought in hesitation but decided to trust in her new friendship. "I don't know. But I was always curious about this place." she shrugged.
Staring at the house, Dorrie muttered, "I want see it better."
Edison looked at her, alarm bells ringing in his head. "What are you going to do?"
Dorrie held the tree trunk with one hand and grabbed the branch with the other. She placed one foot upward and on the branch, then the other. She stood up slowly, trying to find the perfect balance.
"Don't do that, Dorrie." she gave no head to Edison's warnings. 'Stubborn ass,' he thought forgetting about the scolding he had given Dorrie for cussing.
Standing at her full height, she looked intently at the house. All she could make out were broken windows, chipped roof with most of the tiles broken and a chimney, she could imagine, was now filled with cobwebs and their weavers.
She wanted to see more clearly. She leaned forward and placed one foot forward unconsciously but the branch wasn't big enough to support that. The next thing she knew, she was falling towards the ground.
"Dorrie!" Edison's scream for her sounded like a distant echo.
She felt the rough texture of bark on her hand and grabbed at it. The friction tore at her skin yet she held on but not for long. She let go of the branch out of exhaustion. Her vision fluctuated and a shock of pain shoot through her ankle brought back to earth. Literally and figuratively.
Dorrie hissed at the pain and Edison hurried to her side.
"Thank God! You killed me there. Don't do that ever again. You hear me? Let me see." Edison placed her foot on his lap and saw bruises forming on the smooth white skin. "It's sprained. You need medicine but a doctor will do better."
Dorrie placed her hands on the ground to lean on but the stinging pain that followed numbed her brain.
"What?" Edison took her hands on his. There were barbs sticking out of the bloody wounds. "This happened when you grabbed that branch?" he asked. The demanding tone in his words compelled her to nod her head.
Edison looked her in the eyes and said, "Do you know it could have been much more serious? You could have broken your leg or something else!"
Dorrie lowered her head out of guilt. Edison softened his voice and said, "Come to my house. I'll apply medicine for you."
Edison carried her to his house and wrapped her wounds up. His nagging never ceased in between, not that she minded. It felt warm when he scolded her for her mistakes. But not like when her parents did it, this warmth was different.
Warmth; there was none of that in his house. It looked like a big empty space. Where Edison's family was she didn't ask. How could she when she herself was treading a new territory of emotions. Something different from everything she had felt before. Like she was floating on cotton candy. She had never felt this bliss before. She was sure of it.
That day Dorrie didn't just fall from a tree, she also fell for her new neighbor and best friend, Edison.