He studied it with a distant look for a few minutes.
A few moments later, he squinted his eyes and turned to face Natalie who was now enjoying her ripe mango. Noticing this, Natalie glanced at Jean with a questioning look.
"I didn't expect to meet this in the middle of the orchard, mom"
Jean told Natalie while pointing at the apple tree and then took a bite of his mango.
After lingering for a moment, Natalie shrugged her shoulder and turned around, ready to move.
"That is very special, even though it rarely bears fruits."
On hearing this, Jean furrowed his brows and moved closer to Natalie.
'…Special! How can something as useless as this be special.'
Jean thought for a while before clearing his throat.
"If I may ask, mom. How special is the tree?"
Jean questioned with a curious look.
Natalie glanced at Jean for a moment, prompting him to look down in embarrassment.
'Some things are better left unsaid.'
Natalie thought to her self before revealing a smirk and patting Jean on the shoulder.
"It is special because it is the only apple tree in the middle of mango trees."
Natalie said with a smile.
In response, Jean forced out a smile and scratched the back of his head, clearly disappointed. Of the answers he had expected from his question, this one was none of them. He had expected a better answer like; it was planted by grandpa or it bears special fruits…
Talking about creating the orchard, Jean had been waiting for the perfect moment to ask this question and now since the questioning session was officially open, he didn't want to wait any longer.
"Mom, who could have created this resourceful orchard?"
Jean asked with a light smile.
Natalie smiled with the corners of her mouth before turning around to face the apple tree that was now standing a dozen meters from where she was standing.
"That is a good question, and I was expecting of such from you."
Hearing this complimenting statement from Natalie, Jean almost chocked on his mango.
This was the first time after a long time during the tour that Natalie was once again complementing him on his questions.
She then turned and faced Jean before she continued…
"From the way the trees look, it is clear that they are quite old. And that sets the answer to your question clear. The orchard was created by your grandpa."
Jean's face turned lively as he spared her a furtive look.
"My grandpa must have been a considerable person. I feel unlucky for not meeting him."
Natalie's gaze turned distant with a glint of sadness flashing through her eyes.
"I think we need to move"
Natalie said after a short moment of silence as she gestured Jean to follow her. Jean frowned out of annoyance but still followed her. He was not yet done enjoying the fruits. They were moving in the direction where the ancient pavement was located.
'How lucky am I to have such a place as my home in a such a modern city like this.'
On studying the surroundings, Jean couldn't help but appreciate how fortunate he was to have such a place as his home. The house section and the city represented the modern life of the city. While the forest section represented the country life that he was accustomed to.
'It seems I'm not going to miss the village life that much, though this can't directly compare to the village life.'
Jean thought with a bright smile flashing across his face.
A few moments later, the two had reached the edge of the orchard. This was the moment, Jean realized that he needed another mango. This was because what he was eating had just finished.
Without even a second thought, he lunged at the nearby tree and plucked two mangoes in succession. Natalie who had also finished her own gave Jean a furtive look and shook her head in embarrassment.
When he was done with plucking the mangoes, and was about to take a bite, he noticed Natalie staring at him.
He quickly retreated from his action and smiled with the corners of his mouth.
"Would you like to have one, mom?"
Jean said while raising one of the mangoes high with one of his hands.
Indifferent to Jean's request, Natalie focused ahead and continued forward. Noticing Natalie's indifference, Jean shrugged, took a bite of the mango he was holding and followed her.
*****
Ten minutes later, two figures popped out of the trees and entered an open area that was located at the center of the forest they were in.
This was not the first time that the two were visiting this area, even though this second visit could be considered as unavoidable. This was because the area was a long the route they were using to get out of the forest.
"I didn't expect us to pass through this area again, mom"
Jean said with wide eyes as he stared at the open area in front of them.
"You see why I always insist that you need to improve your keenness. I had thought that you knew where we were heading to if you were keen with the direction we moved in"
Natalie spatted with a subtle frown evident on her beautiful face.
During all this time since the two moved out of the orchard, Jean was engrossed in eating his mangoes that he plucked at the edge of the orchard and this has led to him losing track of their direction. So, it was hard for him to guess where they were heading to.
Now that he was done with his mangoes, his senses became sharper that he sensed the breeze a few meters away before they entered the open area. This was what made him to realize that they had entered the open area immediately they stepped their feet in the area.
"You already had the chance to exploit this area. And since you already did that, there is no need for us to waste our time on the same issue. Let's move, the forest tour is over."
Natalie said as she circled around the area towards the opposite edge. Noticing Natalie's action, Jean froze in place as he tried figuring out the reason behind her weird actions.
'Why is she avoiding the place? Is there anything I need to know about this place?'
Natalie made that move knowing very well that Jean would follow suit. After all, he was just a kid and being paranoid is a usual thing to kids.
Just as she expected, Jean followed her course vigilantly.
Noticing this, she smiled to herself as she continued forward.
As Jean was moving around the area, he felt an urge to focus at its center. Although he didn't know the reason behind the urge, he opted to try.
Without slowing down, he inhaled deeply and tried calming himself. He was a bit nervous with what he was about to do, but he didn't know why.
After contemplating on the matter for a few seconds, he closed his eyes tightly and sharply turned his head toward the center of the area. In the next moment, he was slowly opening his eyes, when his eyes were fully opened, he momentarily slowed down and focused his gaze at the center.
A split second later, his vision grew blurry and immediately lost his body senses. A few seconds later, he felt a warm current assaulting his body from the inside. His mind was a maze, he failed to discern what was happening. At this moment, he didn't feel the breeze again. It seemed to have died down. In a few seconds, Jean felt like he been teleported to a completely different world.
In the next moment, he felt his body moving in a certain direction against his will. He tried to check around and confirm what was happening to him, but his vision was a mess. It was blurry and therefore, couldn't visualize what was happening. He couldn't hear, smell, speak or see. All he could feel was the warm current that assaulted him from the inside and the movement of his body.
Time slowed down. And in the next moment, he felt blood rushing through his body as if being pulled by something. Suddenly he felt a sharp headache that denied him the chance of trying to sense what was happening around him.
In a few moments, he didn't feel himself.
A few moments later, his body came to a halt. The headache started fading away as well as the warm current which was being replaced by a cool soothing current. His mind and senses started returning, he started hearing and sensing his surroundings.
For a few moments, the blurry vision was gone now replaced by bloodshot vision. For a few seconds, after Jean had regained all his senses, his vision was red. It was like he was seeing through blood.
A split second later, he felt a flash through his open eyes and his vision returned instantly. Still in panic, he quickly scanned his surroundings. When he noticed his surroundings, he almost forgot to breathe. He was at the center of the open area. The way he got there not known to him. When he checked where Natalie was, he realized that she was just getting to the edge of the opposite end of the open area. The breeze was still blowing with the same strength.
This implied only one thing, what happened to Jean happened so quick though it looked like an eternity, it was just in a few seconds in real life.
The most surprising thing was that, even Natalie had not noticed what had happened to Jean.
At that moment, Jean felt all his might being pulled out of his body by some strange forces. In the next moment, he collapsed to his knees and suddenly, he felt something sharp piercing one of his hands. Not withstanding the pain, he let out a scream.
^_^