You go to your favorite spot. You hide behind the guardrail after waiting for namen to stop hyper fixating on the bottle glued to his hands. his guard station standing further cross between the town and the few.
The few was the name of the river we got water from; where those who enter never exit and those who cannot pay the water tax must venture into themselves. Ofcource no one goes there themselves cause of the stories and the people disappearing is all.
Namen doesn't usually stand guard. It used to be this big burly guy taller than my younger brother una and his younger sister rory. I was picking berries that grew around the maco mark when I first saw him. He never told me his name but when he faced me I ran back home through the frozen ground even after he made me trip and got snow in my hair.
But no more! Namar took over for him because of his trip to hightow. I'm betting his dad tao short for Taoiseach meaning chief. My mom said his dad Ronan O Cleirigh used his fast leg's and powerful stride to risk his life every day to fetch water for the tribe. That's how they stayed in power; his tionchar (influence) to get him there.
The O Cleirigh were the only family in the tribe that risked their life in the Few river to get water and also came back alive. I thought they just had a big head and tried to go myself to show that the Byrne family was just as good.
But the farthest I've gotten was the edge of the wetland. When I got there I had spotted a deer. It wasn't a normal deer, it was so big it looked like it would play camogie with my house if it got the chance.
I Wanted to leave so I started looking around and I spotted more berries and a place through the leaves to my right. Guess my surprise when It suddenly became dark; i couldn't tell A bug from a finger. Until….i looked up.
I looked up and fell silent. I fell so silent the chirping of frogs and bugs became clear as day. I saw the deer from before in front of me. It was so much bigger than me, it was like I was a puppy compared to the big man.
It looked at my frozen self like a predator. The air felt gigantic. It weighed on me. All I could think about was what my mother would say if she found out I was here because of an injury. Or worse a hoove mark that left only my single leg. its shadow trapped me.
All I remember next was running home. Finding the berries had messed up my hand; I think I squished them when the deer confronted me. I was scared of my mom finding me eating them and I licked the pieces off my fingers. The taste was stronger than any I have tasted before this day.
The elvish wind threw through my air. My whole body felt lit aflame with energy, I had half a mind to go back for more. The feeling of it exiting from my fingertips Only making me savor the taste even more. Nothing tasted better. not crispy bacon rashers, not plump pork sausages, not my brothers perfectly-fried eggs, grilled tomatoes, or my mother white or black pudding or the toast that goes with every one of those.
Neman started running off again for more ól. When he bent down I saw it. The moment he looked down to the moment he got what he wanted and stood back up. I had watched him so many times, always the same way he scratched the bush growing on his face.
My skirt flapped in the wind as if bunnies were doing an angry dance under it. The 50 meters felt like 150 my feet felt slow. My boots tore by my second step. My hair still galloping I endured the third fourth fifth the swinging of the loosened sole almost causing my foot to tear.
I fought the pain and moved my foot upright. I kept going forward; feeling the whole world around me. My feet felt free like a swallow on a rainy morning. My steps were high, so high I almost Fell slipped as soon as it ended.
After a few arduous steps I made it to the end of the path running like a bird in the wind. I kept going faster and faster; I never ran with such life before and I never won in cops and robbers. I was always In the middle. It got better after my 5th Breithe Lá.
The trees marked the path from then on. She had read her mothers map of the forest enough times to memorize the path. After worrying her mother would find it missing from how often she left to pick berries.
I gritted my teeth and pleaded with my heart for courage. To little avail.
The Dirt was hard and dry with more berries along the way. I turned my peepers straight ahead running as fast as my feet could take me. I don't want the berries on the outskirts. I want, THAT, berry; the berry I could stuff my chubby face full of. The berry is worth running into that deer again for; but first.
I bent against a tree catching my breath. I quickly took my sewing needle from the handbag Mam-o gave me for Nollaig when she visited.
I took my shoes off and sewed the sole back on. By the time I was done I found some strange man infront of me sitting against a tree to my right.
I kept walking forward convinced i could outrun him. He looked older, much older than my brother or my mother, maybe even 50 years old. "Go on your way" he said.
He had a pike over twice his size laying on his lap and to his left pocket he had one of those mini rifles. I couldn't understand him. I said "Dia duit" and went on my way.
He had skin of soda bread with strands of dark black hair mixed with his grey hair. He was barefoot with a long tailcoat and clothes fitted with weirdly cut leather. He noticed me looking and gestured me forward. Not before I noticed the sounds of a rabbit coming from him. It seemed to be feeding it bread. And doing something with a sewing needle.
I have 2 hours left and the taste of the vine is fresh in my mouth. I want just 1 vine. And before dinner I will have my vine; and I will eat it with my cold small hands. All before moving too fast for the drunkard without schooling to see.
I found the spot from before the same one that made me fear for my life. There it was the vine bush right in my hands. Even cleaner than I remembered.
The berries tasted even better than I remembered. The texture was like a cranberry and a grade had a baby and it had wonderful kids and lived days of merry.
The wind from the forest clearing called my attention. I stood silent, the memory of the last time came to me and almost instinctively I fought to keep my eyes closed. I feared for the worst and it did not happen. My eyes are wide and the deer is gone.
I took my time eating. I ate like I couldn't think like it took over my mind like this high enveloped me. My arms felt faster, my teeth felt stronger, my little army felt powerful and I went forward.
I went to the watering hole. It felt like pure bliss. I lost myself in thought staring at the weird color of fishes and turtles. They didn't look like they looked in the books the fish were red with large upper teeth.
After I put my hand in the water for a better look they swam away. I stuck my head in the water soaking my hair. I dismissed the thought after catching sight of them. They were hiding under the lily pads and shade in the water.
I grabbed one of them for a better view; pulling it out of the water. I opened my eyes wide and looked at all the parts of the fish. The scales were in a weird shape like when the tip of my mothers quill broke while I'm writing more in this diary she gave me.
After being cut by that ugly Fish i decided to explore and map this place. The thought of all the different kinds of berries I could find enveloped me.
It didn't take me long to find what I was looking for, these blue ones were calling out to me from across the clearage.
After getting scraped and cut by half the vines and trees in this place I arrived At the vine. It was glorious, a beauty of the senses that went down just as well as the others.
Across from her she was greeted by this boar already eating it. It had green hair and small tusks. It seemed to like the berries and ate it, paying no mind to her. but once she came within a few feet towards it; it was no longer peaceful.
After noticing her it went right for her face. It came directly in contact with her back and threw her into the trees not far from her. After seeing her get up it ran directly at her waiting for Noone. She didn't know what to do and perked her body to the side; the tusks barely missing her nape.
She remembered her brother telling her what to do after finding her with the berries one time and questioning her where she got them. He said while laughing at her first going that far out for berries "when something is in close proximity and it can hurt you. Go for its neck if it has hands on you and you can't dodge make that attack be its last. Grab its jugular, stab it's eyes but do not let it get back up"
I thought at the time he was being dramatic but nonetheless my arm swung like my room door after getting home from school; and swung finger first into its eyeball.
It cried in pain, opening it's large snout so wide it could bite me in half. I remember vividly every part of its mouth. From its large Coarse tongue to the broken tooth it has in the back of its mouth. I Passed out right then and there only remembering it crying out and seeing red rain.