《The Verdant Wrath》


 Chapter one

    She looks outside the window of her class taking in the scene of the nearby forest. she sighs a few times while daydreaming of the forest at dawn and dusk when her teacher Mrs Hartwell calls to her. "Cedar Whitlock! pay attention, do i have to write you up again?!" she yells very aggravated by having to raise her voice at Cedar. "No Mrs Hartwell, i''m sorry" Cedar replies with sorrow in her tone. "It''s fine just don''t let it happen again, okay?" Mrs Hartwell says. "Yes, of course, sorry again." Cedar apologizes once more. 30 minutes later the bell rings and everyone starts leaving the classroom and heading to lunch. Upon entering the lunchroom Cedar spots her best friend Emma and sits with her. "Hey Emma!" Cedar says with excitement. "Hi Cedar!" Emma says back matching her excitement. "You got a salad this time? you usually get the burger and fries." Emma says to Cedar with hints of concern in her voice. "I wasn''t really that hungry, don''t worry about me Emma." Cedar replies trying to calm Emma down so she doesn''t freak out over it. "Are you sure Cedar?" Emma asks "I''ve known you since we were ten and even then you had some eating problems." Emma says getting even more worried about her best friend. "I''m okay Emma, I had a lot for breakfast." Cedar replies still trying to calm Emma down. "You can come with me to the forest after school today." Cedar says "Really?" asks Emma. "Of course you can Emma. why wouldn''t i let you come, you''re my best friend after all, i''d hate to exclude you from the fun" Cedar replies to her. "Okay i will see you then." They both take a few bites of their food before talking once more. "Who''s class do you have next Cedar?" Emma asks curiously "Mr Caddle" replies Cedar. "And you?" Cedar asks. "I''ve got Ms Madden, I heard she once went to jail" Emma says "For what?!" Cedar replies shocked. "For fooling around with a student!" Emma says. "Now I know that''s a lie." Cedar says half Joking. "What makes you say that?" Emma asks Cedar? "Have you seen her?" Cedar replied "don''t be mean." Emma says back. "Fine i won''t." The bell rings signaling the end of lunch, everyone heads to their lockers and grabs their stuff preparing for last class.


    Cedar grabs her backpack and heads to Mr Caddle''s class. "Good afternoon class, i hope you had a nice lunch. Today we are going to learn Newtons third law, can anyone give me an example?" Mr Caddle asks. Cedar raises her hand and Mr Caddle says "Cedar, go ahead." Cedar takes a breath and answers, "Collisions can be and example of newtons third law." Mr Caddle nods. "Can you tell me why Cedar?" He asks calmly. "It''s when two dynamic carts collide." she says proudly. "Thank you cedar" He says as he carries along with class. 45 minutes later class had ended and Cedar met Emma outside the school, Emma and Cedar start making their way to the forest. "How was class Emma?" Cedar asked. "it was terrible as always, I still can''t believe she is a teacher." Emma replied back rolling her eyes and scoffing a few times. "Mr Caddle is teaching us newtons third law, should I be nervous?" Cedar asks Emma a little worried. "Nah, he wouldn''t try to demonstrate that, he''s just a bit eccentric sometimes." Emma says reassuringly. "Okay, if you say so." Cedar says as they enter the forest, looking around for a while they find a nice place to sit while the time passes. They sit on a rock a few feet away from the lake, the forest was calm, quiet and filled with the beautiful colors of the tree''s and leaves. "How''s your ichthyosis treating you?" Emma asks curiously. "It''s been fine, I just wish I didn''t have it. It''s so annoying, I''ve tried everything and it won''t go away." Cedar replies sadly. "You''re the only one who knows about it Emma." Cedar says to Emma. "You''re skin condition?" Emma asked her. "Yeah." Replies Cedar. Emma looks at her phone and realizes the time. "I gotta go Cedar, my parents are going to start to worry if I don''t!" Emma says in a panicked tone. "It''s okay, bye Emma!" Cedar says understandingly. "Bye Cedar!" Emma shouts back as she is rushing home to her parents. Cedar is left alone in the woods, she looks around for a bit taking in the scenery. "It''s beautiful out here." She says happily, she takes a deep breath and breaths in the scent of the flowers and tree''s nearby. "I wish I could live in the forest." She mumbles.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    Cedar stares off into the lake for a bit and then she hears a voice. "Hello?" the mysterious voice said. "Who are you?!" Yelled Cedar clearly frightened. "I''m Astrid." She says. "Who are you?" Asrid asks curiously. "I''m Cedar..." She replies back clearly skeptical. "What are you doing here Astrid?" Cedar asks still skeptical. "Collecting herbs." Astrid says while she picks up some herbs and puts them into her basket. "What are you gonna do with those?" Cedar asks. "I''m getting these for my mother for our soup." Astrid replies. "Okay then?" Cedar replies. They sit in silence for a few more moments before Astrid speaks again. "Where are you from?" Cedar pauses before answering "I''m not sure, my parents never told me, what about you?" Cedar said. "Denmark" Replied Astrid. "What about you ancestors, do you know where they came from?" asked Astrid. "No, my parents never told me that either, they keep saying they''ll tell me when I''m older." Cedar says sadly. "Really?" Asks Astrid. "My parents tell me all the time." Astrid says "What exactly do they tell you?" Cedar asks. "They tell me that my great great great grandparents were from Scandinavia." Astrid says "Scandinavia?" Asks Cedar. "Yeah, they were born there." Astrid says. "that''s cool." Cedar says. "I should be going, i have all the herbs i need for the um..." she seemed to have forgotten about the soup she stated earlier. "The soup?" Cedar asked. "Yeah, the soup..." Said Astrid. Astrid starts walking away before Cedar said, "Bye Astrid." Astrid looks back at Ceder, smiles and says "Goodbye Cedar." Astrid leaves. Cedar lays down on the rock and looks up at the sky, thinking about the interaction she just had with Astrid. "I wonder how she forgot about the soup..." Cedar though for a few moments before taking out her homework. "5 times 6 plus 8 divided by 3...32.6666667" she checked her answer a few times before being sure it was right. "She seemed off...maybe a little." Cedar said calmly. She went back to her homework. A little while later she started to get a little tired and realized the sun was going down. "What time is it?" she said while pulling out her phone. She checked the time a realized the time was only 4:30, she decided to stay in the forest a little longer. "I''ve still got a little homework left. I''ll finish these last few questions and then go home." She said while looking at her paper. She noticed all of the questions looked off. They each had a letter in the same place spelling out some words, Cedar took her pencil onto the back of the paper and wrote each of the letters in order. The letters made up the words, "Cedar, you''re a smart girl so I know you''ll find this. The people you live with aren''t your parents! they''re-" the message cuts out and Cedar is sitting on the rock reanalyzing the message trying to find more words. "What?!" she says Cedar packs up her bag and starts to head home. Cedar does but, realizes they''re arguing. Cedar sits down and starts reading her book.