Rooted in Well-Meaning

Deep in the forest Maddie waited next to the old well for her friend. It was well after the time they agreed to meet, but Maddie hadn’t noticed. Her mind lingered on the news from that morning.

There had been a terrible forest fire the week before, set on purpose by a few teenagers. The police had arrested them, but they got off with nothing more than a slap on the wrist. Last night, though, those teenagers had been the victims of a terrible landslide that crushed them and their vehicles.

Maddie hadn’t known them personally, but she couldn’t help but hear the whispers that the ‘accident’ had been man made. This was ridiculous, she told herself. There was no proof, and landslides weren’t uncommon where the teenagers had been.

“Hey, sorry I’m late.”

Maddie looked up to see Aspen enter the clearing. Aspen was tall and had dark brown skin. She wore a loose green dress and her hair had been tied into countless tiny braids. Maddie smiled.

“I didn’t even notice.” They had met when Maddie had wandered into the forest and gotten lost. The sun had set and Maddie had curled up next to the old well she stood by now. Aspen had appeared next to Maddie like a guardian angel and led her through the forest and home to her worried parents.

That had been two years ago. Maddie was fifteen now, but Aspen didn’t look like she aged a day.

“What did you want to talk about?” Aspen asked. She walked closer, her movements graceful and verging on unnatural.

Maddie leaned on the old well, trying to act as relaxed as possible. She had suspected something was off about her friend for some time. She didn’t know how to explain it, but she had this feeling. She saw it in the way Aspen would sometimes hear things that seemed far off, or how she knew everything about the forest, or how she never tripped over a surfaced root.

The forest fire had been the final tipping point for her. Aspen had been furious about the damage it had caused. She went on about how they should be punished and couldn’t believe that the authorities weren’t going to do anything.

How the teens would be sorry if they ever stepped back into the forest again.

Maddie cleared her throat. “I wanted to talk to you about the landslide.” Aspen tilted her head. Maddie shifted her weight on the well’s wall. She heard a crack and the odd feeling of sinking in.

Maddie screamed as the wall collapse. She saw Aspen reach toward her and miss. Maddie was weightless, plunging toward the fry bottom of the well.

As she braced herself for the landing, she felt her body jerk to a halt. Her hair brushed the ground. She felt thin ropes around her waist that curled down her legs and up around her arms. Slowly, very slowly, she was lifted to the surface.

By the time her face found the sun, she knew that it wasn’t ropes that saved her life. It was an intricate series of roots. She looked at Aspen and gasped.

Aspen’s arms were raised and her eyes glowed green in the harsh light. Maddie was set gently back on the ground. The roots retracted back into the ground when Aspen lowered one hand. She flicked her other wrist and pushed against an invisible force.

Maddie watched with wide eyes as the well crumbled in on itself and a tree grew in its place. She waited until Aspen’s eyes stopped glowing before speaking.

“You saved my life,” the words came out small and shaky.

Aspen grinned. “I wouldn’t have done it for everyone.”

“The teenagers..?”

Aspen sighed. “My people are unforgiving and demand justice when your people offer them none. The offenders couldn’t be left unpunished, they were warned and didn’t heed the words.” She didn’t sound remorseful. She sounded resigned and tired.

Maddie looked back to where the well had been and where an oak now stood. She wasn’t scared. Aspen was her best friend. She had risked a lot to save Maddie’s life.

“What are you?” Maddie looked back to Aspen.

“Your mythology and language calls us the Dryads, or forest nymphs.” The answer led to awkward silence. Aspen didn’t take her eyes off Maddie. She looked almost scared, like she was holding her breath until Maddie answered.

Maddie couldn't take it anymore. “Do you want to go find wild raspberries?”

Aspen’s face broke into a wide smile. She grabbed Maddie’s hand and pulled her, laughing, back into the forest.