Let the Whispers Lead

Rays of sunlight streamed through the green canopy above me, bathing everything in a soft welcoming glow. A gentle breeze fluttered through the branches kissing the back of my neck with its welcomed cool touch. I could hear the leaves whisper to me as they rustled in the wind.

“Welcome back.” Their words wrapped around me like a comforting embrace, “We’ve missed you.”

“It's been so long,” their tone quieted as they asked hesitantly, “Where's Sean?”

Biting back the tears, I whisper, “He's sick.” I can't manage any more of an explanation and they don't need it.

A small boulder rolls over just in time to catch me as my knees give out, allowing me to rest against its moss carpeted side. The whip thin branch of a willow twirls around me, caressing my cheeks with the gentleness of a mother's embrace. Together the trees let out a low mournful cry that rumbled through the woods and echoed deep in my chest.

“How can we help? You mean so much to us,” their kind words transported me back to the first time, years ago, when Sean and I stumbled into these woods and heard their voices floating through the branches.

Back then I had chubby freckled cheeks and curly red pigtails. Sean’s unruly black hair hung over his green eyes and shot in a thousand directions. We grew up next door to one another and spent our hot summer afternoons playing hide-n-seek in the woods behind our homes. Each day we got a little braver and dared venture a little further until one day I hid too well and became hopelessly lost. Sean called my name over and over, but I could not hear him. As darkness began to fall over the woods, his desperation to find me brought him to his knees in the middle of this grove of trees.

“Kyra! Kyra! Please, if anyone or anything can hear me, please, help me,” he begged at the top of his lungs. “I have to find Kyra, she's my best friend and I'm so afraid she's hurt somewhere.”

The trees had watched us for years and they took pity on him as they listened to his pleas, “She's this way.” He heard the voices sing in unison as the branches all swayed northward in the direction of my hiding spot.

“Kyra, I'm coming,” he called, but his voice would not carry far enough to reach me. Instead I heard the voices of a thousand trees pass on his message, “Kyra, Sean's coming.”

After that day, our summer afternoons were still spent deep in the woods but hide-n-seek no longer appealed to us. We'd lay side by side in the velvety creeping heather and listen to the tales the trees had to share. Some had lived there for hundreds of years and told us stories of hundreds of travelers who had passed through their groves.

As we grew older, our love for the trees increased and our love for each other deepened. It made perfect sense to begin our lives together in this very grove with our dearest friends standing tall as witnesses to our vows of love.

Though our life changed, we never forgot them. After tending to our farm though the day, we'd venture hand in hand each evening into these woods and share our stories. We never missed more than a day, until a few months ago when Sean collapsed on our front porch.

“Sean is so sick, the doctors say there's nothing more they can do,” I finally managed to tell my dear friends. “I haven't dared leave his side for fear I won't be there when…” I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. “But today Sean was awake for long enough to ask me to come to you. He wanted you to know…he asked me to thank you for saving me all those years ago when I was lost.”

A thousand voices whispered to each other in a language I could not understand, a cacophony of panic and worry followed by silence. Then they spoke to me, in unison once more. “Maybe we can save him, too.”

For the first time in months, my heart leaped and I finally had the courage to hope for a miracle. Of course, my trees could save him. Of course, they had power and knowledge greater than any human doctor. I should have come to them sooner.

Carefully they gave me instructions: gather water from that stream and leaves from this bush, seeds from that plant and sap from this tree. I obeyed their every direction to the letter. Thanking them I cradled the potion as I rushed back through the forest, across our fields, and through our door.

Sean lay where I left him, sweat dripping from his skeletal body as he shivered from chills. His once shining green eyes had sunken and turned glassy. They fluttered open as I caressed his face. He parted his cracked bloody lips as I poured the elixir into his mouth. He tried his best to smile, but could only lift the corners of his lips a fraction. His eyes closed again and his ragged breathing became more even.

“This has to work,” I whispered. “They will save you.” Then I lay my heavy head on Sean's chest as we both fell asleep.

As soon as I woke I knew it was over. His chest was still and his heart quiet.

A few days later I made my way into the woods again, this time cradling my husband in my arms. For the last time, we walked together into the magical grove where we had spent our childhood, where we had fallen in love, where we had wed.

The trees sang a slow melodic lament as we came to a stop in the center of that grove. Sean wanted to stay here forever, so I carefully poured his ashes out, laying them to rest. There were no words I could speak and no words I wanted to hear. I left in heavy silence.

I didn't want to be angry with the trees but they had given me false hope. I stayed away far too long. Finally, I could bear it no more. The loneliness overwhelmed me and I had to go back. I didn't know if I wanted their comfort or to share memories with them or just yell at them for letting me down. Maybe all of it.

The trees whispered excitedly as I got closer to our magical grove. “You came back. We missed you.” Tears of anger and remorse fought for dominance as they poured down my cheeks. “Wait until you see.” The leaves rustled as though giggling.

I couldn't imagine what they were so excited for, until I broke through the edge of the grove and saw the sapling sprouting in the center, where I had left Sean all those weeks ago. The way its leaves splayed in a thousand directions felt familiar and comforting.

“Kyra,” It's voice, his voice, encircled my heart and caressed my soul. “Oh, how I’ve missed you my love.”

“Oh Sean,” I whispered, falling to my knees in front of the new tree. A small nimble branch stroked my face lovingly. “They really did save you.”