The Boxfield Elm

by Cinda Swans

  “Right. You saw Mark.”

  Bri blushed.

  “You kissed him, didn’t you?” asked Josie.

  “He kissed me!”

  “Was it nice?”

  “Ok, can we leave that out for now? The books. I want to talk about Cynthia’s books.”

  “Sure,” said Josie.

  “See, that’s what Aeyr is trying to find. His mother’s notes. She was a botanist. Whether she really did come from somewhere far away, or some fantasy world, or whatever, her notes contain a lot of…a lot of information, which I don’t blame Aeyr for wanting to see.”

  “And Claire might have them.”

  “It seems like she was the only one who knew any of Cynthia’s secrets.”

  “Do you think she’d tell you?”

  “Well, if Aeyr asks her for them, how could she not?”

  “When is she getting back?”

  “God, not for months. Three? Four more months?”

  “Can’t you write to her?”

  “And tell her to stop singing in an opera in Paris so that we can figure out a bunch of childhood fantasy stuff? Yeah right.”

  “Well you made it sound like she would know how important this is. If she was such good friends with his mom, don’t you think that Claire would want to meet Aeyr?”

  “Ugh. Good point. But no, I’m not going to write to my Aunt Claire.”

  “You could write to her and ask her if she has the books here, at least.”

  “Huh,” said Bri, thinking. “Yeah, that’s a pretty good point.”

  “I mean, I bet that if Aeyr knew for sure that you had his mother’s books, he would not be about to hop a train to New Orleans next week.”

  “Josie! That’s manipulative.”

  “Well, it’s also the reality of the situation.”

  “Yeah, ok. But wait, Josie.”

  “What?”

  “Was Aeyr’s mother really from another world?”

  “What do you think?”

  “Ahh. I don’t know. I don’t know if I can be a grown-up and believe something that crazy.”

  “Well then, I guess you’ll never know.”

  “You want to know the weirdest thing to me right now?

  “Sure, shoot,” she said, feigning a gun. Blanco stirred at her jerky motion, but then he just stood up and walked in a circle on his spot and settled back down.

  “I think Mark believes it’s true.”

  “Mark?” Josie laughed. “He seemed like the most normal, non-magical type guy ever.”

  “Yeah, well, I don’t know. I actually am having a really hard time figuring him out, which surprises me a lot.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, Mark and I were really close. Ok – wait, let me backtrack. Aeyr and I met, we had this “made up” game. We would write letters. We had a book with a strange alphabet in it, and we would use it to write letters to people in the made-up game.”

  “Strange alphabet?”

  “I have the book,” Bri said.

  “What!” Josie said.

  Bri got up and went to her purse and pulled out the second book she’d taken from the shelf in her childhood room. It was a book of runes.

  “Bri!” shouted Josie. “Bri, this stuff is real.”

  “I mean, the book is real old.”

  “Where the hell did you get this?”

  “It must have come from Cynthia originally, I guess. I don’t really know why I ended up keeping it instead of Aeyr. It’s his, really. But we used to pass it back and forth all the time, because we would study the runes. So we could write the letters. And read the ones we got back.”

  “The what?”

  “Ok, we would use the alphabet to write letters, and then we would leave them in the hollow tree. And then we would go back to check, and our letters would be gone. In their place would be letters that someone else had written.”

  “What did they say!?”

  “It’s hard to explain. It was so long ago. It’s not like…it’s not the same as, like our language. The runes.”

  “Yeah, wait, how old were you, anyway? I don’t think I could read and write until I was like, ten or something.”

  “Ok, I doubt it took you that long. But, well…I don’t think we ever really understood them or anything. Remember? Aeyr told it as a game. So I just imagined…I don’t know, it was a game. I didn’t think they were – I mean, it’s still just a game, right? They were just like a puzzle or a picture book to me. I never really understood the messages.”

  Josie laughed.

  “Well, anyway. This went on. Mark was around, but he played mostly with his brothers, who were older.

  “Then one day I went to the tree and Aeyr wasn’t there. He wasn’t there the next day, either, or the next. I started to worry. I went to his house.

  “There were some strangers there. They looked worried. I finally found Aeyr – he was sitting up in his room, looking at the letters he had collected from the tree. He asked me to help him hide them, but he wouldn’t say why. We hid them – shoot! We hid them in the attic of his house. I just remembered that. We have to get them before they remodel the house!”

  “Okay,” said Josie, “Now you’re confusing me again.”

  “Right, sorry. Ok. I guess we wouldn’t really even be able to read the letters or anything anyway. I still don’t know what the runes mean. But we have to try to find them.”

  “Ok, but what happened to Aeyr?”

  “He left. After we hid the letters, he told me to go home. He told me he’d see me again soon. So I did what he told me – I went home. That was the last time I saw him.”

  “Until now.”

  “Until the other night at the bar.”

  “Wow.”

  “Well, how much did you know about all of this? I’m still confused about Aeron talking to Ila who talks to you, and then you know things I don’t know, or something. It’s been bothering me, actually.”

  “I know,” said Josie, sympathetically. She slumped lower in the bed, getting tired. “I’m sorry. Well, pretty early on when Ila started seeing Aeyr she would tell me that she thought he had a pretty strange past. I mean, Ila usually dates weirdos. But this one seemed different. At first he really wouldn’t talk about anything, but then he started to tell her more things about it, because he realized that she understood a lot of what he was saying. The supernatural stuff, I mean. Ila’s into all that stuff.”

  “I guess she seems like she would be.”

  “Well don’t say it like it’s an insult. You’re the one with the rune decoding book.”

  “Yeah, the one I don’t know how to use.”

  “Well, whatever. Anyway. Aeyr started to open up more to Ila. He quit drinking, and started asking more questions about his past, in a different way than before. And I guess, yeah, he did tell her about you.”

  “Before they met me?”

  “Before I met you, even. This is what Ila told me at the bar. I guess Aeyr’s been kind of looking for you for a while.”

  “He wasn’t trying that hard. Jesus, it’s been what, twelve, thirteen years? We’re not in the stone age anymore.”

  “Well, the time wasn’t right.”

  “Oh yeah, Neptune had to enter retrograde.”

  “Shhh, Bri. That’s not important. The point is, Aeyr wanted to find you, because he wanted your help. And maybe also—”

  “Also what?” Bri started to get upset again, remembering how he was gone. He had left. Why had he left? Didn’t he trust her?

  “Maybe also he was hoping for something else to come of it.”

  Bri started to cry. “But he’s gone now.”

  Josie let her cry for a little while, wrapping an arm around Bri’s waist for comfort.

  “And then there’s Mark,” said Josie. “You have feelings for him, I can tell.”

  “Not ones I want,” said Bri.

  “But you kissed him in the forest, and it was nice, right?”

  “
He kissed me. And I wish he hadn’t. Now things are going to be even more complicated.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Josie?” said Bri.

  “Yeah,” her friend answered.

  “I’m really sleepy. Can you just – you don’t work early tomorrow, do you?”

  “No.”

  “Can you just stay here with me? I just want to go to sleep with someone here.”

  “Sure,” Josie said.

  “Tell me a story?”

  “Okay,” said Josie. “Once upon a time, there was a land where all the houses were made of candy…”

  “Josie!”

  “What?”

  “That’s not a real story.”

  “Ok. Once upon a time, there was a land where all the people were made of oatmeal…”

  But Bri didn’t complain about the new plot, because she was already asleep.

  Chapter 13

  It took Bri three times of going back to the bar where she first met Aeron before she saw him. The first time, Josie met her. Josie had a long story of her own, about her romance that began the same night, and Bri felt bad about not giving her a chance to talk about it. Now it was in full flower, with many complications, though no potentially supernatural ones – just dubious ex-girlfriend situations.

  They talked for a long time, and Bri was happy to be a supportive friend for Josie. But Aeron never showed up.

  The second two times, Bri went back alone. She felt unlike herself - in a daze, which made her entirely without self-consciousness. She was so focused on seeing him that she didn't really care what she looked like, sitting alone at the bar. She stared absent-mindedly at the TV screens, and now and then some dude would try to ask her if she was into the game. She wasn't. She would make herself seem so uninterested in the game, and the dude, that he would go away after a few sentences had passed between them.

  Each of these times, Bri sat for an hour or two. She drank two beers each time, very slowly. The bartender ignored her.

  Then at the end of the second night, she was looking around a lot, and she kept getting up to go stand outside, thinking he might be out smoking a cigarette.

  Finally, the bartender came over to her and leaned in close. "I finally got it!" he said. He was in his early forties, and had a long beard and lots of tattoos. "You're looking for Aeyr, aren't you?" he said.

  She nodded.

  He threw his head back and laughed ghoulishly. "Well whyn't you say nothing?! I woulda got him for you hours ago." He grinned, happy to be able to help her.

  "Oh," she said. "I didn't even think of it. I thought – I wasn’t sure if he was…I heard he was out of town.”

  "Well, he ain’t outta town now. You hang tight, I'll get him."

  Then Bri's heart began to pound. How would she talk to Aeron? What would she tell him? What if he just wanted the books, what if he didn't want to talk to her at all?

  And suddenly, he was beside her.

  Bri felt herself blush as soon as she made eye contact with him. His eyes seemed even brighter, even more piercing. "You came back," he said.

  "I've been looking for you, I—I didn't know how else to find you, besides wait."

  "I know," he said. "I—"

  "Your note made me cry," she said.

  "Bri—"

  "I was so scared I wouldn't see you again. I—" she looked at him then, and felt completely vulnerable. "If you had really left, I...well, I don't know what I would have done next. I...Aeron, I have to help you. I remembered everything. I know who you are now."

  Then he lifted his hand, and touched the backs of his knuckles to her cheek. It was already late. Bri had already decided to call in sick to work the next day.

  Aeron drew his hand away from her face. "Come upstairs?" he said.

  Bri felt her heart drop to her feet and then rise back up into her chest, like an elevator. She felt suddenly terrified. How far would she let things go? Would they just talk? Or would he touch her more?

  Aeron already had his back to her, and was walking away. She quickly stood up and followed him through the dark bar.

  He never turned around once to see if she was following. That was a thing about him, she remembered suddenly. She remembered that feeling when she knew him as a child, that she could always stop or turn back, but then she'd be alone. She had always wanted to go wherever he was going.

  He led her through the kitchen, which was stark white but already shut down for the night. It was creepy, walking through. At the back of the kitchen was a heavy black door, and it led into the hallway where he had disappeared the last time she saw him.

  She followed him up the dark staircase – it was completely black now, and she couldn’t see a thing – it didn’t even matter whether her eyes were open or closed. Her heart beat loudly in her ears. Aeron was so close to her now – just a few more steps away…

  He stopped at the door to an apartment, but didn’t open it. He was leaning against it. She bumped into him, and then she pressed against him and sighed. “Aeron,” she said. Her arms twined behind him, and she held him tightly. She pressed her forehead into the crook of his neck and breathed out softly.

  Then he lifted his arms and closed them around behind her in an embrace. At first he held her stiffly, awkwardly, as if he were about to dart away like an animal. Then he softened. She felt him breathe into the top of her head. “Brianne,” he said.

  She wanted to kiss him, but he held her like that for a long time. She heard footsteps behind the door. It hadn’t occurred to her that he didn’t live alone.

  He drew away from her, finally, and turned to unlock the door. Warm light spilled from inside the apartment, which she could see was messy and crowded. There were lots of posters on the walls, and the floor was covered with scattered rugs, clothes, dishes. He laughed. “You see my palace,” he said.

  She wanted to laugh, but didn’t think it was funny. She felt suddenly nervous about meeting his roommates. A tall girl with red and green roses swirling down her left arm and a tight black dress with tiny white stiches all over it walked out from the kitchen. A dog followed her, sniffing nervously and barking. “Jezebel, shush!” said the girl.

  Two or three men were sitting close together on the couches. They were smoking cigarettes and listening to loud music, which sounded distorted and strange to Bri.

  “My punk palace,” said Aeron.

  “Oh,” said Bri.

  “This is Sam,” he pointed to the girl. “And Jezebel. And on the couch over there is Scratch, Murph, and Jay.”

  “Oh,” she repeated, dumbly.

  Aeron laughed. He seemed to light up, suddenly, to seem comfortable. “Bri,” he said, “you remember everything? It’s been so long, I” he gazed at her, forgetting that they were still standing in the entryway, being watched absent-mindedly by his roommates.

  Bri didn’t know what to say, so she just looked back at him. Her head felt like a waterfall, like an epic, crashing glow.

  “Well, I guess we could go in Alix’s room.”

  “You don’t have one?” she asked.

  “Uh,” he said, “No, not exactly.”

  He led her down the hallway into a room that smelled sweetly like cardamom and cloves. It was tidier than the others, and tapestries graced the walls. “Who’s Alix?” Bri asked.

  “She lives here. She works overnights at a group home. She won’t be back.”

  “Um? I feel weird about sitting in someone else’s bedroom.”

  “Right,” he said. “They probably don’t do this kind of thing where you come from.” He laughed. “This is what punks do. Cram as many people as we can into a living space. Guess how much my rent is?”

  “How much?”

  “$60 a month,” he said, proudly.

  “Do you want to come to my Aunt’s house?” she asked.

  “Now?” he said. He sat down on the bed, as if waiting for her to come to him. She stood nervously.

  “Yeah,” she said. “My rent’s free. You’d lik
e it.” She smiled.

  “Ok,” he said. He stood up again. “Lead the way.”

  She led him out of the dark apartment. The place made her nervous. Aeron made her nervous. He led a lifestyle that was strange to her – impossible. What was she doing, all alone in the glass coffin of her aunt’s apartment? Maybe he wouldn’t like it. Maybe he would judge her aunt’s wealth.

  “Wait,” he said. He ducked into the kitchen, and she heard Jezebel growling at him. There was a light clinking. He came out wearing a backpack.

  “Bye,” he said to his roommates.

  “Nice to meet you,” said Scratch.

  “See you again, Bri?” said Murph.

  “We’re hosting a show in the basement next weekend,” said Sam. “I’m playing! Tell Josie to come,” she added.

  Of course, Josie knew them.

  “Bye,” Bri said, shyly.

  They went down the stairs again, retracing their steps, this time with Bri in the lead. Her heart felt ready to fall out of her face. She almost tripped on the last stair, and then Aeron did the same.

  “Are you nervous too?” she asked.

  “Of course,” he said.

  “Really?” They went back out the heavy black door and into the street. The night was warm.

  “Yup,” he said. He stopped, and so did she. He was standing against the brick wall, where she’d seen him the other night. He still had the same mystery about him, but it was closer. She couldn’t stop staring at him, trying to make sure he was real.

  “Aeron, there are so many things I want to ask you about.”

  “Shoot,” he said.

  She stepped closer, feeling bold in the almost-darkness. “This, for example,” she said. Then she raised her lips to his. She felt him quiver, but stay still – he didn’t yield to her kiss right away, he seemed frozen, somehow. But his reluctance made her feel passion all the more ardently. “Let me,” she said, softly. Then she pressed her lips deeply against his, feeling him respond, opening, allowing her to explore with her tongue, just slightly inside of his warm mouth.

  “Ah,” he said. “Bri. You. Woah. I—”

  “Maybe we should walk,” she said. She hadn’t expected Aeron to be so nervous. It was strange. Why was he afraid to kiss her? To hold her? Maybe she was moving too quickly.