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People of the Trees
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Drafts PRONUNCIATION GUIDE
Quala: Kay-lah
Queshana: Ka- shan- ah
Felra: Fell-rah
Ms. Quisha: Ms. Kee-sha
~Prologue~
It was early morning, and a soft blue light began to shine through the treetops, waking the creatures below from their sleep. I hadn’t been able to sleep that night, so I was wondering around our village, looking up occasionally to see if I could spot my mothers memorial star through the treetops. I walked across a bridge that connected two giant evergreens. A small cabin-like house seemed to float atop the tree’s branches. Our small tree village was about 1 mile at its radius, with multiple other villages surrounding us. Many of these villages were almost 3 times out size.When my friends and I were little, we would play tag in the treetops. Zig zagging through the tree bridges, not realizing our impending doom was awaiting below if we were to fall.
It wasn’t until my best friend, Quala, slipped and fell, that the children of our village had realized that the world was a cruel, cruel place. She was only 15, and was delivering goods to the village centre, when a gust of wind came, swaying the bridge. She fell to her death 3 years ago today, the village would travel down to the ground to pay their respects to her each death anniversary. She would have been 18 next moon.
The morning after Quala’s death, something snapped inside me. I became a different person entirely. I discovered that I could read minds, and control the elements, earth in particular.
When I heard the Mourning Bell sound, I jumped off the bridge and summoned a mound of dirt with a flick of my hand to break my fall.The mound carried me safely to the ground, and I walked the rest of the way to Quala’s grave.
I fought back tears as I kneeled down beside her tombstone.
“H-hey Qua. It’s Queshana..I miss you, more than words can describe. I.. I have a gift for you.” As I whimpered out those words, I slowly raised my hand, my palm facing the sky. A crimson rose bloomed from her grave. “I know they’re your favorite.” I then stood up, letting the next person pay their respects to my dear friend. I looked back at Quala’s grave one last time before climbing back up to our village.
~Chapter 1~
“Queshana!” A voice called out from behind me. I instantly recognized the voice. It was Felra, one of Quala and my friends. I turned around to face him, his dirty blonde hair covering his ocean blue eye.
“Hey Fel” I smiled, although it was a fake one, he bought it.
“Do you wanna come over and work on our project later?” He ran his hands through his hair. In doing this, he revealed his other eye, which was greenish in colour, and had a scar running vertically along it.
“Uhm. What project?” I was confused. He had to have been talking about a project from school.
“The one for school. Where we have to make a presentation about our villages history. Ms. Quisha assigned us to be partners. Remember?”
“Uh, not really…Sorry. I’m probably gonna go home and draw. ” I smiled weakly, not wanting to show him that I was on the verge of crying.
“Oh, uh. Okay. I’ll see you tomorrow then.” His warm smile made me burst into tears. It was this smile,these blue and green eyes, that unique scar, that Quala loved and cherished. She never had the chance to confess to him.
“H-Hey, what’s wrong?” He took a step towards me, but I took a step back to counter the distance he closed between us. He kept walking towards me, and i kept walking backwards. Until I started to fall off the bridge.
“No no no no no” I whispered under my breath, afraid that I would meet the same fate as my friend. I then felt a hand grasp mine, I opened my eyes, and there was Felra. He pulled me back up onto the bridge, holding me in his embrace as I leaned on him, my head on his chest. By now, I was crying so hard that I was gasping for air between sobs.
