The path was overgrown. What once was a clear trail was now weed choked. The forest had reclaimed it.
Chad sighed as he picked his way through the tangled mess. It had been eight years since he had last been here. He found it hard to believe that the path had disappeared so fast. Fleeting like his childhood had been.
From behind him came a crash and several curses. Shaking his head Chad turned to regard his twin sister Chrissie. He had hoped to sneak away to the old fort that him and an old friend, Jason, had built when they were eight. Well that their fathers had built for them. They had spent two years in that tree house fort, and Chad had wanted to relive his memories alone. Unfortunately his sister had other ideas.
"Why the hell did you guys have to have this thing built way out here in B.F.E. for, anyways?" Chrissie bitched. Chrissie was always bitching it seemed to Chad. She was developing into one of those type of girls.
As she worked her way out of the bramble patch she had blindly stepped into, he shook his head at her chose of clothing. Where he had worn blue jeans and an old t-shirt, she had on a thin baby blue halter top, white shorts that were way too short exposing most of her long legs to the brambles, and weeds of the path, and white tinnies shoes. She had a ball cap on her head with her hair pulled through the back of it in a pony tail.
He had to admit though, that she did look nice in that outfit. Though they were damn near identical, there were some differences. While they both had blond hair, his was shaggy and cut short, while hers was long and smooth as silk. His face was rough, and sharp as if cut from granite, while hers had smoother, and softer features. They were both tall, though he stood two inches higher the she did. All in all, she got the better deal he thought.
"You didn't have to come," Chad replied as he pushed a branch out of his way. "Hell, I didn't even want you to come anyways."
"Oh right, like I was going to hang around those two the whole afternoon," she spat back. "All they ever talk about is business anymore. My god it gets old," she griped as she pulled yet another branch that had gotten snagged on her shirt away. Their parents were software geniuses and were always discussing work.
"It may be boring to you, but you wouldn't have all those outfits you would die without, or that new car they are getting you tomorrow," Chad said over his shoulder to her.
"Thats true I suppose," Chrissie agreed. Their eighteenth birthday was today, and Chrissie was very exited about that, or at least she was exited about the car she was going to get tomorrow. Chad on the other hand wished that their birthday wouldn't come, for that was when he would be sent away. Away from his family, friends, his life, and his sister.
Chad's parents had decided to send him to an all boys privet school in England. Though he would be able to return for some holidays, he would be gone the greater part of four years. The school would train him to be an adult, to enter the world. Basically that meant his childhood was over. Thus the reason for this trip. He wanted to come visit the spot where his favorite childhood memories were. The tree house fort.
"Hey, is that it, Chad?" Chrissie asked.
Chad looked up in surprise. He had been so lost in thought that he hadn't realized how far they had gone. He recognized the spot right off. The tree was thicker and taller than the other trees near-by. Boards had been nailed onto the tree bark at two foot intervals. Up into the branches he could just make out the bottom of the old tree fort.
"Yeah, thats it alright," he smiled. He stood there just looking up into the branches as his memory replayed hours upon hours of war games, and pirate games Jason and he had played as kids. How he would give anything to go back to those days.
"Well, we going up?" Chrissie asked as she went to the tree.
"Hold up, Chris," Chad said. "Let me go first. I want to make sure it hasn't rotted through before you try it."
Chrissie gave him an odd look, but stepped back. "What ever you want, Chad."
Chad reached out both hands to grip the bottom board, and tugged experimentally on it. It seemed to be sound. "Well, here goes nothing," he said. Taking a deep breath, he started climbing the wooden steps, testing each one carefully. If they could hold his weight, then they would easily hold his sisters. He then reached the trap door at the bottom of the fort. He pushed it open and climbed inside.
He was disappointed in the discovery of how small it was now. It also wasn't nearly as grand as he remembered it to be. "I guess you really can't go back," he said to himself.
"Hey up there. Can I come up?" a voice drifted up through the trap door.
"One sec," he shouted back. He proceeded to walk the floor, stomping here and there to check for rot. He felt a sense of pride. The fort was still sound. "It's safe. Come on up"
Almost before the words were out of his mouth, Chrissie's head popped into view. He hated to say it, but damn that girl could climb.
"It's a lot smaller than I thought it would be," she said.
Chad suppressed the urge to cuss her and replied "Well, it was built when I was a lot smaller, but yeah. It is small in here."
Chad went to the far corner of the fort, and pressed up on a section of the ceiling exposing another opening to the roof. Holding onto the sides he pulled himself up through the opening. He then felt relief. The view was just as spectacular as he remembered it to be. The branches where thinner up here allowing for quite the view.
"A hand please," Chrissie's voice came from below.
Chad turned and helped pull her through the opening. Chrissie's face was filled with awe. She looked this way and that and finally said "WOW!" Chad agreed with her there.
"Jason and I use to lay for hours up here when we weren't playing war games or what not. Sometimes we pretended to be spies, or we would just look at the clouds. Once there was a bird's nest on that branch there," Chad pointed to a branch off to the side. "We loved watching the young birds trying to fly."
Chad stood looking around for a moment letting the memories cover him, then he took off his shirt and laid down on the roof using the shirt as a pillow. As he looked up at the clouds above, Chrissie sat down beside him.
"It is so peaceful up here," she said quietly. "Thank you for showing it to me."
