Under the Pine Trees

One Autumn Morning a little girl by the name of Elena is happily making her way to school, her kindness never ending, and her heart like a precious jewel.  On this particular day Elena sees a boy not too far away, under a group of pine trees watching the blue jays.  She recognizes the boy from her class, he wouldn’t talk to anybody during recess, all he did was sit in the meadow grass. Elena walked over to the boy and said “Hi there!”  The boy turned around but could only stare. Elena grew silent from looking at the clueless boy’s face, she couldn’t help but notice the boy’s eyes looked as if they were in deep space. Stuttering on her words Elena choked out “What’s your name?” the boy took a few seconds but replied “Leonardo” he noticed the excitement in Elena like a flame.  After a few more minutes of talking, the two realized they had missed their bus and had to go to school walking.  A walk that took twenty minutes, felt like five for the kids as they talked about cereal and crickets.  They laughed and laughed until they couldn’t breathe from the laughter, they would stop and then laugh some more after. When the two kids finally arrived at school, the two agreed that the other was pretty cool.  For the rest of the day the two were together, as if the two had known each other since forever. The two promised each other to meet at the bus stop the next day, which they did where their daily laughs went underway.

At first the two would just laugh and talk, Leo would even walk Elena back to her house for about two blocks. But as they shared more laughs together, the other seemed to find more comfort with the other.  What was a simple walk to the bus stop for the two, became something the kids always looked forward to.  What was a simple game of uncle, became an excuse to hold hands as if they were a couple.  And what were simple words like “You’re not too shabby!” became beautiful words like “You make me happy”.  The kids didn’t know what they were feeling, all they knew was that the other gave them meaning.  Leonardo would always help Elena up the bus, and get her the ball from the thorny bush, even if he did get cuts.  Elena always felt a sense of importance when she was with him, maybe that’s why she always had a grin. The two were almost inseparable, their routine of being together all the time was unbreakable.

But one day on his way to the bus stop, he could not see Elena anywhere, and felt his heart drop.  He hadn’t been alone ever since his time under the pine trees, he didn’t feel at ease.  He waited as long as he could even though he couldn’t, the bus left him but he was certain he would be walking with Elena, he wasnt. When Leonardo got to school he felt as though something was missing, his heart was telling him what but he just wouldn’t listen. He didn’t want to feel sad and alone, but the feeling was getting harder and harder to ignore.  What was only three hours of learning, felt like ten hours of concerning thoughts for Elena.  The bell finally rang for recess, but all Leonardo could feel was stress.  While Leonardo was making his way to the meadow grass, three of the older boys came to give the poor boy some sass.  They crowded around him, everything around him grew dim.  One of the boys asked “Hey! Where’s your girlfriend?” Leonardo said nothing and tried to make his way through the rude trio.  The boys started pushing and yelling, kicking and wailing at poor Leo.  All Leo could do was try to run.

Meanwhile in the hallways, Elena is running towards the doorways.  She’s looking for Leonardo so she can apologize and explain that she had to go to the dentist early in the morning, the second she opens the door she sees kids swarming.  She notices they’ve all stopped around a group of older boys, the boys in her school that would always make loud noise anywhere they were. But she felt something bad was happening, she inched closer and realized the boys were slapping and tackling Leonardo! Elena wanted to do something, but her body did nothing.  She feared she would get hurt, but she wanted to go in and take the big part of the pain off Leonardo. Then as if he knew she was there, Leonardo turned his head to see Elena standing there.  They both stared just like the first time they met, although this time Leonardo’s stare was something Elena could never forget.  When their gaze was over, Leonardo managed to roll over and run away from the school park.  Now Elena watched as he shrunk smaller and smaller in the distance, Elena’s persistence got the best of her so she ran after him. 

After running for what seemed to be forever, Elena had looked from the bus stop to the river.  She was beginning to lose hope, she had this feeling of pain that she couldn’t coupe.  She wanted to cry when all of the sudden, she heard something.  She looked around and realized she was in front of the group of Pine Trees, she could do nothing but stand and look at the trees being blown in the autumn breeze. So peaceful it felt to be there.  But something felt strange, she felt the mood change, as she heard crying behind one of the Pine Trees. Elena walked around the trees to see Leonardo crying on his knees.  She was scared to ask what was wrong, but she knew that she had to be strong.  Elena walked up to Leo whose sleeves were wet from the tears and asked “What’s wrong?” Leonardo looked up to Elena with tears running down his cheeks and said “I feel like I don’t belong.” “Why do you feel that way?” asked Elena “Because I miss him every day” replied the boy.  “Maybe he’ll come back” the little girl blurted out “He’ll never come back” the little boy responded right away.  “How do you know?” the desperate girl asked, “Because he’s below” whimpered the suffering boy. “Where is he? Please tell me.” Asked the confused girl, “He’s under these Pine Trees.” The boy said before he burst to tears.

Everything became clear, “He left me all alone by myself with nobody by my side. Just leave me alone so I can run and hide forever”.  But before he could hide or cry again, the once confused little girl hugged him to relieve him of his pain and said “I’ll always be your friend. I’ll be with you until the bitter end.” Elena held Leonardo for as long as he cried, as she watched the kids from school pass by, she did not move one inch and stayed right there by Leo’s side. 

When Leonardo stopped crying he looked at the glowing orange sunset, and looked back at Elena who was struggling to keep her eyes open, Leonardo felt as if he was in debt.  Never before had anybody stuck with him like his friend used to do until now, he felt like he needed to make a vow. He whispered to Elena “I’ll always be by your side too” which woke Elena up immediately, “You helped me get through, and for that I thank you.” The two sat, said no more and watched the glowing sun brighten the waters before their very eyes.

This was the beginning of the two allies.  The blossoming of a friendship that would fight through any hardship, the agreement of a new partnership. The start of something so beautiful and youthful.  Something irreplaceable and admirable by many.  Something everyone desires, and that will never expire.  Love is what I describe, and it never has a demise.  Hope is what I describe, as it can only inspire.  Never lose these two, or else you lose sight at what is true.