4Memory:
So long it has been
Since my face has touched the water
When I remember drowning
I would reach the surface
Only to fall and sink once more
To the very depth of my immorality
Drowning in an ocean of chaos
An ocean trapped in my own mind
-Ember Benly October 7th 1983 6:13 p.m
Ember sat alone on the dock. All week she had been checking the knothole of the Willow Tree to see if someone had written anything new in the notebook. So far, no one had, and that only made her feel even more alone.
Where had the writing come from? Who had written in her notebook? Ember sat and thought to herself.
"Who could have written that? There is obviously no one in this paradise limbo with me. What if." Ember suddenly thought of a solution.
The next morning, Connor got out of bed and hurried around the house to get everything done so that he could go to school. The sooner he was out of school, the sooner he would be at Cross Point Park. Connor ran downstairs with his shirt barely over his head. His father caught sight of him and started laughing.
"Get a late start this morning Connor?" His father said quite amused by this odd behavior.
Connor quickly pulled his shirt over his head and managed to get his arms in his sleeves.
"What? Oh hey dad. No I'm not in any type of hurry. it's just, um. we're having this early debate team meeting this morning. It's something for some sort of project I think." Connor said, nearly out of breath.
"I made you some breakfast."
Connors dad tried handing him a plate of hash browns.
"Oh no time dad. Sorry! I really have to go now!"
With saying that, Connor ran out of the front door.
Raven was already at school; she always arrived early so that she would have more time to spend in the school library. There was never any other reason why she would already be at school; she was never the type to get that involved with extracurricular activities.
While reading her favorite novel by Stephen King, Misery, she heard a familiar voice drawing nearer to her.
"Hey Raven."
It was Connor, and from what she saw, he looked a bit exhausted.
"Hey Connor, have you ?" Raven asked while giving him a slightly odd expression.
"Me, running", Connor took a deep breath, "if I wanted to run I would have joined Track."
"Oh . School Spirit." Raven said with a smirk.
Connor laughed a bit, and then looked up at a nearby clock on the wall.
"The bell's about to ring huh?" Asked Raven.
"Yeah." Connor calmly said. He placed his hand on the back of his neck and rotated it, petting the back of his head. "I was wondering if maybe you would come to the park with me today. I know that your uncle is sick and all, but during school hours you are technically on your "
"Sheesh, it was early for a date yesterday, but you sure are ready to jump into something!" Raven laughed.
"I'm serious Raven. Will you come to the park with me? There is kind of something there that I want to show you."
"You are serious aren't you? You really want me to skip school with you so that you can take me to the park. What is so interesting about the park anyway? All that's there are trees, animals, and really annoying kids that stare at you every time you start walking!"
"There is this notebook there. I found it about a week ago. There is amazing poetry written in it, and I have been curious as to whom it belongs to. I wrote a question concerning my curiosity, and to my amazement, I discovered an answer when I returned a week later to check on the notebook."
"Well, who did it belong to?" Raven asked attentively.
"Oh, what was that name. oh yeah! Ember Benly. What's amazing though is how old the notebook is. There are entries dated all the way back to October of '83."
"Hmm, that is pretty old. For a notebook anyway."
" how about leaving school just for today, and coming to the park with me?" Connor asked with a grin.
"Is it still Cross Point Park that you are wanting to go to?"
"Yep, that's the one."
Raven took a deep breath.
"All right, I'll go. But this better not come back to haunt me."
Connor looked toward the librarian's desk to check and see if she was standing there. Once he noticed that she was helping another student with a computer, he signaled Raven to exit the library behind him.
Ember stood up from the dock and ran over towards the Willow Tree. She quickly reached inside of the knothole and removed the notebook and pencil. As she flipped through the front pages, she noticed that a few of the pages were bent and tattered in places that they weren't touched before. Smiling as she reached the last page that she had responded on, Ember noticed that there was a newly written paragraph below her last answer. "I'm not alone!" She yelled as loud as she could. "Someone somewhere knows of my existence. They know I'm here. they have to help me get out." Ember picked up her pencil and responded to the question on the page. "My name is Connor Jemson. What do you mean by 'and for many years now I have been waiting for someone to find me?' I don't know how I can help you. Maybe you could make it more specific what you need help with, and perhaps I could do something. Your poetry is amazing though. The amount of emotion in your writing is magnificent." "Hello Connor Jemson. Thank you for the compliments on my poetry. You asked me what I needed help with, as a response to your question, there is really only one thing I need you to do. I need you to help me get out of this. limbo. I don't know exactly how long I have been here, and I can't remember being anywhere else. For so long I felt so alone, but ever since I opened my notebook and found someone else's handwriting, I've felt this extreme amount of happiness and I know that with your help I can leave this limbo all behind." Happy with what she had written, Ember closed the notebook and placed it back inside of the knothole.
Connor and Raven had just arrived in the park. Getting off of the school campus was not so easy, but luckily they weren't caught.
"Hurry up Raven, it's this way!" Connor said as he ran down the path that lead to the Willow Tree.
"Is it that important?" Raven asked. She too ran and followed Connor.
As they both approached the Willow Tree, Connor reached inside of the knothole and removed the notebook and pencil. Raven sat down on the park bench that set next to the tree.
"Here Raven, look at this. It's amazing I promise!" Connor said with a huge smile.
Raven took the notebook from Connor's hand and flipped through a few of the pages.
Memory:
So long it has been
Since my face has touched the water
When I remember drowning
I would reach the surface
Only to fall and sink once more
To the very depth of my immorality
Drowning in an ocean of chaos
An ocean trapped in my own mind
-Ember Benly October 7th 1983 6:13 p.m
Raven closed the notebook after reading one of the poems. She looked down at the black pavement below her feet and tried to comprehend what was going on.
"Are you okay?" Connor asked.
Raven held back all that she could to refrain from crying.
"Raven you look upset, is something wrong? Was it something you read? You can tell me you know."
Raven looked up at Connor and tried to smile and thank him.
"I don't just 'open up' to anyone. It's nothing Connor, please don't lose any sleep over me seeming upset."
Raven handed the notebook back to Connor. He then flipped to the last page that he had written on to see if his question was answered. Once again, someone has responded to him.
"Yes! Again I get an answer!" Connor happily announced.
Raven looked up at him, oddly confused. "What are you talking about?"
"This notebook. It belongs to a girl by the name of Ember Benly, I told you that remember? And when I first found it I read a poem and fell in love with the writing. I had to know who's notebook it was, so I wrote down and asked. A week later I came back and sure enough there was a response to my question."
"Wait. a response? From Ember Benly?"
" ." Connor was sort of confused as to why Raven was acting so weird.
"Let me see what she wrote this time." He said as he looked down at the new paragraph.
"Hello Connor Jemson. Thank you for the compliments on my poetry. You asked me what I needed help with, as a response to your question, there is really only one thing I need you to do. I need you to help me get out of this. limbo. I don't know exactly how long I have been here, and I can't remember being anywhere else. For so long I felt so alone, but ever since I opened my notebook and found someone else's handwriting, I've felt this extreme amount of happiness and I know that with your help I can leave this limbo all behind." "I wonder what she meant by that," Connor said aloud, "here, you look more like a deep thought person, maybe you can explain it to me." Connor handed the notebook to Raven. "She wrote something about being trapped in a 'limbo' and needed help getting out." Raven's eyes widened. "Ember is trapped in a limbo? That means that she isn't completely gone. Her spirit hasn't moved on yet because she has unfinished business here. Something needs to happen in order for her to move on." "What are you talking about? I'm sure that's not what she meant." Connor laughed. " I don't believe in that 'limbo-spirit trapped' stuff. It's all bogus to me." Raven glared at Connor. She lifted her right hand and poked Connors left shoulder. "You have no right to tell me that Ember is 'bogus'! If she isn't real then why don't you prove me wrong! Go ahead, I'll bet that if you were to run a search of 'Ember Benly' on the Internet you would find plenty of proof that could very well be trapped in this 'limbo'!" Raven stormed off down the path away from the Willow Tree, and exited the park. Connor couldn't believe what just happened. He couldn't understand why Raven became so upset over the notebook.