2The Wall
Kate Wallace 10.8
We'd known each other since we were children, but had never spoken, yet I knew I loved him. I didn't even know his name, so why did I feel this way? There was an invisible barrier that separated us, and I couldn't break it no matter how hard I tried. It was a wall I couldn't climb, a river I couldn't cross, a fire that would consume me even if I ran straight through as fast as I could. I couldn't beat it, and I loathed that fact, just like I loathed the wall itself.
We saw each other every day, bringing pens and pencils and cans of paint with us. He and I drew pictures to communicate, reaching out and placing our palms flat on either side of the wall, painting meanings all the while. We'd both had years of practice, and now we could understand each other quite well, but it was nowhere near the perfection that words gave. This barrier was soundproof and nothing I threw against it damaged it at all. No ladder I could find was high enough, as this wall seemed to grow and grow as we understood each other better.
Our situation seemed impossible, and yet I didn't give up hope. I knew that one day I would know his name and he would know mine. One day we would talk with words rather than pictures, with perfect understanding, and it would be joy, pure and wonderful.
It was during my musings one night that I had the strangest urge to run to the wall. It had happened before, this urgency, this pain in my chest and ragged breathlessness. I had to move, and I had to do it now.
Run, run to the wall!
There must be an opening somewhere, I know it! There must be a way through!
Faster, faster!
RUN!
RUN OR YOU'LL MISS THE CHANCE!
When I opened my eyes again I was pressed against the cool barrier, panting for breath. My chest hurt from running, but I couldn't stop, not when I was so close. I had to keep moving, so I did, stumbling along the rough ground in the dark, one hand pressed against the wall I loathed so much. The wall I wanted to be rid of forever.
It seemed like I was walking for hours before I found it. With a thwack a branch whipped across my face, and I leapt back, a line of blood trickling down my cheek. However, I ignored the pain, stepping back from the thin branch and almost collapsing in shock.
Before me stood a massive tree with branches curling from every available space on the trunk, spiralling into the night sky. The green canopy blocked out the stars, casting the various nooks and crannies into deep shadow.
The most amazing thing, however – the thing that made me weak-kneed with shock and joy – was that some of those very branches went through the wall!
Hands shaking, I reached up, sliding my fingers along a great thick bough, searching for the gap I knew would exist between the bark and the invisible barrier.
There! Right there! I can stick my hand through to the other side, wiggle it around a little, but I can't get my arm through. There has to be a better spot!
There was, of course, though it took many hours of climbing. Up near the top the wall thinned out, and I drew my hand back, making a fist. This was going to hurt, but I knew I could do it. I had to get over there! Wincing in pain as my hand crashed through the strange material, I gasped in horror as something pierced my skin, sending blood gushing down my wrist and arm onto my white shirt. I lost my balance, wobbling dangerously before crashing through the branches down to the other side.
Everything after that was blackness.
When I woke there was a familiar face leaning over me. My eyes widened, and I stumbled to my feet embracing him roughly. He clung to me, and I could feel something warm and wet sliding down his cheek. I realised he was crying, and my blurred vision told me the same thing of myself. The only difference between then and last night was that these were tears of joy.
Together at last.
Word count: 733