One Enchanted Moment.

Soul Revival: A short story.

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It was the night after Christmas and the man sat on a fallen forest oak tree facing out towards the entrance of this heart-shaped woodland. Its wide trunk bridged a narrow but deep gurgling river, a fast running stream that dissected the ancient forest in two. Soft moss carpeted and bedded in the decaying tree on either side of the river. And so, the man had easily hopped up on the bark and had proceeded to walk carefully across its length before fixing himself down at the centre point of both the fallen tree and the river below. When all was done, his black-booted feet dangled just a metre above the deep waters. Earlier, the man had followed the path of this stream, for it was the shortest and surest route into and out of the enchanted wood and his appointment with the wise-man. There was nothing to do but wait. Wait for his enchanted moment.

The night was dark but the sky was clear. A few stars peeked out, here and there. As the man sat and waited he began tracing the contours of the river. Soon, his eyes were trained and attuned to the darkness around him. The river tracked north in perfect alignment with Polaris, the northern star. The river-path allowed for a natural break from the density of trees elsewhere in the forest and so a small patch of sky could be viewed clearly from the man’s seated-perch on the tree. This patch of sky was moonless but that was to be expected and a sign he was not late. The man paused to check his time-piece and nodded slowly to himself.

Almost time.

It was the night of an Gealach Fuar, or the Cold Moon, the last full moon of the year. Indeed, the last full moon of the old world. It was out there somewhere, he thought, just not arrived yet into view. The man glanced to his left and then to his right and caught glimpses of pale moonlight breaking through the woodland canopy. Flickering moonlight illuminating thick leafless branches and the mossy carpets of frosted ground below. The branches in turn casting their own moonlight shadows and blanketing other areas into complete darkness.

The man looked down at his dangling feet and the gently babbling stream. The sound of it, a hypnotic music, almost inviting and seducing the man’s ears and senses. He thought back to the sadness of the past and wondered how to leap forward into the future alone and the new world approaching fast. He could see nothing and heard only the gentle melody of these dark waters beneath whispering to him to come closer. He closed his eyes and could feel a torrent welling within and emitted a tortured wheeze, and then another. It was a hissing and almost involuntary escape from lips jammed shut. Erupting emissions moments before the towering pressure choked him. A big salty tear sped down the side of his face and fell into the depths of the river - diving off from his cheek-bone. Another followed it. He nodded his head and opened his eyes once more.

Enough. Enough.

With his eyes adjusted to the forest shadows he noticed a silvery moon-like image reflecting back into his eyes from the river below. Not the expected Cold Moon of this night exactly, but rather the portrait of a boy smiling cheekily and making faces back to him from the waters. Startled, he momentarily lost balance and started sliding helplessly off the old wooden trunk. Then, almost immediately, and at the one time, a voice called out as a steely arm encircled his waist and easily pulled him back up on to the tree.

“ I’ve got you “ the wise man said simply.

The man turned to drink in the apparition now sitting by his side on the fallen trunk. Grateful, embarrassed, and infinitely so.

“ I got lost in meself for a minute, and almost drifted away “ the man murmured in formal thanks with a little shamefacedness sprinkled in and bowed his head. As he tried to compose himself, he looked up again and a little closer at the wise man. His fine grey whiskers and dishevelled goatee were bathed in moonlight. His grey eyes filled with humble sagacity and a little mischief too, he thought.

“ We all get a little lost, sure, don’t we “ the wise man replied neutrally. There was neither question nor answer in his words. He smiled to himself, though, and settled into the silence of the night. After a couple of minutes, the wise man’s quietness began to unsettle the man for he had much to get off his chest and only a forest gap’s worth of moonlit sky in which to do it. If he could even do it.

“ I might not make it to the new world.“ blurted out the man.

Embarrassed, he stopped abruptly in mid-sentence and was immediately sorried by his own dark admission. He retreated to wordlessness and surrendered himself to it completely. Once again, attempting to leave behind the tyrannical clouds of his mind for awhile. He glanced up to the newly appeared full-moon and then placed the palms of his hands face-down on either side of his waist on the cool bark, and relaxed back a little into the stillness. In a twinkling, the shivering cold moon glistened a refreshing balm down on his worried and emotion-filled features. Both men closed their eyes to soak in the moonlight and peace.

After awhile, though, the man’s thoughts began to stir from their slumber again and moved across into the calm piece of sky he had found. He could feel his old shadows fighting to make a re-appearance.

“ Are we waiting for someone? " asked the man as gently as he could. The wise man opened his lids and grinned, then his shoulders began to shudder as his smile turned into laughter. Soon, his great bellowing echoed across the forest, a most beautiful noise if quite unexpected. Birds tittered, the wood-lands animals guffawed and a tawny old owl hooted his amusement. As the symphony of merriment chorused together, the man’s frozen anger thawed and rose like mercury as if it were suddenly the hottest of days and not the coolest of nights.

“ Is me darkest shadow and worries a laughing stock, old man, is that it? “ the man erupted angrily.

All in the forest fell quiet as if the sound of a gunshot had unexpectedly reverberated across the night. The wise man said nothing but a spark of devilment still rolled around in his eyes. The moon shifted to the centre of the sky in the tree-gap in front of them, shining its most brilliant silvery-white light. Suddenly, the giggling of children could be heard all around them. The man swivelled his head, left and right, but could not spy a sinner in sight. But, something instantly whizzed by his head, a small object of some kind, although the man failed to see it. And then again.

Phizzzzzzzz……

On the third hearing, the man felt a sharp sting on the side of his cheek. Instinctively, he crouched his shoulders, lowered his head and his hands flashed up to his face to touch the wound but also protect himself from further attacks.

“ Yes! got him, I got him, Yesssss “ a young boy’s voice cried out in triumph.

Before the man could radar in on the location of the voice, a young brown haired boy of freckled face stepped out from behind a single line of silver barked birch trees. These trees overlooked the stream to the right of where the two men were situated. Unbelievably, the boy was a mere matter of yards away when he chose to reveal himself. He strutted triumphantly towards the fallen oak and lightly hopped up and made his way across to them.

“ Haha. Mister, you weren’t expecting me, were you? - I was closer to you than you thought wasn’t I? “ the boy chuckled out as he took a seat down beside the two. Drawing his knees up towards his chin he then wrapped his arms around his long, lithe legs, before finally interlocking his fingers together to seal himself snugly into place. He easily rested his chin idly onto one of his knee-caps, pure delighted with himself.

“ That hurt young fella, you shouldn’t be darting around the forest in the shadows, laughing at me problems. You might have your own one day “ admonished the man.

“ Is that right now? “ the boy replied.

“ Yeah, it is “ the man returned, a little huffily.

“ And tell me now, Mister, how do you know I don’t have problems of me own, already? “ he rifled back, his eyes filled with light humour and mischief. Then, the boy relaxed his legs down into a proper sitting position. This freed up his mucky hands and he used one to idly scratch his head and began rooting around in his wild mesh of wiry brown hair as if he were looking for something. Soon, he removed a horse-chesnut. Nonchalantly, he eased an arm over his shoulder and pulled out the catapult hidden in his hooded vest. Loaded it with the horse-chesnut and took general aim at the crater pocked moon.

Phizzzzzzzz…..

“ Sure, what problems would a boy like you have scampering around the woods untamed and free ? “ the man enquired sternly. But, his curiosity was piqued.

“ Oh, I see, only your shadows from the age of men are important and not any from the forest of the young, is that it? “ The boy replied with a certain confident hint of knowing. As if he were the adult and the man were the child in this most odd of conversations.

The man was temporarily stumped by the question on a forest floor littered with many stumps to chose from. He turned to the wise man for a sage interjection and some clarity on how to interact with the boy. The wise man seemed to have fallen into a light sleep and a gentle snore was the only response to the man’s enquiring eyes. He looked to the sky and could see the moon was already two-thirds across the gap in the forest heavens. The enchanted moment wouldn’t last much longer and he feared he might not get another one. It seemed that the only one to talk to about his problems was the unruly boy. A most unsatisfactory predicament but the only one that remained open to him.

“ I was a happy kid once you know, not unlike you, in fact. You don’t know how lucky you are, young fella “ he began.

“ Is that right? “ smiled the boy before pinging another horse-chesnut into the face of the moon. The man shook his head in disappointment and could see the boy wasn’t taking him too seriously.

“ It wasn’t right what happened. I was hurted. Hurted badly! “ he countered defensively.

“ You were hurted now were you? “ the boy laughed sardonically, before phizzing yet another horse-chestnut into a crater on the moon.

“ I fecking’ was, but I suppose you’re too innocent and immature to understand these things, young fella. I’m carrying this burden round a long time now “ he answered sadly but with a little pride too.

“ You’re carrying a child on your back all these years, is that it? ?” the boy summarized.

“ Protecting him ” he responded with a little heat. The boy started to giggle again.

“ What would a little garsún like you know about it anyways. All you have to carry around is that catapult. What else are you carrying only a few horse-chestnuts? “ he followed on.

At this the boy side-turned to the man and handed him the catapult and excavated a horse-nut from his wiry mane and placed it in the man’s hand too.

“ Why don’t you have a go ? “

The man looked down at the catapult and considered the daftness of the request. Eventually, he decided that although he had nothing to gain, he also had nothing to lose in this situation. Illogically, something stirred deep inside him that caused him to tighten his grip on the simple piece of wood. He nestled the horse-chesnut into the thick rubber-band and pulled it back.

“ That’s it, that’s it. Keep pulling it back! “ exclaimed the boy excitedly.

The man did as he was told and pulled the rubber-band back until it was almost taut and he momentarily worried he might break it.

“ What now? “ he asked, taking a sideways glance at the boy.

“ Take aim at the moon Mister and very, very quickly let go “ the boy advised.

“ The moon. and let go? “ he repeated.

“ Yes, Just. Let. Go. “ the boy smiled in boyish wisdom and locked eyes with the man.

“ That’s the most important bit, Do you think you can do that Mister ? “ the boy wondered aloud while maintaining his eye connection with the man.

The man took a deep breathe, and then another. And then a faint phizzing noise could be heard as another horse-chesnut rocketed into the edge of the moon. The man put out his hand for another horse-chesnut and the boy happily place one into it. He visibly relaxed enjoying the release of childish energy.

“ I’m sorry for my behaviour earlier and not taking your problems seriously “ he apologised.

“ Ah, that’s ok, mister “ the boy replied quietly.

“ Do you have any real problems, though. You seem so care-free? “ the man asked. Now, genuinely interested to know. The boy’s happy countenance began to turn to shadow and he nodded his head slowly and a little painfully.

“ Ah I do, Mister, you wouldn’t believe this now but I’ve a man sitting on me shoulders all the time weighing me down”

“ Really? “ the man replied.

The older he gets the heavier his burden. He’s killing me slowly, I fear, Mister “ the boy whispered sadly.

“ What! You must be joking, Come on now, Really? “

The last of the boy’s good humour drained from his face and he nodded his head up and down sadly in answer. The man was outraged and it immediately spike a fire of volcanic anger inside him as he thought back to his own shadow and treatment as a lad.

“ Let me help, I promise I can help you! “ the man begged and cried out.

“ Is that right ? “ the boy answered the trace of a despondent smile filling his face.

“ Yes, yes, of course, what can I do? “ he assured him

“ Could you climb down off my back?, I’d like to leave this forest one day “ the boy whispered slowly with his eyes dropping to the dark waters below his feet.

The moon was edging towards the very edge of the gap in the trees. Soon, it would disappear from sight but the stillness of its light was at its most powerful. The silence devoured every cloud in the sky both seen and unseen. Horrifying realisation flooded the man’s senses. No little guilt too. He soaked the boy’s words into every shred of his being. After a few moments more, the man calmly placed down the catapult onto the fallen oak between them and gently engulfed the boy’s small dirty hand into the heart of his own. He looked into his eyes once more.

“ I can do that, I think. I can really do that…. “ he said. Although no words were exchanged. A smile broke out from behind the boy’s quiet tears and lit across his freckled face and brown eyes as the man held the boy’s gaze with the strength of his promise. They remained frozen like this for a long spell of time and healing. A duration timeless in nature. Until, quite suddenly, the wise man’s words broke their voiceless conversation.

“ Ah, I see you two have met properly then? “ he intoned.

The man nodded vigorously and the boy giggled.

“ What do we do now, though? “ asked the man.

The wise-man pointed to the edge of the river-bank to a place under the canopy of the silver birch trees. Not more than a few feet away.

“ There’s an old raft down there. Have you not seen it? “ the wise-man replied in puzzlement.

The man and the boy quickly turned their attention in the direction the wise-man was pointing to below them. And there it was illuminated in the moonlight. Old, sturdy tree branches of varying length and tree-types knotted together with a long blue rope. The boy jumped up excitedly onto the oak-trunk and in an instant somersaulted from his place on the oak onto the raft. Then turned back to the men on the tree-bridge.

“ How come I never saw this before ? “ he shouted back to them in pure joy.

Instead of replying to the boy the wise-man swivelled towards the man in answer.

“ Sometimes, It takes quite a journey for the eyes to see “

The man smiled in new knowing and he too began too laugh. He moved across to hug the wise-man in a warm embrace before gingerly getting up and walking across to the river-bank to join the boy on the raft. He bent down and picked up two long oak branches lying on the frozen ground and then hopped onto the raft. He put his arm around the boy’s shoulder and both of them waved good-bye to the wise-man. He gave a branch to the boy and moved to the back of the raft. Automatically, the boy took position at the front and other side of the raft. In another instant, the Cold Moon passed from sight and the forest was plunged into darkness. The wise-man was gone too and the man and boy were alone. In unison, though, they both started to paddle and began to sing a song to light the way ahead.

“ Can't see nothing in front of me “ piped the boy joyously.

“ Can't see nothing coming up behind “ sang the man gustily in response.

“ I make my way through this darkness
I can't feel nothing but this chain that binds me “ the boy continued happily.

“ Lost track of how far I've gone,
How far I've gone, how high I've climbed
On my back's a sixty pound stone
On my shoulder half mile of line “ the man sang out confidently. Then, clicking into a new gear and certain now the darkness ahead wouldn’t consume them both he prepared for the next verse. A chorus was approaching.

Come on up for the rising
Come on up lay your hands in mine
Come on up for the rising
Come on up for the rising tonight

They sang it in unison as they gently paddled against the flow of the meandering river and away from the depths of the forest. The whole woodland came alive to the sound of youthful voices joining in heartily and with great gusto. Some cheered and hollered encouragement from the riverbank chasing after them as they rowed. A new hope alighting that if these two could find their way out of the forest then maybe someday soon they would too.

There was a sun out there somewhere rising on a new world. Now, was the time to chase it down.

** Song extract taken from the song The Rising click here to listen.

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Regular readers please consider a paid monthly or annual subscription by clicking the subscribe button.

New readers can simply enter an e-mail address when hitting subscribe to become free subscribers and receive my future articles

To support my work and writing click the link → Buy the author a coffee. ☕️ or donate via Revolut to 085 1214347