Young Writers Society

For LMS. Word count: 962. Take note of the fact that the character Xavier Sage mentioned in a previous chapter is now named Cadogan Sage. 

Cora’s mind was always elsewhere during the spontaneous camping trip with her parents. She held no interest in roasting plastic-encased-rat’s-testicles (hot dogs) over an open flame or indulging in the sticky, white mess of a marshmallow. It was obvious that both David and Henrietta wanted to engage their daughter in the best ways possible, but they had lost her years ago – a fact both known and ignored by the two frumpy accountants.

In an effort to bond, Henrietta proposed a hike the morning of their departure. “It will be fun!” She had squealed with the immensely forced delight that only a mother can produce when the relationship with daughter is not going so well. Both David and Cora groaned – perhaps the one thing that they shared in common – as David had a bit of a beer belly and Cora, well, Cora was in an eternal state of Nostalgia daydreaming. Nevertheless, the unlikely three went off up the mountain.

It was only a few minutes in when David surrendered, leaning up against a mossy tree, chest heaving heavily. Cora spent more time pondering the shapes of the clouds above than moving forward. Henrietta was exasperated.

“Why is it that every time we want to do something as a family, everything fails?” shrieked the flustered woman accountant.

“You were the one who wanted to do something as a family. I was perfectly happy leaving early, Henrietta,” replied David, sternly.

“I didn’t even want to come on the camping trip in the first place,” added Cora. The clouds had momentarily lost her attention.

“See! That’s the problem, here,” cried Henrietta, pointing the blame at her daughter. “From the very first day that we let you do your own thing, you’ve practically left us for dead. More people in town think that Hugo and Elita are your parents and some don’t even know that we exist! It’s preposterous!”

Cora glared back, green eyes flashing darkly and brow furrowed. She walked right up to her mother and stopped, just barely two inches from the flustering face. “Don’t blame me for your lack of presence in Savoury. You’re the ones who hide away day and night in a house isolated from the rest of the town. You have never tried to embrace the beauty and personality of the place. That is all your fault! That is what pushed me away from you two.” Cora turned quickly on her feet to shoot a killer look at the frustratingly complacent David. “And you have nothing to say about this?”

“It is what it is.” David shrugged, further fuelling both Cora and Henrietta’s fury. There is always something infuriating about someone’s lack of interest in a matter that demands someone’s invested interest.

After David’s lazy comment, Henrietta started pelting angry words at him and the subject matter was changed from their daughter to their marriage. Cora was completely forgotten.

She tried to remember when the family dynamic had changed to such unhealthy tendencies. It hadn’t always been this way, believe it or not, and even when Cora had begun to sneak down to The Pancake House, things had been easier. Cora remembered bright Sunday mornings when her mother would cook French toast (with extra cinnamon) and delightful conversation would ensue over orange juice, content to be in mismatched mugs. These memories were always lovely to recall for Cora and she attributed her childhood ease partly to these wonderful interactions with David and Henrietta. But where had it all gone? What had incited things to take a turn for the worse? Had it really been her own actions – spending time with Hugo and Elita – that ruined the family?

But Cora couldn’t believe it. Visiting Hugo and Elita was the result of an already-deteriorating family; it had been her method of escape. It was if one Sunday had been the same, with Henrietta’s gourmet breakfast and sunny juice, and the next was burnt toast, commercial jam, and water – the first tainted weekend of many more to come. Eventually, Cora skipped weekends and spent them at The Pancake House. And then she started spending entire weeks and everything went downhill from there.

Cora was unable to trace the cause of the breaking-down of her family and in the middle of a mountain hiking trip, it was likely not the best idea. Coming back to the present, she realized that in the few minutes of her thinking, both Henrietta and David had escaped her presence and were nowhere to be found. There was nothing she could do but decide to hike back down.

It was a steep and narrow path, laden heavy with rocks and sometimes boulders. The lining trees were gigantic, looming ominously above like forest Gods. Their roots were unwelcome intruders to the path, catching footfalls in the most unfortunate of places and constantly tripping. Cora stepped with care and caution, avoiding deep ruts and the hooks of brown roots. Soon, she felt heavy dollar-sized drops of rain, and within seconds she was drenched, hair waterlogged and shoes squelching. She quickened her pace, not wanting to get caught in a violent mountain storm. Cora stumbled over rocks and sediment that was now mud, that splashed her legs, streaking them an ugly black-brown. The trees swayed intensely and, in the distance, Cora swore that she could hear branches breaking, tumbling tremendously to the forest floor. Lightning flashed and cracked. There was still at least an hour to go but it would be unsafe to continue under such conditions. Cora made a beeline for a little shack up ahead, where even some smoke wafted in wisps from the make-shift chimney.

She turned in, sopping wet, and found herself face to face with Cadogan Sage, also sopping wet.