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in the woods behind hatchetfield high, there was a small glade. to two young boys in particular, it was the best place in the entire town. to everyone else, it didn’t exist.
wait, no, that doesn’t sound right. we need to take this back in time.
let’s start from the very beginning. late 1999, to be exact.
in the woods behind hatchetfield high, there was a small glade. to most people, it didn’t exist. to two fourteen-year-olds, it was the best place in the entire town.
it was a rather breezy october afternoon, the autumn winds casting a layer of cool air over the island. the towering evergreens filtered out the sunlight, covering the forest floor in shadows. the glade was, like always, illuminated with thin beams of light, streaming in from between the pine needles. a pair of teenagers, a girl and a boy, were sitting in the glade together. the girl was weaving a crown out of daises, and the boy was sitting against a tree, lightly plucking the strings of a guitar and humming softly to himself.
“finished!” the girl exclaimed as she tucked the last stem into place. she looked up, waving the boy over to her. “come over, wilbur, i need to make sure it fits.”
the boy smiled, setting his guitar gently on the ground and walked over to the flower patch. “another one? you’re spoiling me, niki, honestly.”
niki scoffed as wilbur sat down, his unfairly long legs parting the flowers. “i am not spoiling you, will. you deserve all the flower crowns in the world.” she reached up and placed the daisy crown on his head, adjusting the velvety petals so they wouldn’t be obscured by his fluffy hair. “there. how does it fit?”
wilbur reached up and tugged gently at the crown. “perfect, as always. i don’t know how you make these so well every time. what are you, a nymph?”
she snorted, punching him in the arm. “it’s really not that hard. your hands are just too big.”
“they are not ,” wilbur gasped incredulously, placing a hand on his chest. “my hands are normal, thank you very much. yours are just small. everything about you is small, actually.” he grabbed niki’s hand and stood, pulling her up as he did, then rested his forearm on the top of her head. “i’m still convinced you’re an elf, niki. there’s no other explanation as to how you’re so tiny—”
“i’m average height, will!” niki laughed, shoving wilbur’s arm off of her head. “it’s not my fault you’re a giant. and if you call me short one more time, i’ll...i’ll climb up a tree!”
“you’ll climb a tree ? the hell kind of a threat is that?”
“a good one!” niki crossed her arms over her chest. “i’ll climb a tree, and i won’t come down! and then who will listen to your songs?”
wilbur immediately shook his head. “alright, i take it back. you’re totally normal-sized and definitely not a pixie.”
niki nodded triumphantly, walking over to the tree and picking up wilbur’s guitar. “that’s what i thought. can’t lose your most loyal and only audience member, right? and speaking of your songs, i seem to recall you writing a new one.” she held the guitar out to him. “care to let me have a listen?”
wilbur took the guitar from her, and the two of them sat back down in the middle of the flower patch. “it’s not done, you know,” he warned, giving the strings a strum. “i only have a chord progression and one verse.”
“i don’t care.” niki waved a hand dismissively. “i wanna hear it!”
“if you say so.” wilbur began to pluck a gentle melody, his fingers dancing across the frets. it was a nostalgic sort of sound, and it was much calmer than some of the other songs wilbur had written recently.
“ maybe one day i’ll live in la jolla, drinking cocktails out over the water. my own personal sunset, to give each day its own diploma… ”
niki tilted her head, letting the soothing notes wash over her. the music filled the glade, creating a comforting aura, and as wilbur strummed the last few notes, niki opened her eyes and smiled.
“la jolla, huh? didn’t know you were a california type.”
wilbur smiled bashfully, reaching up to adjust his flower crown. “heard it’s pretty nice there. got a great big sky and everything. bigger than the one we’ve got here in hatchetfield, at least.”
“you’ve got a point,” niki replied. “maybe la jolla wouldn’t be so bad.”
“it would be a big change,” wilbur agreed, picking at his strings absentmindedly. “but yeah, anywhere is better than here.”
“i disagree with that.” wilbur glanced over to see niki twirling a daisy between her fingers.
“care to elaborate?” he prompted. niki shrugged in response.
“i just don’t think anywhere could be better than here ,” she said, emphasizing the last word. she gestured with her hand. “this glade, i mean. maybe our sky isn’t as big as the one in la jolla, but...”
“i get what you mean.” wilbur tilted his head back to gaze up at the clouds. “nothing could ever beat the glade. how long have we been coming here, anyway? it’s been, what, two years since we found this place?”
“three, i think. the day we became friends, remember?” niki’s voice became wistful as she reminisced. “you helped me sneak out of detention, and we ran into the woods.”
“remind me why we were in detention again?”
niki rolled her eyes. “ you were in there because you talked back to your math teacher. i was in there because i punched schlatt in the face after he put gum in my hair—i still regret that, by the way.”
wilbur cracked a grin. “come on, he deserved that one.”
“i broke his nose, will.”
“again, he deserved it! that was the year schlatt really started to act like an asshole, you know. hell, i wanted to punch him in the face myself, but you throw a better right hook than i ever could. best day of my life, honestly.”
“i’m truly flattered,” niki said. “you know, me punching schlatt did lead to the two of us becoming friends, so i guess i don't regret it that much…”
“just admit that you enjoyed breaking his nose,” wilbur teased.
“will—”
“ niki. ”
“ fine. it was extremely satisfying watching him burst into tears when he realized he was bleeding. but seriously, wilbur, i’m really glad you’re my friend.”
wilbur was silent for a moment, and then he reached out grabbed niki’s hand. he squeezed her fingers gently.
“i’m glad you’re my friend, too.”
niki squeezed back. “don’t let go, okay?” they were now grasping each other’s hands like lifelines.
“i won’t.”
(a few years after this moment in the flower patch, niki and wilbur let go. they drift apart. their little world inside the glade is left behind, only a distant memory lost to the cruelty of time.
but you know what they say about soulmates, right? no matter what, they always find their ways back to each other. after all, the universe is infinite.
for niki and wilbur, it takes sixteen years.
when they finally reunite, time has taken a toll on them both, and yet, simultaneously, it’s almost as if no time has passed at all.)