The Storyteller’s Spot

Contrary to all my expectations, it’s finally not so bad around here. Well, don’t misunderstand me, it’s bad! It’s hell bad! It’s a prison after all, lost in the middle of nowhere, so far from any city than they probably shouldn’t bother with walls and guards. It’s not like kids like us could survive in plain nature on their own.
In a way, it could be worst. I know, some says it could always be worst, but it’s all talk. When you’re in it, your first thought isn’t about how much more nightmarish it could be. At least I don’t think so. A guy who could think like that, that just mean he lived through much more horrible and devastating events if it’s what goes through his mind as soon as he came here.

The first thing on my agenda was to find at least one nest, more would be nice. If I want to stay sane … as sane as I could be anyway, it’s the first step. Empty old forgotten room, lost space on the top of the ceiling, forbidden shed or machine room. Anything!

As soon as I pass the door to the back area, I spotted the ideal place. Imagine! Everything is green around here, so my first impression was a wall of green, only green, green and green everywhere. And brown!

In an ocean of green, there is also a small patch of brown. And yes, it’s a tree, an old broken one. The one looking like an umbrella, but an umbrella who goes from head to foot. Making like a small house of sort. And that one was broken, in a weird Y shape. The broken trunk surging from the umbrella green leaves like a bad brown tooth.

That’s the place! That’s my secret base! Not thinking about anything else, I just run there, discovering at the last moment that the tree is on the verge of a small pond and I was at two inches to kiss the water. You know how I’m not so good at climbing trees, but that one was quite easy. With a bit of momentum, you just to have to run straight at it then you jump on the trunk and jump again to help you reach the wound and the new limb on it. Not a hard feat then to get to the fork of the Y.

From there, if you put away some of the leaves, you can see everything all around, but no one can see you. It’s like a real wall of leaves on multiple layers. And it’s well known, for those closing on the distance, nobody spent time looking up when searching for something. Some says it’s because, as a species, like we’ve got no enemies who could be coming from the sky, we just forget there could be worlds up there. Be it on the tree, of just the open sky. So, if you want to hide, it’s always better to do it on high places.
A perfect hiding place for me then. The most problematic parts will be to frequently get there unnoticed. It’s kind of the only lone tree on the flat land all around the place. I’ll have to work something for that.

Oh yes, that’s the same tree that I put in that wedding story for the head keeper. See, I absolutely didn’t know how to do that … thing he asked. I was on my spot, looking at the clouds, when I noticed all the different bird songs all around. And well, if talking about faces could be quite hard, I got no problem with birds. Don’t ask me why. So I started there.

The worst part was looking for all their names, send me shivers down my spine. I mean, how to see the names without thinking about the faces? Hard, right?

So anyway, I wrote a few lines about that in my base, then, I sneaked my way to the (empty at this hour) guard office and put it on his desk. I don’t know if that’s what he wanted but I don’t care any more, it’s done now.

Searching for other nests, I found a few planks and tools in a shed and I requisitioned them right away and hid them a bit further from the place. I’ll have to come back at night to move them where I wanted them but it mustn’t be a problem. That’s the story of my life, hiding from faces.

Later that night, I put all the stuff on the tree. It will need a bit of work but I can make a floor of sort with that so I won’t risk falling from there. I’m sure I can also make some ropes with the softer of the tree branches. Not to climb there easier, I mean, but to make a kind of railing or a kind of safety. I’ll be spending a lot of time there, so it seems to me it’s the minimum I needed. It’ll be stupid if I fall from the tree once or twice a week. It couldn’t be called a secret base anymore after that, right?

I made it all the next day. I also saw some of the tormentors searching for me here and there. Nothing out of the ordinary. They want me to stick with the other faces. No way I could.

The head persecutor wants me to talk about birds. As always, I can’t even figure what those faces are thinking. Never mind it, as if it’s something I can do in the first place. But it gave me the idea I could probably write something around it.

That one got a fake smiling face, the kind I hate the most.

Smiles are supposed to make you good inside, right? That’s why I said it’s faked, I could only sense insect crawling under my skin when that one stares at me. No happy though in that head of his. Must be hell to live in his head, with all the swarming bugs doing nasty things. Maybe he’ll leave me alone if I can write some weird bird things, something strange enough to let him think about it a few days or weeks if I could hope a bit. Then I’ll have to think about something else. It’s not like I can skip those counselling sessions with those shrinks either.

It’s been a few years since I’m in the maw of the system, but, like I can’t stand the presence of absolutely no one for more than a few minutes, I have a bit more liberties than others. Of sort. They can’t lock me in a room forever either. It would be torture or something like that. That’s what my advisor said in court. Well, in the same time I’m also supposed to be dangerous, the kind to murder everyone without thinking or even remembering it. A monster in a boy shape, demonic, ugly, abominable being.

But I got something like a tacit approval, that’s why they moved me in that new compound, I’ll have to be here for the important stuff, like the counselling or other official stuff. I have to keep my grade in the green, and don’t bother anyone. In exchange, I’m free to roam the place as long as I don’t leave the compound. Why? Because I’m a pain in the ass to watch, of course. I’m like a ninja. Last time they tried, they needed to be a dozen to watch after me 24/7. I had lots of fun, kind of, but them, I’m not so sure. It is better for everyone that way anyway, and I got the head persecutor approval, at least for now.

Oh, are ducks birds? There are some of them in the pond. I spent a few hours the other day watching them. I haven’t seen them fly? Are there some birds who can’t fly? I supposed I could always search the library for that? Seems like a plan for next week.