[Wachsende]

Part I – Discovery

Andy and Alison had been best friends practically out of the womb. They lived out in the country, where there could be a mile or more between houses. They themselves lived in a little enclave the middle of the woods of about six houses off a single lane tar and gravel road that went on for miles in each direction before the thick trees gave way to grassy fields. One might even say that Andy and Alison were destined to be friends: they were the only two kids in their "neighborhood" even close to the same age. Sam Jenkins on the corner house was about to graduate high school, and little Timmy Johnson had just made it out of diapers.
On the day our story begins, Andy and Alison were engaged in the activity that ate up the majority of their time when they were on break: exploring the wilderness that surrounded them. It was a frigid Vermont December day, but both children had several layers of protective clothing on: wool socks peeking out from under well-worn water-proofed boots covered the bottom edges of thick, insulated snow pants, Andy's a navy blue and Alison's a pale Easter pink. With several layers of shirts and thick jackets, they looked more like walking kaleidoscopic marshmellows.
Further out than they'd ever proceeded before, they climbed down the high, steep bank of the riverbed slowly and carefully. The brook itself was familar to them, but the current was much stronger this far upstream and the melting snow made it flow that much stronger. The lingering snow on the hill, meanwhile, obscured the ground's features and made every step tenuous.
Alison, a year younger than her cohort at 10, failed to take one step carefully enough. The dried leaves under the snow immediately slid out under the weight of her foot, lubricated by the wet muddy ground. Her feet swept out from under her, she landed hard on her butt and slid down the steep bank like a slide. The rocky shore provided enough traction to halt her momentum.
It was from this position, still smarting from her rough descent, that she first noticed the green stone. Her eyes didn't leave it, even as she answered Andy's frenzied call from the bank above. "I'm fine," she called back distractedly as she noticed the way it seemed to glow from the inside out — like a lantern. "I just found something really cool."
From above, still hugging the side of the hill, Andy exhaled a sigh of relief. His friend couldn't have been hurt too bad if her thoughts had already drifted to something else. They'd had similar close calls countless times in these woods, and he resumed his more careful trajectory toward the rocky shore.
Back on her feet, Alison wattled slowly under the bulk of her clothing to the edge of the fast-moving water. Andy walked up and stood right behind her.
The stone was floating two feet in front of them on the water's surface. When Alison had first caught sight of it, she'd assumed that it had washed up onto one of the boulders that jutted out of the water. As both of them could now see, it wasn't anchored by anything. It simply floated there, in clear and callous defiance of the laws of nature that should have dragged it swiftly downstream.
This fact made 11-year-old Andy uneasy. There was something aberrant about the glowing emerald stone. He reached out to grab Alison's arm and draw her back to the shore.
But his friend had already stepped forward, sinking one boot into the  frigid current, to get a closer look. The closer she got, the more it drew her in. Without thinking, her left hand pulled the glove off her right hand. Without thinking, her bare right hand reached out and closed around the stone.
A warm buzz prickled down her arm and out toward both her hand and feet. She looked back down at the stone, which no longer glowed and looked like quite an ordinary emerald. She knew without knowing how she knew that if she tossed it back in the water the rock would flow away now without argument. Instead, however, she slipped it into her jacket pocket and replaced the glove on her hand.
When she turned around, Andy  — his view blocked by her bulky back — asked whether she'd grabbed the stone. She shook her head and shrugged. "It must have come unsnagged," she told him. "It shot down stream just as I reached for it."
As they reached the level ground above the the stream, Andy shook his head from behind as he watched his friend a few steps ahead weave her way back in the direction they'd come. Sometimes she could be his twin they were so similar, he thought, but times like just then the age diffrence between him and his friend — Alison was not only a year young but came from a short family that left her nearly a head shorter than himself — shone through.
Ahead of him Alison trudged on, enjoying the way the warm prickle felt as it continued to sweep up and down her compact form.

[Samurai]

Keep up the good work! Can't wait until the next installment.

[cwmoss]

Great build up Wachsende. I'm lookimg foreward to your next post.

[Wachsende]

I have no idea where I'm going with this, guys, so hold tight!:) Part two should be up in a few days.

[Beetlebomb]

Great to see you writing a new story! I'm looking forward to reading the rest, Wach. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

An interesting start…
It will be interesting to see the plot development ;D

[Wachsende]

The holidays have me all discombobulated; I will get back to this eventually, I promise:)

[Beetlebomb]

Really looking forward to it, Wach. I've been literally checking this thread once everyday i'd say. Your last story was amazing, like i've said in the past.

Beetlebomb

[Samurai]

Gah, I can't wait for another installment.

[cwmoss]

Ya, I'm betting this is going to be good.

[Author]

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