Leaves flew in circles around Kate as she stepped out of her father’s truck. The wind died down and the leaves plunged back towards the ground; Kate allowed the sunlight to hit her face and for a second she actually felt free, something she hadn’t felt since her mother and her grandmother was killed by a drunk driver last December. As she made her way to the back of the bright red truck she dragged her toes with every step she took and sucked in the crisp autumn air; her dad had already hauled her suitcase and her trunk out of the bed of the truck. She scanned the outside of the campus; the other students appeared to already have formed cliques. Kate was not very good at making new friends and she had a strange feeling this was not going to be different. She rolled the suitcase behind and her dad carried her trunk to her new dorm room.
Weeks passed by. The tree branches were naked and frost covered the grass. Kate walked to class in the cold by herself from her class to her dorm by herself like she did every day, her head hung down and her eyes followed the sidewalk which guided her to her next class. Many students passed by her, they didn’t make eye contact with her and she didn’t make eye contact with them; like a stone in a river they flowed around her. The mob of students grew fewer by the second until it was just Kate; time was no longer valuable to Kate. She stepped off the sidewalk onto the frozen dirt. She walked towards the forest nearby. The winter breeze whistled through the trees she felt as if the forest was calling to her , telling her to come closer, telling her it was safe inside.
Kate kept walking until the trance of the trees wore off on her and she could no longer see the university. She swung her backpack off her shoulders, and then she bent down to unzip her backpack and fish for her camera. After she found it, she bowed her head and strung the neck strap around her neck. She shielded her eyes from the overcast sky lit up by the glow of the sun as she glanced up at the nearest tree, her arms reached for a branch so she could hoist herself up. She perched herself up about 30 feet and trusted the strong arms of the sycamore would hold her. For about ten minutes she enjoyed the serenity of her new found sanctuary, she inhaled her chilly winter air. Her camera rested in her lap and her arms were folded across her chest, then on the next branch over a cardinal landed. Kate slowly and quietly unfolded her arms and removed the lens cap from her camera, then as she pulled the camera towards her eyes then a holler from down below startled the bird and it flapped its wings and it was gone.
“Shouldn’t you be studying or something?” a voice Kate had never heard before rang out from below.
Kate glanced down to identify the voice. A boy stood at the trunk of the tree. “I’m Owen ,” he cupped his hands over his mouth to project his voice.
“That’s great, Owen. Now leave me alone,” Kate searched the sky for the cardinal.
Owen squinted his eyes and looked up at Kate, “Climb down here. Surely you won’t jump, you wouldn’t die you would just hit the ground every bone in your body would break and your body would cringe from all the pain.”
Reluctantly, she descended from her sanctuary above. She swung her backpack back over her shoulders and walked away from Owen. He followed her all the way out of the woods.

The next day, Kate re-entered the woods and Owen was waiting for at the base of the tree, he grasped two mugs in his hand. He had raked he fallen leaves into a pile around the base of the sycamore tree and he had two blankets neatly folded near him.

“Coffeé?” he held up one of the mug.

“No thanks. I’m more of a tea girl. You didn’t have to do this by the way.” Kate pointed to the leaf pile and the blankets.

“Oh please, it’s what any good friend would do,” he watched his air freeze in the air as he exhaled it.

“I have no friends.”

“Now you do.”

Kate sat down and pulled the blanket over her legs. The sun sank behind the earth; Kate realized how long she spent talking to Owen. She understood for the first time what friendship is.

For weeks, Kate and Owen met in the woods. Until one day, the blankets weren’t there neither was Owen. Kate sprinted out of the woods. Her heart beat and her feet were in a close race. The trees were a blur in the corner of her eye. When she reached the campus lawn Kate’s eyes were immediately drawn to the flashing lights of an ambulance. The panic that she had been trying to control consumed Kate and she speed up her pace even more. As she neared the ambulance she saw a team of medics rush out a body out of one of the buildings on campus. The medics ran the stretcher right passed Kate, and she immediately realized it was Owen, his shirt were soaked in blood. She noticed he had cuts on his wrists that were waterfalls of blood. The medics lifted Owen into the ambulance. Kate screamed as the medics closed the doors of the ambulance then it speed off.

Overwhelmed and confused, Kate stumbled in the forest again. Disoriented and appalled, Kate stood on the roots of the sycamore. She grasped the branches of the tree; her arms shook as they carried her up the tree. Kate climbed to the top of the tree and cried until her fingers were numb and her tears froze on her rosy cheeks. The cardinal returned to the tree for the first time since Owen and Kate met. Kate threw a twig at it out of anger and it disappeared into the forest once again.

In hope that the shuttle bus from the university to the nearest town was on time, Kate ran to the parking lot. Shaking from the cold and the trauma of Owen’s still unknown accident, Kate dropped her loose change in the bucket next to the driver’s seat. Thoughts of her mother and her grandmother’s deaths leaked back in Kate’s mind.

The doors to the bus opened and Kate leaped off. She sped down the streets to the hospital. The fear inside of her reminded her of the fear that she saw in her father’s eyes when he answered the phone call informing him of her mother’s accident.

Kate throw open the hospital doors, up the stairs, and down the hallway to Owen’s room. She was too late. Owen had slit his wrists after hearing about his uncle’s death. Then, he lost so much blood he passed out and got a concussion when his head hit the floor, while he was being rushed to the hospital he slipped into a coma. His heart stopped beating five minutes before Kate arrived. Kate was disturbed by the loss of her only friend, ever.
As time passed, wrinkles replaced Kate’s youthful skin. Her knees cried out in pain with every step she took. Her hair was stained gray by age . Although Kate had lost memory of many of her most precious moments of her life, she never forgot a minute of what happened on that icy afternoon, the event was frozen in her mind. The thought haunted her every day. It had been years since she had seen her old college campus or since she had visited Lauren’s grave. She felt more alone than she had ever felt before; she lacked motivation for anything, she had nothing left to do but slow rot away in a nursing home. Kate pressed her forehead against the glass of her window and observed the excitement of the birds eating the seed she had laid out on the window sill. She opened the window and a timid sparrow hopped into her
The nurse knocked on her door and came in, “You didn’t let the birds again now did you, Ms. Austen?”
“No, they came in inspired by their own free will,” these words floated out of Kate’s mouth like a song.
“Sure. Well, anyways you have an appointment with Dr. Shepherd today so let me help you get out of the chair,” the nurse She escorted Kate to the disability van. The van was headed to the hospital when suddenly a motorcycle swerved in front of the bus. The van smashed into the cyclist and the impact sent Kate flying out of the van and shattering the windshield, her body then slide across the road. Kate lay on her back; the sounds of panic were faint when heard through her ears. The hot asphalt warmed her body; she gazed up at the clear blue sky as a cardinal flew across the horizon. Kate smiled. She closed her eyes and never opened them again.