Against her will, thoughts started to seep into her consciousness, trickling through a minute gap in the mental wall she had tried so hard to erect. She could no more stop them from entering than she could defer waves from lapping the shore. With a physical shrug, she relinquished the hold on the leash she held against her mind and resignedly allowed her thoughts to be swept away like fallen, withered leaves.

Soothed by the solitude and cool breeze, she felt her spirits lift ever so slightly. Her eyes lit upon an ancient rain tree, its branches sprawled out in an open, inviting manner. It was like walking into a grandfather's embrace, she mused as she approached it. How many children had clambered up its branches, giggling and shrieking with abandonment and delight? How many love-struck couples had exchanged vows and promises under its dark, romantic canopy? And how many whispered confessions and secrets had it lent its ears to in the long decades past? How many, like herself, had come to the silent wisdom of this ancient creature for answers to questions which were yet formulated in their minds?

She reached out and, reverently, touched the rough bark of the tree. "The stories you could tell," she murmured to it, fascinated, her eyes closed as if trying to hear a faint, distant voice. Bewilderingly touched, she wished she could convey the sentiments she felt so deeply about, adequately on canvas. She was interested in capturing not only the image but also the tales she was sure were hidden just beneath the façade. All she came up with so far though, was a fuzzy and vague idea to merge the word and the image.

She sighed, turned around and sat with her back against the strong trunk of the tree. The leaves of the rain tree were starting to open up again as the overcast sky began to clear. She remembered the recent conversation she had with her sister. There were times, many a time, when Emilie had wished she was like Elise. "What is it like to have no self-doubts at all?" she wondered.

Suppose, just for a minute, that she, Emilie, she mused haltingly, hardly daring to give voice to this absurd idea, had shed all her inhibitions, life would be pretty different, wouldn't it? She let her imagination run wild, just for a minute. Perhaps she would be able to out-talk the younger girl in an argument, for a change. Perhaps she wouldn't have to care what other people were saying about him and her, for a change. Perhaps then, just for once she could admit, to herself, mind, she does have some feelings for...

That thought did not get completed. Emilie's innate protective brakes had kicked into gear and had hastily quarantined that dangerous notion away in the crevices of her mind. Still chiding herself, she got up, brushed the dirt off her jeans and strode away into the breaking dawn.

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The passage above was part of my lil' sis's assignment. I thought she wrote beautifully (Isn't she brillant? ^_^ I wish I could write like that!!!) and hence asked her for permission to twitch it some and put it up on my blog. :)