Clementine woke up the next day to the same warm and dry air that she’s been used to her whole life, this morning marked a week since she had seen Fleur Forest. “Good morning” her mom named Linda called from the kitchen, where she was making breakfast. “Hi Mom,” Clementine said. “Hey Clementine, it’s nice to see you out of your room, I feel like I haven't seen you in a week,” said Clementine's dad, named Anthony, “Ant” for short. Ever since visiting that forest last week, Clementine has been living inside her thoughts pondering an explanation for what she saw, or didn’t see.

Clementine serves herself food from the stove that her mom made. Her mom and dad follow close behind her. Clementine serves herself an egg, two pieces of bacon, and a cup of orange juice, her favorite breakfast. As Clementine makes her way around the dining table, her parents sit down and she joins them.

“How’s college been going Clementine?”, Ant asked.

“Huh, oh it’s been exciting, I’m happy I get to take these classes that I love and the people at my school are amazing.”

“Is that so, sweetheart?” said Linda, “I’m happy for you, keep with your studies and you’ll be a veterinarian in no time”

“Thanks, Mom, I’m glad I get to focus specifically on animals, school subjects have never really been my thing,” Clementine mumbled, her mind elsewhere.

“That’s what a good education gets ya, we’re so proud of you Clementine.”

“Thanks, Dad,” as she and her parents were eating breakfast together, she couldn’t help but think of the forest.

Was it really there? What am I saying, of course, it was there, I saw it. Didn’t I?

“Thanks for the food, Mom,” said Clementine as she stood. “I’m gonna go on a drive,” she said as she looked for her shoes.

“Where are you going,” said Linda, furrowing her brows.

“Don’t tell me you’re going back to that town,” said Ant, clearly upset.

Clementine, still looking for her shoes with a distraught look on her face, barely even noticed her parents' words.

“Sweetie, you know we’ll always take your word as truth, but we saw it for ourselves,” Linda said with an understanding look on her face. “There was nothing but a desert.”

This caught Clementine’s attention, “I saw it, Mom, I’m going to prove it to you.” Clementine finally found her shoes and walked out the door heading to a black car that had been parked outside for about 3 minutes. Ant and Linda watched as she opened the passenger door, went into her friend’s car, and drove off without turning back.

“Hey Clem!” her friend said excitedly.

“Hey Rose, thanks for picking me up,” Clementine mumbled, without ever looking up.

Rose and Clementine have been inseparable ever since they met in their freshman year of high school. Similar to Clementine’s bright, wavy, strawberry blonde hair, Rose has straight, light brown hair.

“What’s wrong?” Rose asked, looking very concerned. “You haven’t responded to my messages in days, and then out of the blue, you ask to be picked up. Are you alright?”

Realizing that she’s worrying Rose, Clementine looks up and smiles, “I’m fine, thank you for checking on me.” Unsure of whether or not she should tell Rose about what she discovered last week in fear of Rose not believing her, she says, “Sorry, I’ve just been caught up in my thoughts lately, I hardly noticed my messages...”

Rose glances at her, and then back at the road. “Shoot!” The car comes to a screeching stop. “Sorry!” Rose yells out the window to a pedestrian walking by.

“Well anyway, what have you been up to?”

“I visited Kingston last week, took a walk,” Clementine responded.

“Kingston?” Rose asked. “Isn’t that the city that’s like an hour away?”

“Ya, I wanted to get out of Crumville for the weekend while we’re on summer break.”

“You should’ve invited me, Clem,” Rose says in a longing voice. “We would’ve had so much fun, I hear it’s a beautiful city,” says Rose. “What’s over there anyway?”

“That’s what I’m trying to figure out,” Clementine mumbled.

Rose pulled into the parking lot of a small diner that she and Clementine go to every Sunday at noon for lunch. Clementine couldn’t stop fidgeting, she was battling whether she should let Rose in on her secret. We’ve been best friends ever since I can remember. She believes in me, right? Right?

Rose, noticing the look on Clementine’s face, finally parks in a parking space. As the car comes to a stop Rose looks over, “What is it, Clem. I can tell something’s off, it’s more than just being busy, isn’t it.”

Clementine, fidgeting, an internal struggle is written all over her face, turns to Clementine and out of impulse says, “... I didn’t just go to Kingston...” Rose furrows her brows in confusion. “I sorta went to a forest,” Clementine looks down, not wanting Rose to see her face.

“A forest, but there’s no forest for hundreds of mi-”

“I know,” Clementine says anxiously looking right at Rose. “Trust me I know.”

“Well… how did you even- where did you even find this forest?”

“I was taking a stroll in Kingston, there are so many nice things over there and the scenery is so beautiful I didn’t want to go back just yet so I just kept walking”. Rose makes an audible uh huh sound. “Before you know it I’ve walked so far I must’ve left Kingston, and that’s when I saw a pathway to the most beautiful forest with the prettiest flowers.”

Rose has a look on her face as if Clementine was telling a folktale. “Clem, that doesn’t even make any sense, Kingston is the biggest city in the state, there’s no way you just took a stroll and left the city,” said Rose confused, trying to understand.

“Exactly, there's no way, it doesn’t make sense,” Clementine says with begging eyes. If you could see it you’d understand,” she says turning away from Rose clearly upset.

“Then let’s go,” Rose says seriously. “If what you said is true then let’s go.”

“You believe me- but what if it’s not there,” Clementine says concernedly. “I already tried showing my parents… and that didn’t go well.” Clementine looks away from Rose.

“Well we’ll never know unless we try,” Rose says as she puts the keys in her car and puts the car in reverse.

“What’re you doing,” Clementine says as they’re pulling out of the parking lot. She looks at Rose wondering what she’s doing. “What about lunch?”

“Forget lunch.”

  "I can't believe we're going on a road trip to Kingston right now," Clementine said astonished. "We're nowhere near ready, we were dressed to go to the local breakfast diner!"

       "Oh calm down it's only an hour trip," Rose said. In a lightened voice she said, "And hey! It'll give us time to just hang out and enjoy the music."

       "That's true, we haven't been able to talk in the past week. That's my fault sorry," Clementine said apologetically.

       Rose glances over, "That's ok Clem no need to apologize."

       "It's a little hot in here don't you think," Clementine said as she reached for the air conditioner knob.

       As they're going along the trip the air begins to become cooler and cooler from the AC. Clementine looks out the window for most of the ride to watch the scenery. In the first half of the trip, she saw a desert, over and over again. But she wasn't surprised, this is what she has been used to her whole life, she's only ever lived in Crumville. But as she neared closer and closer to Kingston, she began to see green, she saw green. Clementine was incredibly happy, she was so lost in her own thoughts she didn't pay attention to the environment around her. The air smelt fresh, like freshly cut grass. Kingston seemed to always have what felt like spring weather, a bit of a breeze, rains now and then, but all the while still sunny. This reminded Clementine of Fleur Forest. With a rush of new excitement, she stopped slouching in her seat and began taking in the scenery.