Under the Apple Tree

She stands underneath the apple tree just beyond the school yard. Her golden hair glistening in the sun and her long finger nails digging into her chest, as tears cascade down her arched cheekbones. Her tremulous weeping as faint as a mouse’s breath. She gazes at the school and the toxic memories flood her shrivelling mind. The tree was her safe place, with him. Its leaves descending gently, floating in the swirling wind. Its roots in a protruding tangle and its fruitful mass sprawled on the ground where they stood. As the scarlet apples fell, this haven was host to their poisonous kiss. Back then, she was unaware of his repellent blackened core. From the tree a venomous relationship grew, like a seed into evergreen life. Its branches grotesquely contorted like a deformed hand. Like the hand that picked her purity as if it was the last emerald leaf in a season of brown. He whispered secret melodies into her ear and brushed her hair, weaving it with his dagger-like fingers. Her youthful beauty intrigued him, like the scent of meat to a hound. He lusted after her, whilst he entranced her. She was within his tight grasp. Trapped in his illusion of love, his sweet words swirling around her naive mind like a carousel. The horses seemed to be in perpetual motion. His embrace became a dangerous addiction and when under the tree their hands intertwined as if they would never separate. However, when they were not hiding their passions at the apple tree, they were ignoring each others existence, as teacher and student.

Their scandal was kept secret as if he had stitched her mouth together. Their virulent affair created a seed of new life, squeezing her stomach into sickness. Her heart burned as if a tiny bonfire was lit within her blood, her head was fuzzy and her knees shook as she looked upon the test. The dreaded pink cross appeared slowly like paint drying on a damp wall and her eyes widened as if popping from their sockets. She gasped for air as she cupped her head within her hands, tears merging with her bubbling snot as she screamed. Her breathing was heavy as though the weight upon her shoulders had hit against her chest. She gripped her stomach and cried for it to be a nightmare, over and over and over.

She wrapped her blazer around herself and left her hair in a straggle. She splashed her blotched face with icy cold water and she ate her cereal like it was her last meal. As she reached the school yard she felt a huge mass of trepidation. Her whole body immersed in a nervous shake as she walked through the cold blue hallways, passing the cheerleaders screeching with joy. Their legs kicking with excitement for life. An excitement which she longed to feel again but feared she never would. She feared her prosperous life would be snatched away with the birth of her child. Most mothers radiate happiness, but depression walked close beside her as she slowly climbed the stairs. A climb which seemed like a mountain expedition, the frosty air making the world stand still. All she could hear was her muffled heart beat in her ears. She reached the top without ease, feeling as if she could collapse in a puddle of her own vomit at any moment. She clasped her hands as she entered his classroom where she had once gazed upon him as he taught, the walls covered in equations. He scrunched his bedraggled brown curls with his bony hands and sighed as she held up the test. He moved over to her and took her hands in his before whispering goodbye. She narrowed her eyes at him with disdain as she swiftly left the room.

The master manipulator had abandoned her waist deep in troubles, too hard to swim through by herself. He had shunned her. What he once saw as a thing of pleasure, he saw as a hindrance. He broke her heart as if he had sliced it with a sharpened knife. She thought his love was as deep as the ocean, but she then realised it was nothing more than a sludge filled puddle. A blaring fire roared all over her body. She clenched her fists and held in her anger as she leaped down the stairs like an antelope running from a lion, slid through the hallways like a falling ice skater and marched out of the main door slamming it behind her. The rain violently clashed around her. Her shoes squelched as she ran. She pictured his face beneath her feet as the mud drenched them. She spluttered in frustration as her lungs tired from her screams. All she saw was red whilst zooming through the streets, her plaid skirt flowing in the breeze and her hair stuck to her face in disarray. She wasn’t ready to water her seed and watch it grow. She wasn’t to ready brush away its fallen fruit, and tend to its every need. She couldn’t give it the life it needed and she didn’t want to try. She was alone, afraid of impending judgement from all who saw her rounded stomach. She was afraid of the blood curdling pain she would feel. She was afraid that she would never be the same again.

She stopped abruptly and dropped to her knees. Her skin turned white as she heaved. She encased her throat with her hands, preventing herself from throwing up. Her legs steadied as she rose to her feet. She knew what she had to do, what was best for her. She entered deaths nesting place, her mascara dripping down to her neck. She sat in the waiting room. She was shivering so rapidly that her teeth chittered. Her eyes were down as she felt the judgmental stares directed at her. A tall woman, stick thin, with a witch-like nose bigger than her heart and eyes glazed with disgust, approached her. The woman handed her a form. She grabbed the paper and swiftly turned away, her back shielding her from the powerful stares. Her hands trembling as she signed the life altering document.

~

She left, seedless. Her stomach loosened like the untying of a shoelace. Her face was grey and her eyes soulless. Despondently she walked back through the streets and just beyond the school. The tree still stood as if nothing had happened. Its branches stuck stiffly in the same position. She sat against it holding onto her knees as she curled almost into herself. Suddenly the last apple fell from the tree and landed at the side of her hip. She let go of her knees and held onto the apple. It was as red as anger but as soft as fresh mould. The apple desiccated as soon as it touched her bony hand. Her lips formed a sinister smile as she pictured revenge. She pulled her soaking wet phone from her pocket. Its screen hazelly blinking.

She stands at the tree watching the flashing lights and listening to the hum of sirens. She takes a deep breath and casts aside her tears. He leaves the building, his hands entwined in handcuffs, so compact his wrists were as red as the first spring apple. As he takes his final free steps, the students move to either side of him, like the parting sea of Moses. Except this sea was still red with outrage. His head gradually turns and he looks up at the tree with his snake-green eyes, in his peripheral vision he can see her. He looks down, trying to stop salt water falling. He becomes drowned in everlasting regret. His head is pushed, as he arches his back to fit his lanky body into the flashing car.

All that remained in his classroom now was a withered apple and a note which read “I hope you rot.” It was the last thing which his evil eyes had seen before his capture. This was her curse, he ruined two lives, so she desired to obliterate his. Like smashing a wine glass into a thousand shards or pulverizing a juicy apple.