“I wanted to see the old structure… it’s somewhere,” Rylee squints into the forest looking between her map and the greenery.

“We’re lost,” Ravi says in a foreign accent, making Rylee grin from over her yellowed map.

“We are not lost. It’s the forest. You can’t get lost in it. You walk one way, and… eventually you’ll find your way out.”

“You don’t know where we are,” Ravi looks at her, scowling. “We are lost.”

“I do know where we’re at,” she snaps, “we’re in the forest. And It’s hot.”

“We are not. We’re in a forest and lost. There’s a difference,” he says, going left.

“That isn’t the right way,” she calls, but follows him anyways, looking up at the trees.

“America is freaky,” Ravi says at random.

“How?” Rylee is still looking at the map, wondering if she’s been holding it upside down the whole hike, which does seem highly likely by the looks of that pine. And how long was it when they stepped from the gravel path…? There was a gravel path. Right?

“Just is,” Ravi shrugs, hands in his pockets.

“There’s a brown box on the map, Rav. Think that’s gunna be the old ruins?” She changes the subject on him, leaving him confused.

“You- what?”

“I mean… do you see an angry tree?”

“A fucking what?” He turns to her.

“A fucking angry tree.”

“What is that?” He asks, staring at the side of her face, which is rare, sense he’s shy. Rylee shrugs, turning the map this way and that.

“A mad tree. Look at a tree. Does it look mad? Angry? Troubled?” She spins on her heels, looking through the trees.

“They all do. It’s so dry and hot here. I’m mad too. I’m not even a tree. If we stand here any longer, though, my feet might take root to the ground.”

The girl walks over to Ravi and touches his chest, briefly looking into his eyes, before walking towards the abandoned tunnel.

“We’re going in there?” His voice is distant and slightly hoarse, he’s probably confused by the girl’s actions again. Through the entrance, Rylee and Ravi cross a chilly air pocket and stumble right into a bustling street.

“What the fuck?” Ravi grabs Rylee’s wrist and pulls her out of the way of a man carrying a donkey.

The girl smacks him on the shoulder lightly and scowls at him. He makes a snorting noise and turns away, a light blush messing with his cute cheeks. He hides a smile with his hand, shaking his leg lightly.

Around them, people scatter about, wearing clothes that aren’t up to date. Horses drag carts and children mill about carrying wooden crates, helping their parents with the morning chores. A group of boys carry notebooks, skipping to school and tossing rocks at girls washing clothes in metal bins. A man with a black handlebar mustache strolls by with a black cane, only inches from Rylee.

“Like I said, what the f-“ Someone passes right through Ravi, who stops talking and stumbles backwards, bracing himself on an old brick wall with messy molding. And crumbling red brick. Rylee reaches out to the nearest person- her hand flies right through the tall man.

“Aw, hell naw.”

“It’s a fucking town,” Ravi says.

“No shit, Sherlock.” Rylee pulls Ravi through the entrance the the town. Together, they stumble back into their green world, shaking and confused.

Maybe they didn’t find an angry tree, but they sure as hell found a memory.