Free Choice ( Re-vision)

This time, she would have a hard time lying to cover up the gash: running from nearly her elbow to the middle of her forearm and deep too. Washing it with care, not a wince, she wrapped the cut and pulled over a sweatshirt. Sweaty as she was, she knew mom would ask fewer questions this way.
Ellie-Anna loved adventures. The outdoors was her turf, and no matter how tough the terrain, her spirit was always tougher. Ellie had found an old pair of hiking boots for real cheap one time at a garage sale, and begged and pleaded till’ her daddy got um’ for her. They were a bit large at first, and rubbed at her heels making blisters. But she loved them no less, and loved most what they stood for: excitement. In time, she grew into them perfectly, and they never left her side.
Ellie had treasure boxes brimming of trinkets she’d collected on all her excellent expeditions. A perfectly smooth rock, with streaks of red in it, an acorn a squirrel forgot to store away for winter, even a single sleek falcon feather, which was of course, her favorite treasure of all.
All of this adventure business would have been just fine, except for the fact that Ellie’s mom didn’t agree with her daughter “romping around in the mud,” and contracting “every disease known to man,” in the “dirty, slimy bacteria infested woods,” as her mom put it. “Nature is for those savages and wild beasts Anna, not my darling girl,” her mom would say. Ellie hated when her mother called her Anna. Ellie and her mom didn’t see eye to eye on a lot of things, and in fact, there was really only one person who did understand Ellie the best: her dad. Ellie’s mom and dad had split up when she was around seven. Ellie’s mom somehow ended up getting her more of the time than her dad did, which suited Ellie’s mom just fine. She liked to teach her daughter proper etiquette and manners. Yet, “Anna” was obviously miserable being inside all day, not free to roam in the wild like she so loved to do.
The only reprieve that Ellie had from being confined to the house was when her mom drove into town, to run an errand, or to see her boyfriend for an hour or two. Ellie would wait for five minutes after hearing the screen door down stairs spring shut. Then she would bolt out of the house, hopping into her old boots, backpack in tow, flinging open the old gate, and break into a sprint for the mystical forest. Before she even reached the edge of the forest, she would stop, and take a real deep breath. Ellie could smell the moisture, the decay, the foliage, even with her eyes closed. She could hear the calls of birds to their mates, and see bugs scampering across the forest floor. Trees spread their leaves out overhead, so barely any sunlight poked through, and mosses carpeted the rocks and roots engulfing the land with green. Ellie walked with her head tilted back in wonder, eyes searching the canopy, watching nature’s splendor unfold before her. Untouched trail, she was alone, but never had she felt so alive before. Up ahead there was a little stream, it tinkled on its way thorough the forest. Something glinting between the river stones caught her eye. She reached down to grab it, and fished out a tiny moss covered gold pendant with a “D” engraved on the back of it. Someone must have long lost it before: people rarely visit these woods.