I was in the woods looking for mushrooms, fruits, berries, and herbs just like I did every day. The sun was shining and the leaves swayed in the wind. A nearby stream gently flowed near me.
I bent down to pick the herb my mother had asked me to find that we called strawberry grass. I knew it had a different name than that, but my family always used our own names for herbs. My mother told me that our family had been doing this for generations to keep our remedies content secret from others.
My mother and father had always told me and my brothers that there were people who sought how to make our remedies and to keep them secret, our ancestors came up with different names for all the herbs we used that where only known by our family. Due to this all of us called the herbs different names than outsiders did.
Not that I didn't know what outsiders called them. Unlike my brothers, I like to study, so I always asked to read the books. I knew the traditional names and our family names for the herbs and anything else we put in our remedies.
2 of my brothers, preferred brute force instead of thinking most of the time. My mom said it was just because they were boys, but I didn't think that was true. My father was levelheaded and love to study. If it was something to do with them being boys wouldn't my father be the same?
Anyways, it really didn't matter that I knew this none of us other than mother and father had ever been off our mountain or out of our forest. They told us that this was a special place where our family grew up for generations. Eventually, when we got older, we may move down the mountain far away to a town where my uncles live but we may not. Our parents told us it was completely up to what path we were meant for. I didn't know what that meant but I also really didn't care.
If it was something really important, my parents would tell me, and if it wasn't, I didn't need to know. I just wish my brothers could understand that they were always questioning my parents, wanting to learn more wondering why we couldn't go outside and why no one ever came to us.
Personally, I had better things to do with my days, then worry about things that I couldn't change. My goals were keeping my family happy and healthy, and I did that by finding herbs and other things that my family needed out in our Woods.
I never understood why my brothers always wanted to go down the mountain with my parents and out of the woods when they sold their remedies. It just sounded like a lot of walking to me, but they were adamant.
Raymond, we always called him Ray. Was the oldest had a thick head of light brown hair, Blue eyes that look Like this Sky, And light pale skin just barely kissed by the sun. he grew like a weed being the tallest among us which made sense since he was the oldest at 14.
He Is very kind and caring. He always looked out for me when my other two brothers tried to gang up on me or take my stuff, but he still was always looking for something more to do with his life which confused me. I didn't think he needed anything more. What could he ask for life was great here.
Mitchell, Known to the rest of the family as Mike and known to me as Mikey was the second oldest and the most outgoing. there wasn't an inch of our woods or mountain that he hadn't tried to get to, but tried was definitely the best word for it. As adventurous as he was, he wasn't very good at thinking ahead and that caused him to not get very far. he usually ended up having to be carried home by Ray with a sprained ankle or a lump on his head. Even though he is crazy he is very sweet. He's always making sure that we were happy and if you weren't, he would go out of his way to make you smile.
He was 13 going on 2 in my opinion he never acted his age. He had realy blonde curly hair and green eyes mount the bright, shiny kind the kind more like a dirty weed. he had freckles on his face which really stuck out with his overly pale skin. The only place that tanned was his arms. He had a very severe farmers tan as my father called it. He was a bit short for his age. Mom said that was because he ran around too much so he used up all his energy that he needed to grow.
My third oldest brother is Benedict and you guessed that we called him Ben. he was more quiet he like to go off on his own and carve sculptures out of wood. I always knew where to find him because we both like the same places. If he was in a good mood, he would let me sit with him and I would read a book while he carved, but him and Mike together oh my gosh, he turned into someone else! those two were trouble when you put them together. He was the brains and Mike was the bronze and put them together and they could get a lot done which always caused me trouble.
Ben has really dark brown hair and eyes. his hair was straight as a board. he's the only one of us who Didn't have the complexion of a snowman, which was odd because he stated doors more than any of us!
The one thing they all had in common is that without me, they would've died a long time ago!