The Clearing

Intro:
My fan-fic is based on the seminal drama serial Twin Peaks which was created by David Lynch and Mark Frost. 


Agent Cooper had warned Agent Danfield about the charms of the Douglas fir tree. As he whisked down the highway alongside these magnificent beasts he felt a chilly aura start to surround his car. It wasn’t until he stepped out of the car and confronted the trees that they fully en-wrapped him with their spirit.

He stood with a warm smile as his pale face slapped roughly against the freezing mountain air.

“These trees, these trees are just… something else.” He gasped as a cloud of fog formed around his head. Just as he went to take in another gulp of glacial oxygen he heard a loud rumbling emerge from the trees below him.

“And apparently these trees walk too." He thought to himself, half-expecting the roots of the trees to start inching their way towards him. However against the dark green opus of the trees a shiny porcelain face sprouted out.

Holding a log in one hand and slashing the empty night air with her other she hovered towards Agent Danfield.

“You like these tree’s don’t you?” she shouted as she clamored up the small hill to where Agent Danfield was standing.

“The Log Lady!” “That’s who this marvelous woman is!" He spluttered out aloud remembering Agent Cooper’s lively description of a log-carrying middle-aged woman.

“Yup, it’s me.” she replied with the utmost confidence.

“I’ve got something to show you!” she swiftly cooed as she swashbuckled back into the green abyss of the forest. Agent Danfield didn’t hesitate in following her, quickly switching of his car lights, slamming the door shut and scuffling down the slightly muddied track.

The smell of pine gave the night air a fragrance of romantic melancholy. He struggled to hear the Log Lady’s footsteps and every now and then they would become so faint he would have to break into a frenzied sprint to catch up. But she also illuminated the path letting rip with anecdotes about Laura Palmer.

“She use to run around these woods at night, high on sadness, crippled with confusion, Her skin as naked as the barest full-moon. It was her hellish reverie."

“So this was this poor girl’s playground." he contemplated to himself as he sharply returned to the reality that he was in this small town to solve this young girls murder. The night air suddenly lost its charming nature as the sound of owls hooting bounced back and forth between the lumbering trees. The Log Lady hadn't spoken for ten minutes and her scuttling footsteps had dissolved into the increasingly unnerving atmosphere.

Just as a sense of fear started to overtake him, Agent Danfield arrived at a circular clearing where an old fashioned metal wash bucket was sitting a top of a tree stump. Just as he walked over to inspect the contents of the bucket a bright light violently flashed across his eyes.

“Look at this.” The Log Lady appeared from behind a flashlight with a look of intrigue plastered across her face.

As the torch floated above the wash bucket the contents became clear. A blood stained denim shirt sat in a quarter-cup of soapy, stagnant water.

“Look inside it.” the Log Lady said prodding at Agent Danfield’s arm.

As he gathered the half drenched shirt and shook it on the ground a small pink purse fell out. Agent Danfield picked up the purse and carefully unclipped it.

Grabbing the flashlight he held it at a perfect angle to ensure he could make out everything inside. Inside laid bloodied nails, which were painted in a poisonous purple nail polish. Gleaming within the nails was a gold heart necklace that Agent Danfield plucked out with a tissue, and held up to the torch.

“To Laura, love always.” It read as he sat down on the tree stump trying to decipher it’s meaning.

“You can give it to her, she’ll be here soon.” the Log Lady rather delicately shared.

“Who? Laura?” Agent Danfield replied with a puzzled expression. Just as that last word dropped out of his mouth a white silhouette started to whirl around the edges of the clearing. A sweet melody of a girl’s laughter and whistling filled the deafness that had been present. Suddenly the light started to slow before finally coming to a crawl and making its way towards Agent Danfield.

“I used to love that necklace, my mom brought if for me.” The spirit whispered. The glow around the silhouette receded enough for them to make out Laura Palmer’s sweet and tender face.

“But someone stole it from me.” 

“Would you like it back?” he gently asked her.

The spirit’s gaze turned towards the stars as tears started to hit the iced- over dirt. The full moon suddenly came into sight from behind the most  abstract floating cloud. The moon’s light shone on her face, revealing puffy eyes, a smattering of pink blush and a glassy coating of cherry lipstick. She was wearing a red and white corseted bunny suit, which was loose at the back and almost falling out of place. She lamely thrust her body onto the tree stump and started to recall her last hours on earth.

“I had just finished work at One Eyed Jack’s, and I was about to grab a ride with one of my friends on his motorbike.” She took deep breathes in between every word she spoke.

“But then I felt the need to take a run in the woods, I love these woods." "But someone was following me…’’ she started to quiver the further along she got into the story.

“My mother.”

“She thought I was having an affair with one of the teachers at my school, and thought I met them in the woods.” She explained.

“I guess she was half-right, but it was more than one stupid teacher.” she laughed with devilish exasperation.

“She thought I was being unholy so she ripped the necklace off around my neck and told me I had to change my ways. And I told her to run back to her pedophile of a husband.”

Suddenly a loud gunshot went off and Agent Danfield ducked for cover. It echoed forever in the increasingly lightening sky.

“It sounded exactly like that.” the Log Lady shouted over the resounding noise of the gunshot she had just let off with.

“Her mother shot her in cold blood.” The log lady revealed as Laura started to silently weep.

“Yes my mother gave me that necklace and violently stole it from me.” she scoffed.

Agent Danfield didn’t notice how many tears were rolling down his cheeks as he looked at Laura’s bulging blue eyes. As the morning bird's song greeted the rising sun, Laura’s spirit picked up the necklace and gave it to Agent Danfield.

“Here you can have this.” she lushly whispered to him as she waltzed slowly into the anonymous kaleidoscope of the morning mist and those majestic Douglas fir trees.


End


Disclaimer- I don't own this .