【活動】Forest【英翻中再創作】

         “How do you think about forest?” The girl asked me.

         She stood in front of me, but faced to the other side of the empty classroom. Her straight and long hair shone under the sunshine that came through the window.

         “Are you trying to use a question to answer my question?”

         I replied her calmly. During our last class of the day, our English teacher praised her in front of the whole class for her well-written essay about forest. That was why I wanted to ask her about her techniques to write the essay.

         “Forest is scary, isn’t it?”

         She totally ignored my previous question, instead was to continue talking. Nonetheless, I decided just to listen to her.

         “Forest is scary. It is so dark and unwelcoming. Once you try to get into it, you never know when you will get lost, and you never know when you will get hurt.”

         She stopped for a little break.

         “What I did to the essay was only expressing my feelings.”

         “Then why……”

         Why was your sound quivering?

         She looked up, like a helpless little bird. Behind her, I still could not see her face. Nevertheless, I could recognize the despair in her explanation.

         “When I wrote the essay, what came up in my mind were not the green trees that formed a forest: they are humans! Humans that form a crowd named as community!”

         At this point, I remembered something about her. She was always alone; I’ve never seen her be with someone. Even jut now in the class, there was neither a clap, nor even a “Good Job” after our teacher had praised her; the atmosphere was so dead. Did she choose to be away from the community because of her fear? What happened to her before? I did not know, however, there was at least something that I knew.

         “You are wrong!” I used my full power to pull out the sentence.

         Shocked by my reaction, she turned over. That was the time that I could finally see her face. It was a pretty face, but her eyes were full of tears.

         “Forest is a place where everyone helps each other out. No matter if it is a small insect, animal, or tree, everyone can get what it needs in the forest. Forest is the home for many, and in the home, they grow up together. You will never see this unless you walk into a forest.”

         Those words were not beautiful, but they absolutely came from my true heart. I almost lost all my energy on expressing them, but the words were not yet finished.

         “From now on, I am your friend! My job as a friend is to bring you through the forest. I will lead you, so you won’t get lost; I will protect you, so you won’t get hurt. If you don’t like the forest, we will go to another forest. If you don’t like it either, we will change again. Until you find your own forest, I will always be with you!”

         Were my words successfully delivered? Tears started falling from her eyes, slowly. It was not what I expected, I did not mean to make her sad. Did I fail?

         “Thank you…so much…”

         Slowly, she tried to bring up a smile. I gave her a smile too; I knew the darkness inside her had gone. Also, I knew that our future would be brighter and brighter, just like the sunshine, just like our smiles.

        「你認為森林是怎麼樣的呢？」那名女孩問。

         她背對著站在我的面前，看向教室的另一頭。那又直又長的頭髮在透過窗戶照射進來的陽光下，顯得非常、非常地優美。

        「妳現在是想用問題來回答我的問題嗎？」

        我冷靜地反問她。

        在今天的最後一節課上，老師當著全班的面前誇起了她寫的一篇關於森林的作文。就是因為如此，所以我才打算在課堂結束後，請教她運用在那篇作文的寫作技巧。結果——

        「森林很可怕，對吧？」

        女孩完全無視我先前的問題，繼續述說著。然而，我選擇什麼也不說，只是靜靜聆聽。

        「森林是很可怕的，既黑暗又封閉。要是想進入它，你連自己什麼時候會迷失，什麼時候會受傷都不知道。」

        她停頓了一下。

        「我只是純粹在那篇作文中這麼抒發自己的情緒罷了。就這麼簡單而已。」

        「那為什麼⋯⋯」我沒能說出口。

        為什麼——妳的聲音在顫抖？

        不是應該要對自己的作品更得意一些嗎？

        不是應該要對自己的回答更有自信一點嗎？

        到底為什麼？

        她仰起頭，彷彿一隻無助的小鳥。站在她的身後的我仍然無法窺見她的表情。只是，我從她的解釋中感到了一絲絲絕望。

        「你知道嗎？我在寫那篇作文的時候，出現在我腦海中不是一棵又一棵組成的森林的樹木，而是人類！組成人群的，成群的人類！」

        意外的坦誠帶來的卻是逼近臨界點的聲音。任誰瞬間都可以理解，女孩用冷靜築成的牆瓦解了。

        就在此時，我也想起了關於她的一些事情。

        她一直是孤單一人——至少我從來沒見過她和誰待在一塊。不與他人交流，不與他人接觸的她，自身早已變成了不屬於任何一方，孤獨的存在。

        像剛剛在課室裡，老師稱讚她的那之後，沒有人開口附和，沒有人為她鼓掌，也沒有任何人露出感興趣的樣子——整個課室完全是一片死寂。這就是她的存在已經被一般人無視的最佳證明。

        吶——

        是因為害怕所以才遠離人群的嗎？

        是因為之前發生過什麼嗎？

        我發現自己完全不知道關於她的任何事情，但是，我好歹也還是知道些什麼的。正因為是不會錯的事實，所以——

        「妳錯了！」

        我才會竭盡全力嘶啞道。

        她似乎被嚇到了，因而轉過身來。與此同時，我也終於得以看到她的臉。那是一張與她背影相襯的，十分漂亮的臉蛋，唯一遺憾的就是她那雙盈滿淚水的眼睛。

        「森林是個大家互相幫助的地方。不管是多麼小的昆蟲、動物，甚至是樹木，大家都在森林裡互利共生，各取所需。對很多生命來說，森林就等於是它們的家，也是與大家一起成長的地方。如果妳不試著踏入森林的話，妳是永遠看不到這些美好事物的。」

        儘管這都只是些不怎麼漂亮的片面之詞。卻絕對是我發自內心的，真誠的話語。將它們說出來幾乎耗掉了我所有的力氣，但是還沒完。

        ——怎麼能就這樣結束呢？

        ——我還有重要的話還沒說啊。

        「從現在起，我就是妳的朋友！身為朋友，我的工作就是帶妳穿梭森林。我會在妳的前方引導妳，所以妳不會迷失方向。我會在妳的身邊保護妳，所以你不會受到傷害。如果這樣妳還是不喜歡，那我們就去試別的森林。如果再不行的話，我們再去別的地方。直到妳找到屬於自己的森林，我都會一直待在妳身邊的！」

        話語有順利地傳達到了嗎？但願如此。

        我小心地端倪著她的臉。只見她的牙齒緊緊的咬住嘴唇，眼淚也開始緩緩地落下。等一下，這完全跟我預期的不一樣啊。我⋯⋯失敗了嗎？難道我不知不覺傷害到她了嗎？我不是故意要害她哭的。 怎麼辦？

        「非常⋯⋯感謝你⋯⋯」

        破除我迷茫的聲音響起。

        她慢慢地抹去淚水，試著在之前被淚水沾溼的臉龐展現出笑容。我能做的，也只是放心微笑以對。

        沒錯，這時候只要笑就可以了吧。

        我知道，在她心中的黑暗已經驅散開了。

        我也知道，我們的未來會更加閃耀

        ——好比那刺眼的陽光。

        ——好比那閃耀著的，我們的笑容。