I could feel the wind in my hair again, that late summer afternoon’s breeze that teases and dances around your body, which teases you before running off again. My bare feet dug softly into the dark soil and I knew I was home. It was chestnut season back in Germania and it was the best time of the year. The smell of roasted chestnuts on the fire and to see my mother sewing happily in the corner. The joy of being eight years old again and hearing the booming voice of my father as he arrived back in the village after a hunting trip. He would sweep me into his arms and I would beg him to tell me a story of his great exploits and adventures.
I was home again.
Everything was going to be alright.
I was home.
Then came that fateful day, I could remember like was only yesterday. My father forbade me to go into the forest and said that the wolves were on the move again. It was no place for a child and that the warrior’s of the village had to safe guard it first. I should have listened to him and stayed inside the walls but I snuck out and ran to the woods. The forest was my kingdom and I felt like a princess ruling over it all. Deeper, I went into the leafy confines till the trees closed themselves behind me in a beautiful cage. The menacing storm clouds packed together above my head, driving the afternoon sun before it. It was only when the first rain drops fell that I realized I had made a terrible mistake. Turning and running as quick as my little legs could carry me, I raced for the safety of the village as the rain started pouring down. Thunder and lightning crashed as the heavens burned and night became as day again.
Tripping over a tree root and stumbling into the mud, I realized that I was not alone. A wolf pack had caught my scent and was hunting me down. Their melancholic howling echoing and drifting between the sounds of gods’ fury being unleashed overhead. Bright yellow eyes shone from the undergrowth and I could hear the growling of the pack. The wolves had found their prey and they were hungry after the winter’s hibernation. And then I ran, I ran faster than I had ever before. The air burned in my lungs and my legs felt like lead as I tore through the dark and suddenly very unwelcoming forest. But for some strange and inexplicable reason, the pack kept their distance; shepherding me through the forest. I could not understand why they just didn’t storm through the trees and take me down where I stood. Glancing behind me, the pack had stopped and started howling into the night. Had they safely escorted from the forest? Why would those blood thirsty animals do that?
The last thing I remember was running into the arms of my father. He had come looking for me and I knew I was safe. Nothing would hurt me ever again.
Nothing.
Nothing.
Nothing.
When I looked up at my father, he wasn’t there anymore, there was just an empty black void standing in his place. The darkness wrapped itself around me and I could music playing in the distance.
Out of the blue
And into the black
They give you this,
But you pay for that
And once you’re gone,
You can never come back
When you’re out of the blue
And into the black.
My pulse started racing and it felt like my heart was climbing out of my chest as the picture in front of my eyes came into view. I was in a small and dimly lit room, Brynn was sitting on the edge of the bed smoking a cigarette and starring at nothing in particular as a radio played in the background.
