Willow

In The Woods

There was sunlight, and then embrace.

"Be home before dark," Willow's granite voice said in my ear before lifting her long leaves off my shoulder. Finally, freedom! How I longed for the sweet smell of wheat and the tickle of grass! It seemed that each night it took longer for the sun to wake up. Now, it was time to run and run until I couldn't run anymore! This was bliss; the wind running through your hair, your bare feet splashing up bits of cool water as you ran through the morning dew.

Reaching the fork in the path, I brushed back my sweaty ankle long hair out of my face. My eyes danced across both paths, which one should I chose today? Choosing the right path for its rocky durian and my thinking spot by the creek, I ran on. I remembered when I was five, or one in nature's aging system. I could barely keep up with Constellation, my best friend. He was a young buck, named for his unique patch of speckles on his neck that resembled the stars. Now all alone, I missed him dearly. Yes, he can be extremely irritating with his idea for "play", but he was the nicest buck she had ever met. He was out hibernating, along with all the deer herd, preparing for the long winter. I could already feel the chilled breeze biting through my thin shirt and shorts.

Finally I reached my place along the stream. No wonder Willow named me Brooke. Water has just made me feel calm through anything. It powered life itself; without it, we would be dried up fragments of what we once were. I gently laid my hair on the cold water, gasping as the liquid ice reached my scalp. Stretching my speckled arms about, I found what I was looking for; a huge slab of moss. Gently lifting up the green lid, three new items were revealed; a diamond ring, Constellation's first tiny antler, and a thumb sized baby shoe.

I had found the ring near the remains of a burnt up structure. The diamond had caught my eye, gleaming at the sight of light. Willow had told me that my kind put those bands on their small branches.

Constellation had been gloating about his newly grown antlers and had ran into a tree. One of his small antlers had been wedged into the tree's torso, I can still hear the complaints of pain from that tree, "What in fall are you doing down there, you bone headed freak!" I didn't tell Constellation what he had said, especially since I was doubling over in fits of laughter as he had broken off his antler trying to get it out.

The baby shoe had been mine as a baby. I know I'm small for my age, but I cannot see anyone wearing that small size of a shoe.

So now, as I gaze into the sky, I realize that silence is louder than words. It's deafening.

Not even the gentle sound of water hitting the smooth rocks can break the silence.

Wait. The forest is never this quiet. Something's wrong.

I sit up entirely too fast, flinching as my wet ice cold hair slaps my thin back. Suddenly, even the smallest sounds become aware to me; the leaves rustling through the wind, the ground crunching as a small creature pounces for cover. I hear a twig snap directly behind me. Slowly turning head, I look eye to eye a tall creature standing fifty feet away from me. How could I have missed him? There are crisp leaves covering at least every square inch of land around me.

I study his face, wondering what he was and whether or not he was a threat. With a start, I realize he is the same being I had looked back at all my life as a reflection. He was human.

I panicked. What were their kind doing here? I was the only one any of the trees had seen in years. He must have seen my terrified face, as he started to speak comforting words. But in what language? Willow had taught me myriads of languages her friends had learned all across the world.

She had gotten millions of flutters, leaves you spoke to and set off into the wind. The North Wind carried your leaf through current until it reached the person you desired. If they knew how to speak winds, they would hear a faint whisper as the leaf past them.

I picked up the word "okay". English! I haven't practiced in a while, but I managed the croaked words,

"Who are you?"

Looking relieved that I at least knew how to speak, he stayed with a scary seriousness,

"Do you live here?"

"Yes."

"Good."

With that, he suddenly flicked up his wrist to reveal a single straw-like rod. Before I could ask what that was, he blew fiercely into the opening. Confused at first, I learned quickly what he was doing. Within a few seconds, a piercing sensation was felt on the right side of my neck. Thinking fast, I grabbed a leaf and whispered,

"Help...."

I managed a quick toss in the air, enough so that the wind got the idea, before I collapsed by the cold creak.

There was darkness, and then fear.