A Nymph of the Ossian Forest

Hide-and-seek

Having reached the first trees, the group of girls split up in search of the best place to hide. Or to be found, I would say. They called one another in the darkness, their voices anxious and excited.

Unlike me, none of them was going to hide very well on purpose.

My feet just led the way. I found myself one by one with the Ossian forest, which I loved greatly. Even now, under the circumstances, I still felt at home here. I inhaled the fresh air, filled with the scent of pine needles and wet soil, and felt tranquility returning to me. I thought I had lost it forever. My senses heightened, I felt alive again, and I regained the ability to think clearly. I kept running in the cold darkness, relying upon my knowledge of the paths.

I started to understand the full meaning of this hide-and-seek. It had crossed my mind it was easy to find whoever you wanted to, but it turned out the forest was so dark you could never say for sure who was standing several feet away from you. In a matter of seconds, all the Ossian girls turned into shadows, forest spirits, and became indistinguishable from one another. And I had started to understand that it was fully and utterly a matter of random luck who you would end up with. Again, this realization sent a shiver down my spine. I lost my balance for a second, as my foot slipped on a heap of last year's leaves.

I ran deeper and deeper into the forest down the usual path that led to the lake. The bright moonlight was streaming through the crowns of the trees, but it never reached the ground, absorbed by the dense blue darkness. I had never been a good swimmer, but I supposed that if you dove deep down into the Aire River and opened your eyes, it was the color you were going to see. Every living creature of the Ossian forest, every single tree, its branches and trees seemed to produce their own sounds, playing a symphony of the night, streaming right into my ears. It was easy to believe in ghosts when a dark shadow stood behind every tree. Has this one just turned its head and looked at me curiously? It took my breath away every time the branches, hills, and bushes formed a bizarre silhouette moving with a gust of the wind. I knew it wasn't something I had to be afraid of; the real threat would come with torches in their hands. And it would come very soon. I wondered how much time had passed and couldn't make even an approximate guess. I stumbled on roots and branches and slipped on the wet ground.

I wondered if the odds were high for the success of my plan. I knew that most of the girls wouldn't even reach the lake. Some would stay even closer to the village simply because they were afraid of darkness, which I could say by someone's terrified squeal. It played in my favor because little who was going to look for me deep in the forest. I was aware Aidan had seen me by the lake before, so he could have guessed I was a little more familiar with the Ossian forest than the others, but still, he could have no clue about my plan.

I couldn't help thinking about Kyle, too. Offering me to run with him to avoid the Sowing day! For a second I imagined myself by his side, running somewhere across the hills and groves into the night... It didn't feel any different from what I was doing now. The only difference was that I had a real chance of pulling this off. While with Kyle... There was no chance for me at all.

My feet didn't fail me: soon I saw the mirror-like surface of the forest lake, where I had met dawn today. Now its waters were quiet and immovable; one could easily think some unbelievable creatures lived under its dark cover.

Following my instincts and heightened senses, I headed around the lake to the opposite shore, covered with a thick wall of the rush. I hoped that its covering and the common superstitions would serve me a good place to hide. I wasn't going to stop there, but at least for the time being it would be a good shelter, a starting point to search for a better hiding place for the night. I knew I only had to hold on until the dawn. If nobody found me before the dawn came, I was free. My life would return to its normal route, and all of this would be forgotten, like a bad dream. These were the words I kept repeating to keep myself going. Already for quite a while, I couldn't hear any girl's voice.