What the Morning Brings | #NaNoWriMo2018

[ 14 ]

☽

The dark-haired girl hadn't been near the woods in months. She couldn't bear to look at them after watching her sister disappear into their depths. Every time she passed, she could see the ghostly figure of her sister threading like a needle through the trees. Locks of her golden hair snagged on branches and squares of her favorite clothes blanketed the floor like autumn leaves.

The forest was alive with memories of her, but the girl wanted them dead.

One day, something tugged on the girl's feet, and she soon found herself staring into the woods.

A faint sound trickled into her ears, sweet and mellifluous like honey. It pulled her in, filling her with the inexplicable urge to drown herself in its waves. It tugged her towards the woods, begging her to take just one, quick peek. Resisting was hard, but she couldn't. She wouldn't.

For weeks, the trees sang with the song of her sister. The melody haunted her dreams until her eyes grew shadowed and sleep-heavy. But still, she refused.

As the days passed by, the music became more insistent. It grew louder, buzzing in her ears like an angry bee. It followed her everywhere, trailing her like an irritating shadow. Finally, she could bear it no longer.

She gave into the current and let her feet be guided toward the woods.

The girl faced the woods with determination in her eyes.

Wind whispered through the trees, tugging at the leaves and whipping them into a whirlwind around her.

"Is that what you want?" she asked as it tried to push her forward. "You want me to go inside?"

The wind intensified, whistling in a way that sounded suspiciously like a 'yes'.

"Well, I don't want to," she said, crossing her arms.

The wind howled, blowing so strongly that her eyes burned with unshed tears.

"Fine!" she shouted, and the wind subsided.

The girl knew what she was doing was foolish, but giving in was so much easier than resisting. "I'm only doing this because I want to, not because you told me to," she warned.

If the wind had something to say, it kept quiet.

The girl stomped her way into the forest, crunching the leaves beneath her feet with passion. Stupid woods. Stupid music. Stupid sister. Why couldn't the world just leave her alone? All she wanted was some peace and quiet, but even nature refused to grant it.

The wind guided her, blowing this way and that, but she did not need the help. The same thing that had pulled her feet now pulled her heart. Reality fell away as the melody enveloped her, pulling her into its embrace. All she wanted was to see where the music lead. Her hopes and fears dissolved with the blowing of wind until all that was left was her ability to obey.

A flicker of gold in the corner of her eye caught her attention, breaking the spell. She whipped her head around, but it was already gone. For a brief second, her heart had quickened, thinking her sister had returned.

Don't be foolish, she had to remind herself. She's not coming back. That couldn't have been her. Even though she tried to convince herself not to, she couldn't help the shred of hope that embedded itself in her heart. It had probably been nothing more than a leaf, painted gold by the autumn weather. And yet...

"Don't you want to see me?" a voice called. The girl stopped, frozen with disbelief. "Don't you want to see me?" the voice echoed, sounding so painfully close and yet so painfully far all at once.

No.

She wouldn't let herself dare to hope. If she did, then there would be no going back. She had finally started to breathe easy again, but everything came flooding back with that silky soft voice.

"Don't you remember me?" her sister cooed in a singsong voice.

The girl slammed her back against a tree trunk, sliding to the ground with her hands clamped tight over her ears. Still, her sister's voice crept through the slits in her fingers, weaving its way into her head like a crooning lullaby. "Sister, sister."

It was all too much.

"Shut up!" the girl shouted, tears stinging at the corner of her eyes. "Shut up, shut up, shut up!" Shadows swirled around her, whipping her hair back and forth and sending dirt and leaves dancing through the air. She buried her head in her arms, but the sound of her sister's voice only grew louder. "Stop it, please. Stop it," she sobbed as the darkness around her intensified. "Please."

Miraculously, the forest listened. Her sister's voice vanished, trailing off into the distance. The wind calmed, dying into breezes as light as breaths, and the girl's shadows disappeared along with it.

Everything was still.

Not a leaf crackled or an animal scurried. All that was left was the sound of the girl exhaling, her breath sputtering out between sobs. After a while, she wiped her eyes and got to her feet. She tucked a strand of wind-strewn hair behind her ear and paused, eyeing the looming trees through her tears. But her sister's voice did not return.

She staggered home, the faint notes of music still echoing in her ears.

Where her tears had struck the dirt, a row of pure white daisies formed a circle.

The girl collapsed into her bed, the music in her head drowning out the sounds of her parents fighting.

The wind murmured to the trees, whose branches swayed in agreement.

The woods hadn't claimed her that day. They were mad, but the ringmaster was willing to wait, and so they would too.

The girl would be back, and next time, there would be no escape.

[ a / n ]

kids, listen to the wind when it warns you not to go into creepy forests! haha i guess that's the moral of this story. 

i don't think i've said it here yet, but i turned 15 just last weekend, and i'm so grateful to everyone who's bothered to read this silly story a girl decided to post online <3

thank you all so much for reading!  as always, please share your thoughts, predictions, reactions, etc in the comments!

how do you think the ringmaster connects to all of this? why do the woods want the younger sister so badly? what is the younger sister going to do next? does the older sister know what's happening?