Daughter of Luka (LGBT+)

Ten 🌑

I shrugged my shoulders. 

"Does that matter?" I asked her. 

"Where to?" she asked again. 

Clearly, something was bothering her. 

"Just the woods," I said. 

"Lykos forest?" she asked me. 

I nodded. 

She sighed. 

"You need to be careful," she said, "Trust me when I say that place is dangerous. I can understand your curiosity, sure enough, but you need to be careful. I don't think you should visit there again. I'm going to be honest, things exist in that forest that are dangerous- things that could even threaten your life. I only tell you this because I care. As much as I can understand you may have this urge to explore and adventure in this new place, I'd advise you not to. A fascination with a place like Lykos forest rarely leads to anything good. You'd be walking right into a trap."

"How would you know?" I asked her. 

"Like I said before, integrity is important to me, I'm only telling you the truth here," she said. It only half-answered my question.   

I had a feeling that she may have been telling the part truth, but it still seemed as though there was a lot missing from these warnings. 

"Okay," I agreed, though I knew that I wasn't prepared in any shape or form to give up my visits to Lykos forest. 

Accalia persisted. 

"I'm serious, Ophelia," she said. 

"As am I," I said, managing to form my most serious expression. "I won't visit them again." 

It was an outright lie, but she didn't need to know that. 

She sighed. 

"See you around. Please be careful," she said and then walked off. 

So, the whole exchange was thoroughly weird, but I knew that I had things that I needed to get done.  Number one being that I needed to get home to my father, so I could dispel his worries. 

I walked back down the hall and was pleased to find Kate at her locker. 

"Would it be alright if I caught a lift with you?" I asked. 

She looked towards me and her eyes brightened. 

"Sure, Ophelia," she said, as she grabbed her car keys into her hand. She then led the two of us out of the school and towards her midnight-blue Fiat. 

We walked over to her car and scared some crows off in the process. 

"There's so many crows in this town. It's weird," Kate said, "Did you know a group of crows is called a murder?" she asked me, "That little fact there put me off crows for a good five years, as a kid." 

"You say 'put off' as though you used to eat them," I said, as I sat down in the passenger's seat. 

Kate sat down in the driver's seat and turned to me with a playful smile. 

"You don't know what I get up to in my personal life," she joked. 

I rolled my eyes, to show that I was prepared to be equally playful, even if there were currently one-hundred and one questions going through my mind. 

"Are you okay, Ophelia?" she asked me, her tone more compassionate this time around. 

"I'm just fine," I said. It only half-sounded like a lie. 

Kate nodded, as though she could tell I wasn't telling the whole truth, but that she didn't wish to press me for answers. 

"Turn here, please," I said. 

She then turned and came to a stop outside my house. 

"Wow," she said. 

"You're more than welcome to come in, if you want to. It might be some relief to my dad to know that I have a friend," I said, "It could be fun!" I added. I didn't even feel the need to cringe in embarrassment at saying that. It had been far too long since I had last had a real friend. 

"You really do live in the middle of nowhere," she said, as she got out of the car with me. "I would come with you but I can't leave my car parked here," she added. 

"Yeah, that's true," I said. Damn, I hadn't thought about that. 

"I'll see you soon, Ophelia. In fact, I'll message you when I get home, okay?" she asked me. Her eyes then motioned towards the forest nearby. "Don't go traipsing around in there, alright? No matter how curious you get." 

I suddenly felt as though I was living inside of Little Red Riding Hood. 

"Okay," I said. 

Again, a lie. 

Kate bought that answer more than Accalia had seemed to, though. 

I smiled as I waved to her and wandered to the front door of my house. 

I turned to Kate and watched her drive off. 

After she was out of sight, I turned to the forest again and ran straight for it. 

Nobody was about to step on my fun, no matter how 'dangerous' Lykos forest allegedly was. I hadn't been eaten by a bear or wolf yet and I simply didn't see that happening any time soon. 

"Ophelia!" a voice called out to me, when I was only three metres from my house. 

Damn it, I thought to myself. This was becoming incredibly frustrating. 

Maybe I would have to use my duvet as a route, out of my window and into the forest. 

I turned to see my father stood there with a look upon his face as though he had just been completely betrayed. 

I pinched the bridge of my nose. 

"I wasn't doing anything, just going for a quick run to stretch my legs," I said. 

My dad, bless his heart, seemed to believe me. 

He outstretched his hand and I walked over to hug him and then made my way back into the house. 

Once I was up in my room, I returned my focus to my sketchpad. It seemed that I wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon, which was just as Accalia had wished. 

What did she really have against the forest, anyway? 

I supposed I was simply going to have to get some sort of answers out of her, but that would have to wait. Tomorrow was Saturday, after all.