Dainty Miss T.

Midnight

My blue rose hood.
My favorite yellow dress.
Freshly baked goods.
All the jewels I've received
Unworn.
The flowers still as fresh as if I'd just picked them myself.

It is mid-day.
I dare to journey past the tree line.
Just a few steps feels like I've been transported to a completely foreign space and time.

I try not to think of little me.
How I'd gotten lost in these woods for but a moment.
But when I came out it had been weeks.

I try not to let the forebodingness of this tree swallow me.
This infamous silk-cotton tree.
I place my basket down at the thickest root and back up many steps away.
I try to reign in my breathing.
I try to imagine that my hands do not shake.

"Is it not rude to return gifts in this time?"

I spin around in circles looking for the voice that speaks so clearly.
So poised and refined.
But there is nothing.

So I stutter.
"It is. But so is not looking your guests in the eye."

And behold a shadow coalesces right in front of me.
Not a shadow.
But a void.
A darkness so deep no light dare pierces it from between the leaves.
No sounds echo in these wood.
It is just the void and me.

"Why won't the flowers die?"
I ask.

Straightening my spine to make up for my stuck feet.

"I thought you'd like these better.
Something comparable to your everlasting beauty."

I cannot speak
But I blush.
So funny that I am faced with nothing,
But must still look away.

"Thank you.
And the jewels? Where did you get them I say."

"Oh.
Many places.
Many times.
People lose things in the darkness.
I collect.
Are they not to your liking?
You may ask for any gift of mines."

I do not ask for gifts but answers.
What places?
What times?
What is the darkness?
Why are you talking to me?
Why do I feel as though I've known you for a long time?

And there are always answers.
But to the last he does not know or at least will not say.

I introduce myself.
Dainty Miss T.
I call him Midnight since he does not have a name.