A dark fairy tale about traps, lures and falling for shadows.
When you see an eldritch dark horror made of shadows by the side of an old cursed trail that no one dares to go, you expect it to be less charming as it tries to trick you with deceitful...
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Art by James Fenner (@JMFenner91 on Twitter)
I was on my knees, grunting and panting laboriously as I tried to pull at the wagon's band strap because the damn thing had managed to snap, coil, and wrap around the wheel's hub axle so tightly, to the point of almost breaking it.
I'd been stuck with this debacle a few miles from the narrow boulder's passage, my obligatory stop point while crossing the Redwood trail.
I'd been huffing and tugging at the bolster strap for a good half hour, trying to untangle everything, when I caught sight of a dark silhouette hovering close to the forest.
"I know, I know!" I said loudly so that he could hear me. "I should've stopped at our spot by the boulders, but there's been a minor setback here and I've been momentarily delayed." I tried to explain while pulling at the strap the hardest I could. "If only you could give me a hand, I'd have this damn thing fixed in no time..." I grumbled mostly to myself.
The tree canopies rustled as if shaken by some invisible force, while he made a sound of discontentment. I was aware that he couldn't cross the forest's limits, I had only said that as a tongue-in-cheek jest in a moment of annoyance, but he didn't look very amused by my cheeky remark.
I let go of the strap for a moment and flexed my fingers a couple of times, trying to make the blood return to my white knuckles. "Sorry, I didn't mean to make light of your predicament. I know this boundary thing is not a joking matter." I said, straightening it up and turning to look at him, lurking by the trees. "Hey, this isn't another one of your tricky-trappy things, is it? I know we agreed on 'no more fallen trees', but what I meant was, 'no more obstacles of any kind' on this trail, you know? I'm wasting precious time here, man!"
He walked up to the shadow's limit and regarded me with an irritated frown. "This isn't me." He replied curtly. "I abide by my promises. There is no need for me to make you stop anymore since you promised you would do it of your own free will."
"Yeah, alright." I forced a chuckle out. "I was just teasing ya. I do that to-" I stopped mid-sentence when I realized I was about to tell him I liked to tease guys that I felt attracted to. Thankfully, I stopped just in time to save my dignity and pride. "I-I do that to my friends. The teasing. I like to tease my friends." I backpaddled, scratching at my head in embarrassment while he watched me with a lot less aggravation and much more curiosity and interest.
"What is this 'teasing' you speak of?" He questioned me with a tilt of his head.
"It's like a joke thing." I tried to save face again. "When you joke around, you know? Have some fun with a, hum... friend."
"I see." He commented lightly. "You have a strange sense of humor."
"Yeah. I know." I mumbled, embarrassed.
"But humans are strange creatures," he added as an afterthought. "I suppose they would have strange humors to accompany them."
"I guess that sounds about right," I muttered, getting back at tugging on the wagon's coiled strap again. "I am considered strange by my fellow humans as well, so... I reckon I can't get mad at you for thinking it too."
"I find strange things often fascinating..." He remarked to no one in particular. "The world has the most wonderful odd things for us to discover, don't you think?"
"Hum... yeah. I suppose." I agreed with a huff. The leather strap wasn't budging and I couldn't see myself getting it off that wheel's axle anytime soon.
"You said you like to tease your friends..." He continued, carrying on with the conversation. "And you were teasing me. Does that mean you consider me a friend?"
I stopped tugging and turned to face him. "I guess we can be friends. Sure." I told him, whipping the sweat off my brow.
"Maybe you can tell me more of your jokes? This way I can learn how to do them and then I can tease you back and you could have some fun. Is that what human friends do to each other when they are alone at night? Have fun together?"
I choked a little, trying to find something to say to that without blushing to death. "Y-you don't need to tease me. We can just... talk. Like we are doing now." I told him, giving him a shy, flustered smile. "And you can maybe stop trying to trick me all the time? That would be a nice thing for a friend to do." I quickly added.
"I can do that." He agreed, grinning wide, like a child who's just gotten a new friend to play with. "We can talk and be friends. No more tricks." He promised.
"And maybe stop trying to eat me too? That would be something nice for me not to worry about anymore." I added, raising a finger in light warning.
"Yes, yes. Friends don't eat friends. I understand." He reluctantly agreed.
I laughed at his weird antics and turned to tug at the damned strap again, but at the first pull, the strap came undone and unwrapped all the way from the hub to the wheel in one swift twirl, as if done by magic.
I gawked at the free strap hanging loose in my hand, and then I turned to stare in bewilderment at a grinning Erebus, still standing by the edge of the forest.
"Consider it a friend's gift." He said with a cheeky smirk. "Perhaps it will encourage you to stay a little while longer and talk to your new friend more, the next time you visit. Maybe you could even start looking forward to this, instead of trying to avoid it altogether?"
I gave him a side smile and a nod of agreement.
"Good teasing, by the way," I said, impressed. "You are a fast learner."
His smirk grew wider and his eyes twinkled with mischief as he watched me climb back up on my wagon. "Until next time, my friend." I heard him say as I urged Wooly to continue on our journey.
