Witching Roses

The summoning

I struggled to sleep; the whole building seemed to moan with each breath of the wind. The creaking floorboards and the rattling windows felt foreign to me. I wasn't used to this. I was used to the sounds of late-night traffic, the occasional drunk group of people singing loudly past my window—the comforting chaos of the city. Here, the silence was unsettling, every noise amplified in the stillness.

I tossed and turned, the bed feeling too big, too empty. The heavy blankets wrapped around me like a cocoon, but they couldn't keep out the strangeness that seemed to seep through the walls. Every creak, every whisper of the wind felt like a ghost of the past, swirling around me, refusing to let me rest.

Reflecting on my day, I remembered how I chose not to bid farewell to my father and stepmother, slipping away into the morning instead. I neither needed nor wanted anything from them. All I craved was to be free from their presence and from Dallas.

I thought about the people I had met. Jasper's easygoing demeanor, Luna's casual confidence, and Star's enigmatic presence played over in my mind. Each of them seemed to carry their own secrets, their own stories, intertwined with the mysteries of Eldermoon. It was both thrilling and terrifying to think that I was now a part of this strange tapestry.

Luna and Jasper were unapologetically themselves, a trait I could never quite master. Their self-assured demeanor and ease with their sexuality, despite the world's harshness, were truly beautiful. I had gone from knowing no one like them to knowing these two individuals.

The thoughts of Luna and her girlfriend invaded my mind, their naked bodies on top of each other. I couldn't shake it, I had never thought about two woman like that before- but something inside me seemed to stir, a quiet awakening that both intrigued and unsettled me. It wasn't just curiosity, it was something deeper-a yearning I hadn't allowed myself to fully explore. I closed my eyes, but the image of their bodies, intertwined in the soft glow of the moonlight, lingered behind my eyelids. The way they moved together, so natural, so unburdened by shame, was both intoxicating and terrifying.

I shivered, but not from the cold.

There was something in their freedom that called to me, something that whispered against the carefully constructed walls I had built around my heart.

I was still hiding, wasn't I? Still unsure of who I was, or maybe, just too afraid to let anyone know. My thoughts raced as the wind outside howled, rattling the windows like an echo of my internal storm.

I shifted again beneath the heavy blankets, feeling trapped in this skin, in my life that suddenly seemed too small, too confining. The shadows on the ceiling danced as the branches outside swayed in the wind, creating haunting shapes that shifted and morphed, just as my thoughts did. I felt like I was being watched, not by someone, but by the version of myself I had been running from for so long.

The wind outside picked up, almost as if it were answering me, howling and groaning through the cracks in the old house. The night felt alive with something otherworldly, something ancient, as if Eldermoon itself was watching, waiting for me to acknowledge the truth I had been denying.

I swallowed hard, my pulse quickening. The sensations coursing through me were foreign, yet oddly familiar, like a melody I had forgotten but suddenly remembered. The wind howled louder, the rattling windows a symphony of chaos that mirrored the turmoil within me. I couldn't escape it, couldn't hide from the feelings that were surfacing, demanding to be acknowledged.

I tried to focus on something else, anything else. The shadows on the walls, the creaking of the floorboards, the distant sound of a clock ticking somewhere in the house. But my thoughts kept drifting back to Luna and her girlfriend, their bodies entangled in a dance of intimacy that seemed both forbidden and beautiful. The way they had moved together, so naturally, so freely, was etched into my mind, a constant reminder of what I had been missing.