Lost, Lies & Betrayal

Chapter 1

Standing in silence, listening to my parents arguing was always a painful thing to do. Though this time it was my future they argued about, my mother wants me to be married off for money, and my father wants me to stay and care for them in their old age, though it seems my mother was winning this argument once again. Neither sounds particularly pleasant to me. Hmm, being sold or staying around with my parents my entire life? Oh decisions, decisions. My life has always been something out of my own hands, something I can't control, but something I have to live through because that's why I'm here to help my parents with what they need, whether its money or manual labour. Which by the way they can just hire someone to do, seeing as we're second to the wealthiest family in our country.

I won't deny the fact that I am selfish, but they can't depend on me for the rest of my life. I need to do my own thing at least once. So I've decided that maybe that time is now.

I'm leaving. And I don't plan on coming back, in fact I don't really have a plan at all, I could end up dead or worse I could be kidnapped, by total strangers.

"Oh, well, too late now"

I say to myself as I turn away from them, walking toward the back of my family manner and out of range of hearing what more they had to say about me next.

Leaving through the back entrance of my home, I walk out across the perfectly green grass, to the forest's edge. I turn back to look one last time at the place I'd grown up in. The building was rather big and grand from the front, but since the exit I'd used would usually be used by the staff, it wasn't so grand.

Gripping the weight of my skirts in my fists, I run toward the forest until I'm sure that I have been completely consumed by the darkness of the trees. Unable to resist the urge to look back I turn my head back just enough to notice how little anyone seems to care that I just left, and that I'm not coming back.

Deep into the forest brush, I wonder aimlessly not sure what I should do next or where I should go. The trees surrounding me stand high and tall in a daunting manner, their branches swaying in the winds threatening to break and fall. The wind moves dried leaves on the ground in front of me rustling them among each other and the mix of brittle and soft grass. The wind pulls me through the forest singing as it dances around the thick and thin trunks around me. Too alluring to resist its call, I follow it.

Following nature's pull deeper into the forest, I come to a halt at the edge of a glittering stream, just beneath a break in the trees where the sun shines through. Rocks and pebbles of different sizes cover the bed, clear water lapping gently at the edges. The wind calming as well like it had taken me where it wanted me to be. My hands are plunged into the cold as it clears my senses, relaxing me carefully and washing away my distress. Sliding my hands over my forearms one by one I allow the water run over me and cool down my rising temperature. I never expected it to be this hot in the forest. I mean really there's barely any sun, just trees and shadows everywhere. I stare up at the soft clouds drifting gradually across the sky, noticing the quickly darkening light. How long have I been walking for? It doesn't feel like it's been very long. Rising to my feet I turn in a slow circle looking for someplace that I could find shelter from the cold night to come. I walk along the side of the stream following the waters flow like a guide, hoping it would help me the way the wind did.

All along the path the stream creates for me, the same tall trees follow along. None of them were perfectly clean and kept like the trees around my family house, they had moss splattered across their trunks and lichen sprouting along the top of branches, some flat and patchy others like small tufts hair. It was beautiful but also made me feel uncomfortable and worried as I gradually begin to notice movement among the canopied branches keeping me hidden from the moons eye. My pace increases, as does the darkness around me. My hands come up to cover my arms and rub back and forth trying to create some heat across my bare skin. My eyes searching my surroundings frantically, settling on small blurs of movement every now and then. I'm definitely not alone out here. The water in the stream becoming less and less as it thins out more and more, it's not long before I realise why. Long monstrous roots protrude from the ground in front of me, stretching out all around a thick trunk, with branches that spread from its centre and tangle together wildly. I brush aside the curtain of leaves that hang long and low from the messy branches of the Willow, creating the perfect shelter for me. I find a small gap in the roots and settle myself and skirts into the hollow, sitting back and listening to the new sounds around me. The birds high in the branches above and around me sing their haunting songs that seem to echo through the night endlessly. I can see movement on the ground as small animals search for food among the sticks and leaves on the ground. From where I sit I can see the water from the stream still flowing in the gentle wind, the light from the moon shining and reflecting down on it. Small white flowers grow all around the stream their colour emphasised by the white light of the full, open sky; not just a plain white but they look like they're glowing, like small lights across the forest floor. I really don't know what to think of this place, its eerie but mystical almost magical.