Two
There was once a time Verity wasn't in the forest. Once a lifetime ago. Even then, everything seemed to be like a dream. A dream before a nightmare.
"Come down, loves, it's dinnertime!"
Little paddling of feet echoed on the top floor, rushing to get downstairs immediately. "I'll be the first to arrive!"
"No! It'll be I!"
"You two! No running on the stairs!"
"Now you made Father mad," Verity, in her small flower dress, puffed out her cheeks while facing her sibling.
"It's not my fault you started the race," a boy with a year gap from Verity, wearing his favorite cami pants and white shirt. "Besides, I could've won it."
"It's not my fault you liked it," Verity said with a grin on her face.
"Come down, you two and get along with it," Father said in an authorative voice, making both the children giggle and run past his legs.
"Careful, love, you might hurt yourself," a mellow and smooth tone coming from Mother managed to bring Father to the table.
The night passed as dinner was finished. It was still the calm before the storm. As the two siblings decided to head out and play at the garden maze, it was already past curfew.
"Ver! Come out now!"
Verity snickered behind a bush, she knew she wouldn't be found at that place. When a twig was snapped near her, she covered her mouth and decided to crawl away. She was having to much fun to fear the dark.
After crawling under a hedge, she came out into a new part of the maze, it was unfamiliar and very foggy. She continued on and felt even more alone than she initially thought.
Every turn made her disoriented. Every wall looked exactly alike. She felt like something was there. Something was.
She was about to call her brother when her hair got caught up in the mesh of twigs on the wall of the maze.
Screaming she pulled her hair harshly, making her stumble on her little feet and fall through the other side of the wall. The twigs scraped her body, covering her with scars and wounds.
Dizzy she may be, she opened her eyes and saw a large tree. A dead one. With its dead branches and roots that were above the surface. There was a hole as big as a person on the middle trunk. And the area was dark and cold.
Breathing erratically, she stood up on her wobbling legs. Watching as the moon's light focused on the tree, making it glow.
Verity rubbed her eyes to make sure she saw it correctly. But as soon as she looked at the tree, everything became dark. And she screamed in pain.
Found on the next day by her Father, everything was set to motion then. The nightmare has begun. The curse has been inflicted. Everything in her wake will crumble then.
