Through the Forest and Past

Story

"Hey! Slow down!" The little girls toes tip toed across the forest floor frantically, flinging her weight forward as she arched across a formidable log to stand at the larger girl's side.

There was a ringing in the air, as a decrepit shrine stood before them. Vines crawled throughout the small interior, moss and dirt embroidered into the wood; but it still evoked a presence that permeated the area.

"Emily, what is that?!" The small girl's eyes were wide with wonderment. She could feel tingles running across her skin, the door to adventure opened in the light of their discovery.

The autumn chill sent a shiver up Emily's spine. She proceeded to settle down on the rustic, unkept underbrush, curling into a ball to retain heat and letting loose a sigh. Around her, the multitude of browns and greys and oranges illuminated the beauty of her disposition, the sun starting to set in the distant sky as it's light flooded through the tree's windows.

Emily caught her breath, pulling an orange leaf from the ground and twiddling it around in her fingers several times. She held it in front of her face, contrasting the bright colors of her perspectives foreground to the much more common grays and browns of the background. She was trying to tell herself something.

"Come ON!" The little girl kicked Emily in the shin, jumping in excitement as she pointed at the small shrine. A loud crunch could be heard beneath her feet as each jump grew higher and even greater in the amount of energy set forth. Emily envied her, as she looked up at the shrine.

It was small, maybe a foot in height; made mostly of wood that was slowly rotting away. It hung from a tree. Inside looked to be a small brass bell.

The little girl finally jumped towards it, reaching out her hand to take whatever was inside within her grasp. Her hand clashed with the wood, pushing the shrine back to pronounce a loud ring.

When the ring died down, Emily pulled her legs in even closer to her body. She could still hear it in her ears, but it wasn't quite the same.

Each time the bell seemed to ring through her mind, the less weight it carried. The colder she felt herself getting, the more narrow her mind on the idea of leaving. But something kept her there; something she knew was under one of the orange leaves, lit perfectly by the setting sun. Something she had lost site of.

But each twirl of the leaf seemed to mean less. So she drew closer to herself, and questioned every single facet of her situation, and waited for night to come, so maybe she could hear it again in her dreams; the bell, the way it used to sound.