Forget Me Not

Chapter Seven

Zack hadn't wanted to take her out, but he reasoned with himself, if he loved her surely she loved him and would never dare try to run. Still he was careful to keep a tight hold of her wrist while loosening the ropes that had bound Fey for months. She sat perfectly still while he did, a look of great anticipation on her young face, like a child who had been promised a treat.

A million thoughts were running through Fey's head, hope, fear, excitement, her emotions threatened to overwhelm her. She forced herself to stay calm, or as close as she could get, it wouldn't do to give Zack a reason to change his mind.

In silence they stood up, Zack's grip tightening on Fey's arm. Fey's legs almost gave out beneath her, she hadn't stood on them in such a long time, but Zack kept her standing. They made their way painfully slowly to the door, when they got there Zack pushed it open. The sun shone on Fey's incredibly pale face, her eyes sparkled and a tiny smile grazed her lips. It really was a lovely day, it was warm and sunny, with a slight breeze keeping it the absolute best temperature. There were no clouds in the brilliant blue sky, but birds were fluttering constantly through the air. The ground was muddy and squishy but it made everything smell fresh and earthy.

"Pure magic." Said Fey looking around, it was after all a day of freedom.

"Yeah... it is." Said Zack, "Come with me."

Zack started walking down the driveway, not to his house, but the other way. It was a bit of a hazard walking very far from the garage, at least for Zack, but he was feeling reckless, caught up in the wonder of wandering side by side with the girl he loved. They walked slowly, dodging the bigger puddles and splashing in the smaller ones. They stopped every now and again to look around. At one point Fey pointed out a robin's nest, when she did this Zack loosened his grip to move closer and look. For a moment Fey considered running, but just like that his hand was back gripping as hard as ever. The moment was lost, she had hesitated despite her sense of instinct. That couldn't happen again if she ever wanted her freedom.

After a long time walking on the driveway, Zack steered Fey into the woods on the right side. There was a little path, clearly not designed to be there, but made instead by a person walking this way often. The trail was narrow and they had to walk one in front of the other to avoid running into the trees on either side of them, but still Zack held tightly to Fey, like a child holds onto a helium balloon. The ground here was even muddier than it had been on the driveway, and each step they took squelched. When they put their feet down, they sunk in and when they lifted up the mud pulled at their shoes not wanting to let go. Because she could hardly see Fey continually tripped over roots and rubbed against trees, she didn't see them until after she hit them.

"That's a pretty tune, what is it?" Asked Zack, having noticed Fey humming slightly.

"I'm not sure, I can't remember where I heard it." This was a lie, the song Fey had been humming was the song she had been listening to in her room before leaving to shop with her mom, and she was humming it because it was a reminder of home.

"I like it, hum a little louder." Said Zack, though he said it kindly enough, both he and Fey knew it was a direct order, something he had been doing more and more, he knew he had complete control over her and he relished in it. Fey hummed louder, she knew the words, but as she was pretending not to know the song well, she could not sing it.

Fey was starting to walk slower, she hadn't done anything in the way of exercise in months unless you counted struggling against the ropes, not to mention her state of malnutrition. Zack noticed her slowing and changed his pace as well.

Finally they arrived where Zack wanted to be. Their was a gap in the trees, leading to a small clearing. In the middle of the clearing was a green pond. It wasn't more than four feet in diameter, but it sparkled and seemed to glow in the twinkling light broken by the trees leaves. The grass here was long and lush, dew drops shining like jewels on every blade.

"What is this place?" Asked Fey in a whisper, looking around in amazement.

"It's my favorite place on the property, that and the field on the other side of the forest, in the summer it grows thousands of wildflowers, especially forget-me-nots. It's a sea of bright blue flowers, rippling in the wind." Said Zack equally quietly.

They both smiled. They took a couple of slow steps forward into the treeless area. It was chillier here in the forest, the trees blocked most of the light, and whatever did get through fell in little broken pieces on the ground, that reminded Fey of a smashed glass, shattered yes, but beautiful.

"My mom used to tell me fairy stories that happened in places like this." Said Fey.

Zack led her to the edge of the pool and sat down.

"Tell me a story then." He said peacefully, this was one of the happiest days of his life.

"Once, not long ago..." Began Fey. " There were two children, a boy and a girl, who lived in a little house by the woods. They were forbidden by their mother to ever set foot in the woods, she told them this time and time again but never gave a reason. Finally the children's curiosity got the better of them and they made plans to enter the woods."

Zack sighed contently leaning against a large rock his legs straight out in front of him, Fey sitting crisscross right by his side, his hand was still on her wrist, tight, but not so tight that it hurt.

"It was a cold rainy day when the kids finally got up their nerve and went outside to play, as soon as they were certain that their mom was not watching they ventured nervously into the forest. The moment they stepped under the shade of the first tree they knew something was different about these woods, something here was unique. It had stopped raining, not a drop touched their heads, but when they looked back towards the house the rain was still falling harder than ever. Curious they walked deeper and deeper into the woods until they came to a clearing just like this one." Fey paused here to look around as if expecting to see a little boy and girl looking curious and excited.

"I've never been good at imagining but that sounds kinda creepy." Said Zack, he too was looking around.

"Anyway," Continued Fey " The children came across a clearing with a pond just like this one, they looked down into it's depths and saw not their reflections, but instead a boy and a girl much older than them, but with the same faces and hair. It was them in twenty years, fully grown and matured. "Whoa." Said the boy. He leaned down, ignoring the protests of his sister and touched the surface of the water. It is said he killed his sister, and he was never seen again. The pool, it turned out contained a curse of incredible power, and anyone who touched it was possessed until such time as they returned home, but the boy never did for fear of hurting someone the way he hurt his sister."

"Your mom told you stories like that as a child?!" Said Zack alarmed.

"Of course not, I changed one of her originals. In her story a pixie comes and talks to the kids convincing them to be nice little children and return to their mother and never disobey her again, or else the pixie would have to punish them. And of course they do as she says and live happily ever after."

"Oh, why'd you change it." Asked Zack.

"Mine's more realistic, you don't always get happily ever after." Fey said thinking about her own life the past few months.

"Sometimes you do, though." Contradicted Zack, he thought about how much he had come to love Fey and the fact that she would never leave caused him unmeasurable joy.

It was in this moment that Zack loosened his grip on Fey's arm, whether he did it knowingly or not is unsure but he did and that's what matters. Fey instantly felt the change in pressure, she knew she had to act right away or else risk another major disappointment and possibly never get away. So she yanked her wrist hard from his grasp stumbling to her feet, careful to avoid the green smudge in her vision she knew to be the pond she turned and began to run.