The Lady of the Forest

The House

The scenery shifts all around us the green grass turns into colorful leaves and trees sprout up rising in twists and turns. Our laughing is gone now, away on the wind, carrying the sounds far far away. The only memory of it is our ragged breaths the gasping as though we were fish out of water. I-------n I--------n O-------ut O--------ut. Amongst the trees is this path we are on, hard against our feet. Pat pat pat pat. While my heart goes bam bam bam and our breathing goes I-----n I------n O-----ut O-----ut. And there are birds and other animals I notice, crickets that send out their own tunes among the songs of the birds and the swish of the leaves. The gathering of patterns makes me happy, and I'm smiling. And then Peter is smiling, and I know this happiness must be contagious. But then it all returns, hitting me with a big whack.

When the little girl who is not so little anymore awakes she is in a small plush bed. She gives a big yawn and sees the boy who no longer looks so young has a hardened look in his eyes. The boy who no longer looks so young introduces himself as Peter and says that this is house. The little girl who is not so little anymore nods, but she has many questions. What exactly had occurred the night before? Who was the man who was not a man? Why had a boy commited these actions? And how could so much blood ever exist? And then she thinks of the angelic looking boy, he had been smiling. Why was he smiling? Would he be back?

"Don't worry you are safe with me, I've been a vampire hunter for generations-" Peter says and is stopped by the confused look on my face. For I'm still to naive to understand what has occured. The little girl who is me when I was still naive tries to ask her questions and new ones, but she cannot. Her voice has ran away tail between its legs. Last night not once did she scream and now she had blocked herself from any response at all. She let herself sit quietly without a reaction, and thought this better, it is just my breath in out in out in out.... But then Peter continues and the rise and fall of his voice creates a new pattern.

"I'm sure you've heard the legends of our village," a nod from the naive me, "well last night that boy was a vampire, the real deal. I'm part of a legendary family of vampire hunters, long ago we had vampire blood infused into our own blood so we could be faster and stronger than normal humans, also more importantly live longer. Your family adopted you, a baby left on their doorstep in clothing of the woods. You are a nymph of the forest here and as such you have immortal blood that beasts such as vampires lust for. You are still only 15," The naive me cannot help, but look confused at this for I had been 10 the night before, "The events of last night caused an accelerated groth rate as a self defence mechanism. Your growing sped up so you can access your powers, but because of my arrival you have gone back to a normal groth rate. So you still have one more year to wait. But in the meantime I will accept the responsibility of watching over you and making sure of your safety."

I nod, but then I remember the angelic boy's smile and I know he will kill Peter and so I plan my escape with each in out of my breath. My memory clouds over.

And here we are approaching the quaint log house, the one I had ran away from about a year ago. But there is a little difference this time instead of burrying my memories I am slowly uncovering them, I have come to terms with the truth. I have decided to remain by Peter's side, but this time I hope I can be the one to protect him, even if he was too late he was just on time for me.