An Enchanted Night

12*Out Here

As she takes a step and crosses over from the clearing into the trees, Taylor stares ahead at the dark abyss in front of her. The trees are so thick and plentiful that even light of the bright, white Moon can't break through. She should be nervous, scared even, to be venturing off on her own in an unfamiliar place, surrounded by darkness. But she isn't.

Maybe it's because she can tell the path was worn down from once frequent travel. It reminds her that someone else had ventured down this same path at one point. She isn't completely alone, because someone had been here once. Someone had made the same decision as her once. It brings her comfort.

She continues to venture farther into the woods, glancing down often to make sure she's still following the barely-visible path. She can still hear the pumping music as it wafts from the clearing behind her, but there's another sound pulsing into her ears. It's a soft clicking, mixed with a buzzing noise. It takes Taylor a moment, but she realizes the origin of the sound: cicadas. They're joining the song. Mixing into the music. Creating a remix. Invisible contributors from the deep, black beyond.

Taylor continues along the path, unsure where she'll end up. She's not worried about being alone, rather, she's relieved to have left the hordes of people staring at her and their expectations behind. Out here, she's not the new girl. She's not the amazing singer Abigail hyped her up to be. Out here, alone.

Except she's not alone, she realizes, as she spots a clearing ahead. The Moon peaks through the lack of trees, illuminating a secret spot deep within the woods. Taylor gazes around as she breaks into the clearing, crossing the perimeter of trees. The bright, white moonlight softly touches everything.

There must be a thousand yellow flowers littering the clearing. A thousand, teeny, tiny, golden flowers. Each with eight petals gathered around a warm, auburn center. And they are everywhere. The sight brings an instant smile to Taylor's face, and she knows this sight alone was worth the long trek.

Taylor ventures into the middle of the smattering of flowers and lays down, careful to disturb the least amount possible. Her gaze moves to the night sky, and she takes a few deep breaths as she zeros-in on the Moon. She can still hear the music in the distance, if she listens hard enough for it, but her clearing is serene.

When she takes a particularly deep breath, Taylor thinks she catches a whiff of chocolate. Confused, she carefully plucks a flower from the ground next to her and softly strokes its petals. She's purposefully inhaling its delicious, chocolate scent when her fortress of solitude is broken.