Weeping Willows

Chapter 1

The moment she slipped away beyond the woods was the moment her feet began to propel her deeper into the forest. She dodged sharp rocks that lay within her frantic path, ducked under low hanging branches that snagged at her oversized hoodie and whipped at her naked thighs as she zig zagged around trees. Tears streamed down her cheeks, blurring everything in her line of sight into masses of shapeless colors. Her ragged breaths came out as heavy clouds while she sprinted away. Everything around her suddenly became dark and shadowed as she slowed to a walk, wiping away the tears from her eyes. The sound of thunder roared from the black clouds above her, distracting her from the rush of wind that pushed her from all directions. She yelped in surprise as the wind flipped her hair in her face and blinded her from the pathway, pushing her over and causing her to fall onto a pile of dead leaves. She sobbed loudly until the breath left her lungs aching, her eyes burning from the salt of her tears, and drool dripping from her aching lips. She started to scream as she beat the ground with clenched fists and nudged her forehead against the cool dirt. Her throat quickly became sore and as she slowly turned her cry to sniffles, it was then that she heard the slight whispers among the trees that seemed to surround her in the forest.

"Who's there?" She cried out as she quickly stood, her feet crunching against the leaves. She was hyperventilating, the white clouds slipping from her lips, and her heart was thumping wildly against her chest. The wind came back with a vengeance as it threw her hair over her face and blocked her eyes. She stumbled through the forest to escape the whispers until she met the tree line. She slammed into the rough bark of a pine tree and leaned against it as her chest heaved and her lungs burned. She couldn't breathe, she felt numb, she couldn't even make a sound as she grasped the bark and tried to calm herself. She then heard the wind slow to a small breeze as she looked through the strands of her hair to see part of the clearing that was encircled by the unending forest around her.

She felt the breeze brush her hair away from her face as her vision cleared to reveal a twisting tree with frosted leaves and glowing orbs among its crackling branches. She felt her breath escape her lungs with such ferocity. She took a step closer to the tree. It illuminated the darkness that surrounded her, matching the intensity of the stars, and shook with the current of the wind. It seemed to bow toward her as the storm raged on. She could hear the giggling, the hastened whispers among the bark, the snapping of twigs from the outskirts of the forest. The girl knew she was not alone, and it frightened her. She could feel her skin raising with the cold along with the hair upon the back of her neck. She felt their eyes on her, watching to see if she would make a mistake, a mis-step. That's all it would take. One failure and she would disappear from the world's very existence.

The girl slowly approached the tree with one foot in front of the other when suddenly, a flash of light struck the ground before her.

It was a warning.

She barely had time to cry out and step back when a being with giant antlers and glowing white fur appeared before her. Jewels strewn with gold hung elegantly among the beasts antlers and the ivory bone of the antlers stretched out towards her as if to intimidate her. She was intimidated, but she couldn't help her thoughts race through her mind with the words beautiful or breathtaking. She felt her breath hitch in the back of her throat as the being stepped forward. It approached her with calm steps and the grass below its heavy hooves crunched softly. It lowered its head just over the girls shoulder. She shuddered as it huffed its breath upon her cheek, blowing strands of hair from her neck and exposing the skin. Their inky black eye leveled with hers just as the winds suddenly dispersed. The girl became mesmerized by the glittering eye that seemed to swirl with deep violets and indigos when a voice resonated within her thoughts, snapping her from her trance.