Magic
It was an unseasonably warm autumn night–the musk of fall felt out of place without the chill. She’d made plans months ago to go walking in the woods up in the hills for the autumn solstice. At the time it felt like such a romantic notion, but now it was sticky, humid and more drudgery than special.
At moonrise she grabbed the basket and made her way up the final hill to their meeting place. She was determined to make the best out of not ideal situation. He would be waiting for her, and they would enjoy themselves no matter what the situation presented.
She swung the basket as she climbed the hill. The leaves crunched under her feet and she hummed a tune under her breath. She longed for an excuse and the weather to crawl into a warm embrace, but she might still get the opportunity if they remained outside long enough. It was bound to cool down eventually.
She chuckled to herself this was such a foolish idea, but at least the walk was pretty. She saw shadows dancing through the trees, but decided it was only a trick of the light. She couldn’t hear the pursuing footsteps over her own. She was hunted, but she chose not to believe.
A howl broke through the silence and a branch snapped on the path nearby.
Her ability to disbelieve was slipping, but the top of the hill was so close! She knew she would be safe if she could make it there. He would not let anything harm her.
She ran, but the footsteps behind her ran too.
A heavy weight slammed into her back inches from the crest of the hill. She tried to crawl those last few feet, but a voice in her ear made her blood run cold.
“You promised to show respect to this place–my home! Yet here you are hoping to defile the beauty of nature on such a powerful night. It’s a shame–I wanted this to be different.”
She screamed as the air was forced from her lungs. Darkness closed around her and she glimpsed his true form as the world went black.
He was guardian of the forest, and she had wronged him.
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