Vindicta

The basket fell from your hands, spilling its contents all over the ground.

"Quiet!" You yelled at your younger siblings, who were playing nearby. Hurt by your harsh tone they dropped their baskets and ran back to the cottage. The sound traveled on the gentle breeze, barely audible when it reached you.

"It's far." The sun was high in the sky but falling fast. For a moment you could have sworn that the wind changed direction, pulling you toward the forest. The sound was coming from that direction, you glanced back at the house; mother always told you to never pass the tree line.

"There are creatures in there, my child. Both good and evil. Most are deceitful, some are pure." She would say. Although your mother's words were ones of warning, you couldn't help but wonder what was really out there. What kind of creatures?

'What was she so afraid of?'

The sound called to you, pulling you towards the depths of the forest. You looked back to the cottage, your brother and sister had almost made it back. Your sister fell to the ground in her haste to get to your mother, and as your brother ran after her as she rolled a little ways down the hill.

You turned back to the forest and began to walk towards it. The skirt of your dress whipped around you as the wind suddenly picked up. The wind had blown the sound in a different direction but you knew that it was coming from forest. Passing through the garden gates, you started down the field.

Your hands gently brushed the tops of the grass. Looking back to the cottage, your siblings finally made it to the door. Keeping your eyes on the small home you began to run to the forest; you needed to know where the sound was coming from.

Halting at the tree line you took a deep breath before stepping beyond it, leaving your family behind. As you stepped into the forest the wind ceased and time seemed to stand still. A faint mist rolled across the forest floor, you watched as it passed around your legs, and then you heard it again. It rang through the trees bouncing off of each truck, you could feel it searching for you.

Almost involuntary, your head turned in the direction of a mossy hill. A river of mist poured over the crest of the hill and floated down to you, the sound drifting along with it. Quickly you climbed the hill, desperate to find the origin of the sound. When you reached the top, you heard your mother scream your name, but you had come too far to turn back now.

Otherworldly creatures stepped from behind the trees, some crawling from underneath the trees' exposed roots. They watched you as you moved through the forest in a trancelike state. Slowly they began to follow you, matching your amble pace.

"A song..." The song danced around you and began to pull you to it again. It was the most haunting song you'd ever heard but also the most beautiful. You rounded a small grove and found yourself looking down into a glade. In the middle of it was a man sitting on top of a rock, bathed in the setting sun's rays.

The rock he sat on was surrounded by a spring making him look like he was stranded on the most beautiful island. Behind him was a gentle waterfall that fed into the spring. You stood at the edge of the glade, fixated on him as he sang his song. The glade gave his voice an enchanting echo. It drew you to him, slowly you began to walk.The creatures that followed you stood on the boundary of the glade, poking their heads through the foliage.

Stopping at the water's edge you could faintly hear your mother crying out for you. You could hear the fear in your mother's voice but you couldn't tear your eyes away from him out of fear that if you looked away, even for a second, he would disappear.

You stepped forward with every intention of crossing the water to join him on his island. But impossible blue eyes stared down at you, stopping you dead in your tracks. The trickling of the waterfall behind him was the only sound that hung in the air. His song ended and the sun had fallen.

The moon had begun her ascent, bathing the glade in pale white light. He climbed down from his rock and sauntered toward you, his eyes glowing in the moonlight. He began his song again, stopping at the edge of the island, his hand reached out to you caressing your cheek. A warm smile crept across his face as you leaned into him.

You heard your mother scream your name once more.