If You Could Go Anywhere
axolotlnerd-campcamp (axolotlNerd)
Nikki loved the woods. She loved them. They were her favorite thing in the whole world. She loved the leaves and the trees and the grass and the bugs and the bears and the deer and the wolves and all of the other mysterious things she had yet to find in the forest. She loved watching little mushrooms sprout up in the fall, and she loved finding animals drinking by the creek and meeting their eyes and watching as they did not flinch, did not flee at the sight of her.
Every single little thing that she discovered was something more to love. She loved everything about the forest.
So when she stayed late enough that fireflies began to blink in the twilight, she was only drawn further in. She followed the bugs, and they let her hold them in her hand to light the forest floors while she found herself wandering deeper into the woods.
It wasn’t long before she’d been led so deep into the woods, the canopy covered the sky, and she could not see the stars anymore. The fireflies left, wanting to stay with their skyborne family, and Nikki began to think she should turn around.
But it was only a momentary thought, as more lights began to appear underneath her feet, illuminating the path. Small blue mushrooms glowed in the night air, like stars that had fallen to earth but even more beautiful, and with every step she took they pulled her along. She followed them until they began to disappear, and just as they stopped growing along the thin path she began to think herself lost.
But a small light caught her eye, and when she looked she saw a small, flickering blue flame. It called her forward, beckoning her with the glint of it’s light, and led her further into the forest. When she reached it, it moved before she could touch it, pulling her deeper and deeper into the woods.
She reached out again, hoping to touch it, and all of a sudden the light disappeared, bursting into glowing dust.
And then she realized exactly how lost she was.
Nikki could barely even see her hand in front of her face, the light of the moon and stars almost entirely blocked out by the canopy. There was no way she could see the path back home now, and she hadn’t even been to this part of the wood before. There could be a bear or a wolf or something worse waiting to attack around any corner, or perhaps even something she’d never seen, something in the forest that she might never be able to explore again-
The snap of bramble put her at attention, looking around to try and find the source of the noise. The small blue creature appeared again, no longer beckoning her but just floating there. When it began to glow lighter, Nikki could see the hands cupped underneath it, holding it like a lantern to the darkness.
It was a girl. A girl about her age, it seemed, but a hundred years wiser. Her skin was a dark rich brown, and deep red coils fell into her electric blue eyes. Freckles created constellations over her nose and under her eyes, and she wore a blue robe. The creature grew lighter again, and suddenly Nikki saw what seemed so off about the girl.
Like the deer at the entrance of the forest, she had antlers, and like jewelry vines and moss wrapped around them, tall and towering over Nikki.
The girl stepped forward hesitantly, and Nikki didn’t move.
“The sun isn’t rising anytime soon, you know.”
