Unbinding the Demon

Whispers Under The Willow

The clouds had finally parted their dark wispy curtain to reveal the high afternoon sun. Vibrant autumn colors embellished the branches above us, as we followed a narrow winding stream deeper into the forest. The bright sun glittered on the surface of the flowing water and reflected up beneath the leaves, casting sparkling beams of dancing light upon them. 

I carefully rummaged through my basket to rearrange all the goodies that we'd scored so far. There were some birch polypores, painted suillus, and maitake in there now, so I was thinking that we should probably take a break and call it a day soon. The stream eventually led us to a small hilly meadow with a set of short narrow waterfalls cascading over some mossy rocks. 

We walked over to a large yellowing willow as it's wispy branches mournfully whispered in the breeze. The tree stood peacefully next to the small waterfalls and draped it's flowing arms from the top of it's lofty rounded crown, all the way down to caress the grassy earth that it shaded below. Ashton surprised me by taking my hand in his and gently led me beneath it's weeping veil. We sat down together on the lush green grass, as the small yellow leaves danced like a whimsical curtain around us.

I really hate to admit it, but I actually wasn't having a terrible time with him. And trust me, I wanted to. I wanted him to reveal his true crazy psycho nature and give me a reason to tell him to fuck right off! ...But he never did. Other than his unsolicited touches, he was pretty much a gentleman to me the whole time. I also found out that he has a pretty amusing sense of humor.. He's down right hilarious actually.

"Don't even think about it." Ashton firmly said while eyeing down a soaking wet Belzar, who had just been jumping in the stream, and was now coming over to us to shake himself off.

Belzar seemed to understand him perfectly, dipped his head down with a whine, and pranced back into the water. I giggled and he snickered as he scooted a little closer over towards me.  

"He seems like a very well trained dog." I mentioned as I watched Belzar playfully jumping up and biting at the water, causing a shimmering sequence of splashes to fall all around him.

"He's not really trained, he's just smart." He replied as he reached into the basket and pulled out the journal. "You brought this with you?" He gave me a smile while raising a brow.

"Yeah, I thought it would be nice to read out here in the peace and quiet." I shrugged my shoulders and tried to seem indifferent about it. 

God, I really hope his ego doesn't inflate because I brought along the book he gave me. 

"I'm glad that you brought it. Have you read anything that peaks your interest?" He asked with a smug smile and proud twinkle in his eyes.

Yep, his ego is inflating like a hot air balloon.   

The corners of my mouth drooped down as I considered whether or not I wanted to tell him about my grim connection to it. I didn't want to sound like a 'woe is me, my aunt died' sob story, nor did I want anyone's pity for my woebegone tale. I looked over at him to see that his curious golden eyes were carefully searching my face as he patiently awaited my answer.  

"It seems interesting, although I haven't gotten to the part about the strange book yet." I looked down and awkwardly fidgeted with the hem of my dress.

Disappointment flashed across his face for a brief second, but was quickly replaced with a cunning smile. "Well, I thought it was interesting that you share the same last name as the woman who wrote it." My eyes warily widened at him.

What the living fuck? How the hell did Sherlock fucking Holmes over here figure out my last name?  

"Wait.. How do you know my last name?' I nervously inquired with a suspicious glare.