Chapter 7
T he smell of a nearby bonfire filled my nose as I stepped from my car onto the asphalt parking lot.
I loved the smell of bonfires—I always had.
The smoke filled my lungs, lingering in the back of my throat.
Tonight, I was going to be blunt if the creature appeared.
I was going to spill everything and see where it got me.
I wanted to hear its voice again. I wanted to know what was under its shroud, but more importantly I wanted to know what it was. As I stepped in the woods, I wondered if I would actually let this thing touch me in ways I craved. There was really no question. Of course, I would.
Farther into the woods, the smoke dissipated and the familiar coldness crept inside my jacket, chilling me in the most comforting way. My creature was here. I just had to figure out how to get it to come to me.
At the formation of rocks I always settled in, I turned a circle, searching for any sign of it. When I was met with nothing, I sighed.
“You can come out now,” I said, sounding like an idiot in the darkness. “I’d like for you to come. Please?” I’d beg if I had to.
I waited. Five minutes. Ten. Fifteen. “Please, I don’t want to wait all night. I would rather spend this time with you, not alone.”
Half an hour of waiting was long enough. We would do this the hard way.
I drew the dagger from my bag and stood in the center of the rocks with the sounds of the night playing a song around me. The bag thudded on the ground at my side, and I positioned it over the palm I hadn’t cut last time since the scab still lingered on it.
As I touched the tip of the blade to my skin, cold gray fingers wrapped around the wrist holding the knife. I gasped as chills skated over my skin and whipped my head to the side. Right into the blackened hood of my creature.
Its head tilted and then moved back and forth slowly—telling me not to follow through with what I’d been about to do. I dropped the knife into the palm I almost cut and the fingers let go of my hand. Instantly, I missed the touch.
Words rushed from my lungs as I turned toward it. “Please don’t leave. I want to talk. I promise I’m not scared.”
The creature just stared at me.
“I…I want to know what you are. May I know? Please?” I reasoned. “I won’t tell anyone about you.”
When silence drifted on the wind, I huffed. “Fine, if you don’t want to talk that’s okay. Will you stay here with me? I feel safe with you. I have no idea why, but I do.”
I should be running for the hills. Any normal person would have never set foot in the graveyard again, let alone the woods. I wasn’t normal though. I never had been normal, and this creature made me feel protected in ways I hadn’t ever felt before.
It made no movement to leave. Relief washed over me like an ocean wave. I didn’t want to keep up this cat-and-mouse dance we were doing.
“Listen. I’m going to be honest. I don’t want to have to almost cut myself to get you to come. When I come back…will you just come to me? No more games.”
Finally the creature's head tilted forward. The movement was so miniscule I nearly missed it. My resulting smile probably lit the woods around us like a full moon.
“Can I hear you again?” As soon as the words left my mouth it was a lost cause. “I barely remember your voice from the other night, and I want to hear it again.”
No dice. The creature didn’t answer so I tried something different.
“Can I tell you something then?” I asked and received another slight nod.
“I…think about the other night often. When you cleaned my hand.” I glanced down at my feet, color blooming on my cheeks. I didn’t know what was compelling me to be so honest and cringey, but hopefully it didn’t laugh. Did creatures like this laugh? I had no idea.
“Not just that, I dream about you. I dream that you visit my house most nights. I have since the night you saved me.”
Shyly, I dared a glance up into the hood. Its head had tilted and it was closer than before. My heart accelerated, and without thinking I took a step forward. When I did, the creature flew backward, putting even more distance between us than there was before.
“No, no. I’m sorry. Please don’t leave. I just wanted to be near you. I’ll keep my distance if that’s what you want.” I raised my hands in the air to show surrender. “I promise.”
Luckily, it stopped, hovering over the large rocks I sat on to read before. I gestured to them. “May I sit? Let’s trade places. You come over here and I’ll sit on those rocks.”
Cautiously, I stepped forward and the creature drifted sideways. It moved around me as I sat down on the rocks. With me sitting, it seemed so much taller and its billowing robes took up much more space. I felt small, but I still wasn’t worried.
“What can I do that will help you trust me?” I asked, knowing I wasn’t going to get an answer. “Do you have a name?”
Silence.
“Alright. That’s fine. I know you can talk, though.” I’d heard its voice. I hadn’t been hallucinating. More than its voice, I desperately wanted to know more about it, too. Where did it come from? What was it doing in these woods specifically? Were there more of them?
But I was satisfied with just being near it. If it didn’t want to talk then I had to be okay with that. It wasn’t going to give me more than it wanted to, so I sat and watched, committing every detail to memory.
It was over six feet tall when you included the six inches or so off the ground it floated.
Its robes were tattered gray and black, and from what I could tell, its form was human-like.
I couldn’t make out specific features because of the robes, but I didn’t see any extra appendages or odd contortions.
We existed like that, studying each other, until I glanced down at my watch and saw it was about an hour from dawn. I sighed, not wanting to leave despite merely sitting in the woods with some creature all night.
“I should probably go,” I said, my voice coming out in a hushed tone.
The creature didn’t move so I stood up, stretching my stiff limbs. I’d sat in one position entirely too long. When I opened my eyes, the being was right in front of me, its hood inches from my face.
A gasp escaped my lips and a hand lifted to my cheek. The icy touch warmed me from the inside—a comfort despite the cold. I leaned into the creature’s soft hand and let my eyes drift closed, wishing we could stay in that position forever.
All too soon, the cold left me and I opened my eyes to an empty forest.