Audrey opened the front door to the house and looked out over the front yard. Golden sunlight filtered through the tall oak tree branches that covered a large majority of the front lawn. Dew dappled the thick green grass, making each blade glitter in the early morning light. She blinked the sleep from her eyes and stretched one more time before reluctantly leaving the comfort of the house. Audrey was headed straight to the baseball field this morning. She promised Brandon she’d meet him there before the others arrived so they could spend a little time together before he had to go off to work on the maze game. The town was quiet as she briskly walked through the almost empty street. It was a Saturday after all. And the only people who were really up were the farmers who worked the corn fields out on the far end of the valley. Audrey used to remember the compass as a child from the school and corn fields. The school was on the East end of town, The corn fields were to the north and her home was on the south end of town. Of course, Brandon lived West. Audrey was halfway to the fields when she decided to stop at the farmer's market and pick up some food for the rest of the day. Audrey’s dad used to work a stall at the market, he grew watermelons, potatoes and squash. People went crazy for her dad's squash but she was never really a fan of the weird tasting vegetable.She moved down the line of stalls and found some plump strawberries and decided she’d get them along with some grapes, raspberries and green beans. Audrey loved raw green beans. They were one of her favourite snacks. She reached her father’s stall and smiled sweetly at the woman who was kind enough to manage it for them after her dad had gotten too busy to run it himself.
“Good morning Audrey, How are you?” The woman was in her thirties, short and round but definitely not lacking in good looks. She had a lovely face and smokey green eyes that could give anyone goosebumps. She ran a few stalls at the farmer's market while her husband worked the corn fields with Audrey’s father and two older brothers. Audrey nodded politely.
“I’m doing fine, thank you for asking Janet. Just getting some snacks for Brandon while he works on the maze game for the fair. How about you?” The woman flashed a wide smile and started talking rather briskly.
“Oh I’m doing wonderful. My youngest is turning five today and he’s so excited about getting to go to school once the summer is over. My oldest is graduating this year as well!”
“Oh yeah. I forgot that you had a kid in my grade. What was his name again? Preston?” Janet nodded and dug through her purse to pull out a picture of her oldest son. He had golden hair and a long, slender frame just like his father but had his mother’s wicked green eyes. Audrey had seen him in the halls of the school hundreds of times. They weren’t very close friends but she was acquainted with him. She had to admit that he was rather attractive and she liked having in depth discussions with him about the world they lived in. But there was something about him that felt off. He wasn’t a bad person or anything. She just felt as if he wasn’t all there. As if his mind was somewhere far away. She was sure he was waiting for the day where he could finally break free from this small town and spread his wings. Janet snapped her purse closed and dropped it back under the stall.
“Well it was really nice talking to you. I really have to go though. I promised Brandon I’d meet him early this morning. Tell Your youngest I said ‘Happy Birthday!” Audrey turned and walked back out onto the sidewalk, happy with the snacks she picked out. The baseball field was just as they left it the night before, with all of their half built props scattered across the field and unused supplies stacked nicely in one corner. Audrey laid out the blanket and sat down on it.. She didn’t have to wait long before the tall, blond haired boy crept up behind her and kissed her cheek.
“Good morning beautiful.” Audrey looked over her shoulder and smiled shyly as he gracefully sat down beside her. He wasted no time reaching down and gently locking his fingers between hers. She looked down at their hands and smiled a little bigger.
“They fit perfectly between mine.” She murmured to herself almost inaudibly. Brandon brushed a lock of hair behind her ear as she looked up and their eyes met. His deep blue gaze seemed to see deep into her own almost mesmerized as he slowly leaned closer to her. Audrey didn’t move, instead she let her eyes slide down to his mouth and she felt a small spark in her chest as she took in their almost perfect shape. She felt his forehead lightly bump hers as he hesitated just inches away from her own mouth. She could feel his warm breath on her lower lip and the sensation made her chest ache with a strong desire to press her lips to his. They were so close together, and the distance slowly closing when a shrill voice jerked the couple out of their daydream. Brandon closed his eyes and let out a soft sigh of annoyance before turning his head to look in the direction of the newcomer.
“Starting early I see. And that is why I picked you to take my place as committee leader.”
“Good morning Dan. How’s your head?” The short young man nodded curtly at Audrey before turning back to Brandon.
“They say I can’t actively participate in the setting up of the fair, but the doctor never said anything about overlooking it!” The man tipped his head back and laughed exuberantly as Brandon looked at Audrey with a goofy look on his face. The young girl covered her mouth with her hand, trying to stifle her laughter as Brandon continued to make faces.
“So. How far along have you gotten?” Brandon pointed towards the baseball field.
“It’s over there, go take a look.” The boy pushed his head in to kiss Audrey again as Daniel looked out over the field.
“Ah. Quite a bit of work to be done. Why don’t we just go start that? We’ll have it half way done before the rest of the boys get here.” Daniel turned back to Brandon and looked at him expectantly. Dropping his head and sighing again, Brandon pulled himself to stand up.
“We’ll get half of this done before lunch. No problem.” As Daniel turned away, Brandon stooped down and quickly pulled his girlfriend's face in for a kiss. When he let go of her and turned away to jog over to Daniel, Audrey brushed her hair behind her ear and smiled as she watched him climb the fence and land neatly on the other side. She could see Daniel scolding him but she couldn’t hear what he was saying, though it must not have been important because Brandon swiftly stood and walked away, leaving a flailing Daniel on the other side of the tall fence. Audrey was glad that she brought a book with her and a thermos of hot green tea. As she sipped the tea and read her book, the sun slowly started to climb higher in the sky until it finally exploded in bright warm light over the Eastern mountain range. The rays reached across the horizon like golden fingers clawing at the deep blue sky. Not long after the sun arose, the dew started to dry and the air around Audrey began to warm. Suddenly there was a massive amount of noise coming from the direction of the town. Audrey lifted her eyes from the pages of her book and looked out to see what all the commotion was. A large group of young men were making their way towards the field, making jokes and talking loudly as they crested the hill.
“Great. Now they’ll be able to get this done quicker.” Audrey’s head snapped to her side to see Maggie with three other girls approaching from the direction of the pine woods.
“Where did you come from? I never even saw you.” Maggie smiled and sat down beside Audrey, her long, slender legs folding neatly underneath her.
“We went to go see Auntie. She gave us some good advice.” Maggie had a mischievous look on her face as she winked and the other three girls giggled amongst themselves. At the mention of Auntie a cold shiver traveled down Audrey’s spine and caused goosebumps to rise on her arms. She knew that Auntie was a harmless old woman but lately she had gotten odd tingles under her skin whenever she thought of her.
“Oh yeah? What kind of advice?” She asked her best friend, hoping to shake the odd feelings she had about Auntie.
“She told us about what she saw in our futures.” One of the girls, a short redhead, spoke up.
‘That’s cool. What did she say?” The redheaded girl started talking rapidly and with excitement but Audrey’s mind was elsewhere. The odd tugging sensation started tightening in her chest again, urging her towards Auntie’s place. Audrey stared blankly towards the old wagon, wondering why she was so compelled to go there, but as she continued to stare there was a stark realization She realized she wanted to go to the pine forest, not to the old womans wagon. What was out there that called to her? The question continually rang in her head, dying to be answered. Nobody went out into the woods without a hunter with them. There was always a threat of bears and wolves up here and after one of the kids from last years graduating class had been attacked by a wolf, there was an invisible veil that seemed to hang over the woods that nobody wanted to pass through. Sure you could go about a hundred feet or so into the woods safely, but nobody dared venture past the washout that was almost two hundred and fifty feet into the tall pine forest. Audrey used to go collect pine cones in the fall so her mom could make scent them and use them as a centerpiece for the table when she was younger. Now her little brothers get to go do it, under the watchful eyes of their big sister and father of course. The unrelenting urge to go out there became almost unbearable and Audrey finally gave in. Slowly she stood up and excused herself from the small group of girls then made her way to the pine forest. She was about halfway across the large clearing when the sound of footsteps jogging up behind her made her stop. Audrey turned just in time for Brandon to catch up to her.
“Hey, where you goin’ beautiful?” She looked back towards the towering ancient trees and shrugged.
“I’m not really sure. I just feel like I need to go this way.” Brandon gave her an odd look but said nothing and followed her to the treeline where they both paused.
“So what do you want to do now? Go in?” Audrey scanned the forest, it was dense and shaded from the sunlight. Soft noises of birds and small animals met her ears, along with the smell of damp pine needles and sap. It was a beautiful place, truly breathtaking, but also dangerous if you ventured too far. The awkward feeling in her chest grew as she looked out into seemingly endless trees. Without saying anything Audrey took a step into the woods and after a brief hesitation slowly started to make her way into the city of pine trees. The ground was soft and springy with moss and pine needles, the musty smell grew stronger the deeper in they went and the wild sounds of nature only grew louder. They walked for a while, gazing around awestruck by the serene beauty of the mountains.
“This place always amazes me.” Brandon murmured beside her. “It’s so beautiful.”
“It sure is. I love coming out here occasionally. It’s relaxing. Sometimes I wonder-” Audrey cut off suddenly, her body freezing in place as a shape, very much out of place appeared ahead of them. Her hazel eyes stretched wide in both amazement and fear as she made out the faint outline of a body standing a ways away. Suddenly it jerked and vanished, making Audrey leap back towards Brandon and gasp sharply.
“What? What is it?” Audrey’s heart was pounding hard in her chest as Brandon held her protectively to his body, blood racing in her ears and shivers starting to break out across her whole body. She stood stock still for a moment before daring to move. Without answering her curious boyfriend, Audrey took off towards the spot where she saw the figure. She noted that a thin layer of misty fog clung to the floor of the forest and was mesmerized by the way it slowly spread deeper into the woods.
“Fog is moving in. It must be getting ready to rain.” Brandon called up to her as he followed The young girl through the woods. Audrey ducked under the higher part of a fallen tree and when she stood up she saw movement out of the corner of her eye. She spun in the direction of the movement and once again felt the tugging sensation pull at her heart. There it was. The figure, standing less than twenty meters away from her. It was a long, slender figure, possibly of a boy, and was somewhat hunched over as if trying to hide from her line of vision.
“Brandon. Do you see it?” She panted, slowing her stride to a stop and staring unblinkingly.
“Yeah, I see it. Who is that? And what are they doing all the way out here?” Cautiously Audrey took a small step closer, then another one, until she was moving closer to the figure at a slow, steady pace. Stopping almost eleven meters from whoever it was and stared. The frame didn’t look like anyone she knew, and because of the dense woods and lack of light she couldn’t make out any colour or facial features. Her heart was almost screaming for her to keep moving closer and with a sickening realization discovered that this odd figure is what had been calling to her the last couple of days. Who are you? She thought to herself as she slowly stood up straight. Nobody moved as the light rain slowly started to make its way down through the thick canopy of pine needles. Audrey loved the way the woods smelled when it rained, You could smell it all the way from her house during rain storms. Somewhere far far away, A lone wolf howled to the gray sky. The lonesome cry echoed across the mountains, being carried for miles as the rain continued to fall. Audrey was about to take another step when suddenly the figure moved, and with sheer terror, Audrey realized it was moving towards her, quickly.
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