Quite a while ago I had asked friends for writing prompts one night and I got quite a few. I wrote this, using most of them... I just came upon it... thought I would share... the prompts I used are in bold.
At one point I was sure I would never go down that road, but when I did... it didn’t lead to where I had assumed it would. Instead, it brought me here. Where “here” was, I had no idea. I walked along the cobblestone street, my aching feet screaming for real pavement. The buildings that lined the street were unfamiliar and even though they looked older in style, they were fresher and newer looking than it seemed they should be. There were no people around, as far as I could see, no other people anywhere. I continued walking straight down the street; I was on a mission, though I didn’t exactly know what that mission was. When the street ended at the door of a stone cottage, I went inside.
The lighting was poor and I could barely see anything. Going from the bright sunlight to the dimly lit interior left me blind for the moment. As my vision slowly began to return, I saw it. It looked like a headless pigeon, but it was actually a small hen of some sort, bent down, its head tucked under its wing. This was the first sign of any life I had seen since I had followed the old dirt road and stumbled down the hill and onto the cobblestones that led me here.
I approached the hen slowly, as not to startle it. I reached out my hand to touch the small creature and she brought her head around, out from under her wing, and I knew then, this was no hen. She had a head like a lizard, no a dragon! Which was ridiculous I told myself. This must be some kind of rare bird. I could tell by the look in her eyes that she would not hurt me; I gently touched her back and the feathers were soft and downy. Her eyes begged me to help her somehow, but I wasn’t really sure how I could be of any help at all.
Just then, I heard a noise from the distance. It was a strange humming sound, like a helicopter, but lower and somehow scarier. I gently picked up the weird bird and held her close to my body. She snuggled in close and seemed to be comfortable in my arms. I ran for the back door of the cottage and saw that the cobblestone street continued as far as the eye could see. I began to run away from the cottage and away from the humming noise that grew louder and louder. I kept running, it wasn’t easy and my ankles ached from the unevenness of the cobblestones. My new friend made it a little easier for me, as she didn’t struggle or try to get away; she seemed to know that I was helping. I decided to call her Evey.
Evey and I continued down that road and away from the cottage for what must have been several miles. The cottage was the last of the buildings. For a long while the road was edged by open fields of tall grass and wildflowers. I may have enjoyed the sight if I weren’t so concerned about whatever it was making the humming noise that seemed to follow us. Eventually the meadows gave way to trees. At this point, we were deep into the forest, still on the cobblestone street, or rather, path now. At first the forest was bright and green with moss, slowly, as we went deeper and deeper into the forest, it got darker and trees became larger and larger. The trees were bigger than any trees I had seen before, like the ones you read about, where highways go through them, but nothing like the trees I was used to. My arms were tired from holding Evey and my legs were about to fall off. I desperately needed a rest. The humming sound had faded and I felt it was safe to stop. I stepped off the path and climb up onto a mossy tree root, it was about 3 feet high and 2 feet wide. I placed Evey down next to me and she stretched. She looked into my eyes and I instantly knew she was hungry and that she needed to hunt. I nodded and she flew off the root and wandered off into the woods.
I don’t know how I knew... but I knew she would be back when she finished hunting, and that she wanted me to remain here, where I would be safe. I must have dozed off, because the next thing I knew, Evey was back, with dinner. She had returned with what looked like white carrots and leafy greens and a rabbit. She held it all wrapped in a cloth that she held in her mouth. I climbed down off the mossy root and found a spot to try and build a fire in the dirt. I gathered pine needles, dried moss and a few sticks, if only I had matches. I had never been successful at rubbing sticks together to start a fire, I had no hope of that working now. As I piled my materials in the center of the stone circle that I made, I had no idea how I planned to actually make a fire. Evey waddled over to me, cocked her head and looked into my eyes. She blinked her big round black eyes at me and then turned to my pile of kindling. It looked like she was going to throw up, she coughed and gagged and then... she belched and line of blue fire shot from her mouth. The sticks and pine needles went up in flames instantly and Evey waddled away. Any doubt I had about dragons being real went up in flames as well.
I cooked the rabbit and the carrot-like vegetables over the flame and added a few logs to keep the fire going into the night. I wondered what the next day would bring and where I was going to go with Evey. Hard to believe only a yesterday I was worrying about things like ruby red lipstick and high heels and what dress to wear to the social. It all seemed so trivial now. Food, shelter and surviving the night were what I had to think about for the moment. We both ate like we had never seen food before. The white carrots were sweeter than carrots and actually really delicious, the rabbit was harder for me to eat, but Evey had no problem there, even eating the innards with enthusiasm. The noises of the forest increased as the crescent moon got higher in the sky. The stars were beautiful in the darkness, but the forest felt creepy. Evey laid close to me on the mossy root and we both fell asleep.
I awoke while it was still dark, though the hint of morning light hung in the air, which was heavy with dew. I sat up, trying hard not to disturb the tiny creature next to me. Evey purred in her sleep and sounded so content, I carefully slide down off our perch and stretched my legs. I walked a tiny ways down the past and crested the hill, and then I saw him. There he was standing watching the sunrise over the horizon. He was magnificent. I am not sure he could have looked any better if an artist was sent down from heaven to sculpt a man out of marble. His muscles rippled down his body and his hair blew in the gentle breeze. He had no idea I was there, and he did not look like the type of man you wanted to startle, so I started to back away.
“You there! You needn’t leave.” He said, without even turning around. How he knew I was there, I have no idea. He turned around and began to walk towards me, “You have nothing to fear from me.”
I stopped where I stood and stared, I couldn’t help myself. He was beautiful beyond words. He was also very large, he stood over six feet tall and looked like he could lift an elephant. He wore black leather pants and a utility bag that draped over one bare shoulder and across his body. He had various tools and weapons hanging from the strap of the bag. He looked like one of the barbarians from a book I had once read, only he was very real.
wish I had written more, I am dying to know how it ends!
Until next time... write on!
No comments:
Post a Comment