fantasy

Eva tried to step away from the tree arch, but she was rooted to the spot.

The lights swirled around her.

Faster.

Brighter.

She tried to scream, but no sound came out.

Then, the darkness swallowed her.

Eva stared at the light.

Not a signal beam of light, but hundreds of gently swirling lights.

If she wasn’t too sane to believe otherwise, she’d think they were pixies.

Dozens and dozens of pixies.

As Eva broke into a clearing, she goggled at the light.

The dark trees formed an arch here, and the light came from within the arch.

A strange tinkling drew her closer.

It couldn’t be.

Panic gripped Eva, crowding out rational thought as she tried to call her dad again.

Still no signal on her phone.

She stuffed it back in her pocket when a warm light drew her attention.

It was too bright to be a flashlight. Perhaps a streetlight or even a house.

She sprinted toward it.

Eva’s lungs burned, and cramps twisted her legs.

She paused and gasped for breath.

They weren’t that big. She should already be out of the woods.

But she was surrounded by dense foliage, far denser than anything that should be in Norman’s Woods.

Eva glanced behind her, but the path was gone. The woods misty.

She stared at the path ahead.

And ran.