William tumbled blindly through the woods carelessly not caring when he clothes caught on several thorny branches and torn. All he knew was that he had to get away. Get away from the harsh laughter and more violent 'games' of those kids. Tears welled up in his eyes and he had trouble choking down the sobs. He wiped away the wetness away with the back of his hand and shut his eyes harder to prevent anymore from escaping. A thorn caught his cheek as he torn through a rough batch of vegetation creating a scarlet slash. Blood welled up to the surface of the wound and a red line trickled down his face, along his jaw line.
By the time he reached the clearing he looked almost dead. The color in his face paled in comparison to the wound on his cheek. His hair was unkempt with leaves and broken branches woven through it. His clothes were in complete shambles and his shoes were no longer recognizable under the caked layers of mud.
He felt the sunshine on his hands and face and let it calm him. He stood there in the middle of the clearing unthinking for a long time. He felt the sting of the scratch on his cheek. He felt the tightness in the throat from holding back the sobs of anguish. He felt the scratchy feel on torn fabric all over his body. He let his knees unbuckle and feel limply to the ground. He allowed his eyes to open finally and stared up at the sky.
"I wonder how long I can stay here before someone finds me," he thought. "Maybe a few days, at the most. I could eat mushrooms and drink spring water. I don't mind that much, as long as I don't have to go back."
He felt his eyes burn once more when he thought of those children and their mean games. He shut his eyes again but could not stop the choking sob that escaped his mouth. He bit down hard on his inner cheek so prevent another one, causing his outer cheek to sting even worse. He gently touched his cheek and looked at his fingers. He was surprised to see so much blood. "It didn't hurt so badly", he thought, "but I must have sliced it worse than I thought."
He sat up looking for a close by spring where he could wash of the cut. Instead he found her.
She was dressed in a very strange fashion. William immediately assumed she was a gypsy; no other woman would dare wear men's pants in public. Her complexion was lighter than was usual for a gypsy, with pale blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes, but the bright colors of her top and manly dress made it obvious.
He looked around the rest of the clearing but could see no one else but the girl and him. He wished she would leave so he could be left alone but he felt strangely compelled to her. It was as if he could see his suffering reflected in his girl. Her posture was stooped and the redness in her cheeks indicated that like him she had recently stopped crying. He wondered if she could possibly be going through the same pain as him. His curiosity was so strong he quickly found himself next to her down on his haunches with his hand on her shoulder.
"Hello, Miss," he said softly. "Are you alright?" The girl looked up with eyes shining from her recent tears. Her expression was full of surprise.
"Oh hello," she replied. Her voice occasionally cracked when she talked and she had a slight stammer but her words were clear, even if her accent was strange. "I- I'm sorry, is this your place, t- too? I only come here sometimes to be alone. I don't mean t- to be a bother. I can leave, if you wa- ant me to."
William found himself able to smile at her in reassurance. "No, this isn't my place. I did come here to be alone but I think we'll be fine if we both stay here."
The girl nodded, staring at the ground in front of her. "Why did you come here? Did you get chased here too?"
William sat down on the ground next to her to get more comfortable. "You could say that. Do you know the Jones's gang?" The girl shook her head. "Well, I am here in this part of the country on my summer holiday with me Mum. We have a summer house here along the lake in Chesterpeak. This morning me Mum told me to get out of the house. Usually I just stay at home and read but I guess Mother wanted me to get some fresh air. Anyway, I took my book out to the garden and started to read in the shade. I was just getting to the good part when the Jones brother and their gang show up. They took my book away and said, 'rich city boys are all weaklings, fight us!' I didn't want to but they threw my book in the mud and pushed me into a tree. I tried to push them back but they punched me in my stomach and threw me down." William shuttered with the memory.
"What happened next," asked the girl with wide eyes. "Did you fight them off?"
William hesitated and stared at the ground.
"Yeah," he said looking up with a lopsided grin. "I took them all on and won. I showed them to mess with city boys. And then I knew I would be in trouble for hurt all those boys so I ran all the way here so no one could find me."
The girl stared at him with respect glittering in her wide eyes. "Wow, you must be really brave. I wish I could be like you." She turned her head and stared into the dark woods surrounding them. Her expression was blank and unreadable.
William cocked his head to get a better look at her. She was very pretty now that he was looking. Her stringy hair fell in her face and gave her an unsavory appearance at first glance. Under the hair, however, he skin was smooth and full of color. Her clothes did little for her figure, which was wire thin, but now that he was used to them they seemed almost charming.
Relaxing back on the palm of his hands he asked as casually as he could, "So what are you doing here? Did you get into a fight too?"
The girl smiled and laughed for the first time. It was a painful sort of laugh, fast and harsh. William almost winced at the sound.
"No, I didn't get into a fight," she continued, suddenly morose. "A group of girls from my school were teasing me about my clothes because I don't wear normal clothes like all the other kids. I can't help it that my dad doesn't buy me new clothes all the time. Besides, it's not like anyone uses these."
"What do you mean," asked William, not understanding.
The girl smiled again that same sad, self-mocking smile. "Most of the clothes I wear are my mom's old clothes. That's why they are all so big. My dad doesn't like me wearing them but since he won't buy me new clothes I'm stuck with these. I think that my dad wishes I would just go away. He's still mad about Mom. He loved Mom a lot and it's heard for him to get over how she died."
"That's not really fair, what did you have to do with that," William interrupted.
"My mother was killed by a drunk driver when she was going to pick me up from my school play. I waited there at the auditorium for hours before I realized that she wasn't coming. I think my dad blames me for her death."
William didn't know what to say. He had never heard anything so sad. So he said the only thing he could think of. "What's you name?"
The girl looked up started. "Oh, my name is Tara. What's yours?"
"William."
"William? That's a pretty name. I like you, William. Let's be friends."
"I like you too, Tara." Before he could continue he felt a pang of guilt. "Umm, Tara."
"Yes, William?"
William sighed. "If we are going to be friends than we should be as honest as possible from the start. I lied about beating up all those kids back there. The truth is I got the juices beaten out of me by all 6 of them and I ran here to get away. I'm sorry I lied."
Tara smiled, this time it was a real smile. "She is very pretty when she smiles," he thought.
"It's okay. I know what it's like to be embarrassed. I don't blame you for wanting to lie about it."
William smiled back and felt something shift inside him. He never felt so peaceful before. This girl was amazing, she was so sad much she could make him feel so understood.
"How would you like to play a game," William said.
Tara giggled. "What game do you want to play?"
William thought for a second. "How about 'Witches and Vampires'? We can make special spells and brew potions. I can be a strong heartless Vampire that can take on 500 full-grown men and you can be a super powerful Witch."
Tara laughed. "I can caste a spell that will give me new clothes whenever I want them. I like this game."
William and Tara jumped to their feet and ran off to collect 'spell ingredients'. They threw sticks and berries into concave rocks and made special 'potions' that would make everyone your willing slave. They climbed trees to prove their 'super human strength' and laughed as they swung from the branches from their knees. All too soon the sun began to set and they were forced to say their good-byes.
"Let's meet here tomorrow," Tara suggested. "Then we can finish our game."
William grinned. "Yeah, that sounds great! See you tomorrow, Tara."
Tara grinned back; the sad sullen look had completely disappeared from her face. Now she glowed confidence and energy. "Good-bye, William."
The next day William woke up early, washed his face, and ran off to the woods before his mother could stop him for breakfast. He crashed through the brush, wildly searching for the clearing he met Tara in. After an hour of searching he finally found a clearing in the woods, but it looked different from the one from yesterday. He set off in a different direction searching through the trees for signs of another clearing. Hour after hour, he was no closer to finding his meeting place with Tara. Began to question wither he had really been with anyone yesterday. Someone like Tara might have been too good to be true. It wasn't like him to make up fantasies about strangely dressed girls with scraggily blonde hair and pretty smiles but how else could he explain it. Sun set quickly approached and he felt it to be a lost cause. If Tara was real, he was very sorry he couldn't find her but he felt that no all had been lost. He still felt that same peaceful feeling inside him whenever he remembered that day. He hoped one day he would get a chance to meet her again and tell her how much she meant to him.
As he entered his summer house that night, tired, dirty, and beaten, he felt that something great had touched him that he would always be grateful for the peace her memory gave him.
"I wish I knew you when I was a kid."
Spike turned to Tara with an amused expression.
"What makes you think you know what I was like back then," he drawling out his words.
Tara shrugged. "There's no way I could have meet you obviously. You were born back in the mid-1800s and I was born in the late 1970's. But given how I feel about you know and the changes in me that you've made, it just makes me wonder how my life would have turned out if I had met you when I was a kid."
Spike gave her a cocky half grin and replied, "Oh, and how exactly do you feel about me?"
Tara stopped walking and stared right into his eyes. "When I'm with you I feel like a better version of my self. I'm confident, happy, and strong. When you look at me I feel like I'm worth something and that I'm wanted. You are my sun and moon. You are my soul-brother. I treasure our friendship more than I can say."
Spike stared back at her face. "Do you really mean that?" Tara nodded. Spike allowed his gaze to drop to the ground. "I'm glad, because I feel the same way.
Tara felt her eyes water as she gave him her most dazzling smile. "Are you being serious?"
Spike nodded. "It's not so much that we are similar in our tastes, but more so that we are the same person. It is as if despite all our difference we share a common soul. You are my greatest friend and I could never imagine living without you now that I have met you."
Tara walked up to him and took his hand. "That's good, since I have no intention of ever leaving you. So let's play a game."
Spike looked at her in confusion, "What sort of game."
Tara smiled, "I think you'll like it, it's something I learned a long time ago. It's called Vampires and Witches."
Spike laughed openly. "Oh, and how do you play that game?"
Tara's smile melted away to her more serious face. "I want to bind my life to yours. Where ever you go, I want to be. All my days I will spend following you. I want you to be my life."
Spike stared into her face and found nothing but stubborn resolve there. "My dearest friend, I accept your offer."