Originally written for a class, thanks to EmmBee for helping me with revisions!
It was spring, and the orchard was in full bloom. James walked past the rows of apple tress. He could see Anna amongst the pink blossoms, running her hand through the petals and twirling, her skirt billowing around her. She ended her turn facing him. "James!" she called and ran down the row. He stopped walking and waited for her. "Do you want to play make-believe?" she asked.
"No, I don't want to play make-believe," James huffed. Anna's smile faded. They used to spend hours in the orchard, pretending to be far away, having adventures. But lately he wasn't interested. He was getting too old for make believe. "I'm going for a walk." He started onward.
She darted after him. "Can I come too?" Her brown pigtails bobbed as she trotted alongside him.
"No," he snapped.
"Why not?" He knew Anna wouldn't leave him alone. She always pestered him.
"Because it's dangerous, and you're too little. You go play in the orchard, now." He knew he was patronizing her. He could see the disgust on her face, but he didn't want to be bothered anymore about baby games.
"I'm almost as big as you, James Aaron," she retorted. "Where are you going that's so dangerous?"
"I'm going to find the meadow in the forest." He grinned smugly, watching for her reaction.
She stopped walking, and he waited. They were near the edge of the orchard now, and the forest loomed beside them. "You can't," she whispered.
"What's the matter? Scared?" he mocked. Anna loved make-believe adventures, but he knew she wasn't brave enough for a real one.
"You're not allowed to go." That was just like her, to makes rules out of traditions. No one expressly forbid it. It just wasn't mentioned. That the meadow in the forest should be avoided was as well known as the direction the sun rose from. It only made him more eager to go there. Anna wouldn't understand.
He shrugged. "You stay here and play. I'm going to have a real adventure." Without waiting for a reply, he strode off towards the woods.
James looked back a few times, but Anna didn't seem to be following him. The trees of the forest were much larger than those in the orchard; many of them he couldn't reach around when he tried. He stopped to climb a few on his way. The leaves of the trees were darker than the undergrowth beneath him. It gave the forest the peculiar appearance of being lit from within. Trails crisscrossed through the ferns as though regular travelers came through, though he saw no tracks. He took one trail, and then another, not thinking about which way he was headed or how he would find the clearing. But he found it anyway.
He could see it from a distance, the rays of the sun visibly falling through the opening in the canopy, like a cascading waterfall of light. It was covered in bluebells so thick that the green of the grass was nearly crowded out by blue. When he crept up to the edge, he found the most curious thing of all. In the center of the meadow slept a woman. She was beautiful, like a chiseled stone etched into perfection. Her dress was white. Her long brown hair was adorned with a circlet of flowers, like Anna enjoyed making in the spring. When she opened her eyes, they were pale grey, as though faded over long years from a once brilliant blue. She sat up and looked right at him, and the sun shone upon her face. She didn't look dangerous.
"Why have you come here?" Her voice was light. It seemed to travel on a wisp of breeze, surrounding him like the smell of the apple blossoms in the middle of the orchard. He wondered if she was one of the fay. A small knot of worry started to form in his stomach. He had guessed the fay had enchanted the meadow, but he hadn't expected to encounter one of them in it. Perhaps she would trap him there for all his years, emerging old and gray, with eyes as timeless as hers, only to find mere moments had passed at home. Or the opposite – perhaps he would spend mere moments with her and come home to a withering orchard, old and abandoned, with nothing but a graveyard for family.
"Why have you come here?" she said again.
He looked down at his feet and saw with relief that his toes had not crossed the flowered edge of the meadow. In truth, he didn't know if crossing the border made any difference. But he put his hand on the large oak tree beside him, and imagined its roots spreading out into the earth of the forest but never under the meadow. "I haven't," he said and pointed at his muddy leather boots, inches from the bluebells.
Her mouth twitched slightly. The thought that he may have flustered her comforted him. Then she blinked, a little too slowly to seem natural and spoke again. "Have you found what you're looking for?"
"Wasn't lookin' for nothin'." He didn't want to say he came looking for adventure; it sounded young and silly. But if he'd come looking for something else, he didn't know what it was.
She laughed, clear and high and full of amusement. Her laughter echoed off the trees, until it faded into silence. "Who are you?" he asked, attempting to change the topic. Many spoke of the danger of the meadow in the forest. Some folks claimed to have cousins, brothers, or uncles who had wandered through the woods and come upon it. Some had not returned. It was how lost relatives were accounted for. Others came back different, though no one was quite sure what had changed. But they never spoke of what they encountered there, and that was suspicious enough.
She blinked again, long and slowly, as before. "I am the one in the meadow." He narrowed his eyes. He didn't think the fay were supposed to be simple minded. He tried to think of a trickery behind her words, a reason for such an obvious answer. He couldn't think of any.
"Why were you sleeping in the meadow?" he asked. He thought it was a sensible question.
She smiled. "The earth is my bed, and the sun is my blanket." James rolled his eyes. It sounded like something silly Anna would say when she pretended to be fay. Maybe she wasn't really one of them after all. He relaxed against the oak tree beside him. He didn't think fay were supposed to answer questions so readily, either. But the way she sat so still, just staring at him, didn't quite seem natural.
He shifted back and forth on his feet, and she continued staring at him. He didn't want to get any more ridiculous responses, but she didn't seem about to ask any questions of him either. A few birds sang in the trees, and a squirrel ran up the tree he leaned against. This was turning into a rather dull adventure.
Just as he was contemplating moving on and looking for a different meadow, a voice pierced the stillness. "James!" It was Anna, calling from somewhere behind him. He stood up straight. She had followed him after all. Surprised and irritated, he turned to the woman in the meadow.
"If I enter the meadow," he asked, "what happens?"
"What would you like to happen?" She smiled sweetly. The meadow seemed to shimmer, the air glimmering before him like heat on a summer day. Slowly it vanished, and a dark forest of pine stood before him. The light that had once poured into the meadow was blocked by the dark branches. The woman was standing now, dressed in a deep red, the color of the sweetest, ripest apple, and stretching out her hand for his.
She was one of the fay then, after all. "I want an adventure." He grinned.
He looked behind him again. Anna was close now, running at him. "You can't!" she screamed.
"Don't follow me," he called. Then he turned back and reached for the woman's hand.
"James, no!" Anna's voice faded as he boldly stepped across the border into the meadow.
As his boots vanished in a sea of bluebells, the woman disappeared. The pine forest vanished around him, and he found himself standing in the empty meadow. The woman was nowhere to be seen. Anna was still running frantically. Disappointed, he tried to step back towards her, but he wasn't able to move in that direction. He ran the edge of the small clearing, but he was confined on all sides. He pounded against the air, his hands unevenly bruising as if he was pounding against uneven, invisible rock. The knot of worry returned to his stomach and swelled to a sickening fear.
Anna, he realized, had stopped running and was standing just where he had stood before he stepped over the border, to the other side of the meadow. "Give him back!" she screamed, stomping her foot. "You have no right to take my brother!"
"Anna?" He tried to speak to her, but she didn't answer, and she didn't look at him. Just as the wall was invisible, not even felt from the other side, he concluded he, too, must no longer be perceptible.
Suddenly he heard the woman's voice, though he saw no one. As before, her voice seemed to surround him. Unable to see her, he could not pinpoint where it came from. "I'm sorry, Anna," he heard her say, her voice dripping with sweetness, "but your brother came of his own free will. He left you behind."
Anna glared. "What do you want? Why did you take him?"
"Want?" he heard the woman ask, as though it was the most ridiculous thing in the world. "I didn't take him. He left you. He said he wanted an adventure."
"I'm sorry, Anna," he muttered, shaking his head. This was more adventure than he had bargained for. "I should have stayed home."
To his surprise, Anna's eyes filled with tears that threatened to spill over. "Come here, darling," the woman's voice said, sweet again like too much honey.
He started banging on the invisible walls. "Don't do it!" he yelled. "It's a trap!"
Anna eyed the air suspiciously. She seemed to consider something. "If I come, will you let him go?"
"No!" he screamed. He pounded on the wall. This time he fell through, landing in a heap on the forest floor. He scrambled to his feet, but it was gone. Anna, the woman, and the entire meadow had vanished. "Anna!" he yelled. No sound came but the unconcerned chirping of birds above him. "Anna!"
He searched the forest for hours, but in vain. There was no sign of the meadow, or of Anna, or of the woman. He crisscrossed the forest paths, in every direction he thought he had taken, and some he was certain he hadn't. They led him consistently back to the edge of the wood, the empty orchard awaiting him. It was nearly dark when he finally gave up and stepped out of the forest. He walked slowly through the apple trees, taking in their sweet smell, remembering Anna's grin when she saw him in the morning. He should have stayed with her. He should have played make-believe like she wanted. He hung his head.
He dreaded coming to the house. He could never explain, never ask for forgiveness. He shuffled, shoulders hunched, towards the back steps. But when he got close, he noticed someone sitting on the bottom step, waiting for him. It was Anna, weaving a circlet of flowers for her hair. Amazed and relieved, he ran to her and pulled her into a hug. "Anna! How did you escape?"
"Escape? From what?" She looked at him quizzically.
He stared at her, dumbfounded. "You were trapped in the meadow," he finally muttered, suddenly unsure of himself.
Her eyes lit up at the mention of the meadow. "Did you find the meadow? Was it really as dangerous as they say?"
"You were there!" he exclaimed, confused and frustrated.
Her face fell, just as it had this morning. "It's alright, James," she sighed. "You don't have to play make-believe with me." She turned to walk up the steps.
"Anna." He grabbed her wrist and waited until she turned back around, then let her arm fall back to her side. "Tomorrow, we'll play all day."
She looked at him skeptically. "Dragons and mermaids and fay?"
He laughed uneasily at the mention of the fay, but he knew it was her favorite game to play. "Dragons and mermaids and fay. I promise."
She grinned and wrapped her arms around tightly around him. "James?" she asked, pulling back from the embrace. "Did you find what you were looking for?" It struck him then, as it never had before, the brilliant blue color of her eyes.