*Winter POV
"Winter, you're just an ordinary girl," my mother, Sara Marley, tried to convince me.
"Aren't you supposed to tell me I'm destined for greatness or something?" I'd asked her sarcastically, then stormed out into the cool October air of Transylvania, Oregon. I could see the edge of the Dark Forest, barely. There has always been a fence that reached as far as the horizon and as tall as the tallest trees in the Dark around them were also signs that stated "BEWARE!" "TURN BACK NOW!" and others that promised the unimaginable in that forest. But I, WinterMarley, have always felt a pull to those woods.
Just then I had a flashback to when I was smaller. I was still trying to walk at the age of two. I could never grasp the concept of how walking was faster than crawling. It was hard to believe that this memory was 15 years ago. It felt like it happened so long ago. The memory was of me walking outside about halfway to the Dark Forest and then crawling the rest of the way. Mom had caught me before I could cross through a gap in the fence though.
Now I was sprinting to that same forest. Ready to embrace the thought of certain dangers. I could hear my mom shouting something at me but I couldn't hear what it was because of the wind smacking my ears. "I'll show her who's truly ordinary," I'd told myself as I dove head first into the Dark Forest.
AS I walked deeper into the forest it grew darker and I understood why they called it the Dark Forest. There was an eeriness about the weather. It was at least 5 degrees cooler. I could hear the howling of a wolf. rustling of the leaves on the trees, and I could have sworn that in the distance I heard the laughter of someone…. or something.Get a hold of yourself, Winter!
Just then I saw bright blue eyes staring at me from a nearby bush. An image of those same icy blue eyes came to mind and were gone in an instant. "What are you doing here little girl?" the man questioned me with a smirk.
"I'm 17. I'm not little. Plus I could ask you the same question," I'd stated. Of course he would call me little, he towered over me by at least six inches.
"What's your name, Tiny?"
"It's Winter Marley. What's yours?" I'd said with some defiance.
"Daniel Ben's the name." He wore torn jeans, a dark blue shirt that brought out his eye color more and a black jacket with a leather jacket on top. He must live near the forest. "What's someone like you doing here?"
"Certain reasons. Why are you?"
"Don't like to be questioned I see," he observed, acting like I never asked him the same question. "Are you going anywhere in particular?" I start to walk away and then he grabbed my arm. "I'm trying to offer you some help. You shouldn't be wandering the forest alone, Tiny."
"My name is Winter and why should I trust you?"
He thought that one over and then stated in a matter-of-fact voice,"Because you can't protect yourself from what's in this forest."
"Fine," I mumbled.
We walked for an hour or so when I saw glowing, golden eyes looking at us through a bush.Nope, not going that wayI thought. Before I could turn and go the other way, there were eyes all around us. There was so much growling to the point where I thought there was a car nearby.
As the first wolf lunged out of the bushes, Daniel yanked me behind him and whipped out a knife. Where'd he get that? The one I guessed was the leader howled, "Wait! She's not the one. We're looking for a girl with hair the color of flames and this one has the color of snow."
"Why are you looking for that girl?" I questioned.
"Your little girlfriend is a curious one. Maybe a little too curious…" the wolf snarled at Daniel as he sauntered closer to us.
"We aren't dating," I protested, but they kept talking as if I said nothing at all.
"Yeah, I thought the exact same thing when I met her," Daniel smirked down at me. My face instantly turned red. Why was I so embarrassed? "What's the girl's name?" Daniel asked.
"Goldy," the alpha spit out."She stole food from us!" What person in their right mind would Steal from wolves?
"Got it. Goldy. We'll keep an eye out for her. Let's go, Tiny," Daniel motioned for me as he walked away.
"It's Winter," I mumbled. He ignored me. I hustled a little to catch up to him. As he strolled along the Dark Forest his short brown hair wasn't even blowing in the wind. Mine, on the other hand, was slapping me in the face every chance it got. When he whistled… wait, that noise. I've heard it before.
A scene played across my eyes. I was four and I was outside wandering around and I could hear that exact same whistling noise playing from a distance. Just like the last one this one disappeared just as fast. What was going on?
"Hey! Tiny, are you coming?" I must have stopped because Daniel was a few yards ahead of me.
"Oh! Yeah I'm coming," I jogged up next to him and then slowed my pace and put my hands in my grey hoodie pockets.
As we ambled on in silence I noticed something up ahead. As we drew closer I realized there were three different heaps of things on the ground. The first was straw. The second were sticks. The third were bricks. Little pieces all over the place. "What's that about?" I asked, pointing at the mess.
"The wolves," he barely even glanced over at it.
"What?"
"The pigs that lived there hurt a lot of their young," Daniel stated coolly and kept walking.
"What is wrong with this place? Wolves can talk and pigs live in houses? What's next? Mermaids!"
"Actually they are on the other side of the forest where the Great Lake is," Daniel stated.
"How'd you know I was thinking that?" I squinted my eyes at him.
"You were talking."
"Oh…" I looked at the ground. We walked in silence a bit longer. It was getting colder as we dove deeper into the forest. The wind was picking up speed.
"Here," he took off his jacket and gave it to me. "Wouldn't want you to freeze." When I took it I got a whiff of fresh air and soap. I draped it over myself and was instantly warmer. I could make a little tent out of this for myself if I wanted to with how big it was on me. I laughed to myself.
"Thank you," I mumbled.
He stopped abruptly and turned around. I, being the graceful person I always am, stumbled right into him. It was like hitting a brick wall. He grabbed onto my shoulders and steadied me. He bent his head so that he was staring into my eyes. The image of those eyes popped into my head again. I shook it to clear it. "It's getting late. We should camp here." He didn't say it like a question. We went around and started looking for twigs and other things to burn.
By the time I got back to the spot we decided to camp at, he had a fire crackling around us. He was leaning up against a tree that had fallen with his legs stretched out in front of him. I have always liked the smell of a fire. The smoke circled around in the air above us. I glanced up and saw the trees caging us in with their branches. they kind of looked like arthritic fingers reaching out to touch each other. As the wind blew the trees shook hands.
I had a strange feeling that I was being watched. As I adverted my gaze from the trees I realized that Daniel was watching me rather intently. "Can I help you with something?" I questioned.
"Shhh… Stay very still," he whispered, putting his finger to his lips. As he shuffled closer to me I felt more and more curious. What was he planning on doing? Would I be fine with what he was about to do? His face was a few inches from mine. My face was getting warmer. He had shadows dancing around his face from the fire's glow. Those blue eyes were darker now. He had a dimple on his right cheek. His eyelashes were long. I was jealous of them. I could see his hand moving towards my face out of the corner of my eye. He touched my shoulder. "Got it!"
"Huh,"
"You had a spider on you," he stated Seriously, what is going on with me? What did I think he was going to do?
"Oh. Umm… thanks," I stuttered. My face is getting warm. An awkward silence crept up on us. "Welp, good night." I said a little too quickly. I curled up in a ball and tried to sleep Hoping I could sleep away my embarrassment.
"Night, Tiny," he whispered.
I woke up the next morning to the sound of a thud. I glanced up and Daniel wasn't in the spot he was in last night. Where'd that guy go? As I searched around I spotted him a few yards away. He was chucking knives at a tree stump. His sleeves were rolled up and he was dripping with sweat. I could see the muscles in his arm flex as he threw them and an outline of something on his upper arm. Each knife hit right next to the one thrown before it. He threw them with ease.
As he went to retrieve the knives, he spotted me staring. A smile crossed his face, he waved, and he jogged up to where the knives were. I scrambled to get up. "Hey," I croaked. Smooth.