Chapter 5: Into the Forest
As Mel and Ava drew closer to the woods the trees seemed to just get taller, and by the time they reached the edge of the woods the trees were the size of redwoods
"Whoa" Ava said looking up trying to see the tops of them. As they entered the shadowy forest a faint sweet smell reached them "mmmm" Ava mumbled "that smells good, where's it coming from?"
Mel looked around "I think it might be the trees "she answered drawing closer to the nearest one, and sniffing it. Ava burst out in a fit of giggles at the sight Mel realized how strange she must have looked and joined in the laughing. "It is the trees" Mel finally said recovering from her laughing "but what is that smell?" Ava thought for a moment
"It's like a cold northern night by a campfire in the woods, and some kind of holiday spice" She said in a thoughtful tone
"Yeah!" Mel said "just like that stuff Mrs. Elrod burned in science"
"Yeah!" Ava said, then looking around asked "Well, should we go on?"
"Oh, yeah, lets go" Mel said.
The farther they got into the forest the gloomier it got. After a few hours they reached a small clearing "Ooohh!" ava said eyes wide and pointing at something in the clearing Mel looked where Ava was pointing she drew in her breath there was a shining lake with sparkling waters surrounded by deep green grass and a tree by the left end of the lake, some kind of fruit tree by the looks of it, but what was truly extraordinary was the animal drinking from the clear lake. It was silvery white and resembled a horse with a white main and tail but what Mel couldn't take her eyes off of was the pearly horn protruding from its muzzle. It looked razor sharp at the tip and silky smooth at the sides, and it shone slightly in the light of the sun. Suddenly it seemed to sense their presence it stopped drinking and lifted its head. They both gasped they couldn't help it, it's eyes were extraordinary, they were large with think dark eyelashes, and they eye color was what was so shocking, they were the color of pure water, a tinted clear blue at the center and then near the edges there were rainbow colors, and the rainbow colors were in vibrant colors, more vibrant and pure than Mel or Ava had ever seen.They stood for a few minutes, the thing starring unblinkingly straight at them, and them staring breathlessly back, then, suddenly, the Animal turned and calmly walked out of the cleaning and into the shadowy forest at the other end. Ava let out the breath she had been holding in a long sigh.
"Was that what I think it was?" Ava asked still staring at the place where the thing had been only moments ago, small indents in the silky grass from its hooves.
"I don't know, what do you think it was" asked Mel
"A unicorn" Ava answered dreamily
"I think so" said Mel
"Wait a minute" Ava said "so we really were thrown into a parallel universe?"
"I guess so" Mel said absentmindedly fingering a flower on a nearby bush.
"Hmmm…." Mumbled Ava thinking "well I don't know about you, but even if we are in a parallel universe, I'm thirsty, and that lake looks great"
Mel smiled "ya and I'm hungry, too, and that tree looks promising, lets go" the entered into the clearing and headed for the lake when they got to the edge both girls gasped. The lake was pure and clean, with beautiful shining pebbles at the bottom, Ava fell to her knees onto the think, soft grass, and cupped her hands, and dipped them into the clear water, she brought it to her lips and sipped a little of it cautiously
"Mmmm" Ava exclaimed and a cold, pure, sweet taste filled her mouth, without question the best water she had ever had, she gulped the rest down and scooping up some more up, Mel fell to her knees also, and followed suit,
"This is good" Mel said between gulps. Ava nodded as she gulped more down; she finally stopped her thirst thoroughly quenched.
"wow" she said sighing "everything's better in this world, I mean, the sun is bigger, the air is cleaner, the water is more pure and sweet then anything I've ever had, the trees are taller and give off more shade, there's unicorns, and we have these awesome outfits."
"Hhhmmm" mumbled Mel still gulping down the liquid
"Save some water for the fishies" Ava teased, giggling. Mel stopped drinking only enough to give Ava a dirty look then went back to drinking. Ava wandered off to the tree. As she got close she realized that the fruits that hung from the heavy lush branches were small and purple, like a plum. Ava reached up and picked one off it was firm, but soft "I wonder it is edible" ava wondered turning it around in her hand "only one way to find out" And with that she bit off a piece, the taste was terrible and very sour and she spit it out right away, dropped the remainder of the fruit, and ran back to the water with a pinched look on her face. She dropped to her knees once again and began furiously gulping the sweet water down. Mel, who had just finished looked at her with an evil grin on her face and said
"Save some water for the fishies" in a high-pitched mocking voice. Ava froze, looked up and gave her the dirtiest, darkest look that Mel had ever seen. Mel laughed and Ava went back to drinking "hmm" Mel said after a little bit "well I'm really hungry, I'm going to see if that fruit on that tree tastes any good" she turned to leave, and Ava grinned evilly between gulps, just barely getting the disgusting taste out of her mouth.A few moments later, Mel came running back with a disgusted sour look on her face, dropped to her knees and plunged her head funny into the water, gulping heavily, when her dripping head emerged once again Ava remarked
"Nasty little things, aren't they? Mel froze and looked up at her
"You knew?" she asked incredulously
"Yup" ava smiled sweetly "that's what I came barreling back for water for"
"Why didn't you tell me that they were disgusting?" Mel asked, her eyes getting narrow, as she pushed her wet hair over her shoulder.
"well hmm……lets see" ava said "one I was to busy trying to get the taste out of my mouth, and two you were mocking me, so you deserved it." Mel rolled her eyes, and stood up.
"Loser" she said, but she was smiling.
"Right back at ya" Ava said smiling "hmm…I wonder" Ava said looking at the fruit tree.
"Wonder what?" asked Mel
"I wonder if maybe the fruit would taste good cooked"
"I dunno" Mel said "they might, in fact, they would have to, I don't think anything could taste worse than it was raw"
"True" said Ava pondering that thought, and how they could cook the fruit. " well I really feel like we should be moving, and we should walk as we talk from now on, so lets just take some of the fruit with us, and we'll see later if they do"
"Ya, we could, except that we don't have anything to carry them with" Mel said
"Oh, right" Ava said remembering that she no longer had her backpack or purse with her.
"I guess we will just have to take a chance that there will be something later on" Ava said sighing
"ya," said Mel, "I don't feel vary hungry anyways, well lets go then!" she said and with that she started off unto a brisk walk towards the shadowy woods on the other side of the clearing, she reached the edge, turned around, motioned for ava to hurry up, and stepped into the forest, completely disappearing from Ava's view. Ava reached up and grabbed who of the fruits, shoving them into her quiver just in case, and set off towards the woods after Mel, she was almost to the edge when she heard a loud scream from the direction that Mel had gone,
"oh no!" Ava exclaimed "MEL!" Ava broke into a run, sprinting towards the woods, only hoping that she would not be to late, and disappearing into the dark woods.