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“Thank you,” I said, taking the food.
I unwrapped the donut and took a giant bite. Making my way down the road, I felt a familiar set of eyes on me. I stopped in the middle of the walkway, eating my donut and searching the faces passing by.
The wind blew against my skin, bringing in a hurricane of leaves and debris. That feeling of being watched came to a head when that red-eyed crow landed on an awning to my right.
I chuckled humorlessly.
This thing is relentless.
Someone gasped from behind me. I turned to see an elderly woman staring up at the crow behind me. She pointed her shaky finger behind my head, dropping the loaves of bread in her basket. I went to pick them up for her, but she shouted at me.
“No!"
Apparently no made it to their realm just fine.
A few people stopped to check on her, and following the length of her hand, they stared at the bird.
One of the men dressed in a pair of old slacks and a grungy dress shirt made eye contact with me. “You need to leave.”
I jabbed my finger over my shoulder. “Because of that thing? It seems to have a thing for me.”
The man moved the elderly woman behind him, taking a stance. “That bird is a bad omen. Leave, and do not come back!”
The tone of his voice told me they knew exactly who this bird belonged to. I put both palms upward in a surrounding motion and began to exit the town.
The whispers behind me confirmed that Deidamia was just as scary as I knew her to be. It fueled my anger and determination to get to her. I stopped several yards away from the village.
The man still watched me, making sure I left. “Can I find her that way?” I pointed toward the ever-glooming Dark Woods in the distance.
A billow of smoke rose from the midst of the woods. Who else lived in the woods besides the witch? I doubted anyone, so I figured that was the path of saving Josie and destroying the monster that destroyed me.
The man didn’t answer. He turned his back and ushered the crowd of people watching me toward their village.
I’ll take that as a yes.
The more I walked, the closer I grew to the Dark Woods at the end of the road. The sound of birds chirping and animals died off eventually. That scared me more than the woods staring back at me.
The animals could sense the danger that surrounded Deidamia. They feared her, which was a silent warning for me to do that also.
I stopped at the edge of the road that led down into the depths of a steep ditch and into the Dark Woods. The crow had followed behind me, shrieking and annoying what sanity I had left.
Picking up a rock, I turned and tossed it at him.
He shot up and toward me like a rocket, sending me backward down the ditch and onto my ass.
I watched as it flew above me and into the woods like a dare to follow him.
I closed my eyes and regretted it instantly.
Some invisible force sucked me backward against the ditch. The grass and dirt clung to me as my breath hitched in my chest.
Memories of my past crept into my brain, overpowering the strength I fought with and shoving me further down against the Earth.
Her strawberry-blonde hair was tied in a bun on top of her head. Her heart-shaped face was fuller than when we met because of the baby sitting on her hip.
She was smiling. Always smiling. When I left. When I came home. When she nourished our baby girl. It never mattered. She was my happy girl.
She craned her head to the side as I dipped my mouth down to her neck, smelling her sweet scent and wrapping my hand around her neck playfully.
