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Not that I’m here for the gift, I remind myself. I’m just taking a walk.
Although I wouldn’t mind if I were to finally catch a glimpse of the man who’s been leaving them…
The trees are starting to get thicker, and for just a moment as I’m stepping forward, I think I hear something or someone else moving in the forest nearby. I stop immediately, and I can’t hear anything.
Could that be him? Is he looking at me right now? Following me?
I turn slowly around, trying to pierce the dimness of the forest canopy and look for any sign of someone else. I don’t see anything, but that means nothing. There are simply too many places that a person can hide out here. Even if I did see him, he’d be able to disappear into the trees, and I’d never catch up.
But maybe I don’t want to see him. Maybe I like being followed. Maybe I like the feeling of being watched by someone who loves me.
I smile and start towards the clearing again. Are those the sounds of something else moving through the woods? Are they just the echoes of my own footsteps? Or did I disturb some animal out there?
Maybe it’s even that big creature that I heard howling. I don’t know. And that’s thrilling.
I’m about to reach the clearing when I see something sitting on the ground, clearly waiting for me. It’s not a piece of jewelry this time, and it isn’t nestled in a treetop. It looks like a piece of parchment, and it’s been placed on a smooth stone, with another stone on top to keep it from blowing away.
Skye squawks. She’s excited, too. Finally, the mysterious gift-giver has left a note! Maybe he’s going to tell me how he feels about me. Or maybe it will set up a meeting place.
I step closer and pick up the stone, then the parchment. I turn it around, and my stomach sinks.
Little girls shouldn’t go wandering in the forest alone. Stay away or face the consequences.
The words are scrawled in an aggressive hand. Possibly someone trying to disguise the way they write? But did he write it? Or was it someone else?
It couldn’t be him. He wouldn’t do that. I feel the bracelet and the necklace weighing on me. It wouldn’t make sense for him to tell me to stay away. He’s been drawing me out so many times. And he loves me. Why would he suddenly call me a little girl and threaten me with consequences?
No, someone else must have left it. But who? The letter is clearly written to me. Is someone else watching me in the forest? Is it a friend of the man who’s been leaving me gifts?
For a moment, I think about Riya. She doesn’t like me going out in the woods, or me seeing the man. But no, she wouldn’t do something like this. She trusts me, and I trust her. She told me her doubts. She wouldn’t try to trick me, much less threaten my life.
I feel something in the woods watching me again, but this time, it feels a lot less friendly. This isn’t thrilling anymore. I’m scared now. I’ve gotten involved in something that I don’t understand, something that might be dangerous.
I spin around on my heel, heading back toward the camp. Skye squawks and flies forward, settling onto the rock I just picked up the message from. She gives a few plaintive chirps. Clearly, she wants to keep going until we reach the clearing. Probably, she’s hoping that there will be some pretty, shiny thing waiting that she can peck at like she pecked at almost everything else I’ve picked up.
“Not this time. This time, I’m going back,” I tell her. I’m not going to give up on my lover in the woods, but I need time to think, time to figure out this latest development.
What if he changed his mind about me? What if something happened to him, and now he’s in danger?
The high-pitched howl comes again. I’m still not sure what it is, but it’s definitely closer now. Too close for comfort.
I start back through the forest, trying my best to be as quiet but also as quick as I can be. Maybe the note’s right. Maybe I shouldn’t be out here. I don’t know what’s in the forest. I don’t know who’s watching me. All I know is that I want to be home and surrounded by people again.
I clutch the note to my chest as I go.
“I’m not going to give up,” I declare to Skye as I hurry home. Even if he doesn’t love me anymore, even if he did threaten me, well… well I want to know that. I want to know it for sure, and I want to know why.
Something is very wrong here. First gifts, now threats. It doesn’t make sense. None of it makes any sense.
There’s something else happening here. Something bigger than me, bigger than the man who I thought had loved me. There’s danger here, and it’s only going to get worse before it gets better.
But I’ll see it through. Tonight I’m going home, but I will see this through.
No matter the danger.
I don’t know exactly how long I’ve been walking, but the sun is mostly set when the trees finally start to thin and I come back to the fields. The moment I step out into the open and see the circle of makeshift tents again, I breathe a great sigh of relief.
I’ve made it. At least for now, I’m safe.
