Shine

I pulled my blue Audi into the third driveway and yanked my bag onto my back. My long blonde hair whipped in the wind wildly. I flipped my bangs out of the way and walked into the house shutting the garage door behind me. A sudden ache pounded my head.

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“We’ve missed you so much, you’re Highness. We’re so happy to find you’ve returned.”
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I groaned fighting back the voice. The light in the kitchen burst with a large snap. “Jesus!” I yelled out covering my head. “My God!” I gasped trying to slow down my breathing as the light flickered and burst again in a giant spark. I suddenly became very dizzy.

I pressed my palms against the granite counter and waited for the nausea to pass. This hadn’t happened before. I was breaking lights and getting dizzy. I grabbed my jacket and plummeted out onto the patio.

I breathed in the cool September air and sun, then relaxed again. I felt my toes wiggle in my flip flops, the rain hitting my sweatpants and jacket. My hair becoming laced with rain drops. I stepped out onto the lawn and looked towards the trees. I was going there for a while, it was the only place I felt normal. I had missed the trees beyond the first stream. I hadn’t been past that stream forever. I opened the gate, and without looking back, wandered into the forest.

I climbed over the fallen branches as best I could in my flip flops and then decided to discard them for the rest of the journey. The forest was thick with leaves on the ground, all different colors. The green ones on the trees wouldn’t remain there for long. I saw the second stream in the distance and thought of David.

Was I really that bland as to turn down his date offer? What was I thinking?

I sighed and continued towards the stream. It was running quickly from the early rain. I rolled up my sweatpants and stepped into it. The mud squished around my toes and my muscles relaxed again. Holding my pants as I walked, I made it to the other side of the stream. I began to think.
If I remember correctly, there should be the giant tree with a hole in it at the bottom, near the roots. I searched random trees letting my now wet sweatpants drag along the dirt. I pushed my thick blonde hair behind my ears, and looked down at my birthmark.

“This is ridiculous,” I told myself. “ Hole’s in trees leading to other places-completely Lewis Caroll.” I rolled my eyes and began to turn around. Just as I was about to walk where I came from, a huge gush of wind pushed me towards the direction I had been going. My heart pounded and I turned back around.

The light was too bright, I couldn’t take the sun. The sun-light did things to me that made me act insane.
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“Run! Elora, RUN!”
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That same male voice yelled into my ears. I suddenly felt sick to my stomach and I wanted to go home, yet I pressed further on.

Then I saw the tree.

It was thicker than I remember-wider. I stumbled towards it cutting my feet on the heavy brush underneath me. I bent down and hesitantly looked inside. It was hollow-black as anything. I reached my hand down to search for the ground that was supposed to be underneath it. I felt nothing. I looked up the tree, still hollow to the very top where I could see leaves and branches.

“How peculiar.” I said out loud and echoed about four times. My stomach clenched and I backed away from the hole. I looked around at the clear blue sky and then back at the tree. I sat my feet down into the hole and felt around for a potential ground. I couldn’t find it.

The hole couldn’t have been that deep. So I pressed my palms shakily onto the grass and slid further down the whole. A thought erupted in my head, “Bad idea, Elora.” I went to put one of my feet on a root to climb back out but it slipped. I gripped my hands into the grass and dirt but it wasn’t enough. I heard myself screaming as I fell deeper and deeper down the shaft, the light getting smaller and smaller.