Natural (Disaster)

The beginning

There is something magical about a warm spring night when you’re young. I had made my way into a clearing in the woods behind my house. It had been a long walk as I struggled to carry the large green blanket I had brought, but my little heart fluttered with excitement because I knew that it would be worth it. Tonight was the meteor shower I had waited all month for, and I wasn’t about to let anything stop me from seeing it. When I finally got to the center of the clearing, I tossed the blanket on the ground and did my best to spread it out evenly. The ground was still damp from the evening dew, and I could feel its coolness as I made myself comfortable.

I’m sure that a normal thirteen-year-old girl would have been scared out in the woods in the middle of the night, but this was my sanctuary. It was where fairies protected me and the monsters couldn’t get me.

As I lay there staring at the sky, it made me smile. The April showers had given new life to everything around me. The moon was almost full, casting a soft blue light that illuminated my tiny clearing and making everything glow. Tall strong red oak trees surrounded me, with delicate flowering vines twisting around them and across the ground. The soft sweet scent of the moonflowers filled the clearing and calmed me even further.

I closed my eyes for a moment as I took a deep breath and the night settled in around me. As my eyes fluttered open again, I saw them. Three bright stars crossed the sky, and I closed my eyes again to make my wish before they were gone. Tonight's wish was different, special compared to my others, and needed to come true.

“I wish…” I hesitated, this needed to be worded perfectly. “I wish that I would never have to lose this magic. I wish that you can be with me forever. I wish...that I can always find this feeling, no matter how old I get.”

“As you wish Emilia...” it was a whisper and came from all around me but nowhere at the same time. I felt a light touch on my forehead like a gentle kiss or the breeze caressing my skin, but when I opened my eyes, nothing was there and nothing had changed. Breathing a sigh of disappointment at myself for letting my imagination get away from me, I closed my eyes again and decided to just enjoy my night in the woods.