a Witch's Wolf

Episode 4 - Shadows

Episode 4 - Shadows

Willow always loved being in the forest, the smells, the sounds, the quiet that made everything else just melt away... like the kind of day where she'd slammed into the most gorgeously dangerous guy in school. She should be thankful that he didn't even look at her, but for some dumb reason, it bothered her. Why didn't he look at her? He saved her from falling over. Was that just instinct? Like catching a ball that comes flying at your face? He literally lifted her off the ground and held her pressed up against his chest and then just took off after telling her to 'watch out.'

"You watch out." She mumbled to herself as she stomped along the path. She thought about kicking something but right as she drew back her foot to kick sticks, she saw a little bleeding heart under her foot. "My stupid bleeding heart." She mumbled again and kept clomping off down the path. It was too little to harvest yet so she let it be for now. She was too focused on the Noah Riley incident to be a productive gatherer today anyway.

How was she supposed to just get over it? Awhile later, she was still obsessed. He took off in such a hurry, she didn't get the chance to apologize or thank him or even decide which one she should do anyway. By the time she realized what had happened, he was gone and she was standing there like a stone-stupid statue while everyone in the hall hurried around her like water around a big stupid rock. She actually got a tardy for the first time ever in her entire life. She couldn't argue it even if she was capable of speech, she was still in such a daze. By the time the next bell rang, she was even more confused. She didn't know if she should apologize or thank him so she just panicked every time she saw him instead, ducking around corners all day, in and out of sight. It was absolutely ridiculous and it made everything feel a thousand times worse.

Anyone who hadn't seen it happen had heard about it. People were staring, she couldn't hide along the walls or in the shadows anymore and she was miserable. People wanted to know who the most embarrassed person in school was because crashing into Noah Riley was apparently the most embarrassing thing that could ever happen. Willow wished she could just melt into the floor and ooze through the cracks in the vent. He came around the corner earlier, looked right at her and practically ran the other way. He did have long legs but everyone started laughing, talk about humiliation. She knew her face had turned red hot, glowing ember hot, it was probably so hot, it was white or clear or invisible. Oh, if only that were possible. Could a person get so hot they turn invisible or maybe she could spontaneously combust or melt for real, just melt into a puddle on the bathroom floor, which is where she spent her last study hall. She just couldn't face everyone anymore.

When the last bell was about to ring, it was like she had grown wings, she was out of there before she had to hear one more person asking someone nearby if she was the girl who threw herself at Noah Riley. It was completely mortifying. She wished she could just forget about the whole day, the crash, him! Why couldn't she just forget about him? And why did he have to be so dark and scary? He was always scowling more than he smiled and he was extremely tall, even bigger than most of the guys on the football team. Why was he so quiet? He was like serial killer quiet and he made her feel like she needed to escape all the time. That's why she had always tried to avoid him before and now when every fiber of her being told her to run, she could still hear his heart beating against her chest and every time she took a breath, she felt like she was breathing him in. This was getting painfully embarrassing, even to herself.

"God." She moaned and hurried along the path. She didn't have that far to go but she picked up the pace anyway after noticing that the clouds had rolled in and the sun had long disappeared. This was a definite shortcut to and from school but her parents had hated it when she took the path through the trees instead of the long winding road. It took three times as long to walk around though and the thought of people driving by, watching her walk along the road alone actually made her sick to her stomach so she kept cutting through the woods, wearing down a nice, easy-to-follow path along the way.

Rain or not, she wasn't ready to get home yet so she pulled out her notebook to see what needed checking. There were elderberries she'd been watching and a honey bee hive she'd found a few weeks ago. She'd been reading about harvesting honey from a real hive and dug around for the book. She checked off a few things. A bird's nest with eggs had already hatched. She heard them before she got close enough to look in and decided to leave it well alone. She snapped a few pictures and headed over to a patch of wild strawberries. Last time they were barely blooming but soon enough they'd be ready to harvest. She wanted to get to them before the animals did but berries didn't last long in the wild.

By the time she could see the edge of the forest where a big lamppost and her family crest was, she had already walked off most of her frustration. The embarrassment might take some time to fall away but she already felt a lot better than when she started. She was close to her gate now and stopped to check one last thing, a mugwort plant that she needed to harvest before it bloomed and turned bitter. She smiled when she saw it was perfect and dug through her bag for her pouch and tools.

She was humming by the time she tucked the leaves, flowers and roots into her bag, already imagining how much better she'd feel after getting home to put all these away. She didn't have any more homework, even her extra credit was all done so she had some extra time to spend in the greenhouse so when the first fat drops of rain dropped on and around her she stood up, stretched toward the sky and then bounded up toward the path with a smile.

She never even noticed that she hadn't been alone for quite awhile. The eyes that were watching her so carefully, tucked back up into the shadows and narrowed in serious thought. Not a hair raised on the back of her neck, not an inkling of awareness had fallen over her the entire time. She was either the worst witch ever to walk these woods or she had no understanding of her power. Either way, this would be easier than ever imagined. Slipping back into the shadows, the eyes disappeared and the rain washed away every trace they'd ever been there at all.