Waxing Crescent

Into the woods.

I walk out of the house and don't glance back to see if grandmother or Sophie is watching where i go. I walk noting the sun is setting as the reduced sky line becomes dull and a eternal yellow-brown, dingy as a cloud of fog began to roll in. 

"Was wondering when you would make it out of your wooden fortress" a familiar voice appears out from behind a bush and a shadow emerges. 

"Peter! Don't scare me like that!" I gasped, jumping holding my chest where my heart feels like it will land into my palms.

He laughs, his green eyes filling with joy at the fact he frightened me so much. I carry on walking through the wood, twigs crackling under foot, I am aware he is following me. 

"Oh please, you love it really" he laughs while swishing his thick, artfully messy caramel hair behind him. 

"You know you really need a hair cut" i stop mid step and turn to look at him, knowing how he loves his locks. He didn't really need a haircut in all honesty i loved it. It wasn't long what so ever but i knew he was always contentious of it becoming to long and looking "girly".

"Listen i have just had it cut, its not even over my ears so i know for a fact it isn't long" he says studying me for a second before carrying on walking beside me.

"Nice cape by the way, suits you matches your horns and pitch fork" he teases running his fingers through a part of it as it swipes by his side. "Oh, silky!" he exclaims in a false sarcastic tone.

"Leave it alone!" i growl at him narrowing my eyes. Looking him up and down studying his dark trousers and green top. 

"Oh come on Rapunzel or should i say Red Riding hood with that cape,  i was only joking" he says holding his hands up and backing off slightly.

"Go away Robin hood, go rescue a maiden that is desperate for your help" i say slightly smiling while ducking under a branch to get to where i wanted to go and pinging it back at him.

Peter and I had been close since we where both young, I was 13 when i first met him at the academy when he moved to the village with his mother and his younger brother Samuel; who was a blonde, scrawny, paler skinned, blue eyed. The total opposite of Peter who had a olive skin before graduating he became really brawny while working on the farm his mother owned at the opposite side of the wood out towards the mountains.

Keeping on walking through the woods we eventually came to a clearing there beyond it was a meadow of flowers intertwined with lushes green grass and beyond that stood a rock face with a mountain of water falling over the rocky ledge into a plunge of clear blue water below. This was my happy place, when times where tough this is where i would escape to think and clear my head of any bad thoughts there was a power and a brilliance in the tranquility, a place of stillness even in the roar of the water. I could watch this streaming water even in my sleep, a beautiful infinite dream, only if they weren't constantly haunted every night.

"Is this you treating me to the sight of you skinny dipping?" Peter asked watching me as i sat down near the rocky edge of the water. 

"If anyone is getting a treat surely it would be me" i smile looking up at him as he stood behind me. 

"Well it is your birthday i suppose" he said winking and nudging me as he sat down beside me.

"In second thought, no thanks...don't want to see too much of you might need to claw my eyes out to get the images out of my head" i laughed.

"Wimp" Peter laughs. 

"So whats bothering you anyway?" he says looking out towards the waterfall itself.

"Oh the usual" i sigh taking a small pebble that sat beside me and throw it into the water. 

"Sophie been asking about your dad again?" Peter asks looking at me threading a bit of grass he had in between his fingers on his left hand. 

"Yeah, its getting tiring as well. Grandma is getting fed up with all the questions and i don't blame her. He wont come back. Grandma received word from some relatives north who wrote to her to say he was asking for shelter and a place to wash but god knows if he will ever come back" i say looking back at Peter.

"So there's still no word as to why he actually left in the first place?" Peter asks.

"You know the answer to that as much as i do. All i know is we moved to grandmas after my mother was killed and father must of been distraught about it and couldn't face living here any longer as there were too many reminders" i say knowing there was more to the story but not knowing the full story to explain it all to peter in one go.  

That's when i first felt it as Peter began speaking about his mother and the farm. 

I felt uneasy, a chill came over me but it felt like my stomach was on fire.

"Elizabeth?" Peter stood watching me. 

I started shivering and the fire in my stomach spread through to my legs down to my feet. The pain made be groan as i tried to stand but collapsed back down again.

"Elizabeth are you OK? You don't look well at all" concerned Peter touched my arm to help me stand but gasped and let go as soon as he touched me. 

"God Beth your roasting, we better get you home, your grandma will have something you can take to stop this for sure" he said putting my arm over his shoulder supporting me with his weight. 

"Are you sure you can walk?" he asked me looking into my eyes. 

"I don't know can we wait a moment, I don't know whats happening but something is making me want to stay here for just a minute" i say to him as i look into the woods where grandma house is behind the trees just a walk away. 

We didn't notice the fog draping the trees further from when we spoke to each other at the water. It was thick now and surrounded us. 

I felt uneasy, I felt like someone was watching us but i thought it was my mind playing tricks. 

My the burning had faded by now the shivering had gone away too and i could stand on my own feet again without support. 

But i still felt we where being watched.