Obsidian

Her heavy breathing echoed in the quiet woods. She had no idea where she was, how she even came to be here. All around her was a thick dark night. Despite the full moon, the dense foliage only allowed a little bit of light to penetrate the canopy above, barely illuminating the tree trunks and protruding roots. Everything was eerily still, no wind to rustle the leaves, no wildlife scampering to and from shelter. Everything seemed to be frozen in time.  All except Sienna. Her lungs labored to bring the cold air in and out of her body, her breathing keeping pace with her racing heart. Blankly she lifted her arms, studying first her hands then slowing rotating her wrists to study her palms. Next she gingerly placed one hand on her sternum, feeling her heart pound and her stomach rise with each frantic breath. Still holding herself she slowly stepped forward, wincing as the underbrush crackled beneath her bare feet, announcing her presence to the vast stillness before her.  She froze again, straining to hear any hint of sound or life that her movement may have awoken. She repeated the cycle for five more steps, moving and pausing, moving and pausing, until she reached one of the thick massive trees. In a stupefied daze Sienna turned to brace her back against the tree trunk. She gasped at the solidness, as the texture of the bark pressed into her skin.  This is not real she thought. I’m dreaming. I’m having a very real dream. I’m in my bed. Fast asleep. I’m dreaming.  Sienna looked down at herself again. She was still wearing her favorite white nightgown. Yes, just a dream. An eerily vivid and strange dream, but a dream.  But Sienna didn’t know what to do. She was cold and very frightened. She didn’t know how to wake herself up. She again lifted her arm in front of her, and without thinking slowly pinched her skin. Nothing. She pinched harder. Nothing. She closed her eyes, adjusted her hold on her arm so it would be her nails puncturing her skin, and squeezed as hard as she could, until she felt slickness from drawn blood. She opened her eyes and still saw the barely illuminated trees before her.  This has to be a dream. Nothing else makes sense.  She didn’t know what to do next. Should she just sit down right here on the forest floor? Or should she walk along?  Utterly confused and entirely dumbstruck, Sienna began sliding against the tree trunk. She felt the leaves shift against her weight as she nestled to the floor, dragging her legs against her chest and wrapping her arms around her shins.  She sat that way in silence, trying to calm her breathing, her pounding heart. It felt like hours had passed, but by the minimal change in light she knew it couldn’t have been more than a half hour. She just sat there, waiting. Waiting for her mind to start working. Waiting to know what to do. Waiting to wake up.  Come to me.  Sienna bolted to her feet. She leaned to look over the left side of the tree trunk, then the right. Nothing. Yawning silence.  “H-Hello?” Sienna weakly stuttered. She strained to hear any response. She knew she heard a voice. A deep, beckoning voice. She just couldn’t determine if she actually heard the voice or if she felt it.  Suddenly feeling very exposed, Sienna stepped away from the her tree and hurriedly began along what could barely pass as a path.  “Hello?” She asked, a little louder. She was almost running now. Her toes were bruised and the soles of her feet were splitting open from the fallen limbs and exposed roots along her path. But she didn’t slow.  “Is anyone there?” She didn’t know if she wanted an answer or not.  Come.  Sienna suddenly stopped and whirled in a circle. Eyes and ears straining to locate anyone or anything in the darkness. It was then she spotted a faint light in the direction of her tree. It started to grow in strength and she began to hear the rustling of feet in the leaves. Something, someone was approaching. Sienna took a step towards that light.  Run! She didn’t know how or why, but she knew the voice was telling her to run away. Sienna grabbed at the hem of her nightgown and ran as fast as she could. She stumbled more than once. Her hand scraped from catching her fall, her knees and skins bruised from still moving forward in those falls. She knew she had to keep going. Her lungs were burning from the exertion, her eyes watering from the fear. Just when she thought she couldn’t take the pace any longer, she noticed the trees thinning out. A clearing was up a head. She began to smell smoke and recognized it deep inside of her as chimney smoke. A cottage was near by.  She began to hesitate, to slow.  Go! Again, instinct took over and Sienna ran towards the clearing. Within minutes she crashed through. A stone cottage nestled against the tree line, torches lite the yard. Sienna saw a small lean to which housed what appeared to be a donkey. The animal emitted a low snort, voicing its utter disinterest in her sudden appearance. She took a step toward the animal. She heard the snap before she recognized the pain. Horrified she looked down and found her ankle locked in what appeared to be a bear trap. Her flesh was shredded, blood pooled around her feet, and she believed she saw bone.  She looked up to see an older man round the side of the house. She took an involuntary step towards him before the pain completely captured her attention.  She felt as though her ankle had been crushed. She could feel the pressure of the metal spikes buried through muscle and tendon. Her ankle, her feet, even her toes were completely immobilized by the trap. A searing wave of pain rolled up her leg and settled in the pit of her stomach. Her vision blurred with unshed tears. Shock and denial were the only things keeping her standing. “Whose there? Who are you?” His hard voice snapped.  “Is someone there?” Another voice asked. The voice was followed by its owner, an older woman wrapping herself in a blanket. “Oh the Gods!” She exclaimed on seeing Sienna.  Sienna’s vision began to dance, waves of nausea rolled through her stomach, and the ground rushed up to meet her. Just before she collapsed Sienna realized one thing.  This is no dream.  ******************************************* One year later.  Sienna awoke to the sound of anguish. That blasted donkey was at it again. She reached for her robe at the foot of her bed and shrugged into it heading for the door. She went down the hall and had just reached the tiny stairwell when she heard Mr. Logan come out of his room behind her.  “…and I mean it this time, I’m going to shoot the blasted beast and we’ll have steaks for dinner!” His gruff sleep-interrupted tone belied that the threat was harmless.  “You will do no such thing!” Mrs. Logan called out behind him. “He’s just old and can’t see very well!” Mr. Logan was ignoring his wife as he caught up to Sienna. “You better stay in here Sienna. I’ll check it out.” “Poor thing is probably just stuck in the corner again.” Sienna replied. “I don’t mind going out to help him.” “No, I’ll help him,” he stressed, “into a ten foot hole. Poor thing my ass. Between you and Gertrude that thing gets more sympathy than me!” Sienna stifled a chuckle as she followed Mr. Logan outside and around the back of the cottage to the lean to that served as the donkey’s home. Sure enough the animal had knocked over the hay basket that hung in the top left corner of the shelter and it had landed on his head. He must’ve then backed up hitting the wall and knocking a board loose which now obstructed his forward movements. In the process of trying to get free of the basket and to get the board out of his way, the donkey must’ve bucked and now half the wall was knocked down. “Curse that ignoramus beast!” Mr. Logan shouted.  Sienna grabbed the lead rope hanging from the peg nailed into the outside of the lean to, and using soothing words approached the donkey. Considering this was not the first time the animal had gotten himself stuck in various forms of mischief, he knew she was there to help him and immediately stopped his baying and thrashing. Sienna lifted the basket off of his head and slipped the lead rope around his neck. Mr. Logan had begun clearing the boards out of the way, and once Sienna had the rope secured she was able to lead the donkey out of the lean to and into his pasture. The donkey thrilled to be free but too old to rejoice gave a half hearted bolt that settled into a lazy saunter over to the water trough.  “It’s going to take me all day to fix this mess.” Mr. Logan moaned. “I’ll have to check with Gertrude to see if she can run my errands in town today. “I can’t go into town Benjamin,” Mrs. Logan said, having joined the two to see what all the fuss was about. “If I don’t get the wine siphoned and filtered today, the yeast will eat up all the rest of the sugar and this batch won’t be sweet at all. It’ll ruin the whole order. And I don’t have to tell you how much that could cost us.” They both turned and looked at Sienna.  “Do the town errands have to be done today?” Sienna asked. “Do you want to eat?” Mr. Logan replied. “Now Benjamin, don’t take that tone with her. Sienna sweetie, I know you’re afraid of town. We’ll figure something out. Don’t you worry.” Mrs. Logan said. Sienna looked to the ground, shame heating her face. This kind couple hadn’t hesitated the night she literally crashed into their lives. They bandaged her ankle, nursed her when she caught fever, and then allowed her to stay with them after she healed. They obviously asked her questions about how she got there and what had happened that night, but they didn’t judge her or condemn her for not having answers. They never forced her to make them understand her situation when she couldn’t even make sense of it herself. She had come to love them and she hated that her fear caused countless hiccups in their lives.  “I’ll do it. I can go. It’s not so much that I’m afraid as that I am nervous. But it’s just to the grocer?” Sienna said. “Yes, the grocer but I also need to take some of the wine to the vicar. Some of the village kids got into the last batch and he’s needing some bottles from storage to hold out till his next order is ready.” The idea of having to go to the church almost made Sienna back out. She’d met the vicar a handful of times. He was cordial enough but he would always look at her as if he was peering into her soul, as if he knew more about her than she did. It unnerved her. She’d once shared this feeling with Mrs. Logan. Mrs. Logan had laughed at her.  “Of course he does my dear. He is a man of the Gods, one would hope he would know all.” “I know, it just feels strange that I feel like he knows my every secret just by looking at me. Have you known him long?” “Oh we made his acquaintance when he arrived three years ago. I shouldn’t chide you too much about your feelings though, there is some gossip surrounding him. That he was delivered to us from the Gods. Not even born they say, but just materialized.” she whispered the last word conspiratorially. “Actually, almost like you did to Benjamin and I.” she had said teasingly. Sienna’s memory caused her hope to stir. The vicar!  “I’ll do it.” Sienna echoed her voice stronger with resolve. “Atta girl!” Mr. Logan said.  “You sure dear?” Mrs. Logan asked at the exact same time. “Of course she is sure. She needs to start living again.”  His words hit her like a bolt of lightening. He was right, Sienna thought. She’d buried her head in the sand for too long, waiting for something to happen instead of figuring out how to make it happen. The problem was she didn’t want to live this life. She just wanted to go home. But moping and hiding hadn’t gotten her anywhere. She needed to take action and figure out what was going on and how to get back home.