Dream

A girl was running in the woods, trespassing all the tall trees, she hunched and her blue eyes began to scan the area around her as she held onto her stomach, coughing and gasping for air. Finally, her eyes landed on the intersection leading to two different destinations. She knew what lies at both ends of these pathways. But she cannot escape them now. She had to make a decision. She reached for her pocket pulling out a letter. 

It read, 

 𝙋𝙧𝙤𝙩𝙚𝙘𝙩 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚. 

𝙀𝙡𝙡𝙚 𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙡𝙖 𝙨𝙤𝙡𝙪𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣. 

She clutched the paper into her hands and took a deep breath. She fell to the ground, closing her eyes, whispering some inaudible chanting. She leaned forward, picked up the sand and placed it in her left hand. She reached for a knife inside her pocket, sliced through her skin and the blood began to wet the sand she was holding. Holding it for a few moments she continued to chant in an unspoken language. 

Loud howling and sneering were crisp in the air around her. She squeezed her eyes, willed her to continue the chantings, dismissing her fear. Her eyes snapped open on the sudden thud of the tree that fell on one of the pathways she was supposed to leave. She held her left hand with her right hand and started to chant loudly. As the chanting went on, the howling grew near her. When a raucous growl thundered far closer than before, her entire existence shivered in panic. 

Suddenly everything she had been praying for has been answered by enlightening red flames around her protecting her from the impending danger. The flames erupted as a thin line with a crackling sound ,the words continued to leave her dried rough quivering lips the flames grew larger and taller almost reaching the height of the trees inhabited in the forest. The louder her chants grew, the taller the fire enveloped her. Slowly, inching closer to her, blocking anyone's view of her existence. As the time passed the fire started to burn her skin, turning into a red whirl waving over the air, spreading the heat and intimidating anyone trying to step near it. 

After a few hours of intense cracking and occasional quarrel between wind shifting from east to West it slowly began to settle down, lowering itself, letting itself be destroyed by the cool wind of the surroundings. 

As the wind settled down, the woman was lying half- alive chanting the same words and trying to stay awake. 

When she felt the cold air hit her she frantically pushed herself up and began to collect her belongings and started to walk towards a path. As she was stumbling into the woods, she was stopped by a forceful wind hitting her face. She whipped her head around the direction of the wind when a large growl beamed near her  as a large white and grey coloured wolf engulfed her head, tearing it apart and snatching her soul from its temporary host. 

"Mother! " Lucia screamed as she woke up abruptly from a profound dream. She was profusely sweating and panting. She held her head as a sharp pain passed her head. She trotted towards her study table grabbing her memoir, shuffling through the pages to find a paper that was half burnt and damaged over time. 

Lucia found this paper in her memoir gifted by her first adoptive parents when she was young. She didn't consider it as a worthy paper until this night. She would have been thrown away if they were alive. This paper with the memoir and a pendant gifted by the couple are the only possessions of them belonging to Lucia. 

Lucia is just grateful that she has them. These little things remind them. Unlike her current adoptive parents, they were kind and supportive. They cared for her as she was their own. Never made her feel left out. 

'Good things are never meant for me' Lucia thought. 

She moved towards the bed and she sat down. She searched for the pendant inside the bag but she couldn't find it. Lucia panicked. She threw everything inside her bag on the floor and searched for it. She sighed in disappointment. She must have lost at the party. 

Lucia considered her lucky at least she didn't lose the memoir. She opened the paper and looked at the handwriting that she was very familiar with for years. 

She caressed the words with her fingertips as she read them aloud. 

Protect her at the cost of your life

Elle est la solution

She sighed in confusion and she was exhausted to solve the mystery behind these words. She slept that night clutching the memoir and letter to her chest. 

A little girl was unaware of the sacrifices that words hold.