Around me, the snow was bright and beautiful. The trees were bare and the trunks hollow. The bushes were naked and the pond was frozen over with a thin sheet of delicate ice. The wind blew from the east, rustling the branches of the bare trees. In the middle of the white forest, sat a single red rose. Its petals were unusually bright for this time of year. The snowflakes landed gently on it, but melted upon coming in contact with the red flower. It gave off a dull glow to the surrounding snow.
I reached down to pick it up, holding it close to my nose so I could take in the sweet smell of the flower. My eyes closed in harmony and I sighed. The flower brought me comfort deep within this confusing heart of mine. It settled the raging monsters and kept the wolves at bay.
Something whispered in the wind, singing in my ears. Secrets were unfolded and given to me as a gift from the forest.
“Come with us…”
“See what we see…”
“Hear what we hear…”
“Touch what we touch…”
“Do what we do…”
The breeze ruffled the petals, but not ripping them from the delicate stem. The flower offered the shelter my heart desired, yet I could not bring myself to follow the voices.
“Yes,” I whispered back. The forest seemed to shudder in retaliation to my response.
“Come with us…”
“See what we see…”
“Hear what we hear…”
“Touch what we touch…”
“Do what we do…”
I closed my eyes and whispered to the flower.
“I want to.”
The breeze blew north, pushing me towards the empty hollow. I took a step forward and heard the snow crunch.
Suddenly, a new voice spoke; one that was not the wind.
“You cannot go! You cannot go! You cannot go!” it repeated in my ear. This voice, this unnatural entity in the forest, made me hesitate.
“Why can I not?” I asked it.
“You cannot go! It is not proper to be lost to such things!” it cried softly in my ear.
This new voice chased away the wind. It moaned in protest as it weaved throughout the trees, looking for an escape.
“Don’t go!” I whispered sadly to the disappearing wind.
“Come with us…”
“See what we see…”
“Hear…”
The voices were getting harder and harder to understand as they slowly blew away.
“You cannot go!” the entity whispered.
“Don’t go!” I said again.
“Come…”
The wind was gone and I was left to face the ghost that whispered in my ear.
“Go away,” I whispered.
But I knew in my hollow heart that it would never leave. This ever present ghost chased away the wind from my mind until the subject itself became unknown to me.
“It is not proper to be lost…”
The sound resonated through my heart, tearing a new wound that never closed.
“I am lost,” I whispered.
“Then be found,” it replied.
“I don’t wish to be.”
“But it is not proper!” it cried.
“Who is to say what is proper?” I argued quietly.
“It is not proper!” it repeated again.
I knew I could not win. I could only wait until the wind came back for me to take me away from the ghost.
“Come with us…”