Maggie knew of her fear of those woods for as long as she’d been capable of knowing what fear felt like. The fear gripped her like a cold mist, even on that day when her reason and curiosity spiked ever so briefly above it, and she ventured in. There was no path. There was no sky. There was only a harsh wind and barren, crackling tree branches.
Maggie quickly lost her way. The terror, held so tenuously at bay at first, rose as a tsunami and engulfed her. The fear multiplied the chill of the wind, and she was suddenly immobilized.
But then: a light? A glint, really: perhaps a trick played by a desperation. But no, realized Maggie: there’s a hut there! Somebody lives there? Her will revived, she forced her feet to move, now leaden with the cold.
Maggie had known love and secure solace in her life, and so imagined she had recovered it now. She mustered an approach and a tapping on the coarse surface of the door. Someone or something flung it open. She fell forward and, in exhaustion and relief, fell limp.
Inside, the wind decayed to only a protesting and frustrated moaning, but it was still strangely cold in there. An equally frigid hand touched her….
Maggie knew of her fear of those woods for as long as she’d been capable of knowing what fear felt like. The fear gripped her like a cold mist, even on that day when her reason and curiosity spiked ever so briefly above it, and she ventured in. There was no path. There was no sky. There was only a harsh wind and barren, crackling tree branches.
Maggie quickly lost her way. The terror, held so tenuously at bay at first, rose as a tsunami and engulfed her. The fear multiplied the chill of the wind, and she was suddenly immobilized.
But then: a light? A glint, really: perhaps a trick played by a desperation. But no, realized Maggie: there’s a hut there! Somebody lives there? Her will revived, she forced her feet to move, now leaden with the cold.
Maggie had known love and secure solace in her life, and so imagined she had recovered it now. She mustered an approach and a tapping on the coarse surface of the door. Someone or something flung it open. She fell forward and, in exhaustion and relief, fell limp.
Inside, the wind decayed to only a protesting and frustrated moaning, but it was still strangely cold in there. An equally frigid hand touched her….