Opaque

Trolls and elves aren't real. At least, that's what Adeline had always been told.

Twigs snapped beneath her feet, leaves crumpled as she pounded the Earth in a sprint. Her breathing came in rushed gasps, and her lungs burned within her chest, but she couldn’t stop, she knew that. Stopping meant letting that thing get even closer to her, and that was not an option, unless she wanted her existence to cease.

 

                Still, her legs were beginning to feel like Jell-o, and the way her lungs ached she was sure they’d shrivel up inside her. With a good thrust she threw herself behind a tree and sank to the ground, breathless. She sat gasping for air, running her shaking hands through her long copper hair and listening. The forest was alive around her, but all she could hear was the ringing in her ears, and the distinct sound of her name, chanted softly over and over again.

 

                “Adeline, Adeline, Adeline…” It flowed from the wind like song from the mouth of a happy child, like water from a gushing geyser. She buried her face in her hands, gripped her hair, and sobbed, unsure what to do, where to go. She wanted to stand, but her legs felt numb, and she didn’t have an ounce of energy left in her body.

 

She heard something pounding through the forest behind her then, something crushing everything in its path. With a small cry Adeline knew she was done, and she curled as small as she could and squeezed her eyes shut, waiting, knowing, for the pain, for the darkness, for the beginning of nothing.

 

But instead of feeling teeth and claws rip right through her, she felt a pair of hands grasp her upper arms and yank her up. Shocked, she gasped, and suddenly she was being pulled through the forest. She opened her eyes but could only see blurs, and had to concentrate on keeping her legs moving, on keeping upright. Whoever or whatever was dragging her, she would have to trust direction to them.

 

The air felt cold as it stung her, and suddenly she was thrown out from the forest, and into a clearing. She stumbled, fell, and was yanked back up again.

 

“C’mon!” was all she heard, and they were running again, slipping in the mud and wet grass. She was soaked and cold and the rain stung like ice daggers, but Adeline followed her stranger back into the forest. She was dragged around a few more trees, until finally she was sure her legs were going to melt beneath her. She was about to cry out when they halted, and she fell to her knees almost sobbing. Someone knelt next to her and searched frantically through the scattered leaves, until hands grasped a rope. The stranger stood, tugged, and a trap door opened. Quickly Adeline was ushered in, the stranger right behind her. The door was pulled shut, and she was engulfed in blackness.

 

Adeline fell to the floor and sat on the dry dirt, quivering. She heard some rustling around, and then a dim light appeared. A candle set in a small wall hanging had been lit, and it was enough for Adeline to finally see her stranger.

 

He was a young man, he looked maybe just a year older then her. And at nineteen and in her first year of college, Adeline was young. He was thing, with an oddly feminine build, and pale. His hair was the oddest color, a vibrant purple and fell in soft layered tufts around his face and partially down his neck. But there were two features that stood out more to her then the hair. The fact that his ears seemed longer and ended in an elegant point, and that his eyes were completely different colors. The right was a beautiful ocean blue, but the left was an absinthe green, a toxic color that seemed to glow in the dim light.

 

He leaned down to her, peering at her with those eyes, and she just couldn’t look away.

 

“W-who are you?” she stammered. He smiled, a pleasant thing, and her heart rate went from about one thousand beats per second to nine hundred.

 

“My name is Draven,” he said, his voice a calm, soothing melody. He crouched down so he was eye level with her, and softly asked, “What is your name?”

 

“Adeline,” she said, and he reached out, taking strands of her cooper hair and letting them glide through his fingers.

 

“What a pretty name, Adeline.”

 

“Tell me what’s going on,” she said, staring up with her green eyes, “please, what was that thing?” Draven sighed and sat down next to her, and without thought she edged closer. He spoke in a hushed whisper,

 

“That was a forest troll. They’ve been known from time to time by my people to walk the forest at night, and though they are brutish creatures, I’ve rarely seen them attack anyone. Usually they turn and hide, try and become part of the forest.”

 

“But that thing tried to attack me!” Adeline’s heart was still racing, but the more Draven talked, the calmer she felt. Like his voice just washed over her and took all the stress away.

 

“Yes, and that perplexes me.” Draven reached up and stroked his chin thoughtfully. “Something has been going on lately in the forest, I’ve noticed. Something has felt odd, out of place. I’m not sure if the troll is just reacting to it, or if maybe it’s sick, but something is off.” He looked at her, and she was staring now at the point of his ears. He chuckled, and a cute blush rose on her cheeks. “My ears, they confuse you.”

 

“Duh,” she said, pulling her knees up and folding her arms over them. “What the hell are you?” She didn’t mean for it to sound cruel or angry, but she honestly wanted to know. And a troll? What the hell, had she stepped into some fairy-tale?

 

“I’m a forest elf,” he said calmly, and her eyes widened. “What? You’ve never heard of one?”

 

“Only in books,” Adeline started, “but they’re not real. Elves don’t exist, and neither do trolls!”

 

“If trolls don’t exist, what just chased you through the forest?” Adeline was quiet, and Draven turned and leaned closer. His face was just two inches from hers, close enough that she could feel his warm breath. His eyes stared intently, and she was thrown off by the mismatched color. “If elves don’t exist, then what is looking at you right now?”

 

Adeline bit her lip. He was right, he had to be right. There was no explanation for what that thing in the woods was. And for some reason, she felt inclined to believe Draven. He’d just saved her, after all. And besides that, he sounded sincere, she wasn’t sure why, but he did. Adeline sighed and gripped at her jeans; not exactly sure what the hell she’d just stepped into, but knowing she had to be in for one wild ride.

Author's Note

Was actually written for school. I've always wanted to turn it into something, but forgot about it for over a year.