Walking with a Shadow

A Story by Elizabeth

This is an old piece I have wanted to come back to for a while now.

I walked alongside the girl I had discovered in the woods, but soon she was ahead of me, growing more and more until she is at least a head taller than I am. I pushed myself forward to keep up, but her long legs gathered more ground than I ever could. I called out for her to wait and ran to catch her before she was too far out of reach. The last thing I needed was for me to lose her before reaching a place that wasn’t these woods.
And in that same moment that I called her, she began to fade. The closer I got to her, the more I worried she wouldn't wait for me. I ran faster to her, ignoring the branches below my feet that had threatened to trip me. As I reached her, she looked back at me with a small smile and a nod. Then as I ran to her, she began to fade until she fully disappeared. All that was left of her was a strange mist illuminated by the moonlight.
I walked alone for some time in the quiet woods. All I had were my own thoughts, but those too were slowly driving the sanity away from me. The questions that surrounded this disappearing girl rolled through my mind more and more as the forest around me grew darker. Was she real? Where had she gone? Why did she leave when I needed her most? Why hadn't she at least said goodbye?
I kept walking, for the idea of being alone was easy enough for me to adjust to. However, I found walking on my own two legs was becoming more difficult with each step. I could not shake the feeling that I was chasing something, or perhaps someone, that just couldn't be found. I didn't know where I was walking, but I knew that once I got there I would finally rest.
But I could only keep my mind busy for so long. The trek was becoming wary and I had no way of knowing if I was anywhere near where I needed to be. I had to look back. For all I knew what felt like walking for years was only a few seconds, but why was I suddenly slowing down now? There was a weight pulling me back, holding my feet in place until I had to stop and turn around. Something, someone, was with me now.
She had not changed in many ways. Same smile, same stature, same hair. She was walking with her head bowed down, and her quiet eyes only looked up to make sure I was still there. But it was her height that came off as odd to me. She was so short now, and her once confident nature was lost in the dress that was twice her size. Surely this must be her, my guide.
We walked on, her typically a few steps behind me, but never too far that I couldn't tell she was there. The light in the forest had completely vanished and we were left to walk blind among the trees. We were at the mercy of whatever called this damned place home. The hoots and howls of the woods were all the sound that we had. The girl was barely keeping up now, my pace slowed in hopes she would be able to catch up.
This must have been the same girl who had abandoned me, left me to walk alone to a place that may not even be worth finding, but now here she was again, incapable of keeping step with my own slow walk. For her sake I wondered if it was best to just turn back and head home. I had come so far already. To go back now would be even more risky than never finding the end of the forest, but our destinations could not be the same and I had no idea how much longer I could wait for her
I looked at her once more and understood that it was me who had changed. I was older, more tired of this never ending walk, and this little girl was not who I thought she was. Instead she was new to this journey, and just happened to find me in the process. I motioned her forward the same way the tall girl had told me when I had just started my journey. I walked along, always keeping her behind me to be sure each step was safe. The destination was nearing closer, and I didn't want her to miss it.
I never realized it happened until it was nearly over. She was shouting, running after me with both hands waving in the air. I could no longer stop going forward. I had finally reached my end. I looked at my hands and the white dress I wore only to see it began to mist. I looked back to her one last time, nodded, smiled, hoped she’d understand in time why it had to be this way. She would be alright. I looked at the moon and shut my eyes. This was where my journey ended.