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 “Anna.”  Anna heard her mother but did not answer.  “Anna.  Where are you?”  She was where she always was.  “Anna.  Are you in your room?”  She still did not answer.  “I’m coming in.”

 

Anna’s mother walked into her room and found her sitting on her bed, just where she always was.  Her mother should have known that, and she did.  Anna didn’t do much that a twelve year old girl should do.  She had barely known her father, but it took quite a toll on her when he died.  Not every twelve year old girl had lost their father.

 

“I’m going into town, Anna.  Would you like to come?”  Anna just looked back at her with an emptiness that had been there the past few years.  “Come on, we’ll get some sweets.  And maybe—” she pauses “—I’ll stop by the bookstore.”  The first sign of something, Anna smiled.  “You can get whatever you like.  Won’t that be nice?”  Anna nodded, again smiling.  “Now put on your dress and hat.  I’ll not have a daughter of mine looking like she just got out of bed.”

 

While most other girls were playing with dolls, having tea parties in the parlor, and trying on their mothers’ gowns and jewelry, Anna was reading.  She loved books, the way they felt, the way they sounded when you turned the pages, the way they told you whatever you wanted to hear, without ever saying a word.  A silent companion, almost as quite as she was.  She remembered very little of her father but she did remember him holding her in his arms, in front of the fire place, reading her stories until she fell asleep or her mother had her off to bed.

 

“Are you almost ready?  We haven’t all day, dear.”  Anna walked slowly down the stairs.  “My, you just look lovely.  I knew that dress would fit you so well.”  Anna’s mother knelt down, her hands on her daughter’s shoulders.  “Are you sure you want to come to town with me?  You do not have to.”  Anna shook her head ‘yes’.  Her mother was glad and smiled.  “Right then, let’s go.”  She lovingly tapped Anna on the tip of her nose with her finger and stood up.

 

In the car, Anna stared out the window at the landscape passing by, the images blending together in a Monet of the outside world.  “Beautiful day, isn’t it?”  Anna looked at her mother, and nodded.  Her eyes gazed down the neck of her mother to the one piece of jewelry that she loved: a golden locket with a single emerald set right on the front.  It was a gift from Anna’s father to her mother before she was born.  Anna remembered looking up at it even from a young age, the emerald shining, dangling above her as her mother looked down on her newborn baby girl.  She hoped one day her mother would give it to her.

 

After a few errands, they arrived at the local bookstore.  Anna went straight to the Fantasy and Fairy Tale Section, her favorite types of books.  She loved the intricacies of the wonderful tales they told, the odd yet terribly fantastic creatures that were introduced.  Scanning the shelves, she looked for the oldest, dustiest book she could find.  More often than not they held the best stories.  As she searched for the perfect book, she could hear her mother talking to the doctor.  She wasn’t supposed to hear.

 

“Thank you for meeting me here doctor.  I know it isn’t your office and I know you would rather come to my home but I hate to worry Anna so.  I figure this way she will be distracted with her books and won’t suspect anything.”

 

“It’s no problem at all.  Now let’s go in the back and so we can talk about this matter.”

 

And then she found it, the perfect one.  At the end of the row, almost overtaken by the large fairy tale encyclopedia next to it, was the most amazingly old book.  Dusty and leather bound, the pages were ripped and it looked like if she even touched it, it would crumble beneath the weight of her fingers.  But, it held fast as she took it up to the counter.  She looked around with a puzzled look on her face, searching for her mother.  Although she knew the answer, she did this so that no one would suspect she knew of her mother’s health.

 

“She said she forgot milk at the grocer and ran back to get it dear.  She won’t be a minute.”  The kind cashier was obviously covering for Anna’s mother.  Anna thanked her silently and placed the book gently on the counter.  “This one fancies you, does it, Anna?”  She paused looking the book over.  “Funny, I do not remember this book.”  The cashier wrapped it in brown paper just the way she knew Anna liked it to be wrapped and handed it back to her.  Anna held it tight to her chest, trying to feel the story before she even began to read its pages. 

 

Just then the doctor walked out of the back room and froze in his path as his eyes met Anna’s.  “How do you do today, Anna?”   Anna just looked back at him and didn’t say a word.  She didn’t really know why she never talked to the doctor; he was such a kind man.  But she wanted to know what was wrong with her mother.

 

“Anna, it is getting late.  We must be getting home.”  Her mother stood at the entrance of the bookstore, milk in hand.  Anna could hear obvious pain in her mother’s voice but it did not show on her face.  “Have a fine evening doctor, and you too.”  She nodded to the cashier and put her arm around Anna’s shoulder as they walked to the car.

 

The car ride home at night was not as interesting as during the day.  Yet still, Anna gazed out at the dark woods passing by.  “Did you find a book, Anna?”  Anna took the book from her side and placed it on her lap.  “Do you think it will be as good as the last one?”  Anna nodded with a smile and turned back to the darkness outside.  Then, through the trees and out of the darkness, she saw a faint but distinct glowing light, a silhouette of a man at the center.  Was it her imagination?  She could not be sure.  Anna turned to her mother to see her reaction but she was just focused on the road ahead.  Then turning back around, she strained to see the light again; however, it was not there.  They had gone by too quickly and were now approaching home.  As they got out of the car and walked the path to the door, Anna looked over her shoulder to try to catch a glimpse of the something, anything.  Again, the light glowed out of the trees at the edge of the back garden.  It faded in and then out so quickly that she wasn’t sure if she really saw it.  She had not realized, but she had stopped and was standing still, gazing into the woods, holding the book again close to her heart.  “Anna.”  Her mother had noticed her daughter but obviously not the light.  “Come on child, into the house.”  Anna turned around, snapped out of her trance but her mother’s words, and went into her house.

 

As Anna’s mother rocked quietly reading by the fire of their country home, Anna sat, looking intently out the window, scanning the blockade of trees much like she did the shelves of the bookstore.  Anna’s mother looked up from her book.  “My, aren’t you curious tonight?  Do you see something out there?”  Anna looked back at her mother for a moment and then back out through the window.

 

“Mama, there is a man in the woods.”

 

Her mother stood up at once, placing her book on the end table, the blanket around her falling to the floor.  She was nervous but had no intentions of letting Anna know for she need not be worried at this time of night.  “And what did he look like?”  She walked over to Anna, placing one had on her shoulder, the other stroking her dark brown hair.

 

“He was very tall and there was a light around him.”  Her mother peered out into the darkness but saw nothing.  “He had such a strange head, Mama.”

 

“What did it look like?”

 

“I could not see his face.  The light was coming from behind him.”

 

“Was he alone?”

 

“Well, there was not another man with him.  He was the only one.”

 

“Was there something else with him, besides a man?”

 

“There were butterflies flying around him.”  They both stood in silence for a moment.  “I wonder what the light was.  I wonder who he is.”  Anna looked up over her shoulder at her mother.  “Do you know, Mama?  Do you know who he is?”

 

Her mother still had her eyes fixed on the woods beyond the garden.  She continued in this daze and slowly answered her daughter.  “No, Anna, I do not.”  She realized her state and looked down at Anna.  “I am sure it was just your imagination.  You do get those stories in your head.  Now, off to bed with you.  It is getting late and your mother needs her rest, too.”  She looked out the window one last time to convince herself that there is nothing.

 

Up in Anna’s room, her mother tucked her daughter in to bed.  “I’ll put your book right over here.”  She leaned down and kissed Anna on her forehead.  “You sleep tight.  I love you.”

 

“Mama…could you sing me a song?”

 

Her mother looked at her for she never has asked for a lullaby before.  “Yes, anything for you, my darling.  I will sing a lullaby that my mother sang to me and her mother sang to her.”  Her mother ran her fingers through Anna’s hair as she hummed a very old lullaby with no words.  Its enchanting melody filled the room and tenderly rested in Anna’s ear.  Her mother finished and smiled lovingly at her.  “Goodnight.  I love you…always.”  Her mother then left the room, shutting the door behind her.

 

Anna lied in bed, late into the night, as she often did, listening to the old house moaning and creaking in the night.  She loved to her the sounds of the cottage at night, so familiar and yet a different arrangement every time.  But then she heard a strange noise that she had never heard before, soft and yet so out of place in the darkness of her attic room, a fluttering of wings.  Anna sat up in her bed, squinting to try to catch a glimpse of the origin of the sound.  Then her eyes fell on the book, wrapped in the brown paper, sitting on the vanity across the room.  It seemed to be coming from the there.  Anna removed the covers and stepped out of the bed, barefoot and in her nightgown, braving the dark.  She cautiously walked over to the vanity so as to make no sound, fearing any noise would scare away whatever was fluttering.

 

Very carefully she removed the twine that was tied around the brown paper.  She removed the paper, unfolding it, not wanting to create any tears.  At last the book was uncovered.  The sound had stopped while she unwrapped the book, but now it began again, more pronounced than before.  Anna gradually opened the book, peaking inside as the pages began to be exposed.  Suddenly, out from the book flew a single, small butterfly.  Anna was surprised but did not jump back though she was not suspecting this to happen.  The butterfly was so white that it shined forth light in the dark.  It fluttered around Anna and then over to her bed where it came to rest on the front bedpost.  It just sat there, seemingly looking back at Anna, waiting for her to follow.  Anna took a step toward the butterfly.  It did not move.  Another step and still no movement.  She walked over, right up to it, reaching out with her finger.  The butterfly took off and fluttered to the window sill, with Anna close behind.  She looked at the butterfly and then out the window.  The trees flashed with the white light, almost inviting Anna to come.  She looked down at the butterfly, its wings moving back and forth though it was not flying.

 

“You want outside, don’t you?  That is your light.”  The butterfly fluttered up in the air and then landed again on the sill.  Very quietly, Anna lifted open the window and the butterfly flew out.  Anna leaned out into the cool night air, watching the butterfly flutter around.  It came to rest on the end of the roof, where it came up to a point, right in front of Anna’s window.  “Do you want me to follow?”  Again the butterfly flew up into the air for a moment and settled down once more onto the point of the roof.  Anna looked over her shoulder at her door.  She could see no light shining from beneath.  Her mother was in bed now.  She grabbed her sweater and climbed out the window onto the roof.

 

Anna followed the butterfly across the yard and through the garden.  She came to a stop at the edge of the trees, the butterfly hovering just inside the first branches.  Anna turned to her house and then back to the woods.  With a look of curiosity, Anna pushed aside a branch and stepped into the woods. 

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[~D.A. Phoenix~]

Hmmm...what lurks in the woods?