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One day, as night was falling, a teenage girl on the cusp of adulthood heard a noise coming from outside her bedroom window. She looked outside, but couldn’t find anything. Thinking nothing of it, she went back to the magazine she was reading.
She heard the noise again, like nails gently scraping across her windowpane. But the second time she looked, she saw nothing, and heard only the gentle noise of a whispering breeze coming through the forest just behind her house.
She decided to go and have a look. Perhaps it was an injured animal – she had heard some raccoons fighting a few days previously. Putting her long blonde hair in a ponytail, the girl stepped outside, noticing how the fading sun had painted the darkening sky with bands of gold. The forest itself was cloaked in shadows.
There was a path from the house, leading into the woods. The girl had walked it many times before, but never on her own at night. To be honest, it frightened her a little, which was why she usually kept the curtains closed.
But something seemed to call to her. The noise she had heard pulling her away from the lights of her family home, and into the woods.
She stepped gingerly, careful about any loose rocks wanting to trip her. The breeze blew again, a little stronger this time. For the first time, she felt its chill.
Meaning to go back and grab a jacket, she turned around, only to find that she couldn’t see the house anymore, or much of anything, really. The trees had closed around her, masking the path that would have led her home.
An owl hooted, and she jumped. Her senses awoke, primal. She felt her spine beginning to freeze, each vertebrae turning into a block of ice.
“Stop it,” she said to herself. “You’re fine. You didn’t walk that long, you’re not far from the house.”
“Are you lost, my child?” came a voice. A beautiful voice that rang as clear as a bell. The girl nearly screamed, but found that she couldn’t.
In front of her, clearly visible despite the gloom, was a woman unlike anyone she had ever seen before. Her skin was creamy white, her hair a shimmering silver. Her eyes glowed an ethereal blue, lighting beautiful and delicate features, almost elven.
“Who are you?”
The woman chuckled, “You know who I am. You have known about me your whole life.”
Known about her?
“I don’t understand,” said the girl quietly. She shivered.
“I am the one who has stolen into your dreams every night. The one you have been afraid to tell your family about.” The woman smiled, and took a step closer, nearly touching the girl. “The one who has made you squirm and wake up with damp sheets and a burning need in your belly.”
The girl hissed in a breath. “No.”
“Oh, yes. I am a dream sorceress, and I have the power to read your mind and give you exactly what you want.” She ran a sharp fingernail down the white dress she wore, splitting it down the middle to reveal nakedness. The body was flawless, save for one mark around her left thigh, a pale blue tattoo that spiraled around her leg.
The girl swallowed, “What’s your name?”
“My name matters not,” said the sorceress. “What matters is that you know who I am. You know what you want, just like I know what you want.” She closed the distance between them, kissing her deeply.
It was as though the girl had been doused in ice water. Dreams she’d had over the past few months burst into her mind. She remembered…
She remembered a woman, this woman. Making love to her. Making her scream. Making her need things she’d never known she needed.
As their tongues stroked against one another, the girl moaned, nearly collapsing. The sorceress caught her, projecting a thought into her mind. One of warmth and love, the two of them sitting together by a fireplace, their arms about each other as snow fell thickly outside. The image was very clear, bright. Beautiful. Alive.
The kiss ended, and the girl grabbed at the sorceress, but she was gone. The woods around her dissolved into nothing.
The girl opened her eyes.
She was back in her room, on her bed. She shook, the woman’s kiss still on her lips. She could smell her scent, one of pine needles and something more carnal. Heat. Passion.
Sex.
She was tempted to think that it had been a dream, but her slippers were coated with dirt from the forest floor. She really had been out there, then.
The sorceress. Beautiful. Reminding her strongly of a girl she saw every day on the bus. Of Alyssa.
Alyssa.
She got up, noticing that it was morning. She heard her parents in the kitchen, making breakfast. Heard the cat meowing in the living room.
She made her way to the kitchen.
“Good morning, sleepyhead!” said her mother, glancing at her. “Are you okay? You look a little strange.”
A nod. “Mom, Dad… I have to tell you something.”
The End.