Rose and thorns intertwined (sample) by Dawn Willow (pdf ebook reader .TXT) 📕

”yeah dad," "I know we won’t go far," Those were the last words I spoke to my Dad, before we parted. My friend Arianna and I have planned this trip for weeks now, we're going to the woods behind my house. Most "kids our age" as my dad likes to put it, would rather spend the day at a park, rather than venturing into tick infested woods where their hair, makeup, and shoes would get ruined. But me and Arianna? I like being outdoors, and Arianna likes to be in the fresh air but doesn't always have the strongest back bone. Somehow I managed to get her aboard my plan to enter and explore the woods. Me and Arianna have been exploring for an hour now, I feel kind of bad for practically dragging her along so she can catch up with the quick pace I’ve set to get out further than Dad wants us to, without getting caught. I know she doesn’t mind, if I insisted that I slow down, she wouldn’t let me, it’s the fact that she doesn’t want me to start having to slow down at everything to let her catch up. (Except for math class, that’s where she beats me. She brags a bit about it, and I let her, because it seems to be the only thing keeping her from crediting me as perfect.)

"Oomph" comes a sound behind me, and I turn around to see that she’s fallen. I look a bit further, and see a tree root half surfaced from the soil."Are you okay?"I ask because, she still hasn’t gotten up, and I wonder if she landed on something hard and painful, or if she’s staying still so a nearby spider doesn't decide to bite her. I dismiss this theory as she gradually gets up

 "Whoa!" Arianna exclaims, "... what is that?".I hear her, and see the look on her face, and thinks she just saw a deer, or something, she’s not really an outdoorsmen, she just hates air pollution, hence why I said she likes fresh air. I decide I won't turn around because I may scare whatever magnificent creature of the forest is there, I’m not being sarcastic, I really love animals, the ones out in the wild, in their true home: majestic and beautiful. knowing a peace and ease I think I’ll  never know...

"Belle!", Arianna says , snapping me out of my thoughts."Did your dad mention anyone...... living in these woods?"

 That gets my attention, If only for its absurdity."What?" I ask, I finally turn around, what I see is not a deer, but magnificent just the same. "That was not there before." I whisper, I don't think she hears me though, and she heads toward the fortress, or rather what looks like a massive castle. It consists of different styles of architecture, gothic, Victorian, there are even gargoyles who oddly enough, appear to be looking this way and... "Did one of those gargoyles move?!" But no. They're still in the same place they were after I blink.

Arianna's looking at me like I’m a scared child, making me rethink what I saw. Maybe I am acting silly, but I could have sworn I saw the stone creatures move. 

Get Out! You’ll soon regret you ever came across this place if you do not leave now! A voice rings in my ears, telling us we must not stay.

 I look up to call my friend and leave the property, but she’s gone. The voice said there was a gate, I search for it, and that’s when I see Arianna opening the gate. "Nooo!" I scream. I run over to her to get the gate closed but she's inside now. Who knows what atrocities live beyond the towering wall, I press on however, never one to leave anyone behind, especially when it’s my friend. I don't abandon people, no matter the circumstance, so opening the gate, I slip inside..

Its dark, but then I realize I was holding my breath. With my eyes closes, bracing myself for what must be on the other side. I almost laugh at myself. Green all around, but I can only make out the colors right now , the bright, sunlight blinding me. Sunlight! In the middle of a deep and dense forest, light shines through, when it had been apparent that this property was dim. "What is this place?" I wonder viewing all the beautiful flowers and the singing of the birds in place of the crunch of twigs and underbrush under our feet. Then I see Arianna and I remember the warning.

"Arianna!"I yell in a whispering tone, "We have to go, we can't be here!" “Belle! Isn’t this place great?!" then she sees the worry on my face, "wait... You want to leave?" She looks at me surprised. "I thought you loved the outdoors. I mean, I know this isn't out there in the wild," she gestures to the gate, "but it's beautiful!"

She doesn't hear me, but she stops nonetheless as a nearby flower bed catches her attention. She laughs giddily and runs over, leaving me alone and I sink to the ground.  Depart and I will not follow, carry on and turn from the gate, and you’ll meet a horrible fate. Even though it's probably too late, because not only are we on his private property, and my friend’s eaten his exotic fruits, I try and stand, to try and get Arianna away from the flowering bushes and vines.

"Arianna, can we go now?", "Please?" For I thought she would just ignore me, but she answers. “In a second." She says as she looks to me. "I just want one of these roses,” she tells me, she looks away and leans down, analyzes the flowers. Cupping one delicate blossom with her hands and......

She plucks it.

As swift as lighting reaches the earth, a thick hooded figure appears in behind Arianna, I cannot see his face, his face is turned from me, but Arianna does, she turns around and faces it, shock, horror and fear are displayed on her face. What is it that she sees? who is it that she sees, that could so frighten her?

"You entered without my consent, the gate was locked! But I still took pity on you and I gave you a chance to leave, not once but twice! you then terrorize my garden and still I let you live! Then you take that which I hold dearest to my heart, my beloved roses!" A deep voice snarls. In the torrent of his words, he makes being angry an understatement. "What is most precious to me! How would you like it if I just barged into your home, even though it was locked, and then put holes in the foundations of it?!!!!!!!!!" He lets loose a growl no human should be able to utter. "For that is the true extent of your deed, you have brought unrest to my home." Arianna is petrified now; it wouldn’t surprise me if she was too scared to breathe. I try to speak, to say something, to get her out of there. But I’m stuck, my tongue is heavy, and my legs feel like stone. Then again I guess stone can move around here, the gargoyles did, at least I think so.  Arianna finally gets the courage to speak, despite her fear, and the anger coming off this stranger in waves. "Wa-wa.. what are you going to do to me? "I will not kill you," he says, and Arianna lets relief wash over her face. "...that’s too good for you anyway," he finishes, as though he feels her relief, and wants to fill her to the brim with fear. "you entered my home, and you would not leave" "Since I see death too kind, you'll stay here, in my dungeon with little light, "and you will never see beauty again, since you have taken such a toll on my garden and what I acclaim as being beautiful ." He condemns her.

A shocked Arianna whimpers and says “..but....but... what about my family?" Reaching for an appeal. "They’ll wonder what happened to me!" She tries, "They'll come and cause further disruption to your garden"  I'm afraid, they'll never find this place."

Whatever holds of me has passed. The hooded figure is speaking again. "I Warned you to go, I warned you to let this place be," "But you didn't heed my warning, did you?!" I can no longer breathe, I draw myself up in a stand, legs shaking uncontrollably. why did I hear and not her? What makes her impervious, that only one would receive the warning? I look up from the ground. He only expected one of us to come. He looks up, as if he senses my thoughts.

“But....I didn't get a warning!" Arianna is crying now, I know I must act, but what can I do, he seems intent on punishment. "Yes you did! You're the only-" He shouts.

"She's telling the truth!" Interrupt and all of a sudden he's standing to his full height, or I assume he does because he's gotten taller in a matter of seconds. "She didn't get a warning! " I say, taking a deep breath. "I did, I tried to tell her, but she was already out of earshot." None of this is her fault, it's mine. I just didn't try hard enough-" I barely finish before he starts shouting again, pulling Arianna by the arm, into a stand, closing the space of trees between himself and I.

"Enough!" He says, coming to a halt, standing tall and proud a few feet away, hood covering his face now, making me wonder what he's hiding. “She plucked the rose, not you! She must be punished for her selfish action and carelessness" He stops to point to her. '"She will pay for the damage she has caused." He releases her arm, and she slowly seats herself, her legs shaking too mcuh to hold her up. He continues. "For although nothing will ever replace my roses' beauty, so I cannot forgive and thus my choice of retribution." He turns his back to me. "I must be off lady, return from whence you came, my quarrel is not with you."

I look at the flower Arianna picked, it was indeed a rose. I still can't imagine how something seemingly insignificant could cause such unrest. “You’re right" I say, trying to swallow my resentment toward his uncalled for cruelty, at his ability to just dismiss me as if it were a mall matter of unimportance instead of the fate of another. He turns at this, but it’s clear he tries to hide his face in the hood of his cloak again, drawing my attention to the posed question of why he's hiding his face, since Arianna has already seen it. "What?" he says, barely audible, I look to Arianna, whose looking at me sadly like I betrayed her, but I haven't "I said you're right, nothing can replace your roses," I gesture toward the flower, and then to my friend, "but she can be replaced."

 I look to him in time to see interest and confusion flash across his face. What are you implying?" He asks me.

"Please, Let me take her place." I exclaim as I take a step forward. "What?!" he yells, but then he thinks on it and in a softer tone he says "You would come with me willingly, even knowing what lies ahead for you?" 

"Yes" I'm looking into his eyes, the only feature I can see under his hooded face. “I will willingly stay here, for the rest of my life." I say, disbelieving that I'm actually saying these words, but meaning every word of it. I take another step forward. “I will never run, or leave," I just know I’ll regret this, but I need to get her out of here. “as long as you