wildflower
All the stories warn against going into the woods, warn about creatures hiding there. They say there are lilting voices singing from the shadows, promising glittering daydreams with sharp teeth. They say the creatures there will take you far away to never be seen again.
There was a boy, the village whisperers, safely in the circle of light, glancing over their shoulders at the trees beyond it. There was a boy who strayed too far.
They say you can still hear his laughter as it’s carried on a breeze, bright and wild, like youth frozen in amber, like ghosts falling delicate from the branches.
(Strange things happen to boys who linger too long beyond the veil. Magic infects like a disease, like rot, eating away everything human that lingers, until his eyes are an unbroken summer sky blue and there are flowers in his hair and he sings with a voice that haunts the shadows.)
(Here is our story: A boy goes home.)