The sun is as red as a cherry sitting on clouds of cool whip. A light breeze unexpectedly blows a few strands of my hair away from my face. The flowers are smiling up at me and the bench I am sitting on is hard and cold like marble. I smell the scent of freshly cut grass; I taste the warm muggy air. The sun sinks lower behind the mountains and the street lights start to come on. The temperature drops about 5 degrees and the air starts to fill with cricket chirps and mosquitoes: Still I wait. My senses are more alert than usual and my eyes catch every movement. A squirrel scampers up a tree and I turn my head so quickly that I get a crick in my neck. I sit there rubbing my neck while wondering if I should leave. Maybe I was wrong to have come here tonight. I start to stand up and walk away from the bench. It is nighttime now and the stars are twinkling like a thousand diamonds staring back at me. Before I can put one foot in front of the other a shadow moves toward me. I hold my breath, waiting in anticipation. My eyes become large— I freeze— holding my body tense. The figure steps out of the shadows and I see first his big blue calm eyes. Then slowly his long strong neck and his upper body appear. His footsteps are soft and quiet and he walks with such confidence that you would think he was born to walk. His eyes sparkle in the lamplight and small smile escapes from his lips. It was him. I let out a heavy sigh of relief and my shoulders relax. I smile back up at him and push my hair behind my ear so as to get a better look. A dog howls in the distance. Finally after being captivated in each others gaze he asks me,
“Are you ready?” And before I can even think about the words coming out of my mouth I reply.
“Yes.” I had been waiting for this moment months before, but now that it was finally happening it didn’t seem real. Before I could say anything though he grasped hold of both my arms in his firm hands and closed his eyes: Then we were gone.
The clearing was full of trees and soft green grass. A bird as big as my pinky finger flies around my head— buzzing like a bumblebee after ice cream.
“Where are we exactly?” I ask him.
“We are in the Woods of Char.” That was all he said before he turned around and literally walked through the trees. I started to follow after and wondered if I could walk through the trees too; I could. It happened slowly at first— like the tree was swallowing me whole. Then I became a part of the tree. My legs lengthened into the ground like roots and my arms stretched up toward the sky like the trees branches. I could feel every little movement and all the little bugs crawling all over me: Eww, not the best feeling. I traveled from tree to tree until I found myself out of the forest. He was just standing there; Looking into the sky as if waiting for a signal or something. I was about to call out to him, before I realized that I didn’t know his name.
“Hey, wait, What’s your name?” He inclined his head toward me and simply said,
“Sol.” I had taken Spanish back at home and knew that Sol meant Sun. I wondered why he wanted me to call him sun. He turned and started to walk through the forest again when I saw it. It was like a slow motion movie. First the gorgeous purple mountains and then the flowing clear blue river down below. The Sun was a great big yellow ball in the sky and the moon was a purple glow. The little villages down below didn’t seem real, like out of a fairy tale story. But then I remembered that I had heard about this place from a fantasy story. It was almost like home, but somehow different, special. Because this place was special and magical. I stood there for who knows how long with my hands and feet numb. I couldn’t’ believe I had actually made it here. I’d been waiting, dreaming, and hoping for this moment. Now that I was here I was speechless. Sol started to move on so I quickly followed to catch up. When we were deep into the forest again Sol stopped dead in his tracks. I emerged from the tree I had been possessing and went to see why he had stopped. At first I didn’t’ see anything, but then standing right in front of Sol was a little creature, about two feet in height and holding a wooden club in his hands. My eyes widened and I couldn’t’ help staring at the little creature. He didn’t’ seem harmless, but I had to admit that the club was pretty big. His eyes were small and like little pieces of charcoal shoved into a potato. His knobbly knuckles and knees were the part that stood out the most though. They were purplish in color, as if they had been bruised multiple times, while his body was a light tannish color. And perched on his little face was what looked to be a permanent frown. I looked at my surroundings and remembered the valley down below me. Then I looked back at the little creature that stood before Sol and knew that I wasn’t at home any longer. Where I was, I didn’t’ know, but I did know that now there was no going back.