One day when Ava wanders into the alluring forbidden forest, she happens upon a hidden estate, and a mysterious beautiful man. The girl is instantly smitten, but when she later returns to find the man, and the grounds magically vanished, she is devastated. Believing she imagined the whole encounter, it isn't until several years later that Ava finally sees the man again, and learns the shocking truth of what she stumbled upon years ago... |
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Prologue
One day, many years ago, I saw a beautiful man; he was sitting alone in a field of wildflowers with a solemn expression upon his face. I was just a child when I gazed upon him for the first time; I had chased a rabbit onto his property, and even went as far as squeezing through the bars of the iron fence that surrounded his land to do so. He was staring down at a sketchpad with a pencil in his hand, but the paper appeared to be blank from what I could see. I had begun to creep away, afraid that I would be discovered, when I inadvertently stepped onto a small tree branch, and it snapped beneath my foot. He raised his head with a look of surprise in his green eyes, but he didn’t appear to be angry with me for trespassing, he even gave me a soft smile.
Still, I quickly turned, and ran away. My mother never liked me playing in the woodland behind our house, and today I had wandered deep into those woods. I feared this man would tell my mother, and that I would be thoroughly punished for having disobeyed her. It was just my mother and I at home, and ever since my father had left us she had to work double shifts to support us. Often, she would come home exhausted, and because of this she was quick to temper if I did anything wrong. I usually spent my days at home alone while my mother worked, but today I had felt particularly adventurous.
I ran like the wind, it was as though my life depended on it, and my heart raced like it had never raced before. I didn’t know if the man had chased after me or not, but even if he hadn’t that still wouldn’t have stopped me from running the whole way home. I got home that day without my mother ever finding out about my little adventure, and that night I fell fast asleep in my bed.
My dreams were flooded with those woods; images of foggy blue trees danced around me with no end in sight, and standing amongst those woods was the beautiful man I had spied that day. He stood there as though he had been waiting for me to return, and as I neared him he extended his hand out towards me. I looked down at his large but delicate palm for a long moment of hesitation, and I gazed up at the man’s lovely smile. I felt compelled to take his hand, but then I noticed his face blur and seemingly contort for a moment. I suddenly found myself too scared to take his hand, and I backed away from him, and turned to find my way out of those woods. But the entrance had vanished, and when I glanced back towards the man, I discovered that he too had disappeared.
I woke the next morning feeling tired and confused; being a child of nine, I hadn’t quite learned the whole infatuation with boys yet, and especially couldn’t understand why a girl might be infatuated with a man, but irregardless I noticed that I couldn’t get the beautiful man out of my head.
A week went by, and not even school or cramming for tests could get the man out of my head. Every night there was a new dream of him; either he would be again reaching out for me to take his hand or he would be trying to get me to follow him through those woods. He plagued my every thought, and I began to wonder what it was this man had been trying to sketch that day. The thought was at first just a mere musing, but quickly it became an obsession, until one day, now two weeks later, I just had to find out, or at the very least, see this man again.
Once again, I found myself walking through the woods behind my house, though the reality of it was very different than in my dreams. The ground crunched more beneath my feet, the birds chirped loudly, and there was no mist like in my fantasies. Strangely, the experience still felt different from when I played in the woods before; the colors seemed more vivid, and the smell of the trees was more pungent than I recalled. It felt like it took longer to get to the clearing after the woods than it had before, but this time my steps had been more calculated than when I had chased the rabbit. I saw the field of wildflowers laid out before me but was half surprised to see that the beautiful man was not there waiting for me as he did in my dreams.
I sighed, feeling defeated, but without knowing the area and being aware that I was once again trespassing onto this property, I was reluctant to search any further for the man. I then turned to leave, and immediately saw the beautiful man standing in front of me. It took me a moment to realize that I wasn’t dreaming, and I became frightened of the reality of the situation, and what this man might think. Would he be angry with me? Would he drag me back to my mother? Would he hurt me? These were all things that hadn’t entered my mind until this very moment, but now I felt too fearful to react, and I simply stood frozen.
The beautiful man stared down at me, his long raven hair dancing in the breeze, before finally smiling, and saying, “Well hello there little one. I’m surprised to see you back so soon.” “I…I didn’t mean to trespass,” I heard myself immediately stammer. “Well I doubt that since you would have had to squeeze through the fence to get in here, and this is twice now that I’ve found you,” he replied in a soft tone. “I’m sorry,” I quickly stated hoping not to get in trouble, but the man just smiled, and said, “No worries, dear… But may I ask, what brought you here?”
I felt my cheeks turn red, knowing that there was no way I could tell him the truth; that I had wanted to see him again. So, I glanced around quickly with my eyes, hoping to find something to say when I was amazed to see a large castle on top of a hill not far away, but my amazement wasn’t over its massive size, but the fact that I hadn’t seen it or the hill just a moment earlier. “You live in a castle?” I asked with a hint of envious awe. The man followed my gaze with a sudden serious look upon his face, as he simply muttered a “yes” in reply.
I looked back at the beautiful man with a smile on my face, and then noticed that he was carrying his sketchpad at his side. “What are you drawing?” I instinctively asked, recalling the mission that had led me there. The man then swung open the cover of the sketchpad and held it up for me to see without saying a word. Drawn on the beige canvas paper in charcoal pencil was a picture of me wearing the exact outfit I wore at that very moment!
“When… How did you do that?” I exclaimed. His smile returned, and he simply replied, “Magic.” “Are you a magician?” I asked with excitement, and the beautiful man smirked, and answered, “Something like that.” “Is your castle magic too? Can I see inside it?” I questioned with the innocence and naive-ness of my young age. But the beautiful man shook his head “no”, and replied, “It’s not a place for you.” “What does that mean?” I asked disappointed. He didn’t answer, but instead remarked, “It’s best if you head home, Ava.” I then stared up at him curiously, and asked, “How do you know my name?” “Never mind that, you need to hurry home before you get in trouble,” he spoke in an urgent tone.
Instinctively I glanced down at the pink princess watch on my wrist and saw that it was later than I had realized, and that my mother should already have gotten off of work. She would be home any minute! Without another word, I went racing through the field, squeezing between the iron bars of the fence, and stomping through the thick brush of the woods. I had to beat my mother home or else I would find myself in deep trouble. I would have to wait for another day to find out how the beautiful man had known the things he knew about me, leaving me with more unanswered questions than before, and even ones that had yet to be comprehensible to me at that age.
My steps were heavy with burden and recklessness as I ran. A strange sensation came over me as I sprinted, it was as if I had come so very close to danger, and I wasn’t sure if it was the mysteriousness of the beautiful man or the possibility of incurring my mother’s wrath that scared me. When I finally reached the edge of the woodlands the odd sensation began to dissipate, but was immediately replaced with dread when I saw my mother’s red car parked in the driveway. It then turned into full on panic when I noticed her standing sternly in our yard, her eyes fixated on me as I stepped out of the forbidden woods.
I was abruptly met with the shouts of my mother’s disappointment. She screamed about how the woods were dangerous, and that people had disappeared inside them. I tried to tell her about the nice man who lived in a castle out there, but it only made my mother more furious. She shouted that there was no castle, but only swampland. She accused me of lying, stating that the land had no owner, and had been abandoned for years. But I knew she was wrong, she had to be.
Upset with being called a liar, I broke free from my mother, and ran crying into the woods with her angry shouts following behind me. I could hear her heavy steps frantically chasing after me, I knew this would only make her madder, but I wanted her to see the castle, and to know, at least, that I wasn’t lying. I nearly fell a few times while desperately trying to out run my mother, taking in a deep gasp each time. When I finally saw the iron bars of the fence come into sight, I felt a flash of relief, but the moment didn’t last long once I reached the bars, and grasped the rusted metal with my small hands.
Between each dark iron rod, I saw no field of wildflowers, no hill, no castle, and no beautiful stranger. Instead the fence separated me from a dark and dank mossy terrain, one I had never seen before. How could this be?
My mother caught up with me as I stood there weeping in disbelief, and my tears did nothing to pacify her temper. She screamed at me for running, she questioned my logic and my motives, but I didn’t have an answer for her; I was too full of questions myself.
My mother dragged me away from that fence that day and made sure I wouldn’t go back again. We moved from that house a few weeks later, and though she claimed it was because of the price of rent, I always felt it was because my mother didn’t trust me to not go back into those woods. I honestly wasn’t sure if I even wanted to go back.
I felt betrayed.
One day, many years ago, I saw a beautiful man; he was sitting alone in a field of wildflowers with a solemn expression upon his face. I was just a child when I gazed upon him for the first time; I had chased a rabbit onto his property, and even went as far as squeezing through the bars of the iron fence that surrounded his land to do so. He was staring down at a sketchpad with a pencil in his hand, but the paper appeared to be blank from what I could see. I had begun to creep away, afraid that I would be discovered, when I inadvertently stepped onto a small tree branch, and it snapped beneath my foot. He raised his head with a look of surprise in his green eyes, but he didn’t appear to be angry with me for trespassing, he even gave me a soft smile.
Still, I quickly turned, and ran away. My mother never liked me playing in the woodland behind our house, and today I had wandered deep into those woods. I feared this man would tell my mother, and that I would be thoroughly punished for having disobeyed her. It was just my mother and I at home, and ever since my father had left us she had to work double shifts to support us. Often, she would come home exhausted, and because of this she was quick to temper if I did anything wrong. I usually spent my days at home alone while my mother worked, but today I had felt particularly adventurous.
I ran like the wind, it was as though my life depended on it, and my heart raced like it had never raced before. I didn’t know if the man had chased after me or not, but even if he hadn’t that still wouldn’t have stopped me from running the whole way home. I got home that day without my mother ever finding out about my little adventure, and that night I fell fast asleep in my bed.
My dreams were flooded with those woods; images of foggy blue trees danced around me with no end in sight, and standing amongst those woods was the beautiful man I had spied that day. He stood there as though he had been waiting for me to return, and as I neared him he extended his hand out towards me. I looked down at his large but delicate palm for a long moment of hesitation, and I gazed up at the man’s lovely smile. I felt compelled to take his hand, but then I noticed his face blur and seemingly contort for a moment. I suddenly found myself too scared to take his hand, and I backed away from him, and turned to find my way out of those woods. But the entrance had vanished, and when I glanced back towards the man, I discovered that he too had disappeared.
I woke the next morning feeling tired and confused; being a child of nine, I hadn’t quite learned the whole infatuation with boys yet, and especially couldn’t understand why a girl might be infatuated with a man, but irregardless I noticed that I couldn’t get the beautiful man out of my head.
A week went by, and not even school or cramming for tests could get the man out of my head. Every night there was a new dream of him; either he would be again reaching out for me to take his hand or he would be trying to get me to follow him through those woods. He plagued my every thought, and I began to wonder what it was this man had been trying to sketch that day. The thought was at first just a mere musing, but quickly it became an obsession, until one day, now two weeks later, I just had to find out, or at the very least, see this man again.
Once again, I found myself walking through the woods behind my house, though the reality of it was very different than in my dreams. The ground crunched more beneath my feet, the birds chirped loudly, and there was no mist like in my fantasies. Strangely, the experience still felt different from when I played in the woods before; the colors seemed more vivid, and the smell of the trees was more pungent than I recalled. It felt like it took longer to get to the clearing after the woods than it had before, but this time my steps had been more calculated than when I had chased the rabbit. I saw the field of wildflowers laid out before me but was half surprised to see that the beautiful man was not there waiting for me as he did in my dreams.
I sighed, feeling defeated, but without knowing the area and being aware that I was once again trespassing onto this property, I was reluctant to search any further for the man. I then turned to leave, and immediately saw the beautiful man standing in front of me. It took me a moment to realize that I wasn’t dreaming, and I became frightened of the reality of the situation, and what this man might think. Would he be angry with me? Would he drag me back to my mother? Would he hurt me? These were all things that hadn’t entered my mind until this very moment, but now I felt too fearful to react, and I simply stood frozen.
The beautiful man stared down at me, his long raven hair dancing in the breeze, before finally smiling, and saying, “Well hello there little one. I’m surprised to see you back so soon.” “I…I didn’t mean to trespass,” I heard myself immediately stammer. “Well I doubt that since you would have had to squeeze through the fence to get in here, and this is twice now that I’ve found you,” he replied in a soft tone. “I’m sorry,” I quickly stated hoping not to get in trouble, but the man just smiled, and said, “No worries, dear… But may I ask, what brought you here?”
I felt my cheeks turn red, knowing that there was no way I could tell him the truth; that I had wanted to see him again. So, I glanced around quickly with my eyes, hoping to find something to say when I was amazed to see a large castle on top of a hill not far away, but my amazement wasn’t over its massive size, but the fact that I hadn’t seen it or the hill just a moment earlier. “You live in a castle?” I asked with a hint of envious awe. The man followed my gaze with a sudden serious look upon his face, as he simply muttered a “yes” in reply.
I looked back at the beautiful man with a smile on my face, and then noticed that he was carrying his sketchpad at his side. “What are you drawing?” I instinctively asked, recalling the mission that had led me there. The man then swung open the cover of the sketchpad and held it up for me to see without saying a word. Drawn on the beige canvas paper in charcoal pencil was a picture of me wearing the exact outfit I wore at that very moment!
“When… How did you do that?” I exclaimed. His smile returned, and he simply replied, “Magic.” “Are you a magician?” I asked with excitement, and the beautiful man smirked, and answered, “Something like that.” “Is your castle magic too? Can I see inside it?” I questioned with the innocence and naive-ness of my young age. But the beautiful man shook his head “no”, and replied, “It’s not a place for you.” “What does that mean?” I asked disappointed. He didn’t answer, but instead remarked, “It’s best if you head home, Ava.” I then stared up at him curiously, and asked, “How do you know my name?” “Never mind that, you need to hurry home before you get in trouble,” he spoke in an urgent tone.
Instinctively I glanced down at the pink princess watch on my wrist and saw that it was later than I had realized, and that my mother should already have gotten off of work. She would be home any minute! Without another word, I went racing through the field, squeezing between the iron bars of the fence, and stomping through the thick brush of the woods. I had to beat my mother home or else I would find myself in deep trouble. I would have to wait for another day to find out how the beautiful man had known the things he knew about me, leaving me with more unanswered questions than before, and even ones that had yet to be comprehensible to me at that age.
My steps were heavy with burden and recklessness as I ran. A strange sensation came over me as I sprinted, it was as if I had come so very close to danger, and I wasn’t sure if it was the mysteriousness of the beautiful man or the possibility of incurring my mother’s wrath that scared me. When I finally reached the edge of the woodlands the odd sensation began to dissipate, but was immediately replaced with dread when I saw my mother’s red car parked in the driveway. It then turned into full on panic when I noticed her standing sternly in our yard, her eyes fixated on me as I stepped out of the forbidden woods.
I was abruptly met with the shouts of my mother’s disappointment. She screamed about how the woods were dangerous, and that people had disappeared inside them. I tried to tell her about the nice man who lived in a castle out there, but it only made my mother more furious. She shouted that there was no castle, but only swampland. She accused me of lying, stating that the land had no owner, and had been abandoned for years. But I knew she was wrong, she had to be.
Upset with being called a liar, I broke free from my mother, and ran crying into the woods with her angry shouts following behind me. I could hear her heavy steps frantically chasing after me, I knew this would only make her madder, but I wanted her to see the castle, and to know, at least, that I wasn’t lying. I nearly fell a few times while desperately trying to out run my mother, taking in a deep gasp each time. When I finally saw the iron bars of the fence come into sight, I felt a flash of relief, but the moment didn’t last long once I reached the bars, and grasped the rusted metal with my small hands.
Between each dark iron rod, I saw no field of wildflowers, no hill, no castle, and no beautiful stranger. Instead the fence separated me from a dark and dank mossy terrain, one I had never seen before. How could this be?
My mother caught up with me as I stood there weeping in disbelief, and my tears did nothing to pacify her temper. She screamed at me for running, she questioned my logic and my motives, but I didn’t have an answer for her; I was too full of questions myself.
My mother dragged me away from that fence that day and made sure I wouldn’t go back again. We moved from that house a few weeks later, and though she claimed it was because of the price of rent, I always felt it was because my mother didn’t trust me to not go back into those woods. I honestly wasn’t sure if I even wanted to go back.
I felt betrayed.