Into the Wood

Photo prompt by Fandango

INTO the WOOD

by

Kelvin M. Knight

She loved it when the trees were old. Playing her hands over the fallen ones, Eolande felt Withering inside. No matter where her fingertips danced – trunk or knot, peeling bark or broken branch – the sensations were identical: first her wrists tingled, then her elbows, then her shoulders. From there, the tingling rushed into her legs, which now felt lighter, faster.

Eolande laughed. Translucence flashed in the corner of her eyes, while the ground below her blurred into browns and greys.

Thrusting her hands deeper into the trees – deep as her elbows, if she dared – Eolande felt as though she was sinking in mud. This made her legs blur faster, made that buzzing of bees behind her become a drumming of woodpeckers around her. Birdsong blossomed in her lungs.

When she sang, Withering rose from those upward groping roots, before sinking into these browns and greys, streaking them with blackness, whereupon purples pushed through.

Bluebells. Bluebells. A field of bluebells! Eolande’s tingling sprang into a fairy’s delight.

(166 words)

---

---

This is my 166 word story for the Flash Fiction for Aspiring Writers challenge number 149. We are given a photo prompt that is kindly photographed by our participants and approximately 75-175 words with which to create our stories. It’s fun and everyone is invited to participate. For more information, click HERE.

To read all the stories submitted for this challenge, click on the blue froggy button below:

Thanks for reading, writing, liking, commenting, and taking part!