I ran through the woods with wolves nipping at my heels and I barely outrun them, the sharp fang snapping with loud growls behind me. Then without knowing it, I ran up a path I never saw before and saw a big beautiful house. The gate to the house was like the gates of a garden and I felt hope warm my heart, pushed through them. 

When I did I fell out of bed “ouch, damn that hurts”. I looked around to see that I was in my room, drawings spread over the floor that I was working on and I guess I fell asleep. 

“Roseline, are you okay in there?” I rubbed my head and replied, “I’m fine just fell out of bed again”. 

Dad walked away from my door and I picked up my sketches, so I could get my room organized. I wonder what was with that dream, it seemed so real and I can’t understand the house I saw. “Rozz, your dad said you’re up” my friend swung my door open and I looked up to see Tallie. 

“Hey, Tallie, sorry I forgot you were coming over today and I have things on my mind”. 

Tallie walked over to my bed and sit down comfortably “what kind of things?”. 

“I’ll tell you after I get some breakfast, what did dad make for breakfast?”. 

“How the hell should I know? I came through the front door and wasn’t paying attention”. 

I shook my head and smiled “sneaking around like a cat burglar?”. 

“Girl you know I wouldn’t steal from you and have you heard about the secret garden in the forest?”. 

I stopped putting my drawings away and look at her as she lays down “what garden?”. 

She moves her hand and it’s almost like a pattern. “Well it is just a rumor, I’ve literally walked around the forest and never once found it”. 

I smirked like a wicked little girl “you bitch, you know I wanted to sketch in a garden and you waved this in front of me”. 

She knows how to tease me and telling me this rumor, it just makes me want to go there more. 

I wonder if it is real, couldn’t hurt for me to try and go looking for it as a scavenger hunt. It is pretty hard to handle making my portfolio and I hope I can get into an art school. “Tallie, what are we going to do today?”. 

I go over to sit on my bed and Tallie looks up at me “well we could do some sketching, you know for your portfolio”. 

“Well let’s eat and then we can go, maybe something interesting could happen”.

I heard a rumor a week ago about a beast in the woods, but the only things there are normal animals and I should know. I’m the only idiot that uses the woods as my muse, I don’t think there is any beast out there. There is no such thing as monsters or at least not ones that aren’t human in appearance. We ate some pancakes, sausage and I had apple juice. I was stuffed after and we got my supplies together, so we could go out. 

“Now let’s get going, then maybe we could go do photography for you and don’t try making me a model”. 

She shrugs and smirks “I’m not trying to make a nerdy collection, so you’re safe”. 

When we were walking to the door dad stopped us “where are you girls off to?”. 

Is my dad worried or what? It isn’t like I’m going to get hurt. I would be more surprised to ever get married, but I’m still young and maybe I’ll find someone. 

“We are going to take pictures and I’m going to sketch a bit”. 

Dad walked over and kissed my head “just make sure to get home before it gets too dark, you know how it gets”. 

“Yeah I’ll make sure to get home before dinner, but what are you going to do?”. 

He looked at his watch and responded: “I have to do a house call, so I don’t know when I’ll be home”. I smiled and put my oversized sweater-sleeved covered hands on my hips. 

“I’ll be fine, just drive safely,” Dad told me yesterday that his truck has been giving him trouble. Maybe today it will not break down and can get there in one piece. 

“Well Roseline, your mom will be coming home around dinner and I’d like you to cook tonight”. 

“Then I guess I should figure out the menu while I’m out, but does she have a clue of what she wants?”. 

“She might want chicken alfredo, but I’m not fully sure”. 

I like making pasta and rice dishes, but I guess I’ll just try making something mom will like.  “I’ll figure it out dad, so just go do your job and I’ll do my thing”. 

He agreed and went off to his rust-bucket of a truck, then we left. I didn’t even notice the camera hanging from Tallie’s neck and we ended up splitting into two different directions. I’m not good with having Tallie near me, well at least not when I’m sketching or forming colorful drawings.

I was drawing a girl sitting by the fountain in the center of town, she seemed so at peace and I didn’t expect it. All of a sudden I feel someone touch my shoulder and turn to see a woman “oh hello, do you need help, Ma’am?”. 

She smiled and shook her head “oh no, but I think you might like a reading”. 

If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

I looked her up and down, she was looking almost like some gypsy. I’m assuming she is talking about a psychic reading “well I don’t know, you won’t try scamming me will you?”. 

“No, my dear, it would be on me and look as though you need some insight on your future”. 

I looked away and was going to get back to drawing, but the fountain girl left. Sighing I said, “I guess it couldn’t hurt, besides my friend is probably still taking pictures”. 

The woman clapped her hands together “very good, very good and you won’t regret this”. 

She waited for me as I put my pencil and leather sketchbook into my bag. “Lead the way ma’am” she started walking away but stopped. 

“Oh, I almost forgot, my name is Leona and I’m a part-time fortune teller”. 

I barely could keep up with Leona, she was moving unusually fast and still didn’t look to be like that. “Hey wait up, how are you moving so fast?”. 

She stopped suddenly and I couldn’t stop my feet fast enough, so I ended up running into her. 

I rubbed my face and looked at her “sorry, you just stopped so suddenly”. 

Then I noticed I was on top of her and I struggled to my feet blushing “oh sorry, I didn’t mean to take you down”. 

I helped her up and she said: “you are such a pure-hearted girl, so sweetly to meet one such as you”. 

Okay, this lady is a bit odd, but I guess I’m not one to judge. “Um, thanks? That is a very strange thing to say” I looked up and noticed a small building. 

Where did this come from? This was not here before and I’ve been around here a lot. “Well, here we are, now let’s go in and see what your future holds”. 

The building was colored like a mystical night sky and the door had some kind of design on it. I shook off the hesitation in my limbs and said: “when did this get here?” Leona looked at me, then at the door to the building. 

“Well, maybe you just haven’t paid close enough attention”. 

Maybe I haven’t paid enough attention, I follow her in and sit across from her at a table. Leona held cards out in a fan outspread “pick three cards, so I can see your fortune”. 

I bit my lip and looked at the cards, then reach for three cards. The cards I got were weird, but I’ve never seen tarot cards before. “Mind placing them down for me?” I blushed out of habit and put the cards down, so she could see them.

“Hmm interesting” I felt fidgety from worry, please don’t be anything bad. 

“Um, what does it say for me? Is it good or bad?”. 

“Oh it’s nothing awful, do you want to know them in order?”. 

I nodded and she smiled warmly. “Well first is this one, it tells me that there is someone you will meet that will cause you to fret and the man may seem like a charmer”. 

I’m sure I’ve seen many charmers, but I have no interest in charmers and it’s not just because of my preference. “The second tells of love with a bird’s name, but has the appearance that frightens people and a broken heart”. 

She looked at me to see if I’m listening, but I was at the edge of my seat and the color of my skin paled. “Well, the last one may be good or bad depending on how you feel about it”. 

“Please tell me, I need to know no matter what” I tried to look confident and I assume I looked panicked. 

“The third is telling me that you’ll find a way to pay your dues and get what you want with a pure mind, but with a weeping heart”. What the hell? Okay, this sounds confusing, and hard to know why. “I’m not sure what to think, so I have to look out for these things?”. “Yes, it would appear so and I’d like to give you some bit of information”. I relaxed a little and looked at her, I noticed her appearance. 

Her eyes an emerald tent and hair luminescent white, the skin was a light tan. “If you go into the woods, be careful of beasts that have black fur and a job is what you will find there”. “What job will I find there? I don’t remember hearing about anyone living out there”. I got up and turned to the door “time can hide the unseen, the eyes just fail to see what is truly there”. Her words swirled around in my head as I opened the door to step out. 

Tallie jumped at me from out of nowhere and said “girl where have you been? I was so worried”. I turned to point at the building I came from, but it wasn’t there anymore “where did it go?”. “Where did what go? You really need to sleep more, you are going absolutely batty” Tallie looked at me sympathetically. “Maybe you are right, maybe it was just my mind playing tricks on me”. I looked up to see that the sky had shades of oranges, reds, and purples blended in the sky. 

I was cooking in the kitchen when I heard a crumbling of a coat to the floor and I called out “mom is that you?”. “Yes and I could really use a drink, but is that dinner I smell?”. I laughed and stirred the sauce in its pot, “well I’m making spaghetti”. It is one of mom’s favorites, but I was waiting for dad “oh, it smells delicious ”. She walked into the kitchen and her uniform looked very rumpled like a bird’s feathers. 

“Where is your dad? It isn’t like him to miss dinner”, I poured the angel hair pasta into the pot of boiling water. “Well he should have been home by now, but it appears that he might have gotten lost”. “Oh that man, he always does this” she pulls out her phone and paced as she called dad. She got angrier each time she tried calling using her phone “shit, my phone is dead”. Mom looked at me and I knew I was going to be calling him.

“Don’t worry I’ll call him, but can you take over with dinner for me and the oven is ready for the garlic bread”. We switched places and I went into the living room to call dad, I’m lucky to have charged it when I got home. “Dad where are you?” I heard some static and it made it hard to hear a response. “I broke down on the path in the woods, I need a ride”. Well, this is ironic, he is a mechanic and could never fix his own truck.

“Do you need me to come and get you? Dinner is going to be done soon, but I don’t mind getting you”. “Please do, there is something out here” the static got louder and then I heard nothing. When I held out my phone I saw that the call dropped, I sighed and felt worried a bit. Thinking of the rumors doesn’t help, it is like a monster story and Tallie knows I’m afraid of monsters. “Mom I gotta pick up dad, so you put the sauce to low heat and I’ll try to make it back home quick”.

Mom threw me her car keys and I almost didn’t catch them, but good that I practice enough. I smiled and left mom to go find dad, it doesn’t help that I don’t know exactly where he is. Slamming the door behind me as I slipped into the driver’s seat. I drove along the road I think he would be on, the house he drove to took an hour to get there. Then I saw a glimmer of a white shirt and stopped letting the headlights fall over the figure. 

Rolling down the window I yelled out “dad? You have to get in, so we can get home!”. Dad turned to me and smiled like I was his savior, then I heard rustling in the distance. I saw a faint hint of a form in the dark of the trees, but I couldn’t make it out. Dad heard the sound and didn’t waste a second, he ran like a hell hound was running after him. He jumped into the passenger's seat and slammed the door almost like it burnt him. 

We drove off and got to the house at a record time because dad seemed well like he was going to recoil into himself and was relaxed the farther we got from the woods. “Did you see it?” he said so suddenly, that I almost snapped my neck to look at him. “See what? It was just dark out there, it could have been a rabbit out there”. I shrugged and got out of the car, then wait for dad to get out. When he got out and close the door, I pushed the button on the keychain to lock the car up. 

We came in to eat our dinner together and dad tried telling mom that he saw a monster. She wasn’t having any of that if I’m honest she looked like he might be sleeping on the couch if he keeps talking about beasts. I was tired of hearing about it, I’ve already had a weird day and I don’t need anything like this. “Well I’m gonna go to bed, so I’ll see y'all in the morning maybe”. I walked to my room and changed out of my clothes, my pajamas were a welcoming comfort.