Miriam had her first kiss in a woods. She had cried then, too. She had been a little old for first kisses when she had gotten hers. But it felt special. Maybe that was because it was Aaren, and all their kisses had been special. They had made her feel secret and safe.

Aaren and she had been flirting for days in a sweet, shy way that both embarrassed her and made her smile when she remembered it. She even smiled while sitting in a glassless spot with her back against a tree, while tears streamed down her face.

They had been playing a game with other classmates. It was some stupid thing that their P.E. teacher was making them do; play a load of games from when they were kids. But his games were all team sports. It was meant to encourage them to get along better and work together and all that nonsense teachers throw at teenagers who would have nothing in common but a class name.

It had gotten a few of them talking about the games they hadn't played, the ones they had loved as kids. A few of them were from the year ahead of them in school, kids who got on better with them than their peers.

So they went to the woods and played red rover, duck-duck-goose, chasing and hide-and-seek. Then someone suggested the game everyone had pretended to hate as a kid. Kiss or kick. It was kind of like tag, but the captured was given that choice of affection or pain.

The unwritten rule was that every kid chased after the person they wanted to kiss and that everyone who got caught chose to be kicked. There had been a few much-teased exceptions but, if asked, most kids would say that they would rather die than kiss anyone. Adding teenage hormones made it a very different game.

They all bolted into the woods, leaving Jenny as 'it' as it was her idea. She had to count to ten before giving chase. Miriam ran down to where there was a small bridge going across a stream. The stream was narrow enough to jump over, but the muck surrounding it wasn't. Miriam didn't give a damn about mud, she got under the bridge and crouched.

She heard the footsteps on the bridge as Dave passed the bridge over her. He was calling all of the girls' names, seemingly not that bothered about catching any of the guys.

Then;

"I see you Aaren! Get those lips ready for me!" and then he was running.

Miriam burst out laughing and peaked out from nuder the bridge. She caught Aaren's eye before he ducked under Dave's outstretched arms and ran into the trees.

She got out (her hiding place, now useless) and took a sad look at her boots. Thankfully water hadn't gotten into her socks. She took off into the woods after the boys.

She found him stumbling through the trees. He saw her coming and stood to wait. His jeans had grass stains all down the front of him. He saw her notice and smiled, laughing at himself. She was sorry to have missed Dave catching him.

"I kind of fell and slid down a hill on my face."

"It's a good look on you," she said, edging closer. He smiled at her, something more than laughing there now.

"So?" she asked, blushing furiously. "Aren't you going to try to ask me?"

"Ask you?" he said, an eyebrow raising slightly.

"Kiss or kick?"

Then Dave burst through the trees. Dave didn't even notice how close they were standing or how red they had both gone.

"Gotcha! I have you now Aaren! Or will I have you, Miriam?"

Miriam ran away laughing her head off as Dave grabbed a dazed Aaren, who was still watching her, and squeezed.

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"Kick!" yelled Aaren, snapping back to what was happening. "Damn it. Kick me!"

Miriam could hear him yell as she flew through the trees, completely overjoyed and totally embarrassed.

She ran to the clearing and sat in the middle of it, out of breath. She watched the trees, hot tears on her face. She was such an idiot. Crying was stupid, it only made her feel worse.

After a moment or two more, he was there. He rolled up his pants leg to show her the bruise that was forming.

"Completely your fault," he told her with a big grin. He came and sat next to her.

"I'm not going to ask," he said.

And then he kissed her.

Miriam couldn't even remember what his lips felt like, but that first kiss had tasted like chocolate.

The stone of the 'tree' was starting to hurt her back. Miriam sniffed and pulled up her knees to lean on. Someone called her name.

She looked up, expecting to see someone other than Davis emerge from the trees.

"Hi," he said.

He visibly relaxed his muscles and let out a deep breath as though he had been holding it for a long time, "I was worried about you."

She didn't understand. How had he found her? He laughed at her face.

"Nice to see your happy to see me too. Apparently, I can always find you. Caleb told me that I might track my light. Handy little thing," he said, flicking the ring hanging from her ear.

A shock travelled through both of them, and he jumped away.

"Sorry. Guess I can't just go touching it. Good to know, though."

Miriam looked around.

"I got lost from Caleb pretty fast in here," Davis said.

Miriam nodded, although it was a bit useless as she couldn't explain any of it to him.

The beautiful laugh sounded through the trees. It was so quite at first that Miriam thought it was just the leaves. Then the woman decided to make an entrance.

Miriam watched as the woman walked into her view. She looked at Davis, her eyes glittered with mischief and amusement.

"Hi," she said.

Davis caught her hand and stepped in front of her as if to block her from the girl. Miriam knew that she should be scared of the woman who had trapped them there to die, but she couldn't.

The woman stepped on flowers that grew simply to touch her feet. Her hair was just as beautiful as it had been when Miriam last glanced at it, constantly growing from green to gold and forming together at the tips into falling leaves.

Before seeing her Miriam would have thought of brown as a boring, bland colour. Her skin was the colour of oak and amber and pine, of every shade of brown from almost white to red and everything in between.

A crown of small white flowers, daisies, adorned her and was, to Miriam, then more precious than any gold or silver or gems. Her nails were the colour of moss, her eyes all the colours of autumn leaves. She was every living green thing's dream.

She was crying.

Davis wasn't unaffected by her. Still, he stayed in front of Miriam, guarding her away from the woman. Miriam should have cared about that, been grateful. At the time all she could do was stare at the woman.

"Why are you crying?" she asked, ignoring Davis when he shushed her.

"I did not want this," she said, her voice pretty as birdsong. "Not this. Something else has come into my forest."

"Your forest?" asked Davis.

"It would have been lovely for you to stay. You would have been safe until I needed you. You would have had each other, and maybe after awhile, you would have had children. Then my tree could have had more. I would have cared for you all for as long as I could before giving you to my tree."

"Your tree?" Davis asked.

"My mother, my child, my life itself. My last tree in my last forest."

"You'll die without it," said Davis. It wasn't a question.

"Yes. As my sisters have."

Miriam shivered, imagining more of the woman. Then she looked at the surrounding glass and stone and realised that she was standing in a tomb. A tomb for her sisters, for every forest and every single tree that had once been in this land.

"So you want us to die so you can live?" Davis asked. He curled his lip, snarling.

"It has been a long time since one like her came to my forest. Before I liked them little. They cut and burned my trees. Then I missed them much. They planted and watered. I would have liked to keep you. It makes it oh so sadder."

"Sadder? Why?"

"Someone else has come into my forest. It is not like the animals that once roamed her. It is not like either of you. This creature is of metal and blood. It has nothing to give to my tree."

"Get it lost," suggested Davis. "Send it away. Kill it if you want."

"I cannot. It looks for you but it may hurt my last tree."

Davis guided Miriam a few steps away from the woman.

"I can't allow that to happen. You will have to come into my tree earlier."

"No," said Davis. "You aren't going to kill us over something so stupid."

"It will be a good death. A true death. You will, unlike so many here, go to the earth and be a part of my tree. I shall love you always."

"No," repeated Davis, catching Miriam's hand.

"I cannot be swift. I do not know how. Mine are the patient people. I can be painless for you. A drifting into sleep and gliding into death. I have many poisons."

Miriam started running at the same time Davis did.