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Romance

In the depth of nightstands an oh so mysterious forest that holds the mysteries even unknown to those of which hold the strongest of powers. The dark outside holds the darkest within. The so-called legends say  “Those who may enter the forest will be cursed with a life of horrid luck and doom unless…” The “unless” is one of the biggest mysteries which is held. Those who have ever entered the forest has never been seen come out. 

We were just two people falling in love not knowing of the legends. We were never warned of such things as neither of our parents believed in things like legends. They didn’t believe that we should be told about things that aren’t true. 

Phoenix and I did not know of such things as the untold legends of the forest. We were both curious about what the forest had held.   

We were stupid and in love as the saying goes. We did not think about the consequences, if only we knew. I guess we got lucky on that day as our story is not like others. 

We should have known. The forest was the face of evil it’s self. The closer we got, the grass began to grow a dark unnatural black. It was almost satanic, we could feel it in your bones as we grew closer to the forest. The sky darkened and the air grew cold as we approached the forest. 

“Hey, babe. I don’t know if this is the best idea. We don’t know what may be held in the forest.” Phoenix warned me. If only I listened things would have been different. 

“It’s fine Pho. Aren’t you curious about what it holds?” I exclaimed to him. I call him Pho, short for Phoenix. It was cute at the time but things have changed. 

“Oh Rose, your curiosity is always getting the best of you. I guess your right, it could be fun. I’ve always wondered what it holds within.” he said to me with a gleam in his eyes from the light of the moon. 

We just kept walking, closer and closer to the dark forest. We were walking straight into evil but at the time we did not understand just how much evil it held within. 

“Rose, I love you and I love the way your beauty shines in the moon’s light the way it hits your stunning grey eyes.” 

He always had a way with words. I never knew what it was about the moon in his eyes that night that made his words spoke louder than ever before. 

I loved him more than anything and to this day still do. Now I believe love is one of the strongest things that can bond two people together and not the meaningless, just say it, love. The love that is unexplainable to those who have never felt it. Its love that you can not put into words, you just know.

The closer we grew to the forest, the closer I grew to Pho. He was holding me tight. The warmth of his body on mine made me feel safe for once as it always did. 

There is an unusual wooden ark in the large opening of the forbidden forest. As we walked through the ark we felt a bone-chilling breeze go through our quivering bodies. We didn’t stop. We just kept walking. 

The further we got the more we started to hear things. It could have just been the wind in the thick black tree branches but it was nothing like either of us had ever heard or even seen. The noises were almost like whispers but all around us. Everywhere we went we would hear the whispers.

We had decided to sit down not knowing what was coming for us. I was shaking from the cold dry air which traveled through my body. We decided to sit down on a rock. I cuddle up close to him.

“Oh, Rose, your trembling. Are you ok? You seem scared. We can turn ba…” I put my hand on his face locking lips with his. I knew what his worrying was about but he didn’t need to worry so much. “I’m ok Pho. It’s cute when you worry.” I said to him with a grin on my face. That was something I usually only did around him.

“I love your smile. When you smile it makes all my worries go away but Babe, I’m serious. I am worried because I…” he is cut off by a gust of wind. 

It did not seem like the wind on a regular day though. This was something different, something evil. A dark shadow catches our eye. 

It was as if we were sitting in front of evil itself. The mysterious shadow was right in front of us. It was what we had been hearing all along. The shadow was not like anything we had ever seen. It was an unusual shape and color. Nothing like I had ever seen.

After we spotted it, the shadow vanished into thin air. Like it was never there. The shadow was bone-chilling through and through. 

I grabbed Phoenix’s hand and held it tight. Our hands moved so that they locked together almost like a puzzle piece. I used to love the feeling of my small cold hand in his. 

We wandered around getting further into the forest. I was like a drug, we just couldn’t get enough. Even after we had seen what the forest had held. If only we had known that what we saw was the least of it. 

The further we grew into the forest the darker the sky grew and the brighter the moon got. I never knew what it was about the moon that night. It was a blue color but not like a blue moon. It still held its gray but the way it shined, it was like the good with in the evil.

We just kept walking further and further into the forest. The further we got the less we could see. Something dark and heavy had caught my eye. 

“Rose this looks like a good place to sit,” he says putting his hand on my face as we sit and moved closer to me. His lips gleaming and moving closer to mine but before our lips could touch something happened. 

The dark thing that caught my eye was once again the shadow. “Pho...stop.” 

“What, it’s fine. Everything will be ok, what could possibly happen,” he says chuckling. He didn’t seem worried at all.  

“Phoenix I’m serious. I saw something. It looked like the dark shadow we had spotted earlier but it was different this time…” I was telling him with tears in my eyes. “This time it brought back all of the memories the ones of when I was in the home.”

A few years back my dad died and my mom had gone down a path that she could not seem to get herself out of. She was always either drunk or high. I spent most of my time trying to take her but when I tried to get her help she started telling lies. She had gone mad and then she sent me away to a group home of which I was abused and other horrid things.  

I finally was at a point where I had put in the past. Phoenix was the only one I had ever told about that. 

“Rose I think it’s time for us to go back. I know how much pain that bought you.” 


“Your right. It would be for the best and then we can try to put this all behind us. We should have never come anyway.” I told him. Little did we know that all we were doing was making it worse.  

As we tried to walk the other way a strong force stopped us. It started to feel like the trees were closing in on us. We decided to just keep walking but we couldn’t.

The dark shadow was back once more. It was as if all of our past mistakes and pain were being presented there in front of us at that moment. Phoenix had felt it as well. 

We looked down to see a stone that read “ Those who see the distance of the shadow and moon must face the untold truth.” 

Phoenix started to read it out loud but was cut off by the wind in the thick dark trees. I looked at the shadow once more and started to feel even more pain. Phoenix looked at the moon and seemed to be that all of his pain was being taken away and added on to me. 

“Rose… are you ok?” he said to me. I began to grow pale and weak.


“Yeah, Pho. I’ll be fine, leave me and be safe,” I told him not wanting him to get hurt. There was something about the riddle that seemed to be a result of death, that or love. The moon is a symbol of love around here so it would make sense. 

Before I could do anything Phoenix jumped in front of me and started yelling. “Take me! You want pain and death than take me! The only place I’m going is hell so take me! I have enough pain for us all!” 

He then started to grow weak and it had felt like all my pain had disappeared. “Rose, listen to me I love you, and I always will. Goodbye,” he said to me. Little did he know it was not goodbye. Simply just goodbye to the world. 

I look at his dead body laying on the ground and realized the only good way to live is to die right there alongside him. 

I then later realized it was all for love. All of our actions. I guess the saying stupid and in love really is true. 

Maybe we were never stupid just above our selves. For each time of which I had looked at the moon, all my pain had gone away. The only true reason for it was his words. The way the moon carried them along. In the end, we really had to ask our selves. Was it just the gleam from the moon or our unexplainable love?






January 18, 2020 03:45

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1 comment

Cory Pines
13:19 Jan 21, 2020

You kept the name Phoenix! I like the name Rose too. Anyway, the story turned out great, I'm so glad you got it in in time.

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