Giggling

Giggling, “Stop!” I jump over the small branches. “Where are we going?” I laugh while Anna runs ahead of me through the bushes, only seeing a glance of her golden hair. We go deep into the woods, too deep, and I look back. I don’t know where I am. I feel scared, “Ann- Anna, we- we should go back,” I feel lost, the trees don’t look familiar anymore, “Anna, it’s not funny!” I stop, and my sister stops too ahead of me, “You’re such a whiny,” I clench my fists, “I’m not a whiny!” I yell angrily, “You are whining right now,” My sister laughs.

She then points out to a tree, “Look,” She takes away a small bush, covering a little hole between the roots. “Don’t tell anyone, you promised, right?” I gulp at my sister’s words. It feels like an adventure! As she takes away the bush, my eyes shine to see a sparkling blue veil inside the hole, “Woah!”

“Come on!” My sister smiles and crouches to enter. No. No. Mother and father won’t be happy, I bite my nails and look back to see only trees and bushes. I can’t see my house. In the meantime, my sister is already halfway through, “What? Wait!” I grab her foot and pull. “What?” Her head magically appears, “Won’t we be in trouble?” I ask, fidgeting my fingers. “No, we’ll be back before they notice,” she grins and pushes forward, I hesitate but crouch and follow my sister, afraid to be left alone. I touch the blue coating and push, it bends funny until it breaks, weird. The tip of my finger feels cold, but I drag through.

“Woah!” *cough* *cough* I get up and dust my white dress. “A library!” I exclaim, books everywhere! The whole room is a huge shelf! Except for the left wall, which is made of stone with two windows. I see my sister in the middle, grinning. I look back. Woah, we came from… a fireplace? It’s also of stone, and its chimney goes far up into the ceiling. And there is a small second floor along with the shelves, amazing.

Yet, I shiver. I can hear the wind outside. It’s cold, I hug myself as I feel and breathe the icy air. The place looks sad and empty, blue and grey, the wood on the floor has lost its colour and everything is dusty, *Atchoo! * I tremble, “I- I wanna go back”, she looks at me, angry. “Why are you always like this?!” She yells, “If you didn’t want to come, you should have stayed home!”

I flinch, afraid. She yelled at me, my sister is angry, and I get teary, “I wanna go back!” I plead again. “Then go! I don’t care about you!” I sulk at those words. I- I’m alone. I look back, with determination, “I’m gonna tell Mom and Dad,” I run to the fireplace. “What?!” my sister rushes to me, and I stumble inside, but there is nothing here! Desperately, I touch everything with my hands, I hear her footsteps getting closer and closer, but nothing happens, “Uh!” I touch the rocks, look up, but it’s all black, I touch the dust, nothing. I feel a hand on my arm and then, a strong pull, “No!” I yell, “You are not telling anything!” My sister groans, “Yes, I am,” I desperately hold onto the stone wall of the fireplace, but my sister is older and stronger, “No!” I mutter, but she pulls even harder. Without strength I let go, and my hand scratches through the rough stone, “Auch! Waaahh!” I cry, grabbing my hand, “Whiny! You are such a whiny,” Anna yells, at me annoyed. My hand hurts, it hurts bad, but she doesn’t care, I don’t look at it, but my hand gets wet, it hurts so much.

“You were going to tell Mom and Dad! You are a whiny and a snitch. Always running to Mom! Whiny!” I hear my sister’s footsteps getting further away.

I open my eyes, I see blood, my hand is red, very red, and the blood drips, it hurts! *Hic!* *Hic!* “Anna!” I cry out, and I look at my sister, crouching on the floor at the opposite end, her face buried in her arms, “ANNA!” I cry again, sobbing. “What?!” her face rises, we lock eyes, “Bl- Bloo- Blood!” I try to say, but it’s difficult as I wince at the constant stinging pain, I pressure my palm against my white dress, trying to ease it, and a red stain instantly appears. “Ahh! Uhh!” she runs over to me and kneels, “What do I do? What?” I extend my hand to her and look away, and it stings even more! “Ah!” Both of us say, while she looks everywhere.

She picks up the bottom of her dress and pressures my hand, “Ahhh!” I groan and take it off, but she grabs it, “Be still! I’m doing what Dad does to me when I get hurt,” I take a peek with my right eye, my sister is slowly pressuring around the wound with her red dress soaking the blood in the process, the stain hardly visible, “See? It’s not deep, it’s fine,” she looks around and sees an iron black fence on the right of the fireplace, “be still!” she says, and I remain on my spot. She puts her dress on a steep point and then pushes down, cutting a piece of cloth. “Let me see it,” she says gently, and wraps the strip of fabric around my hand and tightens it, I wince again “See! All done!” she smiles.

Washing my tears with my sleeve, I plead to my sister, “I want Mom and Dad,” her face falls, “But I don’t,” she says, bluntly. “We- we should go, we will get in trouble,” Looking around the empty colourless room.

“I will get in trouble. You never get in trouble. And I’m always responsible, you always get away with everything,” she says getting closer to the window, but she can’t see anything, she is too small, so she picks up some fallen books and piles them up. “That’s not true!” I answer back, “Yes, it, is,” she mutters, putting one foot on the pile and leaning over the window, “Woah!” At her exclamation, I get excited, “I wanna see too!” I go grab my pile, but there are none on the floor, so I pick some from the shelves. I climb onto them with some difficulty but manage to see through.

On the other side, I see plain houses made of stone and ceilings of brick. The atmosphere is even colder, and the wind clashes against the window, making scary noises. My eyes move down to the street full of snow. I gasp, blue transparent things walk around the snow in unison. I continue watching, they resemble… animals. I follow their path until I see something, with a different colour, “Get down!” my sister pushes my head downwards, “what?” I protest, but her breathing gets heavy, her eyes scared, “It- It saw us!” she mutters. I don’t understand. “What?” I ask, “Shhhh!” My sister puts her finger in my mouth, “Quickly!” My sister is acting weird, I try to pull away, afraid of her.

She pulls me to the fireplace, “Uh, how does this work?” She mutters, touching every stone she finds, “This can’t be,” then stomps the ground, “Up, gotta be up, right?” she puts both hands on the fireplace’s chimney and tries to climb, only to slide down. She looks at me, “Uh, uhuhu,” laughing weirdly. Then she looks at the opposite side, a door. “Quickly!” She grabs my wrist again, so I don’t fall behind, and we rush to the exit, I notice a warning sign but ignore it. There is a staircase, which we quickly take downwards. We see the front door, I try to go back and stop, but my sister rushes through with me. It’s freezing! I feel the cold sharp wind. “Woof, woof!” I jump at the dog’s bark. As I look around, I start panicking, but my sister continues pulling me through the snow. The blue ghostly animals stare at us, unmoving, emotionless. They are everywhere! Rabbits, deer, dogs, birds! Every one of them looking at us! I-I feel terrified of what they might do if they catch us. My vision turns blurry, and my heart starts to beat even faster. I grip my sister’s sleeve tight! “I-I’m scared,” I start sobbing while she continues to avoid them. I want to get out of here!

“Stop!” my skin shivers at the pleading voice from behind, and my legs speed up. We reach a plain snow field, and ahead of it, a dark forest.

"Kids! Stop! If you go any further, you won't be able to come back," we freeze, taking a moment to breathe the cold air, our chests rising and falling. In the distance we see many pairs of white eyes, we take a step back. Then, we look behind us, a tall figure, an adult with a staff on its right hand with a lantern. A shepherd!

The figure takes off its hood to reveal short black hair and a gentle woman’s face, "You need not be afraid children," My sister takes a step back in the forest’s direction, and I do so too. The woman extends her arms. Terrified, I get behind Anna, "My name is Clair, I'm a Shepherdess," she smiles, "I can lead you two back home," Then a shriek howl echoes through the forest, and I jump forward, "They are not happy that you are in here," she gazes at the forest.

"Pinkie swear?" My sister asks with her little finger lifted, "Pinkie swear," the woman smiles. “If you break it, you will have to eat one thousand needles!" My sister says seriously, and I nod behind her.

"Really?!" The Shepherdess jokes, and we rush back to the little city, "How did you two end up on this side," the woman curiously asks to what I immediately reply, scared of her, "It's Anna's fault!"

“Why? Why is it always my fault?!” My sister snaps, turning back to me, angry. I take a step back, “You came too! You insisted on coming!” she continues, rushing in my direction.

“I-I” I shiver, trying to muter anything with her in front of me. No, she is a liar, “Liar! It’s your fault! You brought us here!” I yell at her, clenching my fists in my tiptoes.

“Yes, I did! Because I wanted you to be grounded too! Not only me!” I freeze, scared, “but like always you were going to cry to Mom, and I end up being responsible for everything. Again! While you, leech! Get away with everything! I hate you!” I-I, s-she hates me, tears start forming, my fists fall, and my sister walks off to the city. The Shepherdess’s eyes widen, perplexed, and she takes two steps forward. “What are you saying? Apologize to your sister!”

“No!” She shouts to the woman’s face, “She robs everything from me! Mom and Dad only pay attention to her! I do everything she does, and they don’t notice, they only look at her! Th-they only love you!” she turns to me with red eyes, tears falling. “That’s not true!” I sulk, “Yes! Yes, it is,” she shouts, “You! You are taking them away from me! You always do! I-” My sister hesitates, and looks down, “I wish you had never been born!”

Silence. 

“I- I’m sorry,” Anna says, but I already turned back, I run and run.

“Sophie!”

Away from everything, everyone.

“SOPHIE!” I run with my eyes shut, tears running down my eyes to my cheeks.

“SOPHIE!” I hear my sister and open my eyes, I’m already halfway across the field. Then, I hear a wicked distorted giggling coming from inside the forest. My heart drops, I stumble and fall on the grass, panicking, huffing for air. I crawl back to town, but it’s too late a rapid cold wind brushes my hair, as the giggles get closer and closer. "Sophie!” I see my sister, running through the field in my direction, “Anna!” I yell back terrified, grabbing and pulling the grass, trying to run, to flee, tears continue dropping, I stumble again and fall, I gasp and look back, a huge dark shadow comes in my direction from the forest. “No! NO!” I yell, the sound of wings clapping and a vile giggle. “Mom! Dad!” I yell and cry, my heart hurts and I can’t breathe, I shut my eyes. Go away! Go away! Then I feel a warm hug and then something pushes me away.

After that, a cry, a cry I’m familiar with, I open my eyes to see my sister in front of me, her right arm full of darkness until her shoulder, "Ahhhh!" My sister screams, I look at her, and I see in her bright brown eyes staring at me in desperation and tears rolling down her face. No! “Anna!” The Shepherdess steps ahead of me, next to my sister, and holds her staff forward, a piercing light expands from the lantern brighter than anything I had ever seen. The darkness fades gradually, leaving pale small humanoid creatures with it, flying back to the forest.

"We should go. Now!" The three of us run to the city, but the shepherdess stops near an incomplete fence, putting another lantern on it, lighting it with her staff.

"Let me see it," the woman kneels next to my sister, "you are lucky they didn't eat you whole," she says, "both of you," My sister saved my life, I blush lightly, s-she doesn’t hate me. The Shepherdess points the lantern next to my sister's dark arm and it slowly regains its colour. I can see Shepherdess sweat but pushes on for whole ten minutes, and another shriek comes from the woods, angrier, "They can't get us here," she reassures but I don't believe her.

“Come, let’s get back,” the woman says, standing up. “t-thank you,” Anna mutters, “See, you don’t really hate your sister, you were brave and went back for her,” she pats Anna’s head gently, “So don’t say mean things to her, ok?”

“Hm,” My sister mutters with a nod.

“You are the big sister, so you must be strong and look after her, that is why your parents rely on you and get mad at you because they believe and count on you to look after her. So be the, Big, Sister.” The Shepherdess smiles, and my sister’s eyes wide in surprise, “Go apologize to her,” The woman says, and Anna stops and turns back to me, “I- I’m sorry, I didn’t mean what I said,” she looks down, and my eyes sparkle. “I-“ she hesitates, “I like you,” she smiles weirdly, tears run through my eyes, “I thought! I thought you hated me!” I jump into her arms, “I-I- you are always mean to me, and bully me. I thought you didn’t like me!” I grab my sister tightly, a bit taller than me, but she doesn’t hug me back, not yet, “I like you, whiny, I’m sorry, *hic*, I’m sorry Sophie, *hic*” And we cry in each other arms. Then, my sister gently pushes me away, looking down, uncertain, “C-could you perhaps don’t tell anyone I said that?” My mind turns blank, I-I’m just happy, “I won’t tell,”

We continue our way behind the nice lady, and her dog comes to meet us near the house. We give him lots of pets, his job is to supposedly guard the herd, but the herd are blue ghostly animals, weird.

“So, listen children,” The woman kneels next to us, near the fireplace, “If you ever end up back here. You put a chunk of wood like this,” she takes one piece from a basket, left of the fireplace, which we didn’t notice, “and light it, you will be back where you came from. If you do this in a different house, you will end up somewhere else. Also, all fireplaces light up during sunrise and sundown, so if you don’t have a piece of wood or can’t light it, just wait inside the room.” She takes a long look at us. Then extends her arms, and we go to her embrace, “farewell and don’t come here,” she advises.

Afterwards, she opens the lantern, puts her staff near the chunk of wood and gives it a little shake, followed by a tingling. Then, a small flinch of light burns the wood, erupting a blue flame, “Woah!”

“Be good to one another,” she smiles one last time, “Thank you,” Anna says, “Bye, nice lady,” I say too, and we crouch. It’s- it’s actually fire, I hesitate. The lady chuckles, “It won’t burn you,” she reassures, and we go through.

We end up in the same forest, same tree, “Let’s go home. Mom and Dad must be worried,” my sister smiles, and we run home. In the distance, Mom and Dad are sitting at the house’s entrance, “Mom!” “Dad!” We both cry out.

"Sophie! Anna!" Dad screams first, and both sprint in our direction with a smile of relief, tears in their eyes. "Where have you been?!" my mother asks while we tightly embrace in a family hug. “We searched everywhere for you two, dummies!" my father says, tears in his eyes, squeezing us harder. My eyes widen, uhh- what do I say? I can’t tell-.

"We- we got lost in the woods, sorry!" Anna says, sulking.

"I’m glad the two of you are back!" She takes a good long look at both of us, "Don’t ever do this to me again! EVER! And don’t go back to the woods. You hear me?!"

"Yes, mother!" She scolds both of us, not just Anna. She doesn't really ask who is responsible, I smile, "You two are grounded for a week! No! A month!"

"Ehh!!"