Going into the woods

All of my life, I had been warned, “Don’t go into the woods!” and I would answer back, "Why not?" I was most insistent on finding out, however, no one ever had a good enough reason. It was almost as if it had started out as a rumor which eventually had grown into an urban legend. That is, until I asked Granny Taylor. She isn’t my grandma, she is the town’s local homeless person. Most of the time she was seen walking around, pushing a grocery store shopping cart loaded with her belongings. She wore giant sunglasses, red lipstick and a giant wig fashioned into a bun that tilted to the side. As she walked, she talked softly to herself. That is unless she was at the library. Homeless people love the library. They are climate controlled, have a public restroom and free internet access. If I was homeless, you can bet your boots, I’d spend all of my free time there, just soaking in all of the books and magazines. I’m addicted to People, but my mom refuses to pay for it. The online version just isn’t the same.

So one day, I’m at the library devouring back issues of People, when Granny Taylor decides to sit right next to me. She smells a little dusty from the unwashed wig, but not in a horrible way. She is wearing a full length dress that resembles a ball gown. It is frayed and has definitely seen better days. Before she can start talking to herself, I say hello. She elegantly pulls down her sunglasses like a faded film star and says, “Good afternoon” Then she looks at me expectantly and I realize that just because we all call her Granny Taylor, I have no idea what her real name is. “My name is Alex, what is your name?” She wrinkles up her nose. “Why did your parents name you after a boy? You are most certainly a girl.” I look down at my summer dress and sandals, yes, definitely a girl. “You see, my name is Alexandria and I just go by Alex for short.” She cuts me off before I can go any further. “This is a tragedy. I will call you Alexandria and nothing else. My name is Aurora,” she says as she extends her hand for me to shake. Now shaking hands with a homeless person kind of gives me the willies, but I decide that it would be rude not to. “Aurora, I ask, “Like Sleeping Beauty?” “Yes, exactly,” she answers. “I am her.” 

Ok, now we have ventured into the land of the crazy. How can the homeless person be Sleeping Beauty? I can see that she knows that I am doubting her. “It’s ok, no one believes me anymore, but it’s true.” As I am trying to politely make an escape, she asks me, “Has anyone ever told you not to go into the woods, but not been able to explain why?” She could see from my reaction that she had peaked my curiosity. “Yes, it has always bothered me that no one really knows the answer, they just keep repeating the same warning without knowing or caring why.” She looked around the library, but no one was sitting close to us. “A long time ago, after Phillip woke me up with a kiss and we escaped the castle that imprisoned me, Maleficent cursed the woods with deadly bushes and thorns. No one who has ventured in has made it out alive.” Something didn’t seem quite right to me. I quickly remembered, “Wait a minute! Maleficent cursed the woods before Phillip went in to make it more difficult and wasn’t he Prince Phillip?” She smiled, “You kids today all want the story to be what Disney decided to tell you. One hundred years is a long time to be asleep. Everyone who knew me was long gone when I was woken up and I wasn’t the princess of anything after my family moved to America. Maleficent was a real witch from the old country that followed us here. She had been an advisor to my father before he decided to part ways with her, after seeing the true strength of her evil powers. She followed us here, determined to wreak vengeance on my family. The fortune was lost and my mother and father died sadly after much turmoil, never knowing if I would wake. Phillip heard about me while drinking in a pub one night and decided to see if the story was true. After he kissed me, the woods started bursting out in hideous spike filled vines. “But, where is Phillip? You are always walking by yourself?” I asked her. “Oh, my dear, Philip died about five years ago, but he is still with me. I like to pretend that he is holding my hand as I am walking along. I talk to him and tell him stories. Phillip loves a good story.” She smiled and patted my hand. “I must be going now, Alexandria, but I do thank you for a lovely time.” And with that, she got up and left.

I have to admit that I felt more curious about her than anything that I had been reading in People. I put the magazines back and headed for the door. As I got outside, I could see her turning right at the end of the street. There was only one place that direction of the road led to, the woods. In fact, there were large warning signs directly in the path of where she was walking to. I just had to know, so I sprinted to the end of the street and turned the corner just as she disappeared into the woods. I saw the trail that she was on and I began to follow her, walking as softly as possible. She was a little ways up from me and I could see her from time to time as the path curved this way and that. It was a very narrow trail with lots of thorny vines on either side, so this part of the story was true. Whether a witch cursed the woods or not, it was treacherous trying to move around in there. Several times I got caught and had to untangle myself, very carefully. Thank goodness the day had started out a little bit cooler than normal and I had grabbed a hoodie on my way out of the door. I would have been scraped up for sure without the covering on my arms. I wasn’t quite sure how Granny Taylor, I mean, Aurora, was managing with her shopping cart. I lost sight of her awhile before I broke free of the woods and into a large clearing. 

I was amazed. The house, which looked exactly like a castle, was in perfect shape and the grounds around it were well maintained. I was so stunned at the sight that I didn’t really pay attention around me and was startled when a man’s voice said, “Are you a traveler?” I looked over and saw him assessing me. “You don’t look like a traveler. You are much too clean and you have no pack with your belongings. How did you find this place?” I didn’t know whether to lie or to tell the truth. I paused for a minute. “You aren’t in trouble, my dear. I’m just a curious old man.” He had a full head of white hair and was dressed like a gardener. “I’ve been working these grounds for many years and no one but travelers have ever shown up.” Now I was the curious one. “But how do they know how to get here? That this house or do you call it a castle, even exists?” “I would be happy to answer all of your questions, but first you have to answer mine.” So I told him all about my encounter with Aurora at the library and how I followed her to this place.” “Why were you not afraid of the warnings not to go into the woods?” he asked me. “Hey! You promised,” I answered. “Ok, ok,” he replied, laughing. “See the patio over there? We keep lemonade on hand as a welcome drink. Go find yourself a seat and I will meet you shortly.” 

There was a small group of people already sitting down, talking like they were all friends. Old and young, men and women, with packs of their belongings beside them. I picked a table on the furthest edge and sat down. They smiled and waved, but seemed to respect my decision to remain separate. The old man was there very quickly with two cookies in a napkin. “Fresh out of the oven. Would you like one?” he asked as he held his hand out towards me. “Of course,” I said and snatched the bigger one of the two. “Delicious,” I mumbled while chewing. “Our cook now is the best one that we we’ve ever had. Want to know a secret?” he asked. “Yes!” I mumbled back, still chewing. “She adds a pinch of cinnamon in, that’s what makes them so amazing! I’m getting fat from eating cookies every day, but I don’t care.” he said with a smile. “So, how do the travelers know how to get here?” he asked me. I nodded yes. “Travelers have always had a system of moving from place to place. They hide clues to safe houses along the way.” I questioned him further, “But where do they hide the clues?” I asked, very intrigued by the whole thing. “Oh, carved into trees, graffiti on buildings or train cars, or by word of mouth.” But my big question came next, “So how did Aurora get involved and is she really Sleeping Beauty?” I waited impatiently for the answer. “Well, my child,” he began,”I’m not at liberty to tell you all of her secrets, but I can tell you this. Phillip was a traveler before they met. He has been gone now for five long years. We all miss him, dearly.” I could see his eyes begin to mist up and just at that moment, Aurora arrived at his side. 

“Alexandria, it is nice to see you again.” She had changed out of her previous outfit and was now wearing jeans and a t-shirt. Her wig was gone and her blonde hair was cut into a chin length bob. Shouldn’t she have gray hair by now, I wondered? “I’m sorry, but we cannot let you linger here any longer, it is time for us to get ready for the dinner rush. I hope that Marcos has answered all of your questions. He is going to take you out of the woods in a different direction, so that no one sees you emerging. I know that you will be able to keep our secret. Travelers are not very welcome in our town and we need to keep this preserved as a safe place along the road.” I wasn’t going that easily. “But, I barely got here, and I do have more questions,” I blurted out. “Are you really Sleeping Beauty? Did Phillip really wake you up with a kiss?” Aurora, if that was her name, smiled. “Why yes, he did. He woke me up to an entire new way of life. We traveled over the entire country staying at many different safe houses and it was the best adventure I could have ever had.” She touched my arm lightly, “Goodbye for now, Alexandria. I’m sure that I will be seeing you in town.” She thanked Marcos and left. We walked quietly back along a trail that was very winding and just as fun of spike filled vines as the first one. As we came out of the woods, I didn’t recognize where I was at. How would I find my way home? or even back to the library? I turned around to ask Marcos and he was gone! 

Even though I was out of the woods, I was still in an area with no buildings and no working cell phone. It was starting to get dark, so I walked towards the only lights that I would see and hoped that they would lead me to a place that I knew. When I reached the highway, and had service again, I called my mom so that she wouldn’t worry. No reason to tell her where I really was, just that I was coming home. As I was using the gps on my phone to map the way to my house, a woman appeared out of nowhere. She was very tall and dressed all in black. “Did you find her?” she asked. “Find who?” I wondered aloud. “The girl, Aurora,” she replied. I looked closer at the woman as she appeared to be familiar, somehow. She was beautiful, but in a dark and mysterious way. I could see her becoming impatient. “I have travelled near and far, but she has escaped my grasp, every time.” It all made sense now. The traveling, the safe houses, the disguise as a homeless woman. Aurora was hiding from her and so this must be…”Malificent!” I said in shock. She smiled, crouched down and looked me dead in the eyes. “You will take me to her,” she told me as she then stood up straight, raised her arm above her head and then lowered it to touch me on the shoulder. There was a burst of bright light that made me close my eyes. When I opened them again, It only took a split second for me to realize what had happened. I flew up in the air and saw my cell phone and clothes lying on the ground while Malificent laughed her evil laugh. My black wings lifted me higher and higher, until I swooped down to rest gently upon her shoulder. I was hers now, her raven. Bound to search for Aurora until I could search no more. “Where is she?” Maleficent demanded. And with a “caw” I jumped off of her shoulder and flew back towards the trail that I came out of the woods on. If we hurried, we just might be able to catch her.