The Woman in Green

The Solstice celebration was on in full swing. Villagers gathered, dragging tables and benches out from the inn, placing them about the glen in a rough square. The master baker sold tarts and pastries from his cart as the smell of roasting boar filled the air to dance with the scent of the summer day. The mistrals played a merry tune as many in the village laughed and danced in the grass beside the stage. I took it all in with a wide smile on my face as I flexed my knees and bobbed my head in time with the tune. Between my reserved dance moves I took bites of the strawberry filled pastry I had purchased and watched the young woman, Elisa, who sat on a bench conversing with her sister. Elisa was roughly my age and the daughter of the town carpenter. Nearly everyone in the village agreed she was the epitome of beauty.

“You really should just go ask her to dance,” My sister states as she skips up beside me.

I smile at Marybeth and shake my head. “She’s already politely refused Tobias and Urie. What chance do I have?” I asked her. Marybeth was just a little more than a year older than me and practically my twin, and my best friend.

“Maybe,” My sister drags out the world as she steals my pastry from my grip and gently pushes my back, “It’s because she’s waiting for someone else to ask. Ever think of that?” She urges before eating the last of my treat. “I know you have pined for her since you stopped thinking girls are gross.” She insists, “Just ask her.”

“I just wish a girl would ask me instead,” I complain, “I don’t think there’s anything I wouldn’t give to be asked to dance instead of doing the asking.” I state as I resist her gentle push.

“Don’t be saying stuff like that! You never know what might answer you.” Marybeth chastises me, “Just be confident,” she encourages and when she can’t gently goad me to act, she moves behind me and forcibly shoves me in Elisa’s direction.

Caught off balance I stumble a few steps forward before I recover and shoot my sister a glare. She grins and waves me on, and I shake my head to look forward once more. Despite my protest and reluctance, I was grateful my sister refused to let me be shy. With a sigh I look for Elisa and steal my nerve to go ask her.

I move among the revelry and chaos, my eyes focusing on Elisa as I mentally practice my approach. “Just ask her,” I repeatedly mutter to myself like a mantra as I sidestep a laughing couple and narrowly avoid having ale spilt on my feet.

Bouncing auburn hair flits in the corner of my eye and I look to see its owner. My eyes land on a young woman with a wide smile in a dress as green as the grass beneath my feet. I looked at her and I felt enthralled, I couldn’t look away, I didn’t want to look away. She walked at the outer edge of the celebration; a wreath of flowers and ivy being woven idly in her hand as she walked. Our eyes meet and I see they’re as bright and vivid as her dress. Without a word she raises a hand and beckons me to her with a finger.

I begin walking towards her, but someone drunkenly bumps into me and I lose sight of her. The sound of the festival rushes back like pulling my head out of water. I frown as I try to remember what I was doing, I frantically look around as I try to clear the fog from my mind. I spot Elisa and smile, “Be confident,” I breathe, but then I see the woman in green again and the world seems to melt away once more. I repeat my mantra as I recall I was going to ask the woman to dance. I walk towards the woman in the green dress feeling more confident with each step. I clear the crowd and she smiles at me as I stand before her. I open my mouth to speak but I can’t find the words.

“What would you do for me if I asked you to dance with me?” The woman asks in a voice as sweet as honey and enchanting as a nightingale. She smiles sweetly as soon as the words leave her moist red lips.

“Umm,” I mumble as a blush crosses my face, “A-anything,” I stammer.

The woman laughs, a sound as effortless as a stream and light as the clouds in the sky. “A deal then,” she says ending with a slight purr as she fiddles with the wooden toggles on my tunic. Satisfied with whatever she felt she needed to fix she smiled brightly at me, “Will you dance with me?” She asked, pressing more intimately into me.

“Of course,” I respond, mirroring her smile as I wrap my arms about her waist. There was some part of me that screamed this wasn’t what I wanted, that there was someone else I wanted to dance with. But as I tried to recall, all I could see was the beautiful eyes of the woman in my arms. “What’s your name?” I inquire as we begin to skip and hop in beat with the music.

“You’re an excellent dancer,” she compliments, her eyes shining in the sunlight. Her face and that bright smile were never far from my gaze and always pulling me back like a fish caught on a line. I take her hand and spin her and we flow about one another like the earth and moon. The music guides our steps as we go, thoughts of anything that wasn’t her and the verdant dress she wore, her red lips or fiery hair, were left by the wayside.

Time and the world beyond her blurred. I was flushed, sweaty and very exhausted when we finally slowed our dance to a stop. Yet somehow she seemed unaffected by the exertion. “How about we rest a bit,” she offers and I nod eagerly. She takes my hand and guides me into the shade of a tree.

My brow furrows as I realize how far we had traveled from the fairgrounds. I pause and look back towards the village seeing the specks of movement off in the distance as people moved about. I begin to take a step back towards the fair, but the woman tugs on my arm. As I look back towards her, she smiles and I forget what I had wanted to say. “This way,” she softly insists and I let her lead me deeper into the woods.

As the branches cover the sun from view I feel a cold chill run down my spine. My heart begins to thump in my ears and my breath quickens as she leads deeper. I follow, fighting back the instinct to flee as we come to a spot in the woods where two trees seem to have woven together in a circle. I work my parched lips and struggle to find my voice as she guides me towards the circular formation, eventually I hoarsely rasp, “Maybe we should go back. I-I’m a little thirsty. There’s ale back...”

She gives me a sly smile over her shoulder and squeezes my hand reassuringly as she continues to pull me through, “It’s not much farther, there’s a spring we can drink from.” She encourages me. I nod in acquiescence as the shade of the canopy grows darker. Soon a soft gurgle of water can be heard and after a few more steps we come to the banks of a large spring. “Go ahead, take a drink.” She tells me as she releases my hand and guides me forward.

The weight of her hand on my back and her body beside me reminds me of my sister. She had pushed me to ask someone to dance, but try as I might I can’t recall who. Was it her? I wonder as my eyes drift to the smiling woman. It must have been, I think to myself as I kneel at the bank of the spring. I lean forward and reach into the cool water, cupping my hand to lift the water up towards my lips.

I catch my reflection in the water, and the reflection of something beside me. The creature looked skeletal with waxy flesh pulled gauntly against bones, hungry eyes that were little more than dark pits watched as wet and matted red hair dangled from the monster’s scalp onto the tattered remains of a green summer dress. I drop the water and fall back with a shout of horror.

“What is it?” The woman asked, looking just as beautiful as I recalled first seeing her.

“This...” I stammer as I try to stand. She attempts to help me, but I hold out an arm trying to ward her off. “Something’s not right.” I state and I look for the path we followed to get here. “I-I need to go back, I need...” I gasp as I try to focus my panic.

“Calm down lovely,” she encouraged me, “It was just a fish, or a trick of the light.” She tells me in a calm and soothing voice as she grips my cheeks and makes me look into her luminous green eyes. “You have nothing to fear with me, everything is alright.” She tells me as our eyes lock and I feel my fears melt away. “You said you would do anything for me if I asked you to dance,” she reminds me softly, “Drink for me.” She commands and I felt a deep need to do so welling within my chest.

I mumble, “I…I...don’t…think...” struggling against the compulsion, my voice growing weak and wavering.

“We made a deal,” She breathes as she presses in closer, her lips teasing mine. “Don’t tell me I can’t trust you,” she whispered, her tone ladened with equal parts hurt and threat.

“I am thirsty,” I reply as I can’t remember why I didn’t want to.

“Yes lovely, take a drink,” she purrs, stroking my cheek and stepping back to let me kneel once more at the water's edge. I take a handful of the water and raise it to my lips. I paused as some part of my self-preservation tried to call out, but it wasn’t enough, and I swallowed down the cool liquid.

“Good boy,” the woman purrs with calloused words of honeyed venom even as my body becomes wracked with pain, my breathing coming hard and fast even as I gasp to breathe. “Quickly now, undress and get into the water. Before the transformation is finished.” She commands.

My body burned as it felt like my muscles were tearing themselves apart even as I felt bones snap and shift beneath my flesh. I wanted to scream but couldn’t find my voice. I fall to my side, my body spasming in pain and contorting as whatever magic she had placed on me warps my body. Convulsing, I look back and through the pain welling in my eyes I see the woman had squatted down and was watching me with the dark eyes I had seen in the reflection.

The creature leered and climbed forward on its hands and toes to move closer. I tried to speak but only coughed and felt something warm speckle my lips. “Silly boy, I said undress.” She spoke in a teasing tone, her voice just as pretty and beautiful as it was in the beginning, a disorienting contrast to her new form. She begins to undress me, and my eyes go wide with terror as I see scales forming along my stomach.

Stripped, struggling to breathe, I claw my way into the water. As I collapse into the pool my world turns cold and weightless. After a final spasm of pain I cry out and water rushes in behind to fill my lungs. I fear I was drowning, but I find I’m able to breathe. I float in the water suspended as the last of my humanity washes clean and I find myself feeling oddly content.

A small splash at the surface draws my attention upward and I swim up. I dare not emerge fully, somehow, I know I can no longer breathe air, and my eyes look towards the creature that was the woman in the green dress. “Good boy,” it praises me with a loving smile. “Now give us your hand.” It says with a beckoning gesture. I swim closer and do as she asks. I watch curiously as she uses the clawed tip of her index finger to cut a red line along my palm. She uses her nail to collect the blood and then turns away from me.

I watch from the pool as she stands beside my discarded clothes and mumbles something in a language that made my brain feel like writhing worms. As her chant grows in intensity I have to retreat below the surface. I linger there in the odd muffled quiet of my new aquatic home for several minutes before movement above brings me back to the surface.

I see the creature standing before a man as she fiddles with the wooden toggles of his tunic. Once she’s satisfied, she smiles as she rests her hand on his chest lovingly. “That should do. Now go my child, live the life he wasn’t willing to.” She tells the man. A part of me wonders who the man was as he walks away. He seemed familiar, his clothing and face seemed like something I knew I recognized but couldn’t place. Once the man was away the creature turned to me and began to walk into the water to join me, “Come along lovely, let me show you our new home pet.”