Fiction|Fantasy|Challenge
The Mountain Encounter
49 of 💯 — What can be found in the depths of the forest?
Tightening her boot laces and wriggling into the backpack, she checked her pocket for house keys. Standing in the entryway of her new cabin, Heidi’s eyes roamed from object to object until they landed on a lone China cup resting on the stand below the hall mirror, a couple of keys barely visible.
Depositing them in her pocket, she tucked stray tendrils behind her ear as she locked the door. Breathing deeply, she savored the scent of pine needles and dry leaves.
After a short hike up the mountain, she encountered a local family enjoying the fall weather. Heidi smiled as the teenage boy tugged his mother’s arm to loudly whisper, “She looks like Scarlett Johansson!”
They visit for a moment and exchange locations, the young man’s wide eyes never leaving her, before continuing on. Upon rounding a curve, her golden eyes fell on a tree with a hollow at the base of the trunk with different little trinkets decorating the empty space. Removing her backpack, she squats before the tree, rummaging through the pockets. “Surely I didn’t use the last one and not restock,” she mumbled.
Her hand withdrew the last Lego pirate from the pocket. She extended his sword, straightened his tricorn, and placed him amongst the other treasures. “I know a guy who needs a picture of this to brighten his day.”
She took out her phone, focused the camera on the ‘fairy house,’ and snapped the picture. Standing with her backpack flung over her shoulder, she checked the image before continuing her hike.
Squinting at the screen, her eyes slowly rose beyond the trees to the depths of the forest. “Was that there before?” She stepped past the ‘fairy house’ into the forest, her entire focus on the small cabin shimmering in the morning light.
Her eyes filled with wonder at how the cabin seemed to sparkle of its own accord. She raised her fist and knocked three times. She heard no small amount of commotion before the door cracked open a handbreadth.
Heidi’s eyes dropped to see an eye and nose in the doorway’s gap, belonging to a girl barely over three feet tall, yet appearing to be twenty years old. “Hello, I recently moved in down the path,” she turned the direction from where she came, pointing, “and I thought I’d say hello.” She held her hand out smiling. After a few moments, her smile grew uncomfortable and she tried to peer through the opening. “I’m sorry, are your parents home?”
Without warning, the door flew open as an unseen force sucked her inside. She stumbled as she came to a halt. Her eyes grew wide in shock from her unintended entry and the dozens of little people that darted and flew about. They really flew!
A few tried to hide behind chairs and other small beings. A couple came at her, pointing colorful sticks. Her eyes honed in on two as her head cocked to the side and her mouth hung open. One little person ran around in a frenzy, arms flailing wildly, as they bumped into walls and other little people. The last little person to be accosted, they both fell in a heap on the simple wooden floor. The young man stood on his short legs, stomping and brushing off his trousers while yelling, soundlessly, at the person blindly groping along the floor.
She found her feet held steadfast despite her attempt to flee and her arms became immobile at her sides. “What are you doing?! Let me g — “ Next her voice ceased as terror crept into her soul, spreading like a wildfire.
Heidi found herself lifted off the floor and floating through the long house that appeared so very small from the outside. No matter how she writhed and tried to break free, her efforts proved futile. She levitated out the back door and into a small shed where she was dropped at the far end.
Before she even raced partway to the door, it was slammed shut and securely locked. She tried desperately to kick it open, to find something to break through the door. When she had exhausted her efforts, she sank to her knees in despair.
As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she noticed the walls were bare but there was a small amount of straw scattered on the floor. She gathered some into a pile along the wall, a makeshift cushion, and sat down in despondency.
A few cracks between the boards allowed a meager amount of light to filter in. She was staring at a crack when she saw something small move from one corner to another. Unsure if she shared a room with a rat, weasel, or something far worse, Heidi was immediately on her feet, wishing to float again. “Stay away!” Her voice was back!
She saw the small form scurry to a further corner in her commotion. Whatever was trapped in this wooden cage with her, it too was frightened.
Removing her backpack, she knelt on the hard floor and fumbled through the contents in the growing darkness until she heard crinkling. Withdrawing a bag of potato chips, Heidi opened the small bag and tossed a chip towards the corner of her cowering cellmate.
Several minutes later, a long white creature ventured from the corner, grabbed the chip, and darted back to the recesses of the corner. “A weasel! I knew it!” She threw another chip when the crunching ceased, this time, not as far.
Several chips later, each tossed closer to herself, the hungry critter ventured near when hearing Heidi bite a chip. She began to shiver as a light breeze worked its way through the shed, into her bones. She watched with realization as this was too long to be a weasel. Two perhaps?
Her eyes nearly tripled when she ascertained she was locked in a shed with a dragon! A very small one, but a dragon no less! She held very still as it wound its body around her feet. Tentatively stretching out her hand to touch the creature, she jumped when it coughed. “That’s funny, I smell smoke.” Heidi looked around but didn’t see a glow. “It must be coming from the house.”
The creature coughed again, then sneezed. Except it sneezed a short burst of flames! Heidi’s mind was soaring faster than a jet at Mach 3. She dumped the chips on a bed of straw near the door and let the friendly snow dragon have his fill of the salty snack.
Several minutes later, he was licking his paw to wipe his face when he coughed smoke, sneezed a short flame, and burped a longer one — igniting the straw. The dragon raced to Heidi’s legs where she scooped it up after tying an extra shirt around her face she doused with her water bottle. “It’s okay, shh, it’s okay.”
Then she watched the flames hungrily lick up the straw and climb the dry wooden wall. A concealed smile emerged as her eyes danced in the glow. She whispered, “Burn — baby — burn” as the unlikely couple held onto each other.
She waited as long as she dared then charged the door. They broke through the burning wood, crashing hard to the ground amongst smoldering pieces of wood. Heidi did not linger to see if anyone would exit the house in curiosity, panic about the fire, or question if she and the dragon were inside.
The unlikely friends fled the fiery scene without looking back. Heidi had a fleeting thought, “What am I going to do with a fire-breathing dragon and where did it come from?”
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Inspired by Bradan Writes Stories — Monday Mash-Up #2 and by Zane Dickens’💯 Story Challenge.