This story doesn’t quite fit the prompt, but I don’t remember why I did so as I wrote it several weeks ago. I still love the story, though. So please, enjoy my flash fiction from the prompt on August 23, 2023.
Bella ran her fingers along the leafy branches and vines twisting around tall stone pillars, admiring between ragged breaths how they sprawled, even encasing the walls of the hidden building tucked deep in the gloomy forest. She wouldn’t have noticed it if she hadn’t been so desperate to find shelter, away from her angry brother.
Well, he couldn’t make her the sacrifice for the forest’s vitality if he couldn’t find her.
She pushed open the oak door. Natural light leaked between vines on small windows, illuminating the greenery wrapping itself around rows of old bookshelves and warring for space with even older, dusty tomes.
Between two bookcases, a wildflower-buried desk nestled. A half-used scroll lay forgotten and tucked into the flowers. Bella approached the desk, curiously studying the list of names in loopy calligraphy.
“Welcome, lost one,” a faded voice cut through the still room.
Bell jumped back, dropping the scroll. A thin hand caught it just before it touched the mossy floor.
“Sorry,” Bella mumbled as she scrambled for the door. “I shouldn’t have—”
The stranger gripped her shoulder, her slender hand stronger than the meaty palm of Bella’s brother. She tried to jump away, but the stranger kept her still, her heart crashing through her body.
“I haven’t had a visitor so long,” the stranger said, and Bella finally noticed her face. Her skin the color of moist dirt, intricate green vines etched over her entire body.
The keeper of the forest.
“Welcome to the library of fae.”
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