The Girl in Black

As Thad left the park of his memory the sky grew dark. Although he was quite sure he was still east of where he started the darkness was making everything seem unfamiliar. Even Luna has hidden by the tall trees that seemed to lean toward him from all directions. The few stars he could see straight above were not in any context that he could recognize them. Fear and loneliness were over taking him. He was beginning to think that even a memory of Beth was better than this. He began to run. Thad was running scared through the dark forest of loneliness and despite how long as he ran, he did not seem to be coming to anything that would indicate that he had reached the path he had turned from.

Suddenly a girl in black ran across the path in front of him. At least Thad assumed it was a girl because of the way this slight person moved, but she (if it really were a she) was entirely hidden behind a hooded cloak of black. Thad stopped very quickly and almost fell over. She had run off to the left. Thad called out "Hello?"

Peering out into the darkness between the trees, Thad tried to find her, but it was too dark to see. He did not see her at all but suddenly she was in front of him. She grabbed him and carried him off into the woods. "I must remember which way I am going." thought Thad. He had been carried off the left side of the trail so he must be going south.

The girl in black carried him to a hemlock grove and laid him on the ground. She spoke to him, but he did not understand a single word however he was relieved to hear a feminine voice. She reached down and tore at his clothes. In his mind he was protesting most loudly and yet his body seemed to have no desire to fight. Suddenly he experienced a physical pleasure he had never known. Thad quite suddenly forgot everything of importance. He forgot, Canterbury, Beth, Anne, even Luna. His mind and body were entirely under the spell of this hooded girl in black. She spoke again in that unintelligible language of hers. Again all Thad could do was to stare at her cloaked and hooded form. Again she bent down and again he felt the pleasure. Each time she would speak and each time Thad would not understand. This cycle continued for some time. It could have been days, weeks or even months. Thad had no concept of time or space, just pleasure and confusion. The girl in black suddenly said "Take me west with you." Thad was so startled he almost jumped. "I understand you!" he shouted. She merely restated "Take me west with you."
Thad had no memory of going west or any desire to go west at this point. "Why should I go west when I'm having so much fun now?" asked Thad.

She would only say "Take me west with you."

After that the pleasure that she brought Thad was always tempered by his mind haunted by images of east and west. In his mind he would imagine that it was Beth under that cloak. Beth! Yes he remembered Beth. He wanted to talk to Beth. He had had the most interesting conversations with Beth. His mind desperately wanted to go to Beth, but his body was not cooperating. Beth never made him feel like this. So his mind and his body were at war. To make matters worse his heart remembered Anne. His mind wanted to go east, his heart wanted to go west and his body wanted to stay put.
His mind was behind his first attempt to run away.

One night he crept off into the woods back in the direction of the path. Once he reached it he ran back the way he had come. He knew it was east but his mind had control and it wanted Beth, even if it was just a memory. He found Beth, not at the park but the porch of her house. He sat down and began to tell her of the girl in black. He was so relieved to have someone to talk to who could talk back that he stated "It's almost like I have a girlfriend for the body and one for the mind."

Beth looked at him sympathetically and bid him a good night and went into her house. Thad found the path again and headed west. Once again the girl in black caught him and carried him into the woods, where the cycle of pleasure and requests to go west would continue.

The second time he escaped, he went west. He felt that if he could continue west on this path he might find Anne again. Again the girl in black caught up with him, but he did not allow her to carry him off. He confronted her and explained that he could not take her west and that he no longer wished to stay put even if it meant missing out on that physical pleasure. As he was speaking she reached up and began to unbutton her cloak. She lifted the hood and let the cloak fall to the ground. Thad found himself face to face with nothing at all. There was no form that he could see at all under that cloak.
She was gone forever.

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© 2003 - Jonathan Gardner