Trees and Dreams

Thad gathered his belongings and headed a short distance to the northwest. Here he found the orchard in which he was to live. It was a very pleasant place, and Thad took to it at once. "If I never go west again, I could be happy here." he thought.

In the orchard were living three others; the performer, the flier, and the princess.
The performer seemed to have been in the orchard the longest and knew many people in and near the orchard, with which he frequently visited. The flier was very rarely in the orchard, preferring to spend his time in the air. The princess was most frequently in the orchard and was quick to criticize that which did not live up to her standard.

Early on the princess was quick to criticize Thad for numerous little things that Thad wasn't all that interested in. He soon looked for ways to avoid the princess.
He spent a lot of time in a secluded little corner of the orchard where he could be reasonably sure that the princess wouldn't bother him.

One night while he was sleeping, Thad dreamed that he was in a dark forest. He wasn't sure where he was headed or in which direction he should go. He wandered through the trees hoping that some direction would come to him, yet on and on he wandered aimlessly.
Suddenly Anne appeared, or at least it looked like Anne. She was all in black and glided smoothly toward Thad. Thad tried to run, but was fixed in space. Without a word but more of a hiss Anne glided right up to Thad. She stared coldly at Thad and her mouth turned up into a slight grin.
Before Thad could register what was happening, Anne picked him up and flew high into the air. High up, above the clouds where it was very very cold, Anne hovered, holding a shivering Thad.

"See what my life has become?" she asked, "It is cold like this for me always. Now you shall know what I feel."

Hovering between cloud and stars in bitter cold, she drove her teeth into Thad's neck. As Thad felt the blood escaping his body it became even more cold to him. He was trembling violently.
Anne held him out from her as she looked on him with eyes of ice, with trickles of blood freezing to her chin.

For a full minute or two the merely stared at each other.
Then she let go of him.

Thad fell.

He felt the ice cold air burning him as he fell through it faster and faster. As he passed through a cloud of mist and ice he saw the orchard below. He continued to fall. As the trees and ground came into focus he screamed. Just as he was to hit the ground he woke up with a jump and another scream.

Thad was lying on the ground in the orchard trembling, quite shaken by the dream and yet feeling the same weak feeling he felt when Anne HAD been feeding off his blood. Suddenly he was aware that someone else was there. He looked up and it was the princess.

"Who has done this to you?" the princess asked.
"A woman named Anne. She must have come to me in my dream." he replied.
"Is she very cruel?" the princess asked next.
"She can be, but she doesn't have to be." he answered.

The princess looked on Thad with pity and refrained from criticizing him just this once.
"You're so pale" said the princess, "do try to keep warm."

Thad looked upon her in a new way. She might be critical but she wasn't cruel after all. He decided from that point not to avoid her anymore.

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© 2003 - Jonathan Gardner