Midnight

"If I have to look at your ugly face one more second I'll throw up!" Maggie screamed at Samuel, her live-in lover of the last five years.

"Really?" Samuel mocked, his dark eyebrow rising in a perfect arch over his pale green eyes. "That would be interesting to see. The former prom queen barfing. Oh wait..." He smiled the cold smile so familiar now. "Didn't that happen already? On prom night, right?"

"You're a pig! I hate you!" Maggie tossed her wavy blonde hair about madly and glared with her deep blue eyes, her full pink lips thinning in her rage.

"Yet, you need me. Don't you? Say it. Say you need me." Samuel leaned close then, his lips forming a snarl and his hand closing painfully about her upper arm. "Say it, you little whore." He growled.

"I used to think I did, Samuel, back when I was horny and naive, but now I know better. Get out." Her voice was level now, no anger or bitterness tainted the melodic strain of her beautiful lilt.

"Fine. I'll be back, though, you always beg me to come back." He released her, shoving her as he did so, and strode from the house, slamming the door so hard the walls shook.

Maggie shivered for a moment, fear washing over her in waves. She did always beg him to come back, always welcomed him with open arms and sex. Now, as the rain began to fall, Maggie allowed herself to cry.



The moon stood high in the sky as Samuel stood in the forest, his eyes taking in the looming trees and full shadows. His grin was cold and empty, yet he was unaware he possessed it.

A shadow moved, it's fullness taking on shape and form. "Yessss." It hissed, snake-like, as it stood before Samuel in the darkness.

"I have lost my powers over her. I need to be refreshed." Samuel replied.

"I cannot condone refreshment, Ssssamuel." It said as it danced and weaved. "I cannot."

"You have done so before, given me the ultimate filling and allowed me to return to her." Samuel said angrily. "Why now do you hinder my progress? The time is near."

"Issss it?" The creature hissed. "I cannot recall, it hassss been sssso long. I have not felt the ssssun upon my body in ssssuch a long time."

"Is that my fault? I am trying to destroy your enemies. I deserve refreshment. You owe me." Samuel growled.

"I? I owe you? You are pathetic. I am the god of thissss foresssst. I am the god of all thingssss here and forgotten. Who are you? A human. A human curssssed and dying." The creature rose taller. "I cannot wait for my enemiessss to be desssstroyed, Ssssamuel, I cannot."

"What do you wish?" Samuel questioned, bravery leaving him as the shadow grew and shifted.

"Blood." It said as it fell upon him. He didn't have a chance to scream.




"I threw him out." Maggie insisted for the fifth time.

"I understand Miss Rynder, but he is missing. His family is concerned." The tall officer said impatiently.

"I didn't even realize he had any family here." Maggie sighed and watched as the two officers exchanged glances. He doesn't have family here. She thought to herself. "Anyway, it doesn't matter. I don't know where he is. I threw him out."



The sun was high in the brilliant sky as Maggie strolled through the park watching the families at play. She had always wanted a family, two boys and a little girl, a poodle and a white picket fence. Yes, she had always held onto the dreams of a wonderful life, full of acceptance and love. Sighing, she veered off the path and headed toward the woods.

Deep in the forest, the sun filtered through the deep green leaves casting wonderful patterns upon the ground and her skin. She inhaled the fresh scent of soil and greenery, enjoying the smells of spring.

She felt the person before she saw her, turning the bend and seeing her standing stoically, clothed in white. Maggie felt no fear though the woman's skin was the color of the tree bark and her hair was a mix of greens, her eyes were the black of the soil and her lips were the soft pink of the wild flowers.

"Hello." Maggie said, her heart pounding with excitement. "Are you an elf?" She asked, though she could not believe those words escaped her mouth so normally.

"No." Came a voice that sounded like the rustling of leaves. "I am much more than an elf, child. I am the forest, alive and flourishing, but I am in danger, and I need your help."

"Mine? In danger from what? Deforestation?" Maggie wore a puzzled frown and wondered if she had fallen asleep why she couldn't dream of happy families and wonderful daily occurences.

"An evil, an old evil, lurks in the shadows. Lurks and drains the forest of its life. I cannot allow you to leave here until you help me, I cannot allow you to leave until it is destroyed."

Maggie panicked, her eyes grew wide and her nostrils flared. "What? What are you talking about?" She asked as she prepared to run.

"Sleep." The forest woman said and Maggie felt unrealistically very tired. "Sleep. The time will come. The time always comes...always." And Maggie fell to the ground and slept.



She woke in darkness. Thick and smothering darkness. Her first thoughts were of the forest woman and the evil she spoke of...the evil that had filled Maggie's dreams.

Maggie stood and saw the deadness of the trees around her, the trees that had been very much alive in the daytime hours. They were gray and black, empty and sad looking. She swallowed the fear that welled up inside her.

The shadows around her began to shift and move, taking shape and loosing shape, dancing and weaving, until she felt sick. Then the woman was there, beautiful and full of life, standing beside her in the dark.

"They come." She said, her voice sounding like crickets chirping in the darkness. "We fight."

Maggie lifted her hand before her face and saw the dark color of her skin. She pulled her hair forward and saw the burgandy color of her hair. For the redwood, she knew. She was a redwood.

The shadows moved closer, taking shape finally, growing denser.

"You have a companion thissss night, queen. Are you here to make peacccce?" The tallest shadow asked.

"I have come to destroy you." Maggie said, unaware that she was speaking. "I have come at last."

"Yessss. We have been expecting your arrival, fair daughter of the foresssst." The shadow said as it moved closer. "It issss time for ssssunlight to touch me again."

"It is time for you to leave this forest and return to the place you came from." Maggie said.

"Maggie...." Came a deeply familiar voice that touched the Maggie inside, the observant, silent and confused Maggie.

"Samuel?" Maggie asked, her brow furrowed.

"Maggie...." Came the call again, though no shadow moved forward to claim it. "Maggie...."

"I shall not give in!" Maggie folded inside herself, forcing the passion and longing down and rising upon a tide of anger. "I shall destroy you all!"

"Maggie...."

The redwood and the evergreen stood side by side, drawing in the remaining life of the forest and battling the death that lingered. As the moon stood high in the sky, as the trees breathed thinly and prayed for salvation to Mother Earth, the forest queen and her daughter fought to regain their land.

As midnight came, the battle ended, the shadows fell. Light erupted from the ground and the trees, from the leaves and the grasses, from the flowers and the ivy's. The shadows fell upon the dead leaves beneath them and the light from the ground destroyed them. Mother Earth had arrived. The forest had been saved.

In a fleeting moment, Maggie, the redwood, saw Samuel, saw his pale green eyes and gloating smile. For a fleeting moment she longed for his touch, longed to call him back to her, longed to spare him, but the redwood is strong and Maggie let him go.




The sun filtered through the leaves as Maggie sat up and rubbed her eyes. The trees about her stood guard as she stretched and looked about. The Forest Queen appeared before her.

"Thank you. I will call on you again if the need arises." Her voice was like the birds singing in perfect harmony.

"If the time should come, call on me." Maggie said.

"The time always comes...always." She replied as she faded and Maggie stood and left the forest behind. As she walked through the park, she thought of families, two boys and a girl, a poodle and a white picket fence.