A Few Lines

Wordcount=1040



Words from List one used:



Animus

Ephemeral

Lilt

Radiant

Torrid



A Few Lines



In a corner of the library, in the fantasy section, she closed her eyes when Woodland pulled her close. Her heart did happy cartwheels. His coarse hands caressed her back under her tee shirt, sending shivers quaking through her body. He was so cute with his pointy ears, and he had finally noticed her – more than noticed. After all the times, she had secretly waited for him, searching for him, he had finally come, and he was so tall and handsome.

She gazed up at him. He looked almost human. Only his ears and twiggy hair gave him away, but he was much better looking than any of the human boys in her classes, and he smelled better too. All around him, a fresh pine scent filled the air.

He grinned down at her and pulled her close. She gulped. Her breathing hyperventilated as he slipped his tongue past her lips in her first torrid kiss ever. His tongue tasted like wild mint, fresh and inviting. She kissed him back with all the passion her inexperience could summon. A sound like the wind blowing in a branch tickled her mind with excitation, and stars flew across the inky blackness of her closed lids. She opened her eyes, and he kissed her on her nose. Her knees buckled, but he caught her in his strong arms before she fell.

“Are you all right?” He looked down at her with his pools of umber and ran his fingers through her hair.

She swallowed, and her words stumbled at first and then flowed with a lilt like the melody in her heart. “All right? I’m wonderful. This is the best day of my life. I’ve been searching for you for so long, and I’m so happy that you love me.”

A radiant sensation of happiness coursed through her body, making her lose control. Her whiskers sprouted before she could stop them, and she watched, horrified, as she shrunk half her size. Her tail pushed its way out and twitched back and forth. Not now. She gulped and reached up for him with her furry paw, but he stepped back and laughed.

“Love you?” He huffed. “Is that what you think this is? You really don’t know anything do you?”

The expression on his face transformed into a hideous sneer, and his scent changed to a fetid smell, like decaying leaves. He shook his head and peered past her. “Hey, Sable, you owe me twenty big ones.” He raised his hand and rubbed his fingers together.

She gasped and twirled around. Blinking, she tried to keep the wet blackness from drowning her. What? Was this a joke?

Sable and another sylvan boy strutted over to Woodland and gave him a high-five. They did not smell any better than Woodland. The brown hairs on Sable’s arms stuck out like thorns on a bush, and his friend’s teeth looked green as moss.

“Guess you win.” Sable slapped a twenty-leaf fern into Woodland’s elven palm.

Her hands flew to her mouth, and she hiccupped. This wasn’t happening.

Woodland grinned at his friend. “Did you doubt me?” He turned to her and sneered. “Did you really think I could love you? A library rat? What do you think this is? A happy-ever-after fairytale?”

She shook her head. No. This could not be happening. How could her beautiful woodland elf do this to her? She had searched all over for just the right spell to bring him to life. He was her elf. He had no right. It was her kiss, her first kiss, and it was supposed to be perfect.

She wrinkled her brow and clenched her jaw. Her whiskers twitched, and she glared at Woodland. He stepped back, but the gleam in his eyes remained. The wind swirled around them, yanking books from the shelves like an angry westerly seeking revenge, and bringing an icy chill to the room.

Woodland and his friends huddled together, but he held his head high, defiant. She grabbed her book from the shelf where she had so carefully laid it, and she held it before her.

The turbine of wind twirled papers and books, and the youthful forms of the sylvan boys converged into three funnel shapes. She opened her book, and they spiraled down onto the blank page. They stood there, taunting her. All three had wicked grins on their faces as if their farce had been the best joke ever written. She slammed the book closed and held it to her breast. With her eyes closed, she relived Woodland’s kiss if only for a moment, but it wasn’t real, so she shoved the book onto the highest shelf. Cheated, she sank to the floor, and the wind died.

The sound of their laughter echoed inside her skull as she knelt and picked up her books. It reverberated like the wind in a wooded canyon, wild and uncontrollable, but their taunting voices faded as she meandered through the maze of bookshelves, up one aisle and down another, to a hidden table in the far corner. Her tail shortened and her whiskers withdrew with each step she took until she had finally regained her human form.

During this time, her shock and anger at how Woodland treated her softened. After all, he was just an elf conjured up from a page in a book, so it really wasn’t his fault at all. In fact, if she was honest, it was really her fault. She shouldn’t have lost control and let him know what she really was. How could he ever love her now that he knew? He wouldn’t. All she could ever hope for was to remember.

Tears wet her cheeks where only a few minutes ago her whiskers had sprouted. She wiped them away with the back of her hand. It wasn’t so bad. He had kissed her, and it had been wonderful.

He had loved her. He must have. His kiss felt so real. She pushed away her last animus thought and pulled out a notebook and a pen. With a shaky hand, she wrote a few lines of poetry. It was the only way to capture her ephemeral happiness before it disappeared forever.