One Year Older, But Not More Grown Up

Wow! A year ago I posted my first entry on this blog. One whole year! And what do I have to show for it? A frontier town with a split personality, a zombie alligator, and a ginger werewolf. Hmmmm.
Well, at least it is more than I had a year ago!

Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining. I wouldn't have them at all if it weren't for Miss Lucy and her blog of magic and delight. I am very glad she indulges me my strange bits of fiction.

And until Miss Lucy tells me to stop, I will keep adding to my list of weird accomplishments. I can't wait to see what another year brings!

Here now is part two of last week's post. What has curious little Savina gotten herself into?




Savina had been sneaking over to the forbidden family property for nearly a year; her curiosity far outweighed the guilt she felt for betraying Granddad’s warning. At first she stayed near the kudzu covered gates. She explored along the lofty rock wall, finding nothing more sinister than a few spiders. She eventually went further along the rutted dirt drive that curved down a steep hill that Savina had never known was there. No matter how far she went, though, the drive never ended. It kept curving down the hill with the forest rising on her right and the hillside growing on her left.


She didn’t mind. The forest was quiet and still. It scared her at first, but the silence soon became welcome as more members of the large Fontaine clan joined Savina’s family on their small farm. She began to enjoy being off alone and not having Cousin Edwin poking fun at her all the time. He’d never find her here, beyond the gate; he was afraid of the ghosts that were supposed to reside on this haunted land. Savina, being a bright girl, didn’t believe in ghosts. The hollow trees and deep brush were palaces to her, and this land was her kingdom.

It wasn’t long after she adopted this attitude that the lights began to appear. At first, Savina thought it was the sunlight playing tricks, but the lights moved like animals. They jumped and played and always skittered away when Savina tried to get close. Savina followed them, day after day, further down the dirt road. At the end of each day, as she left the increasingly playful lights behind, she would grow quiet. Savina dreaded the end of the summer break; she didn’t think she could bear to be in school all day, away from her lights and her land.

But the summer drew to a close and Savina had one more weekend before she would have to give up her greatest joy. Even the lights, which now danced around her feet as she walked, couldn’t cheer her. They emitted sweet trills to try and sooth her but it only made Savina more morose. They continued to flutter around her and she allowed them to pull her along, further down the drive than she had ever gone before. She didn’t notice the ground began to level out, or that the dirt road was replaced by smooth cobbles. It wasn’t until she almost fell down a flight of stone stairs that Savina realized she had come to the end of the drive.


Before her, hiding in the shadows of ancient trees, was an immense house. And it was staring at her.