Fiction

The Storm Girl

Something is brewing

Photo by Sergei Solo on Unsplash

The sun was warm in the little forest glen where I’d been living for the last year or so.

I had gone for a hike early that morning, and now I was sitting with my feet in the small brook. The water was cool and it felt good. My hiking boots were starting to wear out and had I been anywhere near civilization I would consider going to the store.

But I’d spent pretty much the entirety of the last year outdoors and now the thought of going anywhere near a city filled me with dread.

My companion almost always walked barefoot. I often wondered how she did it. But then, she was an ancient forest goddess and didn’t have to deal with human ailments.

As if on cue, Tara emerged from the woods, a fawn was following her. It was always a sight when she arrived. The forest was brighter when she showed up, the birds were louder and more intense whenever she came around.

“Hello there,” I said.

“Hi,” she replied and patted the fawn on its head before it ran off.

“Who’s your friend?”

“Oh him? He was separated from his mother. I told him she was down by the river.“

“I’m never going to get used to you talking to animals.”

“I don’t talk to them. It’s more like I just know what they’re thinking.”

“Can you do that with me?”

“I can usually tell what you’re thinking about,” she said smiling.

I blushed, “I guess I asked for that.”

She bent down and kissed me on the head before sitting down next to me.

“Where were you this morning? You were gone when I got up?”

“Oh I wanted to have a look around. I hadn’t seen some parts of the forest for a while and I like to check in.”

“Is everything okay?”

“For the most part, there are some campers I want to keep an eye on. They weren’t that cautious with their fire.”

“Are you going to send Smokey the Bear after them?”

She cocked her head, “I know a lot of bears but none named Smokey.”

“It was a joke.”

“Oh.”

“Could you send a bear after them?”

“I could ask one. But I don’t like doing that. I don’t like sending animals in harm’s way.”

“Makes sense.”

“If they misbehave I’ll take care of them.”

“You mean like kill them?” I gulped.

“Oh no silly. I meant like force them out with a rainstorm.”

“Oh good.”

“I don’t kill people.”

“That’s good to know.”

“Unless I have to.”

I just stared for a minute but she could no longer keep a straight face and burst out laughing.

“You should see your face. You’re totally white.”

“Well you scared me.”

“Good. Remember that.”

I happened to catch my reflection in the water.

“I need a haircut,” I said, running my fingers through the overgrown locks.

“Oh can I try? I’ve always wanted to cut hair. I’ve seen beauty salons in town and it looks like fun.”

“Can’t you just change it. Like you do to your own?”

Almost every day Tara looked different. Somedays her hair was red, others brown. Right now she was sporting a dark brunette tone, almost black. And she would change the style regularly. It helped people from noticing the same woman was always out in the woods.

“Well for one, my powers aren’t just party tricks, and two I think it will be fun. I have scissors somewhere.”

She went to the hut and returned carrying a pair of scissors.

“Where’d you get those?”

“Oh you find all kinds of stuff in the forest. People are so forgetful.”

A few minutes later there was a pile of hair on the grass.

“What do you think?” she asked.

“I like it,” looking down at the water. Also even if I didn’t I wouldn’t say anything. Her joke about getting rid of people was still fresh in my memory.

Before she could say anything a flock of birds came swarming over the trees.

She looked distraught, “What’s wrong? I asked.

“Something’s up. Let’s go.”

We headed in the direction the birds from which the birds came.

Sure enough within a few minutes we could hear equipment running and chainsaws starting up.

“This is terrible,” she said as trees started to fall.

“Where did they come from? They aren’t usually this deep in the forest.”

“They aren’t supposed to be here. I know where all the established sites are. There’s a DNR man that keeps me aware of them and double checks which places are okay.”

“You let them log?”

“It was too hard to stop them. It works better if I at least have a hand in it. And it drew more people when the crews started disappearing. But this is bad. They’re clear cutting. It’s an illegal setup. ”

“I thought you didn’t kill people?”

“I don’t…most of the time.”

“So we go to tell someone?” I asked.

“No,” she said standing, “You should go back to the glen. I will see you there in a little bit.”

Her eyes were glowing white and the skies darkened. The wind picked up and I could hear wolves howling in the distance. The trees swayed as the rain started to fall.

And it was then that I learned that the last thing you wanted to do was make an ancient forest god angry.