The One the Forest Called
Prologue
I could not feel my body.
Then, all at once, I felt everything.
Pain.
It crashed through me with a force so fierce it stole the air from my lungs. My ribs screamed with every shallow breath, my right foot burned with a sharp, unbearable agony, and my chest tightened until I wondered if my heart had simply decided to stop.
The world had become twisted metal, shattered glass and suffocating darkness.
Rain drummed against the broken windscreen. Somewhere nearby, something hissed. The smell of petrol and smoke filled the air, making every breath harder than the last.
This cannot be happening.
I tried to move.
Nothing.
The seatbelt cut painfully across my chest, holding me captive as the weight of the car pressed in around me. My vision blurred. Every heartbeat felt weaker than the one before it.
No...
Not like this.
Mum.
Luke.
Nanna.
Their faces drifted through my mind, slipping further away as darkness reached for me.
I fought it.
I fought with everything I had left.
Then...
I realised I was no longer alone.
Someone was there.
With the last of my strength, I forced my eyes open.
A man knelt beside the wreckage.
His face was little more than a blur through the rain and fading light, but his eyes...
They were unlike anything I had ever seen.
A vivid, impossible green.
Wild.
Beautiful.
For a single heartbeat, they held mine with such overwhelming relief, sorrow and tenderness that it stole what little breath I had left.
As though he had finally found something he thought was lost forever.
His hand reached towards my face with extraordinary gentleness.
His lips parted.
“Mo chroí...”(My heart.)
The words meant nothing to me.
But the emotion behind them did.
Somewhere beyond him, deep within the forest, something answered.
Then the darkness claimed me.
~~~
My first fantasy book! I hope I complete this book.
Please feel free to give me your feedback :)
Please excuse any spelling errors or grammar mistakes in this chapter.
Thank you,
-Ava
