Ghost Circles
The ground was much softer than Clara had anticipated and she quickly retreated, lest she lose the only thing she had going for herself: her good boots. She sighed, looking around for another way to the other side of the sinkhole. Her fingers were caked in mud, and she knew her curly hair was a hot mess now.
But she didn’t care. She had been following the humming, blue lights for about ten minutes now, with no apparent end in sight. She knew that what she was doing was stupid, and could probably get her killed, but it was the only lead she had right now to finding her mom. She reached up towards her neck, clutched the small circle charm of his necklace and closed her eyes, once again remembering the last time she saw her mom.
She was just a baby, and she had leaned in close, her mother’s matching dark curly hair tickling her nose.
“My little Doe,” she cooed, gently cupping her face. She always had different animal names for Clara. When she splashed in the tub, she could call her my little Frog, when she dug in the sandbox, her little Gopher. But she always came back to Doe. She kissed her forehead, and quickly pulled her necklace over her head, placing it around Clara’s neck. “Someday you will rule the stars for me.” She gave her one last kiss, and began to glow, then disappeared in a flash of blue light.
Her father had done a decent job of trying to raise her without her mom, but depression drove him to alcohol, and then drugs, and then when Clara turned 18, she lost him as well. She had spent the last 4 years of her life trying to piece everything together, from her strange necklace, to her mother’s disappearance into the bright blue light.
A light just like the one that Clara has seen on the side of the road as she was driving home from work. She had almost crashed swerving off the road, parking haphazardly on the shoulder as cars flew past, a few honking their displeasure.
She blinked a few times, at first simply believing that she had imagined the light. But it still hovered there, just inside the treeline. It was nearing nightfall, and she clutched his jacket tighter around herself. I’m crazy, she thought as she walked slowly towards the forest. She paused right before the light, its blue glow illuminating the trees around it, but almost darkening the rest of the forest. A fog that Clara hadn’t noticed before seemed to appear from nowhere, and as Clara reached out, she felt as if the trees were holding their breath.
Her fingertips brushed the light, and her hair stood on end. Suddenly, the light disappeared, reappearing a good ten feet away, deeper into the trees, bobbing up and down. Clara recoiled her hand, and stared at the next light. She could hear her father’s voice in her head, as they sat on the front porch during summer nights, watching the fireflies, before the grips of disease had fully gotten their hands around him.
“Will o’ wisps are tricky creatures, Clara. One moment you’re somewhere familiar, innocently following a light; the next you’re captured by the fae,” he stared off into the distance, into the dark, and Clara followed his gaze to the edge of the yard, where a blue light seemed to hang for a moment before disappearing.
“Will o’ wisp,” Clara repeated just above a whisper, and the ball of light seemed to bounce in agreement. Clara paused for a moment before stepping between the trees. The world seemed to quiet instantly. The high traffic of the road seemed to be miles away now, and her footsteps seemed to be muffled by moss and leaves.
Instead of the normal sounds of the forest, Clara could hear faint whispering, and as she neared the next light, she realized that it was the wisp that was whispering, almost beckoning. As she touched the next one, it disappeared again, reappearing a distance away.
Clara looked back and could still see her car and the road through the trees. She took a deep breath, steadied herself, and gave chase through the trees, following the wisps.
That’s how she found himself almost falling into a sinkhole. She wanted to say it’s been ten minutes, that she could just turn around and the car would be right there, but she knew the truth.
It was too dark and her sweatshirt was soaked through from walking in the thick fog. Her teeth chattered, and she cursed herself for not grabbing her thicker jacket that always sat in her passenger seat. The light floated tantalizingly close, but as Clara had just figured out, a sinkhole stood in her way.
“I’m so stupid,” Clara muttered to herself as she remembered she had a flashlight in her pocket and finally pulled out her phone, turning on the flashlight. The woods seemed to close in on her, but she picked her way carefully around the pit, making sure to keep the blue light in sight. Her hair hung in damp, dark rings around her face.
As she approached the light, a sudden noise caught her attention. The noise was familiar but also completely foreign at the same time. She shone the light of her phone around, hearing the noise once again. It was like the sound of a bed sheet flapping on a clothesline, snapping in the breeze, but quicker and higher pitched. The sound seemed to surround her, and as she closed the distance between herself and the will o’ wisp and reached out, she felt the air warp around his hand.
The light disappeared, and Clara looked around for it to reappear again. But it was dark.
She was suddenly aware of where she was, of how far from the road she had travelled, how dark it was, and how completely isolated she felt. In a panic, she tried to rush forward, tripping on unseen tree roots. As she fell, Clara felt what seemed like invisible spider webs catching her skin, wrapping around her body. She closed her eyes, feeling herself falling onto her side, trying to cover her face and prevent any injuries.
Clara felt as though she fell longer than she should have before hitting the ground hard. She laid there for a moment more, but nothing else happened. Instead she realized that she could hear...birds? She moved her hands from her face and opened her eyes, slowly trying to take in the scene before her.
Instead of the dark, misty forest she had just been in, Clara now found herself in a grove of trees, golden rays of light shining through the canopy. Maybe I passed out? She thought, reasoning that she must have woken up the next day. She felt around for her phone but couldn’t find it.
“Shit,” she murmured, mentally tallying in her head the money it would take to replace it. She sighed, lifting her head to take in more of her surroundings. Wildflowers spotted the clearing, and as Clara sat up further, she could hear the sound of running water not far in the distance.
She hadn’t heard water last night, or if she did, she couldn’t remember. The sound of a twig snapping brought Clara’s attention forward again, and on instinct she pushed herself up to a standing position. As she turned to run, she was stopped immediately as she was met with the point of an arrow aimed directly at her face.
