Dark cloud. A short story.

Once upon a time there was a girl who lived in a beautiful forest. She spent her days dancing and singing with her animal friends. The forest was bright and beautiful and the girl would happily go about her day humming and smiling. 

One day a dark cloud came over the forest and all her animal friends ran away in fear. The girl was all alone. Suddenly her beautiful forest wasn't so warm and bright. The girl stumbled through the darkness whispering in the hopes of being found. She walked blindly for what felt like days in search of her home that she swore only days earlier she could have found with her eyes closed. She grew so tired and sad that when she felt moss beneath her feet she sunk to the ground and silently cried. Soon she fell asleep,sleeping soundly. It felt as if sleeping was all she could do right in that moment. So she slept until she was not tired and then she slept until her body ached. The next time she opened her eyes she noticed the moss was growing on her. She was becoming part of the dark forest floor. She dragged her sore body to a moonlit tree and cried desperately to the wind. She was lost. She was alone. And now that she was awake the hunger soon became so strong the girl gripped her stomach in pain. She grasped at her normality- she thought of what her life use to be,bitterly. The harder she held on the more her hands ached and when she opened them it was nothing but sand that slipped through her fingers and blew away. She felt a deep bubble of despair well up inside her that she needed to let out. The girl raised her tear streaked face and let out a note -- a long haunting note that turned into another and another until she was singing again. She was still alone and still scared, but slowly it felt as if her forest was listening to her. The trees swayed and the deafening silence that was, was no more. Crickets chirped and the birds sang and the girl laughed with the thrill of it all. The shadows she feared so deeply, she realized housed all her animal friends. Their heads peaking out, they joined in her song of mourning, and slowly the cloud lifted and floated away. The forest was beautiful again. She had her friends and she was filled with love and light. The girl knew the cloud could come back at any time but she felt safer knowing her friends were in the shadows with her. That she had something,her voice, that made her strong.

The end.

By Mackenzie Alexander,2014.