She walks, step by step
Down a beautiful path through
A beautiful wood.
Sunshine plays upon her golden hair
Through the leaves high above her.
She skips along on the stepping stones
that make the path
While birds sing
And the wind blows flowery fragrances
Through her hair.
Rabbit families hop the path alongside her
And chipmunks and squirrels race about.
Her laughter chimes as bright as the green surrounding her
In the leaves, the grass and the smell of the air.
But suddenly, without any sort of warning
Things change.
The birds are silent, the rabbits are gone,
The squirrels and chipmunks have scurried away.
The leaves change, quickly,
Green – red – yellow – brown
Black. Dead.
It’s as though fall has come
But too fast, too cold, with death on her breath and winter at her heels.
The trees are bare and dying too.
Decaying, foul smelling.
She hears a snarling, wild dogs about her ankles
Snapping quick jaws with razorblade teeth.
These beasts continue to circle as she continues to walk
Along the now dirt path,
which is slowly being choked by brown grasses and weeds.
A howl pierces the dark-night air
And the monsters retreat
Snarling and hissing until they are lost to the darkness
A snake slithers itself across the path
As she continues down the trail.
Someone steps onto the beaten track from behind a rotting pine
Just a yard from where she stops.
A boy, dark hair, dark eyes, dressed in grey.
He smiles at her, like a predator to prey
Flashing pointed razor teeth in her directions
She stumbles back – falls
As she sees not a boy but a
Wolf.