Excerpt
She twirled in the room. Her white dress spun like a child’s flower whirls down a clear creek. The ethereal grace of her every move captivated me, for such delicacy could only parallel a soft light. She must be made of silvery moonlight crafted by God himself. Crossing the balcony, she looked as though the light of day would scare her off. It would be much too glaring and obtrusive for a delicate being as she.
I followed her carefully, mouth gaping in awe. No, I wasn’t drawn to her the way that one would imagine. It was a different breed of awestruck. I was drawn to her like a vibrant sunset, a lake that must be made of glass, or a bird of magnificent plumage. I only desired to speak with her. I wanted to speak to the mysterious girl whose voice sang as a wind chime in a gentle breeze. My arms slowly outstretched in wonder, and I let my light brown hair fall back over my shoulders. She walked throughout the house, as if she had every square foot memorized. We walked, two separate people, worlds apart. At last, she drew near to the front door, so I rushed ahead to open it for her, silently hoping that she might decide to stay. She continued along without making note of me. It hurt, but she was of a different plane, one far more divine than mine.
What would she want with a someone like me? I was taken away from my thoughts. She came back towards me and lifted up my chin. She looked into my teary eyes with sincere care and a kind smile. A tear rolled down my cheek, and she wiped it off. I looked into her eyes longingly. Her irises were unreal shade of lavender, a stunning light purple. She turned to continue her walk, and my arms eagerly followed. Watching her, I fancied that she must be floating for her movements were so effortless. I grabbed my own wrist to draw in my outstretched fingers. She descended to staircase with fluidity I had never seen. I tried to keep my words inside but they were beginning to spill over. I spoke with hesitation and breathlessness. “W-why do you always walk here? A-and then leave at dawn every night?” She turned around to face me, and slowly lifted her finger to point at the distant horizon. She stood in wait. I stood as equally frozen with bated breath. Then the first rays of dawn showered us in gold. The first light was brilliant, resplendent. I looked back over to her, and gasped. To my dismay, the gentle light dissolved her. I ran towards her vanishing figure. Tears streamed down my face, and I tried to grasp her dress to keep her with me. My fingers cut through her image, before she finally disappeared with her characteristic smile. I bit back my hot tears, and suddenly the chill of the night penetrated through my skin. I shook uncontrollably. Whether it was the sobbing or the chill, I do not know.
I followed her carefully, mouth gaping in awe. No, I wasn’t drawn to her the way that one would imagine. It was a different breed of awestruck. I was drawn to her like a vibrant sunset, a lake that must be made of glass, or a bird of magnificent plumage. I only desired to speak with her. I wanted to speak to the mysterious girl whose voice sang as a wind chime in a gentle breeze. My arms slowly outstretched in wonder, and I let my light brown hair fall back over my shoulders. She walked throughout the house, as if she had every square foot memorized. We walked, two separate people, worlds apart. At last, she drew near to the front door, so I rushed ahead to open it for her, silently hoping that she might decide to stay. She continued along without making note of me. It hurt, but she was of a different plane, one far more divine than mine.
What would she want with a someone like me? I was taken away from my thoughts. She came back towards me and lifted up my chin. She looked into my teary eyes with sincere care and a kind smile. A tear rolled down my cheek, and she wiped it off. I looked into her eyes longingly. Her irises were unreal shade of lavender, a stunning light purple. She turned to continue her walk, and my arms eagerly followed. Watching her, I fancied that she must be floating for her movements were so effortless. I grabbed my own wrist to draw in my outstretched fingers. She descended to staircase with fluidity I had never seen. I tried to keep my words inside but they were beginning to spill over. I spoke with hesitation and breathlessness. “W-why do you always walk here? A-and then leave at dawn every night?” She turned around to face me, and slowly lifted her finger to point at the distant horizon. She stood in wait. I stood as equally frozen with bated breath. Then the first rays of dawn showered us in gold. The first light was brilliant, resplendent. I looked back over to her, and gasped. To my dismay, the gentle light dissolved her. I ran towards her vanishing figure. Tears streamed down my face, and I tried to grasp her dress to keep her with me. My fingers cut through her image, before she finally disappeared with her characteristic smile. I bit back my hot tears, and suddenly the chill of the night penetrated through my skin. I shook uncontrollably. Whether it was the sobbing or the chill, I do not know.
Outline
Outline
- Elizabeth moves to an old house with a complicated history, it’s old and has obviously been through a lot. Aside from this, the house looks stunning, and is along a beautiful creek and dense forest. Despite its beauty, it seems to sell for a reasonable price or even cheaper.
- Elizabeth starts school. Her classmates are actually fairly nice, but she still struggles with her own issues. Though her peers are kind, she lacks the intimacy of a close friendship and can’t help but feel alone.
- Elizabeth stays up late doing homework, she has always been an overachiever, but is distressed at how it never pays off. When it nears midnight, she hears something musical like bells, but oddly human. She dismisses the noise, blames it on her lack of sleep, and goes to bed.
- The next day, she wakes up and goes through the average class. She takes the long way home, along the creek, and sees a white deer on the opposite bank as she nears the house. She is in awe, and attempts to take a picture. The picture comes out with no deer, but when she looks up, the deer has gone. She is bewildered and amazed, yet somewhat saddened by its departure.
- This becomes her favorite place to sit and write and she visits often.
- She heads home, and writes in her journal before going to bed.
- She wakes up to find her journal missing and panics. She confronts her father, and he tells her that he hasn’t seen it. She continues searching and is late for school.
- On the way home, she stops where she saw the deer, and kneels in agitation. She tears the grass out with her hands, but the place seems to calm her. She picks a flower from a wild rose bush, and walks home.
- She goes to bed and wakes up in the middle of the night to sweet singing. Oddly, she doesn’t feel frightened (even she remarks on this). She pursues the noise and finds a beautiful girl in all white outside the window. The girl seems to ignore her to begin with, but eventually glances at Elizabeth and disappears into the woods at the light of dawn.
- Elizabeth wakes up in her bed and wonders if it was all a dream. Even if it wasn’t, she was a bad sleepwalker when she was young, so her father could have taken her back to bed. He asks her about it during breakfast, and she begins questioning whether it was real.
- Since it’s Saturday, her father takes her to Downtown, where she asks about the house and the girl. She gets mixed answers. This house had been vacant for years, since the previous owners found a customer who wouldn’t ruin the old building with renovation. Elizabeth is a little disheartened, but still curious.
- Elizabeth returns home and decides to explore the surrounding forest. She finds all sorts of old objects, rocks, and flowers. She ties them up in her jacket like a bag, but carries the flowers in hand.
- She crawls over an old barbed wire fence and explores the area of an old shack. She is jumpy, as she doesn’t know whether she was trespassing. She looks over the old shed, and finds many deep gouges in the wood. She thinks it interesting.
- On her way out, she finds a sharp claw. Despite her knowledge and love of animals and plants, she can’t tell what it is. She crosses back over the fence. She is so focused on the fence that she fails to pay attention to the razor sharp claw. She grips it too tightly, and it slices her tender skin.
- She ignores the wound as it seems trivial. Eventually it gets worse and worse, as if it had become infected, but at an alarming rate. It begins to bleed more and more, so she wraps her scarf around it on the way home, and runs home.
- She begins to feel dizzy and her blood feels like hot water searing her insides. She notices that the blood is seeping through the cloth. She continues running in a frenzy and eventually collapses.
- She awakens in the bower with flowers and vines grown over her arm and along her major arteries. She tears them off in confusion, and sees a white raven in the tree above, but it quickly disappears.
- Her hand has almost completely healed, except a scar. The scarf seems to have singed where her poisoned blood had touched it.
- She eventually wanders home, and finds a search party on the lookout for her.
- She learns that she has been gone for two days.
- The next day, everyone treats her oddly at school and asks where she was.
- She goes home and decides to skip doing homework and goes straight to sleep. She wakes up in the middle of the night and walks through the house the get a drink of water. She sees the woman outside her window, and for the first time she doesn’t leave.
- Elizabeth throws open the window and beckons the woman to the window. She shakes her head, but eventually comes to the threshold. She has stunning purple eyes and is very reluctant to speak.
- Elizabeth feels a vague familiarity and all off a sudden her memories rush back to the claw. She realizes that the woman resembles the doe. The two hold hands, and Elizabeth cries happy tears. She doesn’t understand her own feelings yet. The last person who made her feel that way was her best friend, but she doesn’t yet make the connection.
- The two talk all night until the girl transforms into a doe at daybreak and prances into the forest.