Something Wicked… Wednesday Muse #20

Each Wednesday I post a snippet written in response to a photo. If you’d like to be included in the Wednesday Muse series, please let me know! I’d be happy to add you to the list at the end. 

The first time I saw it, sitting up there, buried in the trees and rocks, it hardly earned a passing glance. But I couldn’t stop myself from coming back. Every day. I’d walk outside, restless. Searching for something, but not understanding what.

I’m a bit thick sometimes.

Third time’s the charm, though. And that time I followed the tiny, worn footpath up the back of the cliff. It was hard to see. Almost non-existent. But once I found the beginning, my feet seemed to know where to go. The rocks were covered in moss, and meadow grass swayed in the breeze. But from the corners of my eyes, things looked different.

The stones of the structure seemed less worn. Whole. But each time I turned my head, they changed back. At last I stood inside the archway, sucking in mouthfuls of cool air, letting the breeze smooth its cool fingers over my sweat-damp nape. 

My heart began to beat faster, and I wondered what had possessed me to come up here. But when I turned to look, the path was gone. As if it had never been.

“I knew you’d come back. You always do, no matter how many times I tell you to stay away.”

The voice behind me sent tremors down my spine. It haunted my dreams, and sometimes my waking hours. I turned, slowly, to see if I would drown in sea-green eyes, or be saved.