Wood Sprite - a flash fiction entry to The Faerytaleish Pinterest Contest

I entered another flash fiction contest. This one is by Anna Meade from Yearning for Wonderland. Anna has some "fairytaleish" pins and the challenge for this contest is to write a short story inspired by one of the Faerytaleish pins (300 words or less) and post in on my blog.

Here is the picture I chose to write a story for, originally pinned by Heather Sutherlin.



 

Wood  Sprite

The cold seeped into my bones, making my teeth chatter. I pulled my coat tighter around me and continued to walk. My campsite was around here somewhere. I had just intended to take a short, refreshing walk through the woods, but I must have traveled further than I meant to as I was having difficulty finding my way back. I wasn’t worried though. I knew if I kept walking in this general direction, I’d find the campsite again.

A movement to my right caught my eye. Something on the tree had moved. I stepped closer to get a better look. At first, I thought the tiny wooden stick with leaves on it that twitched slightly as I neared was just one of those stick insects I’d seen on a nature program once.

But then a tiny little face turned towards me, with eyes that sparked with intelligence, and I realized that I was very wrong. It had a vaguely humanoid body and tiny leaf-like wings. I somehow knew it was female. Her eyes were almond-shaped. I could hear a faint hum coming from her; it had a musical quality to it, a haunting but unfamiliar melody that felt as though it was moving through me.

When her face turned towards me, I looked into her eyes and I couldn’t look away.  Thoughts and images poured into my brain as if being projected there; the life and vibrancy of the forest around me filled me with warmth and knowledge. I was filled with purpose and knew that this forest and all of the life in it had to be protected.

She flew away, but her message stayed with me. I knew that my brief encounter with this magical creature had forever altered and expanded my view of the world.

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