Roses and Lollipops~Goal: To bring feelings and tension to a short scene through senses and description.

Roses and Lollipops

3.3.21 . Adventurer7

Lorna jogged along the fern-filled forest trail her sketchers crunching on the soft gravel path. She paused breathless to drink from her cold canteen. Tiny droplets of condensation tickled her fingers as they clung to the metal container. Lorna leaned against a tall shade tree, and sighed in the cool light wind that crawled through the thick green canopy above. Then she heard it

Nothing.

Not a bird or a creature, not another human’s voice. Nothing. She perked up and followed her brown eyes down the twisted trail. Her spine kicked her gut screaming to go no further.

Why?

“What is wrong with me?” She had jogged this path a million times. The trail led through a lush clump of towering rose bushes braided with wild mustang grapes. When the vines budded, the smell of grape lollipops rent the air calling to her most childlike senses to devour a plump purple candy. She fingered her grape lollipop in her pocket. She had been ready this time. What was so ill about this part of the park today?

No!

She looked back where she’d come from. She could barely make out her vehicle parked in the garden’s parking lot. There were other cars there. Over on a nearby playground children played and adults talked. Why she couldn’t hear them shocked her. She usually could. She gazed back down toward the rose bushes. This time the trail seemed to call her towards this hidden part of the garden. She brushed off the now quieter voice of caution by telling herself to not be silly. She had successfully muted her intuition. Jogging into the greenery that enclosed around the path, she smelled the delicious candy scented buds, and fingered the pungent red roses that swarmed with melancholy aroma.

She heard it.

Go back cried a voice deep inside her. She nearly fell from stopping so abruptly. No wind brushed her sweaty face, the smell of candy and roses were gone. The crunch of gravel below her feet had disappeared. She turned to leave. But her eyes began to blur. Stumbling, she fell to the ground, and crawled from the twisted trail’s embrace. She could see the playground again, she could hear the people now. Birds sang above her in the tree tops as they rode the branches that filled with wind like a ship’s sails.

She looked behind her at the twisted hidden trail. A soft alluring voice called her back. Sweat poured from her face. She jumped up, and ran for her car. As she jumped inside, she saw a woman jogging aimlessly down the path toward the mysterious anomaly. She saw the woman stop, look around then slowly walk closer to the hidden trail. The woman pulled a purple lollipop from her pocket, and fingering it, she seemed to be trying to decide something. But she shrugged her shoulders and continued jogging.

“No!” Lorna yelled. She left her car the engine still running, and raced after the woman who had disappeared into the scented trail of roses and lollipops.