The bright sunlight slanted through the branches overhead. It was an hour past midday, and the spring air had risen from a cool wind to a comfortable breeze. It blew past the exposed skin of the girl's midsection as she chattered her teeth on purpose, as if to spite the cold edge still lingering as she wrapped her arms around her stomach to protect the goose-bumped skin. She meandered down the vague forest road, its edges blurred with the concealing growth of trees, grass, and bushes. It'd been years since she last set foot on this trail, years since she'd really thought about what the road meant to her, or where it had led her so long ago. Her thoughts wandered as her feet found the surest path towards where her heart had been tugging her for months.
It was so bumpy last time, I was afraid we'd crash. Or in the very least I'd get thrown from the open window of the car. But that's when I saw the statue. I don't know why I remember it so well. I guess because it seemed like such a strange thing to be out on a road like that. Its twin was at the entrance, wasn't it. Now that I think about it, it seems like those two statues were the markers for the gateway. Like they were the boundaries for b that /b world or something. Like in the old stories: "Beyond this point ye shall enter a world beyond your imagination" or some such warning that nobody ever listened to.
At this point in her wonderings, it seemed the road had grown tired of her leisurely pace down its familiar track. The woman's foot landed on a lose cobble, which slid from underneath her. She screamed in surprise as her body plunged forward, the downhill direction of the road pulling her into a fast run as she flailed her arms for balance. Her footsteps thudded in the quite woods as she held back another scream when she saw a flash of red through the trees around the bend.
The speed of her decent made her body pliable, and as her legs connected with the solid portion of the statue, the torso of her bent with the statue's curves. She rested herself in that position a moment, letting the statue support her as she held her face away from the stone with her arms. Her breathing was ragged, but more from the running than from fear. Slowly she pried her body off the statue, still using it for support when she found her legs quivering from the sudden exertion. The moss under her fingertips felt cool and moist, the green blending with the gray of the statue's stonework.
Her eyes widened as she looked at the top of the statues head. She'd never been able to see it from this angle, but something about the thing left little doubt in her mind as to her surroundings. Slowly she raised her head, her eyes picking the little details that had been burned into her memory for so long.
The wind howled softly, blowing into the black hole of the tunnel opened before her. The wind rustled in the trees around her, the only sounds to be heard. The girl stood beside the small statue in front of the building. The red paint peeling off the walls gave the plaster bricks an aged appearance, deceiving the casual onlooker. She smiled, head bowed, eyes closed as she listened, and waited. It had been many years since she'd seen this entrance. Even the last time she'd been there, the walls had lost all their red color and greenery had grown up and covered their gray, and the gray of the cobbled path she stood on. But she never forgot the first time she'd seen the tunnel. Or the place that lay beyond it.
The wind pulled gently at her body, pushing at her back, enticing her to take a step forward. The wide sleeves of her green kimono top waved gently; the slightly baggy legs of her black cargos rustled; the tip of the long braid hanging down her back, secured with a sparkling purple tie, whispered against the bit of skin exposed by her shirt. She could almost hear the voices of the world beyond the tunnel calling her old name, perhaps welcoming back a long-lost friend.
She laid her hand gently on the statue's head, feeling the smooth, moist moss beneath her fingertips. A small grin parted her lips as she took a step forward. She was engulfed by the dimness as she walked forward slowly, leisurely, a quiet excitement beginning to boil inside her as she left this world behind in favor of one she had long loved and missed.