SHORT STORY |FAMILIAR CLICHE

I snap the book shut, and pull the collar of my dress away from my throat. I don’t know if it was the contents of the book or the weather, but my flesh had become uncomfortably hot all the sudden. I cast my gaze up between the leaves of the scarlet oak shielding me from the sun. Suddenly a flash of living green moves amongst the ruby foliage. I blink. My mouth falls open upon realizing I was not looking at a bird, but at a snake that now seemed to be peering back at me.

I tilt my head in response. It appears to mimic me. Its human-like reaction makes me smirk and I drop my gaze back down to the book clutched in my hands. Maybe I’ve been out too long. Even under the tree the sunlight was quite intense. I can’t help but cast my face back up toward the tree though. There was something familiar about the creature. A cold sweat breaks out on my neck.

The snake is much closer now; spitting distance from my face.

“H-ha.” Air rushes out of my nostrils as I remain frozen in place. I’d never really been scared of reptiles, but this was new. Despite my anxiety I can’t help but note how beautiful the reptile is; with scales the color of green taffy. Size wise it wasn’t huge but it certainly wasn’t one of the garden varieties that my father often joked about running over with the lawnmower either.

I swallow hard and move my head back so it touches the trunk of the tree. The snake follows my movement. I’m worried it’s going to bite me. It’s pupils are thin, which tells me it might be venomous.

“Why ssssoo flustered. Iss there something dirty in that book?” I blink softly.”Yesss human I am talking to you.” My lips press together tightly as my nose crinkles. I am certain now I have fallen asleep reading either that or….. I jump a little as the snake falls from the tree and into my lap. I am shocked to find it is much longer than I had initially noticed.”Come now, let me sseee what you were reading.” I still can’t bring myself to speak as the creature winds its way around my arms like a pretzel, somehow able to puppet my hands to crack the book open to the correct page.

“D-don’t…” I stutter as it begins to read. It’s tongue flicking out with interest. Once it finishes the page it curls its head up to look at me. My eyes dart away. I feel a wave of embarrassment wash over me. The thought of a snake judging my taste in literature brought a sour taste to my mouth. I can feel the creature’s body tighten around my arms. I whip my head to meet it; before I flail my arms apart, tossing it to the ground. It seems insulted by this gesture as I move to stand up not paying it any mind as I run out from under the tree and down a hill through a field of clover.

“Wake up.Wake up.” I say these two words like a mantra as I begin stumbling through the woods between the hill and my home. If I could just get to my bed perhaps the dream would end before it turned into a nightmare. After a few nearly catastrophic trips I collapse against a pine. There was no way it could keep up with me, I was certain.

“That was rather rude don’t you think?” A scream rips from my lips as I spring away from the tree, as a young man steps out from behind. He gently dusts pine needles off the front of his white linen shirt; it is poorly buttoned. I can see the curve of well defined muscle under satiny peach skin. The short distraction renders me vulnerable as he closes the distance between us snatching the book from my fingers.”You didn’t answer my question.” The bottom of the book is brought down on my forehead playfully and I gasp; I finally remember now.

“You…” I feel dazed as I look up at him. He’s quite tall. His eyes are familiar green and his supple pink lips are pulled up into a mischievous sneer. “You’re…” Normally, I’d be confused, but the green of his eyes and his sudden appearance leave me riled rather than mystified. I shove the man. My small hands are nothing next to his broad chest. He’s at least six foot four and twice my weight.

“Get away from me…” My voice trembles a little. I am not frightened. The feeling creeping up my spine was a different emotion entirely. The snake had taken the form of the man in my book I’d been devouring. He looked exactly like what my mind’s eye had conjured. The only difference was the eye color. The man in the book had blue, but the eyes of the man before me were a bright taffy green.

“Oh come on. You’re always like this.” The man crosses his arms over his chest. The cords of muscle tightening as he taps his foot. He’d appeared to me before but it had been as a slender woman, then a fox and finally a handsome young man with lively red curls.

The woods between my house and the hill was home to a trickster.

I was usually able to avoid him simply by staying on a self marked path, but I had been out longer than intended today. He must have sniffed me out and wandered out of his wood. The memory of our last encounter colors my cheeks as I cast my gaze to my bare feet, adjusting my hand stitched sundress.

“Trying out a dress this time..?” His fingers brush my shoulder and I shutter. I am not sure what to say. I assume the worst, seeing a young man in a dress wasn’t exactly common after all ”I like the color.” My head springs up to look at him. In hindsight this was a mistake. His eyes had a way of engulfing me. I don’t know if it’s love or an unnatural infatuation. The first time we met he’d been a woman, beautiful and slender. I didn’t like women in that way, but I liked her. I still remember the warmth of her hand on my face.

“You think so?” I smile nervously. He nods and pulls his hand back flipping the book back open to that accursed page. I grit my teeth as he scans the pages. My fingers bunching up the fabric of my dress as I flex them. It was really hard not to think about what hid between those words. What they really meant to me. I felt like reading them helped deal with the complex emotions I’d rather be ignoring.

“Do you like this sort of thing?” The Trickster’s voice is low and gravelly. I don’t want to answer but his eyes coax the words out of me.

“W-which thing?” I try to remain coy, but we both know what he’s talking about. It was right there in the text.

“Perhaps I should read aloud.” He presses a hand to his chest, his mouth beginning to form the words on the page. I feel a spark dance along my spine in response.”Their bodies melted together like wax to an envelope. Sealed together with burning kisses; as he began to gently th-” My lips tremble softly as my entire body twitches.

“Ah stop.” I slap my hands over my ears. I can hear his laughter through my fingers as he tosses the book aside. I am tempted to scold him for it but he’s already hiking his large hands up under my sundress.”Trickster! S…” I squeak softly as he cranes his head down to kiss my forehead and then the tip of my nose. The bastard knew all my weaknesses by now.

“You can give up the act.” He mumbles now his form warping a little, shrinking himself down to a size that better complimented my stature. He still looks like the man from the book but at a much more reasonable size. I’m still not used to how he can just look however he wants or change any part of himself on a whim.

“W-what act…” At this point I know he knows, but I am too pigheaded to admit what he’s implying.

“You really don’t have to go through so much trouble just to get me to ff-“ I cover his mouth with my hands. Whatever he was about to say was bound to be dirty.

“D-don’t ruin it.” I mumble burying my face in his shoulder as my arms flop lazily over his shoulders. It takes a lot of willpower to not just kiss him and end the charade.

“Oh? So we’re still pretending?” I don’t respond.”I can improvise I suppose…” I can practically feel him roll his eyes as his hands travel further up my body to my waist. The dress is now exposing everything below my stomach. “So what is it this time..” I shutter a little as he whispers in my ear.”Are you a naive innocent this time?” I can tell he wants to add a joke but seems to think better of it as he collapses us down into a bed of dry pine needles.

Air flies out of my lungs as his weight falls over me. His thighs pinning my legs together. I become even more flustered at this and turn my head. I peek out from the corner of my eye as he studies me. I huff softly, bratty and impatient.

“What?” Does he even know how beautiful he is?

“Nothing. You’re just cute.” I scoff at the compliment as he leans down to kiss me.”Making up these games just so you don’t have to ask me to do this.” He was right of course. It was a game. A game I played because I was too embarrassed to just admit I liked this and him for that matter. What would the others in town think? Everyone knew about him. Knew that I lived right next to his wood. Surely there were already rumors spreading. Any day now someone was going to come by and question me about the wild creature in the woods.

I gasp softly as he releases my lips gently bopping my nose.

“You’re fading away on me.”

“Sorry….I…my head is kinda full”

“Well let me help empty it then.”

“Okay…”