*A MIDNIGHT STROLL*
After a few attempts at sleeping, Izzian realized it was useless to close his eyes. Each time Izzian forced them shut, he saw the maniacal herd of charging cattle, and the grotesque form of Reddle F. Girth.
Each time he'd almost drifted to sleep, the stinging bites of the angry Whoosper Trees forced him awake. He could feel their pinchers breaking off, still attached to his skin and he shuddered.
The dream had been so lifelike; he could still recall the foul breeze from Reddle's wings as they popped open, displaying the distorted faces of Lucas and Link screeching insults. It was enough to cause a raging case of insomnia, at least for the rest of that night.
Without further thought, Izzian made a decision and put his decision into action before changing his mind. Quickly, he got dressed, grabbed his ratty old backpack and headed out the door toward Eliza's house.
It was a dark night and Izzian was chastising himself for taking the shortcut through the woods. He wasn't as familiar with the forest paths as he'd have liked and hoped he was on the right trail. Every tree looked like a Whoosper, each shrub seemed to have wings and he could have sworn he heard the moos from a herd of cattle.
At one point, Izzian believed he saw a dark blob appear and then slink away at his approach. He knew an overactive imagination and the residue of a bad dream could wreak havoc on a young man's mind. He trudged on, scolding himself for the decision to wander the woods at midnight after such a terrifying dream.
His ears perked up at an unusual sound. The sound itself wasn't so unusual, but the location was. It sounded like the ice machine at Laddie's SnowCone Haven, just as it finished churning out the ice chips.
It was a sloshing, gurgling type sound and Izzian's arm hairs raised when he heard it the second time. He thought it terribly bizarre to hear a snow cone machine in the forest at midnight, and considered he might still be living a nightmare.
He wanted to pinch himself to see if he was awake, but the glistening pinchers of the Whoosper Trees came to mind. He fought the urge. It was not a good night for pinching.
Enot had made fun of him for being such a frightened alien, but Izzian was unfamiliar with earth. For all he knew, the woods might be filled with terrible creatures waiting for a nice, green-blooded meal to take a nighttime stroll.
Searching for enemies hidden within the black shadows, Izzian tripped and skinned his palm. While on the damp ground, he came face to face with the most beautiful flower he had ever seen. He thought of Eliza and plucked it roughly from the dirt. He inspected his scratched palm. The green blood showed that this nightmare was real, and that his biggest enemy was his own clumsiness.
He was wandering through the forest at night, hearing weird sounds and tripping over tree roots. Thankfully, the roots were not attached to a Whoosper Tree; they were only earth trees, a harmless species. He might go completely mad if a Whoosper Tree showed up on earth in the middle of the forest.
Izzian realized that if he continued behaving so foolishly, he'd never make it out of the forest. The trees were giving him the heebie-jeebies as much as the strange noises and he wanted nothing more than to escape, alive. Get past your fears or be stuck in the woods all night.
He took his own advice and kept walking. Thankfully, he soon landed at Eliza's backyard. Izzian wondered how the girl would react to him showing up in the middle of the night. At the very least, he'd receive a thump to the head, but if Eliza woke up truly angry, he might get punched in the face.
Izzian gathered his courage. He hoped for the thump, but prepared for the punch.
"Eliza!" Izzian screamed in a whisper as he pelted the girl's second story bedroom window with a small stone.
It was dark and his aim was bad, so Izzian didn't realize her window was already open.
Suddenly a light turned on, casting a long shadow across the lawn. An irritated, sleepy looking face peered out from the window. Unfortunately, before Izzian saw her, he had thrown another rock and inadvertently pelted Eliza in the face.
"Oops," he managed to say before Eliza whisper-screamed back at him.
"What are you doing, you stupid boy?"
"Please don't call me that. Call me anything but that," Izzian said, recalling Reddle F. Girth and her favorite nickname for him.
Eliza backed out of the window. The light in her room switched off and for a moment, the boy thought she had simply gone back to sleep. Soon enough, Eliza appeared at the backdoor and quietly stepped outside.
Before she could yell at him, Izzian spoke quickly, "Please don't hit me or thump me. Don’t be mad. I really need to talk to someone…to you."
Eliza exhaled deeply and offered him a seat on her porch step without hitting him or even readying her fingers for a thump.
"Here, I found this in the forest," said Izzian. He offered her the beautiful white flower with the intoxicating scent.
When the boy slipped and fell in the woods, he had noticed the stunning flower growing from the damp forest floor, almost calling to him with its beauty. Izzian hoped the captivating flower might woo the girl first and make his planned confession a little easier to stomach.
"Wow, thanks. Izzian, do you know what this is? It's a Moonflower. You're never supposed to pick a Moonflower in bloom. Remember Black Winny?" Eliza grinned as she noticed the fear in Izzian's eyes.
I'm scared, he thought, but not about The Witch of the Bluff. I'm scared to tell my secret.
For a few minutes, no one spoke. Izzian was struggling to cultivate the perfect confession. It was difficult to reveal that he was an alien and he needed more time to think. However, Eliza was becoming impatient and the hour was late.
She broke the silence. "Go ahead. Tell me. I promise not to hit you, but I can't promise I won't be upset."
"Fair enough," he said and he considered his first words.
He watched Eliza toying with the Moonflower. In the light of the moon, she looked pretty and surprisingly kindhearted. Even with all her harsh words and tough thumps, Izzian realized that he could tell the girl anything. They were friends.
"Eliza, I've been keeping something from you- something important. I've been lying for a while and it's time I fess up. I've hated keeping the truth from you all these months. Eliza, I think you are my best friend and we can tell each other the truth. I can trust you to keep my secrets. Here it goes. Eliza, I am an a--"
A loud cracking sound erupted from the tree line stopping the boy, midsentence, from finally confessing that he was an alien. Izzian and Eliza peered into the night, towards the forest, wondering what was causing the sounds of breaking branches and rustling leaves.
Suddenly, the outline of a person was visible through the trees at the far side of Eliza's yard. It paused at the edge of the forest, searching for something, or for someone.
The figure seemed to notice Izzian and Eliza sitting on the porch. It stepped out of the trees. They gasped in fear as the thing tumbled through the brush and headed towards the porch, emitting breathless calls.
Long, dark, matted hair swirled in the wind, following like a trail of writhing black snakes. The foul creature approached, getting closer by the second.
Eliza examined the Moonflower she held in her hand and suddenly dropped it like a hot coal. They didn't say the name aloud, for fear of it being true, but they both knew they had called upon the wrath of Black Winny, The Witch of the Bluff.
***