I headed for the sound of rushing water, now clad only in my yellow blouse and petticoat. I loved putting my feet in the stream. Occasionally I would swim in it too, and though the weather today was a perfect excuse to do so, my brother's concert still nagged at me.
I had every intention not to go, but nowadays, my brother never seemed happy anymore. Not since Father went away. I would just have to go; it'd be the only thing to cheer him up for a while. Even if he did play the trombone horribly out of tune.
But first I would relax at the stream for a while. I sighed and slipped my feet into the icy water. It felt so wonderful! I closed my eyes and lay back on the moss that covered the bank. I heard the soft sound of the breeze and birds singing sweet melodies.
Suddenly, a louder sound came from behind me and I froze. It was too loud; it sounded like a large animal- or a human. There was also a strange creaking and splintering noise that I couldn't identify. Everything sounded close.
I lay very still and pretended to be either asleep or dead. A human would think I was asleep and come over to wake me up, perhaps saying an "Are you alright?" and maybe a "What are you doing gallivanting around in your underclothes?"
It was more essential to appear dead if it was a animal like a Ber or a Wild Caet. I didn't know much about untamed animals, but I had heard that if you laid very still, all they would do is snuffle over you a bit and then think you were dead and leave you alone.
So I lay there, hoping that whatever was there wasn't 550 pounds with claws and teeth. Meeting a person from the village would be pretty terrible too; I would never hear the end of it from my mother, being found alone in the woods (which was strange enough) and stripped to barely nothing.
I held my breath and was surprised to suddenly hear a human-sounding groan. Giving a gasp, quickly I sat up and turned around. There at the foot of a tree not but five feet away lay a man. He was face down, unmoving.
I had every intention not to go, but nowadays, my brother never seemed happy anymore. Not since Father went away. I would just have to go; it'd be the only thing to cheer him up for a while. Even if he did play the trombone horribly out of tune.
But first I would relax at the stream for a while. I sighed and slipped my feet into the icy water. It felt so wonderful! I closed my eyes and lay back on the moss that covered the bank. I heard the soft sound of the breeze and birds singing sweet melodies.
Suddenly, a louder sound came from behind me and I froze. It was too loud; it sounded like a large animal- or a human. There was also a strange creaking and splintering noise that I couldn't identify. Everything sounded close.
I lay very still and pretended to be either asleep or dead. A human would think I was asleep and come over to wake me up, perhaps saying an "Are you alright?" and maybe a "What are you doing gallivanting around in your underclothes?"
It was more essential to appear dead if it was a animal like a Ber or a Wild Caet. I didn't know much about untamed animals, but I had heard that if you laid very still, all they would do is snuffle over you a bit and then think you were dead and leave you alone.
So I lay there, hoping that whatever was there wasn't 550 pounds with claws and teeth. Meeting a person from the village would be pretty terrible too; I would never hear the end of it from my mother, being found alone in the woods (which was strange enough) and stripped to barely nothing.
I held my breath and was surprised to suddenly hear a human-sounding groan. Giving a gasp, quickly I sat up and turned around. There at the foot of a tree not but five feet away lay a man. He was face down, unmoving.
