Unnatural Change

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to any person, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. The author owns exclusive rights to this work.

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It started on a Thursday. Serena remembered that much perfectly well. She had never liked Thursdays in September, and certainly not in the company of her cousins. She empathized completely with Green Day, and she'd love to be able to sleep through the entire month, to be woken up when September ended. But then she'd have to deal with October and November... and even into December and January.

She'd considered hibernation, but then she never had thought well of eating as much as that would require. And it hadn't worked out for Garfield anyway. Instead, Serena had stared unbelievingly as her family seemed to go completely insane over men in tight pants throwing a ball and running from one end of the grass to the other.

So she made a habit of being scarce whenever football season came around. Every Thursday, she'd take a late evening hike through the woods. Red leaves covered the ground while orange and yellow ones still clung to the branches of the trees. They crunched softly under her feet, announcing her path to any who cared to listen. Every so often a bird would twitter in the late evening air, and Serena would look up to see where it might be hiding among the branches. That was when it happened.

Golden eyes stared down at her, rounded and without irises of any kind. Serena imagined that they were set in an owl's head as she watched them turn in several directions that would be unnatural for any of the other birds she'd noticed moving about the forest. It struck her as odd, and she felt a tingle course through her spine. Despite shivering at the strange sensation, Serena couldn't bring her gaze away from the bird. The golden lights seemed to be hypnotic, in the most disturbing of ways, stripping her of any logical impulse to turn or run, to leave the forest at a frenzied jaunt and make her way back to the football game and her cousins shouting. Instead she simply stared at them, watching them come closer as the bird hopped from branch to branch to make its way down the tree toward her.

Once level with her head, Serena found she the bird's appearance was still unclear. Even as close as the creature had come, there was still no silhouette to be found in the darkness of the night - only the golden eyes, bright booming circles with no break in them. She could feel herself leaning toward them, trying to get closer. Serena would have sworn that she was floating in those moments even though she could feel the ground firmly under her feet. As mesmerized as she was, the only breath she knew was that of the forest. As the tree above her swayed its branches, she could feel her body move to the same rhythm, synchronized motions punctuated by the occasional sliver of a breeze to ruffle the leaves surrounding her.

The spell was broken in an instant. Her mother's voice reached her ears and Serena blinked. She began to turn her head to answer her mother, and the scant motion was enough to send the bird flying off into the night. As quickly as it had come into existence, it blinked itself out, the golden lights disappearing into the dark night surrounding her.

A sigh escaped her as she turned away from the tree, trudging back down the path she had forged as she made her way into the forest. When she cleared the trees, her mother screeched her name. Moments later, arms were around her, squeezing her tightly, a blouse obstructing her vision and smothering the breaths she tried to take in as the air escaped her lungs from the impact of her mother's body on her own. Serena gripped her mother's arm tightly, pulling it down and forcing her back slightly so that she could breathe. "Mom, I was only gone like ten minutes!"

Her mother did pull back then, glaring at her but still not letting go. "Look around, Serena." And she did, gasping as she took in the fact that the sun was cresting the horizon. She'd been out all night, standing in that forest, staring at a single bird....

"I... I'm sorry, Mom." Arms wrapped her up tightly once more, mumbled words of relief in her shoulder at one moment giving way to promises of punishment in the very next breath. The grin that worked its way onto her lips then was as natural as air.

In that moment, she had felt safe. Serena had been content to sit through a football game the next week. But it didn't stay that way for long. She would venture out into the woods, noting the changing color of the leaves. One of her cousins had insisted she take a watch with her, and set the timer for one hour. When she encountered the bird again, the timer had broken the spell, and she'd returned to the house, irritated at the disruption.

Once she had figured out how to reset the timer on the watch, she began setting it for the expected length of the game. And then for an hour after that to take advantage of the post-game festivities and TV commentary that her family delighted in watching. By week fifteen, she was spending at least seven hours in the forest, setting off the moment they arrived at her cousins' and returning a little after midnight. Each time, she felt even more bitter about having to leave those burning golden lights.

Just before winter solstice, she felt a change in the atmosphere of the forest as she entered it. Instead of simply welcoming her, it seemed to be beckoning her. Those eyes captured her own once more, and they didn't seem to stare nearly as long into her own before she felt a change come over her. She stretched her arms out into the air, and she felt freer than she ever had. The wind rushed through her, and though she felt something unnatural occurring, she was unafraid. Serena welcomed the sensation. In that moment, everything became different.

She felt smaller, more compact, and though she could feel her body was underneath her, the world appeared to be upside down. It only took a fraction of thought to reorient herself. When she did, she realized her mistake. She should never have looked into those deadly golden lights.

Below her, on the forest floor, stood Serena's body, and when her mother's voice cut through the air, Serena's own responded. But Serena herself did not. She stared down at the vessel she had once inhabited and opened her own mouth, only to hear a violent screech escape it.

"Oh, I do thank you for freeing me." Her own voice was colored by a chill that caused her to shiver, ruffling the feathers that covered her from head to talon. "In another hundred years, I might have forgotten who I was." Serena squawked again. "Don't worry." A smile slowly spread across the lips she had recently called her own, making her do exactly what they encouraged her not to do. "I'll be sure to take good care of your family." Serena blinked, scared of what her actions had wrought, and when she opened her eyes, she was alone in the forest.