《Willow and The Shadows》


 Chapter #1 ?

    I kept running into the forest as fast as I could feeling the wet leaves under my feet and cold hair pushing my hair back.


    ¡°What in the world was that?¡± I scream to myself.


    I try to think where I can hide but my mind is blank and I just keep running.


    Passing over bushes and trees I can¡¯t see where I¡¯m running through this dark forest since the trees hid the moon¡¯s light making my vision of where I was the worst.


    Sweat starts to come down my spine making my shirt stick to my back. I feel my feet start to bleed and I see a large tree and decide to hide behind it.


    Gasping for air I look at my blood-filled feet and try not to think of the pain.


    ¡°Why did Lyla mean by that? I shouldn¡¯t have left her there¡± I say to myself between breaths


    I feel my heart drops as I hear footsteps come closer behind me.


    Oh God no.


    ¡°Where are you, little moon princesses? I can smell that you are near so if I was you I would let me kill you now before I start to get pissed off more than I already am, I¡¯ll promise it won¡¯t hurt a bit¡± I hear that red haired man say from behind me.


    My eyes widen in fear


    I hold my breath and put my hand over my mouth trying to not make a sound.


    ¡°That''s how it¡¯s going to be? Fine have it your way then¡± I hear him come closer.


    I look around trying to find a way to escape


    Then I noticed a river a couple of yards in front of me.


    I either try to run there or die here.


    Quickly grabbing a rock I threw it towards the opposite side I was trying to grab his attention which he quickly jetted it¡¯s way towards the sound.


    ¡°Haha, you won¡¯t be living for any longer princess!¡± He screams out and I bolt toward the river as fast as I can.


    Making my way closer to it I try to get inside it but before I could I feel someone grab my hair from behind.


    ¡°And I thought you were a stupid little human¡± I hear a man chuckle out.


    A chill runs down my spine and as I look at who was holding my hair I see the red hair shining under the moon¡¯s light.


    I try to get off his grip screaming and yanking my hair out but my efforts are useless.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.


    ¡°IYou are feisty¡± He laughs out ¡°It was nice knowing you princess too bad you¡¯ll have to die without anyone knowing you were alive¡± He says as he flings his swords upwards and my eyes widen in fear ¡°Goodridence¡±


    As if everything was in slow motion I see how his sword comes closer to my neck and I can''t help but think about how my life has never been the best, most miserable and I was dying without accomplishing anything. I can only now hope that I will be able to see my parents.


    I quickly close my eyes not wanting to see anything more and wait for the pain to hit.


    __________


    Two days before


    I see my reflection in the airplane bathroom mirror as the captain''s voice filled the plane with the announcement that we would be landing soon in Paris.


    The blinding fluorescent light of the bathroom made my face look wrecked given that I had been mostly sleeping these past ten hours inside a plane. I tried to brush my wavy dark brown hair with my hands and then proceeded to change out of my pajamas into a white t-shirt, light blue jeans, and my Adidas all-star, remembering that I left my red parka on my seat.


    "Paris, huh?" I say to myself in the mirror with a huge grin.


    My stomach fills with excitement at the thought that I was finally fulfilling my dream of going to where my parents met.


    I never met them. They died in a car accident right after I was born leaving me alone with only a locket and a picture of them next to the Eiffel tower where they wrote "Paris gave me you". Growing up in an orphanage wasn''t really easy but thinking about how I could go where they had met made me think that I could feel more connected to them in a way.


    I make my way out of the bathroom and take my seat next to Lyla, my best friend. She was a blonde and crazy girl that grew up with me and instantly became like my sister. If you met us individually you wouldn''t think we could be friends given that she has a very fiery spirit and I''m more on the introverted side but I think that''s what made us closer. She made me do things that I would normally never do and I would ground her whenever she got too crazy.


    "Oh looky here I almost thought you had fallen down the toilet" She says laughing at me.


    "Oh shut up I didn''t take long" I pushed her as I sat down making her laugh.


    "AnywayYy Willow, we''re here!" She yells as she pulls the window up making her rainbow puffer jacket light up with the sun.


    As I look out the window I glimpse at the little french houses and fields down below.


    "I can''t believe we are actually here" I say, almost tearing up.


    Lyla wraps her arm around me.


    "Who would have thought that promise we made at seven years old would come true?" She squeezed me tighter.


    I lean back to my seat clutching my locket.


    "I can''t wait to see everything" I say excitedly.


    "I can''t wait to see the french men" Lyla says wiggling her eyebrows which makes us both laugh.


    "Please buckle up your seat belts we are going to start descending folks" We hear the captain say.


    "Are you ready?" Lyla asks as she holds her hand out.


    "As ready as I''ll ever be" I say eagerly, smiling and holding her hand.


    __________________


    I Will be adding more to this story soon.


    I hope you all like it!


    With love Willowstars.

 Chapter #2

    "Oh my god! I swear my ass is gone, I can''t even feel it" Lyla says as she rubs her butt worriedly trying to wake it up as we made our way out of the aircraft.


    "I told you to stand up a couple of times to wake up your muscle but you had insisted on binged watching all the movies at once" I say and quickly noticed the strange glare we were getting because of Lyla''s "Now stop rubbing your butt people are staring"


    "Whatever their butts might be asleep to so" She and then laughs "Hey and could you blame me? After all the shifts at the cafe we''ve been doing to pay for this trip I barely saw anything this past couple of years" She says "Did you see the one about that girl that falls in love with the bad boy?"


    "You just described almost any romantic movie out there" I laugh at her making her elbow me.


    "Hey I''m not very good with names anyway it''s was very good. I sure hope to find a bad french boy that is also sensitive on this trip" She says linking her arm with mine wiggling her eyebrows.


    "The only thing I really want to do is see all of Paris, boys aren''t really my thing and I''m not really their thing either" I say shrugging my shoulders.


    To be honest, guys have never been my thing.


    Growing up in the orphanage I''ve never really gotten the whole falling in love thing or getting people to fall in love with me.


    Compared to Lyla''s supermodel I looked very average. I was a five foot two tan brown-haired and eyed girl in the mid-sized range where I wasn''t either plus size or skinny enough to be in either group. On top of that add in my awkward socials skills and my lack of time between class and socializing because of my part-time jobs which resulted in a socially awkward and very single twenty-two-year-old.


    But to be honest being with Lyla has been enough to be this past couple of years I don''t know what I would do without her. Ever since I met her at age seven in the orphanage we instantly clicked. She was wearing a blue dress with her blond hair in two pigtails and a huge smile on her face that made the orphanage light up instantly.


    I didn''t have friends during the time because I used to stay hidden away in my room reading a book but once she came her fiery outgoing and my more easygoing timid personality made us closer than ever we mostly spent our time reading books about adventure, talking about going to Paris, swimming on the orphanage''s pond, doing part-time jobs together, and just being together.


    She quickly became the sister I never had and my best friend.


    "Oh come on Willow you are a gorgeous girl for god sake! Boys are your thing you are just out of practice that''s all. With a little push in the right direction, bam you''ll be the talk of the town" Lyla says enthusiastically "If not we can just party by ourselves then. You can be my Parisian date" She says moving her shoulders side to side which makes me laugh.


    Lyla unlike me was great at this whole boy thing which is honestly inspiring given that she did all those odd part-time jobs spending her free time going to parties and dates in comparison to me that mostly spend it reading more books.


    "Fine" I say "I wouldn''t really mind getting myself a guy that''s similar to Mr.Darcy"


    "Oh god could you at least have a crush on a real person at least" Lyla says laughing.


    "What did you expect from me? He is the only man for me" I say fake fanning my face dramatically


    "Gosh, you are impossible" Lyla laugh out.


    We finally made it to the baggage claim to get our bags.


    "Wow, I can''t believe how organized people are here in the airport" Lyla says as she looks around in the almost quiet airport. "If we were back home there would probably be at least three Karens screaming about trying to be in first-class or trying to get on a plane late. "


    I laugh at the thought as I grab my blue suitcase from the carousel.


    "Oh, America I miss you so" Lyla says sarcastically.


    "Did you order the uber?" I ask her as I check my phone for the time noticing that the check-in the Airbnb will be soon. "We have to meet the owner in an hour"


    "Yeah" Lyla grunts as she pulls her suitcase out of the carousel "Jesus I almost broke my back for a second"Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    "I told you not to pack all those shoes especially those three combat boots" I say moving towards the outside of the airport.


    "Willow you know I couldn''t leave my babies the would get lonely back in the apartment" She says hugging her suitcase making me roll my eyes.


    We go and outside the Uber pickup area but there are no cars coming.


    As soon as the wind hit us the cold made us shiver.


    "Oh my god" I blurt out and I zip my red puffer jacket all the way up.


    I really might need more layering.


    As I glance at Lyla, I notice her nose had turned red and she had also zipped up her rainbow puffer jacket all the way up


    "Anyway where is the uber at?" I ask looking around trying to do a little dance so I could stay warm.


    Lyla takes out her phone and I notice how her breath fogs up her iPhone screen.


    "It says it''s a minute away" She says shivering.


    Suddenly a car honked and as we turned around a small black car parked right in front of us and a middle-aged man with short red hair came towards us.


    "Are you Unicornsparkles, right?" He askes us.


    I''m suddenly confused but then I roll my eyes to face Lyla.


    "Unicornsparkles? For real?" I say in disbelief.


    "What?" she says raising her hand questioningly "It funny you should have seen the other name I was going to put" she laughs out.


    "Gosh Lyla" I laugh and then turn to the man "Yes that would be us, sir, thank you"


    "No problem just get in and I''ll put your bags in the back" He says grabbing our stuff and we quickly get inside.


    As soon as our bags are settled he quickly gets in and takes us to our Airbnb in Paris and once we see it I and Lyla died.


    It was a very cute old apartment complex called "Le petite Chateau"


    It had a very vintage feel with vines running all over it.


    Since it was Christmas it was decorated with lights and little cute ornaments.


    I can''t wait to stay here.


    Lyla hits my arm in desblief.


    "I really didn''t think it was this good! I swore it was going to be a crappy place but woah" she says in awe.


    "Yeah Woah" I say peering out the window "Come on let go!" I get out of the car excitedly.


    We quickly paid the uber and went to ring the doorbell.


    "Bonjour, qui est-ce?" says a lady through the intercom.


    "Um hello, I''m Willow. We spoke on the phone?" I say looking back at Lyla.


    "Oh-oh, the American! yes yes, I''ll be there in a moment" the lady says cheerfully.


    "I''m really glad you know french btw! I honestly never picked it up" Lyla says worriedly.


    "You leave the french for me and you just stay there and look pretty" I say jokingly.


    "As I always do" She says making a model fish face which makes me laugh.


    We suddenly hear the door open and a sweet looking grandmother opens the door.


    "Oh hello! I''m Amelie and I''ll be your landlady for the time you will be staying here" She says sweetly gesturing us to come in.


    "Hi I''m Willow and" I gesture towards Lyla as I go inside "This over here is my best friend Lyla"


    "Hello" Lyla says giving her a smile following close behind me


    "Oh, but what pretty ladies we have here! I''m so blessed to have you come into our complex."Amelie says closing the door behind us "You must be tired and cold from your journey come let me show you your room"


    She quickly turns and goes straight down the hallway and stopping just in front of the last door. Amelie then said that there were basically only six rooms two one at the beginning of the narrow hallway and another one at the end on every floor and ours was on the first floor.


    Since this complex was for university students they all left for a holiday to be with their families and Amelie always rents the rooms that are free in the mean while.


    Once we entered the room was very homey. It had two twin beds a bathroom and a balcony that led to a view of a nearby park which was nice.


    "Amelie this is beautiful" Lyla says as she peers her head in the balcony.


    "Yeah Mrs. Amelie this is amazing" I say as I look around the room.


    "Well, I''m glad you like it! If you need anything my room is just on the second floor first door on the right."She says happily "Here''s your key and my phone number just in case. I''ll see you girls tomorrow for the complimentary breakfast"


    "Oh thank you, Amelie will see you tomorrow" I say smiling.


    "Yes thank you Amelie can''t wait to eat your food tomorrow" Lyla says eagerly.


    Amelie soon closes the door and Lyla quickly jumps into the bed.


    "I''m so dead!" Lyla screams "My body is not responding to me officially."


    I put down my backpack and put my suitcase next to it.


    "Same here" I say laying on the other bed "We need to rest asap if we want to be able to go out tommorow"


    I sigh as I look up to the ceiling


    "Hey Willow" Lyla whispers grabbing my attention and I lean turning to face her


    "What?" I ask


    She grins widley


    "We''re finally in Paris" she says happily " I can''t believe we actually made it"


    It suddenly hits me.


    I''m here.


    After twenty-two years of wishing and hard work and I''m here.


    Mom and Dad, I''m here.


    My eyes start to water.


    "I still can''t believe it either" I say as tears fall.


    "Aw, don''t cry or I''ll cry and you know how ugly I get" Lyla says choking up also which made me laugh.


    "Well, we wouldn''t want that" I say cleaning my tears chilling a little bit.


    "Ugh! Hey, you''re supposed to at least act like I don''t ugly cry" Lyla says laughing.


    We laugh at each other''s banter for a while until we slowly fell asleep eager for what we were going to do tomorrow.