Misadventure in the Woods Last Night

My intentions were entirely innocent. Really, I went because I was desperate and in terrible pain. Takamatsu told me of a magical flower that grows in the forest near my house that would cure me (a pain in my back that has ailed me for many years has recently worsened). It blossoms only at night, he told me, and said that we would find it together.

We donned ourselves in black and met by a lake across from the forest (the constabulary like to arrest nighttime trespassers of the forest, so we had to be sneaky). We both walked into the forest and began searching for the legendary flower. We had to take a long, inconvenient road to avoid being seen by the constabulary (they hide everywhere, and are almost as good at it as I am!), but after only about half a mile of walking, we saw a faint lavender light on the ground. As I got closer to it, I recognized it as the flower the tengu had described to me. It was supported by one stem that stuck straight up out of the ground. The petals resembled those of a rose, except they were sharp and prickly and moved like the petals of a pin wheel. I had just moved my hand to pluck the flower from the ground when a brighter light shone into the forest.

"Go!" Takamatsu whispered. He dashed through the trees of the forest, leaving the flower behind, and I followed without looking back.

But my tengu friend is much better at disappearing then I am. As I ran behind him, trying to keep up and avoid tripping over roots and thorns, he vanished into the air before me and was gone. I felt the bright light of the constabulary shine through the trees and directly on me, but daring not to turn around, I dropped to the ground and onto my face.

My friend was long gone now; I knew I was alone in the forest...except for the constable in the car with his big shining lantern. Pressing my face into the piny ground as deep as I could bury myself, I tried to stay still and not breathe too hard. I remained stationary on the ground for many long minutes while the big lantern shone around the trees. Even with my face pressed down into the pine needles and thorns, I kept my eyes open and moving around. But my eyes had already adjusted to the darkness and when the light stopped moving, I couldn't tell if it came from the constable's lantern or from the moon. I had to rely on my other senses.

The ground smelled piny. I closed my eyes again, and only listened. I could still hear the engine of the constable's car. How many were they? Had they seen me already? They could have been parked with the lantern put out just waiting for me to move, and then they would have me. Then I will not budge, I thought to myself. I can wait here until morning.

And I did wait for a very long time. For a while I thought I heard footsteps and voices and more sounds of tires on the dirt roads paved around the forest. I waited, lying on the prickly forest floor until I almost fell asleep. When I opened my eyes once more, I saw no light but the translucent sort that only the moon provides. I heard no more of the constables' engine. Still, I moved verrrrrrrry carefully and slowly; I took about thirty seconds for every centimeter I moved to lift my head up and look around. There was no car, no lantern light, nothing but trees and streams of moonlight peaking through.

I ran.

I had to stay low and dodge in between tree trunks and keep an eye out for any more of the constabulary, but no one was in sight. Upon reaching the edge of the forest, I crossed over a small creek and onto another path which led back to the main road upon which I walked looking for the tengu.

I figured after disappearing, he would go back to the place where we had met earlier, but he wasn't there. I went back home to change my clothes into something completely different from what I was wearing so that, if caught by the constabulary, I would not be recognized.

I walked back to our original meeting place by the lake, and even walked quite close to the forest's edge to see if he was waiting there for me; I walked around singing "Jingle Bells" so that he would recognize my voice. But he never showed himself.

However, as I was walking back to my house once again, I heard a car engine behind me. I didn't dare turn around to see who it was because whoever was driving was doing it way too slowly to be up to any good. When the car passed me, I recognized it as the constabulary's car. I grew nervous, but kept walking at the same pace I had been keeping, and continued in song (under my breath) until they turned onto another road--the very road I took out of the forest--no doubt to continue looking for trespassers.

That was close, I thought to myself. And then, Oh, my aching back!

I haven't seen my tengu friend since last night. I do hope to find him again soon...