Nearly

                The woods were dark and eerie, the moonlight making the branches look like reaching claws. The cries of nocturnal animals echoed through the dense forest, sending shivers down the lost girl’s spine. Every rustle of leaves of snap of a branch made her flinch. Anna wasn’t sure how she had managed to get lost in a place she had explored countless times as a child. She didn’t remember the woods being so big, it was only supposed to be a few acres but she felt like she had been walking for miles. She had been close to home when she’d tripped and stumbled down a hill. By the time she’d come to, it was already dark.

                Glancing down at her watch the Anna was distressed to find it dead. She bit back a moan of frustration and leaned against a tree, slowly sliding down until she was seated on the cold forest floor. Anna hugged her knees to her chest, digging her fingers into the fabric of her jeans. If it hadn’t been for her father telling her to be home by a certain time after tennis practice it wouldn’t have been necessary to take the shortcut through the woods. Too bad she didn’t have a racket of her own, at least then she would have had a small bit of protection.

                “You look lost,” a voice chuckled from above Anna. “I could help, you know.”

                Anna launched herself away from the tree, turning quickly to scan the foliage of the tree for whoever had spoken. She was confused when there was no one there. If there was a voice coming from a tree, there had to be someone up there.

                “Aren’t you jumpy,” the voice said again, sounding even more amused than before. “I’m not going to hurt you, though I can’t speak for anyone else here. How’d you get to a place like this, anyways?”

                Anna swallowed hard, heart pounding. Two bright green eyes were now visible, staring at her from a low branch, though she still couldn’t tell who was speaking to her. “Wh-where is here, exactly?” Anna asked, having come to the conclusion she was no longer anywhere near home.

                “The Nameless forest, of course,” the voice said. There was a rustling noise as a shadow dropped from the tree, landing close to Anna. It was a boy, not much older than Anna herself. Then she noticed his ears, which were long and tapered to a point. “I guess you must have stumbled through one of the portals left behind during the war.”

                “What are you?” Anna asked without thinking. The second she spoke she gasped and slapped her hands over her mouth, blushing red. She wasn’t usually so rude, but it seemed that the stress of the day was getting to her.

                The boy just laughed, eyes lighting up. “I forgot how fun humans are,” he said after he calmed down. “I’m a wood elf and you can call me Zeraf.”

                “Alright, Zeraf, how can you help me get out of here?” Anna didn’t know if she could trust him, or if any of what was happening was actually real, but she didn’t have any other choice.

                Zeraf gestured for Anna to follow follow him. He started through the trees and seemed to know where he was going, so Anna followed along behind him without complaint. As she walked she studied the boy who called himself a wood elf. From what she could tell with what little light she had, his hair was dark and his skin only a touch lighter than his hair. He was tall, at least a head taller than Anna, and when he reached up to move a branch out of his way she way his fingers were long and slender. He was clothed in a plain shirt and cloth pants and didn’t seem to be wearing any shoes.

                “Not far now,” Zeraf said, pulling Anna from her observations. She didn’t say anything, just picked up her pace. Zeraf chuckled and moved faster so that he could keep leading her, not the other way around. When he finally stopped Anna almost ran into him, stumbling to a halt just inches from his back.

                “There it is,” Zeraf said cheerfully, pointing to a small opening between two closely grown trees. Anna couldn’t see anything past the opening, not even the moonlight was illuminating the area. “If you go through there you should end up in the human world.”

                “I really don’t know how to thank you,” Anna said, moving a few steps past Zeraf. When she turned to look back at him she was shocked to find him gone. She glanced around, but there was no hint of the wood elf anywhere and he hadn’t made a single sound when he’d left. Hesitating a moment, Anna stared at the dark hole that Zeraf had said would take her home.

                Mustering up her courage, Anna closed her eyes and took a step towards the opening. Then another, and another, until she had stepped through. When she opened her eyes again she was shocked to find herself standing on the edge of a field with the warm sun shining down from a clear sky. A sigh of relief escaped her as she realized she wasn’t far from the outskirts of town. A beep alerted made Anna look at her watch and she was thrilled to find it working again.

                “Right on time,” she said aloud, a smile working its way onto her face. Then she looked at the date her watch showed. Her face paled and she took off at a dead run towards town. While it was the right time it was the wrong day. I was gone a day, she thought mournfully, breath coming in short bursts as she continued to run. I’d nearly made it home, too.

                As she was running franticly she didn’t turn around to look back at the dark portal that had brought her home, and she didn’t notice a figure with mischievous green eyes sitting on the branch above the portal, a small smirk on his face. Yes, he had forgotten how fun humans were and he wasn’t about to go back to the dull forest he lived in. He would stick around for awhile, who knew what fun he could have.

(Note: Wow, that was pretty long. I had tons of fun with this one, even if it just barely stuck with the prompt. Anyways, hope you enjoyed it.)

Free

    Small dark brown eyes stared out the window curiously, watching the dark grey clouds move sluggishly across the sky. The world past the glass was dim and gloomy, but Cotton, as he had been dubbed, wanted nothing more then to be out there in the cold and wet. Turning away from view, Cotton moved his gaze to the small girl that was his ‘owner’.
    She was a small thing, for a human, and young too. Her glossy mouse brown hair was gathered back behind her head and tied with a blue ribbon to match the pretty blue dress she was wearing. Bright green eyes gazed intently at the picture book sitting on her lap. Shiny black shoes tapped a nonsense rhythm on the floor, her perch on the window seat only just allowing her toes to touch the ground.
    Cotton didn’t mind the small human because she was nicer than her brother, to whom Cotton used to belong to before the big humans gave him to the small female human. It was all very confusing to Cotton, who had a hard time telling one human from another.  He cocked his head to one side when the small human looked away from her book to watch him. After a moment Cotton turned away from her to stare forlornly out the window once again.
    “I can’t imagine you like it here very much,” the small human said, recapturing Cottons attention. It had taken years for him to start to understand the speech humans used, but he like to think himself as fluent now.  He blinked rapidly as he realized the small human had spoken again.
    He was surprise when she rose, making her way towards him. She hesitated then unlatched the window separating Cotton from the rest of the world. There was a small clinking noise as a second door was unlatched and Cotton stared in amazement at the unobstructed view of the outside world. He wasted no time in leaping through the open window and out into the open air.
    The soft breeze hit Cottons face and ruffled his feathers. He flapped his wings and gained height, staring down at the grass and trees and open land. Cotton didn’t turn around, he didn’t see the small girl smile and close the window, all he did was continue forward.
    It may have been a gloomy day, but Cotton thought it was the best day in the world.