The Return
A Short Story.
The Return
The 2015 SUV’s engine idly turned over as Anna tapped her fingers against the steering wheel while whimsical whims danced through her mind as she stared at the hotel. When Joe suggested a last-minute romantic weekend at one of Yorkshire’s premier hotels close to the National Park to celebrate their third anniversary, she had purred with euphoria. Knowing her lover wanted to spend time alone with her had rekindled her faith in him. For months, she was convinced Joe was growing bored with her. That their relationship had grown stagnant to him, had tormented her. Thoughts he was looking for a way out, kept her awake most nights. For days, she dreaded the moment he would tell her it was over. A moment which never materialised. Until now. As she continued to stare at the old hotel, her old insecurities rose. On the drive to the hotel, Joe had fallen silent. His mind preoccupied as he stared at the hills as they drove through the long country roads to their destination. When she tried to make conversation, he brushed her off with brief retorts.
Anna swallowed another deep breath. Was this their last weekend together? A weekend of sex before he told her it was over. Doubts and questions crowded her mind as her stomach clenched inwards. Tightening against the rising butterflies while she suppressed the bile rising at the back of her throat.
“Do you plan to stay in the car all day?” Joe asked as he crouched by the car’s open door.
As she stared at the hotel, Anna gave a slight shake of her head. Although the sun was bright, and there was no breeze, her hands were cold, and her nose tingled. Anna knew she had to move. That the time had arrived to discover her fate. With one last glance at the hotel, she smiled at Joe, then climbed out of the car. “Yeah — I’m coming.”
Joe nodded and the furrows in his forehead faded as he straightened and turned his gaze to the hotel. “Well, what do you reckon?” he asked.
Anna’s smile stiffened as she trailed behind her lover. Her pace slower than his as they strolled towards the hotel. The twitches in her stomach amplified as they approached the looming hotel door. “Why this hotel, Joe?” she asked.
“Jenna recommended it.”
Anna stumbled over the pebble covered path as she came to an abrupt halt. “You talked to Jenna about us?”
“Sure — Who else is going to know your tastes. But your best friend.” Joe said as he turned to Anna. Who avoided his gaze as she shrugged. Her smile feeble as she entered the hotel’s lobby,
“I can get through this weekend,” she told herself as she hung back while Joe checked them in. As she looked at her surroundings, a sharp tapping on the window caught her attention, drawing her gaze to a large crow. His small, black beady eyes burned into her. Her head throbbed in time to the tap-tapping, and she reached up to the back of her neck to rub the knot growing at the base of her skull. The tension in her tightened as Joe walked towards her. When they met three years ago, she had been bored. Looking for something, but unsure what eluded her. Then he came into her life and the sagacity of being complete filled her. The zest for life returned. Now those old feeling were back. Crawling up from the abyss she sent them to all those years ago.
“Joe.”
“Yeah, Anna.”
Her mouth opened, then closed as she stepped closer to him. “Can we go to our room?”
“Sure.” Joe nodded as he turned to the lift. “It’s this way.”
The craw of the crow followed Anna as they entered the lift. When the doors closed, she leaned against the cold, steel, mirrored wall, and shut her eyes. It was then, eyes from her past penetrated her vision. Making her body tremble, and she forced her eyes open. While she stared at the silver doors as the lift whizzed them up to their floor, Anna’s mind scrambled at the faint memory of eyes she had not seen in ten years. Not since she was seventeen. When the lift came to a halt and the doors opened, Anna shook her body, and with a deep breath, she stepped into the corridor. Her head throbbed and she blinked. She pinched the bridge of her nose as more memories surfaced. Her gaze flicked from door to door.
“This is the same floor as my last stay,” she thought as they walked along the corridor. As memories flashed through her mind, Anna forced herself to follow Joe towards the end of the corridor. She glanced at the number on the door, and her heart stopped beating briefly as she fought for breath. Twelve. The last room in the corridor. It’s the same room she stayed in on her last visit. Anna frowned as memories swamped her head.
When Joe mentioned the name of the hotel, there had been no fireworks going off in her head, warning her of any earlier visits. Her tongue slide over her dry lips as she stepped into the room and glanced at the furnishings. Surprised by the changes brought back more memories. Forcing Anna to concede to herself she had stayed here before. Only the writing desk pushed against the window wall was made of oak, while the previous desk was white. The Queen bed had replaced the twin beds which occupied the room when she was a teenager.
“What do you think?” Joe asked as he stood beside her.
Anna tore her gaze away from the bed to study Joe. His sandy brown hair flopped over his gravy brown eyes. The way he watched her, left Anna’s knees shaking. After three years, he still had the power to make her stomach quiver.
“It’s a beautiful room.” Anna said as she looped her arms around his neck. Thrusting her hips against his as she brought their bodies close. “And the bed’s inviting.”
Joe’s warm lips brushed over hers, and Anna snuggled closer, rubbing her body against his. Then he broke away. Pushing her away as he reached over to the bedside cabinet for the keys. “We’ve time for that later — Let’s go for a walk.”
Anna’s heart dipped. This was not what she wanted. She wanted to stay in their room. To make love while the sun shined and warmed their flesh. With one last glance around the room, she followed Joe out of the hotel. Trailing behind him without noticing her surrounding or the path he chose until they were deep in the forest. Memories long buried, surfaced. Forcing her to push them back down. She blinked. The path was familiar to her. The cornflowers called out to her. Buttercups and daisies splashed amongst the emerald-green moss carpet. Anna’s toes curled at the urge to remove her shoes. To run barefoot as blades of grass caressed her feet.
“Joe.”
“Yeah.”
“Let’s take a different path,” she said.
“We’re here now, Anna. We may as well continue going this way.” Joe reached out. His hand warm as it clasped around her trembling fingers. As he pulled her beside him, his smile melted the chill within her, and she followed him deeper into the forest.
Anna’s shoulders dipped as her gaze swept over the trees. Their high, dark green canopy shielding the sky from her. “I suppose so.”
The silence deafened her as she searched for life. For a squirrel to run up a tree. For the sound of branches rattling, or leaves falling as birds fluttered from one bough to another. Yet there was nothing. As Joe and Anna wandered deeper into the forest, Anna asked herself what could go awry. She was not on her own. It’s daylight. And besides, there was no music to draw her away. For her to lose track of time or her way in the forest. She had Joe. “What could go wrong?”
As Anna followed Joe, who kept stopping to browse at the occasional tree or branch, a crow cawed as it flew over her head. His wing close enough to brush against her pale brown hair. Warmth flooded Anna as she pushed her hand into Joe’s, clinging onto his fingers.
“Are you okay?” Joe asked.
Although her smile wobbled, the laughter in his voice had Anna answering his grin with a nod. “Yeah. I was surprised at how close the crow came.”
“What crow?” asked Joe as he twisted his neck to look at her. His gaze digging into her as she frowned at him.
“The one which just flew over us. You must have heard it. Seen it?”
“There was no crow, Anna. It’s too dense for anything to fly this close. Besides, you sound like an elephant each time you step on a twig. That’s bound to keep any animals nearby at bay.”
As Joe finished his outburst, a twig snapped, and Anna glanced in the direction of the sound. Her hand slipped from Joe’s grip, and she remained where she was as he continued walking. Hidden behind a tree, with just its head in view, was a doe. Her brown eyed gaze on Anna. Anna’s breath hitched. “No, it’s not happening again. There is no party. No music. Animals do not turn into humans.”
Anna closed her eyes as the memories she craved to disbelieve in crowded her mind. All those years ago, she had fallen. With the fall came the concussion from hitting the ground extremely hard. What happened on her last visit was nothing more than a dream. Yet, the deer continued to stare at her. Anna’s feet begged her to turn and run whilst her body refused to move. Fresh sweat trickled down her spine, leaving a damp patch in the dip of her back.
“You remember her. Don’t you,” Joe asked.
With a slow shake of her head, Anna pushed the images away. His voice was nothing more than a whisper in her ear. Yet, she still jumped when his hand touched her waist. Anna’s dry lips stuck together as the top of her tongue wedged to the roof of her mouth. “Remember her — What do you mean?”
“From that night.” Joe’s eyes bore into Anna’s as he stroked the hair away from her face, pushing a stray strand behind her ear.
“What night?” Anna’s gaze remained on the doe as she pushed the memories back. She refused to remember that night. It’s a part of the past she put behind her. A part of her she no longer wanted. She is proud of who she has become.
“You know what night.” Joe’s voice softened as he drew her gaze back to his. “It took me a long time to find you, Anna. To win your trust.”
“To find me.”
The blood spun in Anna’s head as her stomach roiled. The back of her throat tightened as she moved away from Joe. Was their relationship a lie. A sham. The path had disappeared, leaving only the trees surrounding her. Her gaze returned to the doe who had stepped away from her hiding place. As the doe stepped forward, her body morphed with easy grace. Her front legs became arms. Her hind legs took their human form. As the doe straightened, she arched her back in a stretch. She was close enough for Anna to smell her. For the doe’s musk to envelope her as the doe slipped her hand into Joe’s. Her other hand, she thrust towards Anna.
“Hello, Anna. It’s been a long time.”
The coolness of the forest faded as bright sunlight flooded the area. More rivulets of sweat rolled down Anna’s back. Joe’s grasp was firm. So was the woman’s as she pulled Anna gently towards her. Anna pushed her feet into the ground. Her toes bedding themselves into the damp soil as she twisted her head left, right, then behind her. The breath slid from her when she realised there was nowhere for her to run.
“You’re not real.” The words were nothing more than a husky whisper when they should have been a loud shout.
“We are, Anna. And it’s time for you to join us — To come home.”
“No…” Anna twisted her neck towards Joe. “Joe — What’s going on?”
Joe smiled as his eyes softened as he watched her. “You. Me. We’ve been away too long. I’ve brought you home. It’s time to return to your own kind. No more running.”
“No — You have it wrong. I don’t belong here.”
Joe nodded, “you do, Anna. You should never have left your home. Or have been absent for as long as you were. But you had to discover for yourself what it’s like to live outside the forest. How the others live.”
The harder Anna pulled and tugged at the hands clasped around hers. The firmer they gripped, and Anna found herself pulled in their direction. Closer to the music.
“No.”
“Anna. You’ve had your freedom. Now is the time to return to your family,” the doe woman said.
Anna stared at the thing in front of her. “What did she mean? My family is back in York. Along with my friends.” The thoughts ran wild in her mind as she shook her head to clear it of the fog enclosing around her. “I have family — Joe. Tell her. You’ve met them.”
“Listen to Floride. Those people in the city were never your family. You don’t belong with them. How many times, as we laid in bed, did we talk about this? Talk about how different you were to them.”
The sunlight dimmed as Joe and the strange woman drew Anna further in. The surrounding music, louder. A scream stuck in Anna’s throat, and the pounding in her head throbbed harder as her hands grew clammier. With one last pull, she was free of their grip.
“Joe. We must get out of here. She has you under a spell.”
“Calm down, Anna.” Joe stood in front of her. His touch soft as he stroked her cheek. “Anna, forget about York. Your home is here. With me. With your mother.” Joe’s gaze moved from Anna’s to Floride. Whose soft brown gaze searched Anna’s. The tug at her heart had Anna holding back as she refused to go any further. If she did, all would be lost. Everything she worked for would disappear. Forgotten, if she took that step.
“Joe. My life is in York. Not here.”
“Stop fighting it, Anna. You made your promise. Now you have to honour it.”
The pounding in Anna’s head drowned out all her concepts about what was real and what was faux. “What promise?”
The woman’s touch was soothing as her thumb stroked Anna’s hand. “The one where we gave you the freedom you desired. To live amongst the humans until Joe came to collect you.”
Anna turned to Joe, but he was no longer there. The light had faded, and a young buck stood in his place. The woman who called herself Floride, Anna’s mother, was no longer human. Anna turned her gaze to the trail they had walked. On the ground lay the remains of the shirts, jeans, and underwear she and Joe had worn. The sun had disappeared, and the moon was high, casting shadows around the trees and the deer. As she stared into the clear, still water of the pond, Anna shook her head. The image before her shimmered. The crackle of a branch breaking caught her attention, and she raised her gaze to the young buck who stood before her. Then, with a nudge to his neck, they return to the herd.
©Wynter Aodh
June 2023
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