I jolted awake to darkness, the hard earth pressing into my side, and cold night air blowing over me. I tried to move, but I felt rough fibers binding my hands behind my back and my legs together, and some kind of blindfold wrapped around my face. My heart was pounding, and an overwhelming heat rose in me despite the chilly surroundings. I thrashed around, only stopping once I smacked my head against a rock. That did something to cut the sharp panic that was flooding my entire being. I took a deep, shuddering breath, and tried remember what happened to me.  What time was it? Where- What was the last thing I remembered doing?

… Nothing.

I tried to scream for help but the sound died into a choking sob in my dry throat. Of all the times to not be able to force sound out of my traitorous mouth, this was an amazing one. Fuck. What the fuck was happening? I started taking short, gasping breaths.

I had a final exam I was supposed to be at right now.

My body, which had started to shake, stilled as I remembered that blessedly normal thing. This just gave me time to start crying, but I no longer felt like my mind was filled with white hot static. I took a deep breath that only caught a few times. Ok. The… study group. I was with classmates, couldn't remember who. They were taunting me for going non-verbal, which still hadn't worn off. With the amount of stress I was under, not surprising. After that, walking home, taking a shortcut through the grove everyone swore was haunted (bullshit), and I smelled something noxious… and then nothing.

That didn't help me much, though remembering forced me to pause and think things through.  Calling for help didn't sound like that great of an idea anymore, considering I had no idea what the hell was happening. Was this someone's idea of a joke? Terrify the stupid autistic girl who doesn't believe in ghosts? Would someone have- who? My mind kept running through all the possible reasons, looking for things I missed, until my train of thought was too jumbled to focus on.

Fuck, get it together. I felt around behind me with my hands, trying to feel how my legs were tied together. Lying on the ground like this I couldn’t reach any knots, and there was no hope of forcing my aching legs to bear my weight. I could barely make my hands do what I wanted them to. The effort was probably futile in any case. Even if by some miracle I managed to free myself, I doubted I could figure out where I was, let alone force my body to escape without my cane to help. I just had to hope that this was some kind of horrible prank after all. I started to shudder with silent tears again. Maybe this wasn’t happening? This couldn’t be happening. That’s it. I just had to focus on that.

There was no way for me to tell how much time had passed. My tears had dried on my face and my limbs had gone numb from cold and being tied in place. I was just lying there, staring blankly into the rough fabric pressed against my eyes.

I felt a hand on my neck.

A jolt of fear ran through me as my muscles stiffened then stabbed with pain from the act of tensing. I still couldn't scream, nor had I any idea how to fight back.

"Hhhhhhhhhchhk" was all I could force from my mouth. Great.

At the small sound, the hand withdrew. More hands grabbed at me roughly, dragging me upright and leaning me against what felt like a tree. I whimpered with pain and fear as the pins and needles shot through me again. There must have been at least two people to have grabbed me all over like that. I felt the bindings on my arms and legs being undone, but all I could do was cling weakly to the tree that I had been placed next to. A few breaths, and nothing else touched me. With shaking arms, I reached up and pulled the blindfold off.

It took my eyes much longer than I wanted to adjust to the sparse moonlight. I could only see dark outlines of trees all around me, and something that looked like a person in front of me. As I saw that, adrenaline shot through me and my heart started pounding like it was trying to break out of my chest. My eyes finally started to adjust, agonizingly slow. The figure stepped forward into a beam of moonlight, and all thoughts of limping away abandoned me. The thing in front of me, lit by the pale eerie light, was absolutely not human. It was impossibly tall and thin, and had four arms swaying at its side. I found myself fixated on the hands that had just grabbed me, hands with varying amounts of long – too long – clawed fingers. Its skin was the green of living wood, veined with gold and textured like bark. It was wearing a skirt of woven leaves concealing its legs, and nothing else. It was curved slightly like a woman, with two dark green circles resembling areolas on its small chest. Cascading down from its head was a crown of thin curling leaves, completely obscuring its face. Did it even have a face? I was beginning to feel dizzy. What…?

My legs gave out beneath me. I was regaining feeling in them, which meant I could feel how much they hurt. I wanted this to stop.

At the sudden motion of my collapse, the tree-like being in front of me surged forward and picked me up with all four of its arms, pinning me back against the tree. I let out another nearly silent squeak of fear. With its lower two hands still holding me upright, it used the other two to delicately caress my face and explore my body, tilting its head curiously as it did so. It tugged at my clothing and scratched lightly across my skin. My mind was screaming at me to run, struggle, get free, anything! But all I could do was stare forward as the creature bent over me, its head in front of mine, leaves tickling my face.

I sneezed. Shit.

The gentle touch on my face turned sharp as a claw dug momentarily into my skin and scratched a graze there. I could feel blood welling up in the shallow cut. Its head withdrew momentarily, before leaning back in closer than ever. I squeezed my eyes shut as its leafy, whispery hair enveloped my head, and - ugh - something coarse and wet, like a cat's tongue, dragged itself across the cut, twice.

I had given up on rational thought at this point. I was so afraid, and so unbelievably tired. My legs gave out again, and I fell forward into the waiting arms of the plant-creature. It caught me, wrapped all four of its arms around me, and carried me a short distance to a puffy spot of grass, where I was deposited gently. I didn't know how to begin to understand any of this, and I just curled up into a ball and cried. I don't react well to new situations when they're mundane, and this was anything but mundane.

I felt a touch on my head, and I was too out of it to even startle. I just laid there, tears slowly leaking from me, as several hands began to carefully run through my hair, combing it with light touches of many fingers. It was soothing. Eventually, the tears stopped, and some of the tension left me.

I waited for the hands to withdraw from my hair before slowly, carefully turning around and sitting up. The creature was there in front of me, mimicking my pose. I still had to tilt my head back slightly to see its head, even with us both on the ground. It pointed at me with its two right hands.

What is your name?

I knew the whispery voice in my head was coming from the creature. I took a deep breath, and managed to stutter out "A, Aspen. Th-thhthat's m-my name." I took another breath, laced my hands into my (tangle-free) hair, and whispered "h-help me?"

As I made this gesture, it copied me exactly, top two hands arching up to rest on its head. I heard what sounded like my voice coming from its head. "H-help y-y-you?"

I nodded, hesitantly. It appeared to consider this for an age, frozen in position. Finally, it nodded as well. I wasn't sure what this was supposed to mean, but I hoped it was good.

It leaned in close again, reaching with all four hands to cup the back of my head. Before touching me this time, it stopped and tilted its head to the side. I nodded in response, hoping I was doing the right thing. It gently intertwined its fingers into my hair, tugging on it gently to tilt my head back and guide it upwards. While doing so, it leaned forward and down, letting my face pass through the tickly veil of leaves around its head. This time, I felt soft, textured lips press against my own. I closed my eyes. For all that I had no fucking idea what was happening, it was a good kiss.

The creature leaned away, and appeared to regard me for a moment. Finally, she withdrew her hands from my hair and guided us both to our feet. As she did, I felt all of the pain and fear drain out of my body. It felt amazing – even my legs weren’t trembling like they should have been from supporting my entire weight. I breathed a sigh of relief. I stood there and looked at her, waiting for whatever would happen next.

Her hands returned to my body and began to remove my clothes. I went along with it - it felt like she had my best interests at heart, and I was willing to follow her lead. And – I was more than a little curious. Being undressed by a creature with four long arms was a unique feeling. She guided my own arms up with two hands while pulling my shirt off with the others. Shoes, socks, pants, underwear, the rest of it followed as she let me lean against her. I idly traced a hand across her skin, feeling her as she had felt me. Her skin was so soft, for all that it looked rough and bark-like. It was an unnerving texture, but she felt solid and real in a way that she shouldn't have. Finally, she tugged my bra in a few different directions, as though she wasn't quite sure what to do with it. I unclasped it for her and let it fall to the ground with the rest. The cold night air breezed across my skin, but I felt warm. I put my hands over myself reflexively, but I wasn't very self-conscious. She guided my arms back to my sides gently but firmly.

I wiggled my toes in the earth, unsure what was going to happen next. The creature's actions did nothing to resolve my confusion: she reached into a pocket in her skirt and pulled out a seed. I couldn't tell what kind it was, but it was about the size of a dime. She stepped closer again, holding the seed between two fingers in one of her hands. One more step, and she was steadying me with the other three hands. I wondered why. She didn’t keep me wondering long: she took the hand holding the seed, and plunged it into my chest.

As violent as that action seemed, there was no immediate pain. My breath caught in my throat in shock as I looked down at the arm sticking out of my chest. A slight trickle of blood welled up in my mouth and dripped down my chin, but there was none at the site of the injury. I stood there, gasping for breath that wouldn't come, for what seemed like an eternity as she adjusted her fingers inside of me. Finally, she withdrew her hand, leaving no visible wound, shaking a few errant drops of my blood from her fingers. The seed was inside me now

I took a deep, shuddering breath - and then the pain came. It lanced at my core with every beat of my heart, throbbing, throbbing. I screamed and clutched at my chest, scrabbling at skin as though I could tear the seed out. It was horrifying for just a moment, before the pain began to feel distant, bearable. I looked in at the creature in shock, let my arms fall to my sides. She just kept holding me, rocking me gently and resting her chin on my head.

My breaths slowed, as did the wild beating of my heart. While the pain lessened, it was spreading throughout my chest and beyond, like something was changing within me. I leaned wordlessly against her. Was this what dying felt like? It wasn't so bad, I guess.

I breathed in. I could barely feel my heart anymore. Now that I thought of it, I couldn't feel my legs again either - but this time there was no pins and needle sensation. I breathed out.

I breathed in. I looked down, and I had no legs. My torso flowed directly into what looked like a tree trunk. Maybe there was an impression of where my legs where? But no sensation, no movement. The wooden skin was creeping up my body, numbing me as it slowly grew. I breathed out.

My name is Willow.

I breathed in, and Willow ceased her embrace. She raised my arms above my head. It felt like they were moving through water, and I felt no need to put them back after she had posed me. She stepped away from me, with one last caress of my face. I felt the tingling of her touch long after she had withdrawn, as though all of my senses were melting and shifting. I breathed out.

You are safe now.

I breathed in. I couldn't shift my torso now, could barely move my neck. This was fine, I thought. This is okay. I breathed out.

I can protect you here. Nothing will hurt you.

I breathed in.

Safety.

I breathed out.

Light.

I breathed in.

Warmth.

I breathed out.

Goodnight, dear Aspen tree.

I breathed in.

I breathed out.

I breathed in.

I breathed out.

And, finally, fondly this time: See you in the morning.