I was once a beauty until I became the pursuit of one of the darkest evils of the world. I grew up in a forested residence, my friends counting among the wolves that roam there, and the foxes with their cunning stares.

Now, I have aged, not in numbers but by a spell that was cast upon me by a sorcerer that lived in the shadows of an enchanted garden. It was a garden betrothed to a white rose. And, in all the flowers that bloomed in the garden, the radiance of the white rose overshadowed their beauty by far in comparison. It was a proscribed rose that could forbid enchanters to its sensuous attraction.

I remember looking at a wolf in the eye once, thinking that something lurked behind those glowering eyes that stared back at me. It had been standing on a rock, glaring deep into my eyes, then, it ran away after seeing that I stood rooted to the ground staring back at it with the same intensity.

It didn’t attack me like I was told how the wolves would. It didn’t notice that I was shivering and trembling in fright. It is said that once it sensed fear, it would harm you. I ran back home to tell my grandmother, the matron of the sprawling residence with whom I lived, within the grounds of that enchanted forest.

It became my possession when my parents died while hunting foxes deep there. Some wild animals had attacked and killed them. I was ten, and didn’t dare question those that whispered to me about the way they died. I remember them saying that it was a “tragic consequence – almost like a curse.” Their bodies were mauled and torn to pieces, they said. “No one dies that way,” an aunt had whispered at the funeral, torment evident in her eyes.

My grandmother said after, that anyone who cared to look at their bodies was tormented for days at end. It was too gory a scene to forget, or put asunder.

As I neared adolescence, something drew me to the forest every time. I would wake up hearing sounds in the wee hours of the morning. My sleep all gone, I would sit by my window to look out at the vast forest till the rise of the Sun. There was something out there I didn’t want to miss seeing, something I couldn’t quite fathom what, and I was curious.

The sounds that came from within that forest were so like the bells that toll when a clock tower announces its hourly time. I could hear the clatter of the birds, the swishes of the leaves, the wild calls of the wolves, and of the cunning foxes.

I could even hear the gentle sounds of the creek that ran from one end to another, adjacent to the hills where springs of water gushes forth from. Fishes splashing, its fins gyrating, I could hear them all even if they were hidden from my sight.

That forest was a place of beauty and inexplicable happenings. The dead inhabited its dwelling too, I was told once. I believed it, as there were times when I walked alone on the leaf strewn paths overshadowed by huge stocky trees to where the creek was, and I felt a shadowy presence.

It was not the usual kind of feeling that I get when I go walking in the seclusion of the forest’s surroundings. This presence made my hair stand on its end. A cold breeze would touch me and I would feel a shiver run down my spine. There would be eeriness surrounding me.

Anyway, I would just shrug away that scary moment, and be on my way. I pretended that it didn’t affect me in any way.

It was while I was treading on those paths one day, that I had seen the wolf with the glowering eyes. I often wondered if it was that same wolf that I sensed follow me sometimes. I did think a couple of times that an animal hid between the bushes while I took my walks. The swishing of the leaves and animal scent were dead giveaway signs that led me to suspect that an animal was close at hand.

It didn’t always follow my tracks. There were days when nothing disturbed me and I felt myself languish in the beauty and stillness of the forest. I would sit by the creek and be nourished by the perfect scents of nature that permeated the whole environment.

Even though I knew that things moved hidden, things out of the ordinary, there was an intense desire in me to follow those paths, to seek the solace that was found within the enclave of the tranquil forest. I didn’t fear the hidden as much as I was curious of its origins.

Most of all, I was enamored by the enchanted garden which was confined within those grounds, wherein its magnificent ambiance, a white rose grew in prominence. It had a magnetic attraction that I couldn’t overlook or dismiss. It somehow stilled me to its perfection.

The rose was of the purest of white, its leaves, a glazed green, and on its stems were thorns as sharp as splintered needles, hidden from view and closeted by those shiny fresh leaves. Nothing in that garden could stand out in prominence or radiate a beauty that was as astounding as that white rose. In all of the garden’s precious flowers, it was one of a kind, a single rose that made everything else pale in comparison.

My grandmother said that the rose was an enchanted rose. That the rose bush sprouted overnight from the rich, fertile soil of the forest, and that it beguiled admirers with its mesmerizing beauty.

It had a hypnotic attraction, I couldn’t deny, and it is said that it charmed beautiful women with its appealing fragrance. The aroma of the white rose lingered long after one left its premises. It created illusions of awe in one’s mind for that enchanted rose.

Grandmother went on to say that, therein lived the soul of a sorcerer who could devour the beauty of fair maidens. She was a jealous sorcerer who could never stand the thought of another who possessed beauty as captivating as hers. She was as evil as she was beautiful.

The sorcerer had once been a princess who ruled the kingdom of the forest. She was one, who, obsessed with her beauty and her form, would seek out maidens of great beauty and lure them to the darkest parts of the forest, in order to have them killed by the wild beasts that roamed there. Hundreds of young maidens died that way, their bodies never to be found or traced. Later, she would consume their blood.

I had listened to my grandmother stupefied. I wondered if what she said was true, and was keen to encounter the sorcerer whose soul resided in that gorgeous plant. I slowly realized that my mother, who was a great beauty herself, had died just as tragically. Since, I possessed her looks, would I also be subjected to a tragedy as that which had befallen my mother?

I soon became aware that my beauty was often the talk of the town’s people.

People, who knew my backstory, swore that it was the spirit of my mother that lived in me. She had taken control of me the day she died. They said that my resemblance to her was too stark to be ignored. It was in everything I did; the way I spoke, the way I walked, the way I often let my mind wander to the forest that besotted me.

Yes, I think people were more afraid of my beauty than anything else. It was of a bewitching beauty that silenced. And, every so often, relatives and friends would tell my grandmother to take extra care that I don’t wander off to the forest alone. Didn’t my grandmother learn from the death of my mother?

My mother was a great beauty who left people awestruck by her likeness to an angelic entity. Of which entity, I do not know, as I was not to mention nor question it. But I had heard that she was just as appealing to the grudges of the dark underworld. The spirits of the darkness too was in pursuit of her mind, body, and soul which were why the seers and psychics she consulted had often warned her not to venture out in the dark of the night.

Yes, my grandmother said that once my mother had been possessed by an evil spirit. She could see it in her eyes, and she had taken her to a psychic to have it removed. The psychic managed to take out the spirit and cautioned my mother about the dreads of the evils that were lurking around to possess her mortal soul. They came out in the dark, when night hid their vicious spirits behind ungodly hours until it was time for them to emerge, and it was then that these spirits took bodily control of people unaware of its dominance.

My grandmother would often say that beauty that entrances will attract both light and darkness. Well, my mother’s beauty was incomparable, entrancing and indulgent hence, I was sure she would have been the pursuit of unseen forces that controlled light and darkness.

I would often stop to stare at her portrait that my grandmother had hanged on the landing of the staircase, just to see my resemblance to her and be reminded at how alike we were. Our resemblances to each other never failed to surprise me. Every time I looked at her, it was like a new dawning.

Then, each time I went up to my chamber, I felt her eyes follow me. Her eyes were deep and penetrating, and were of a beautiful green. She kept watch over me, and I was neither scared nor troubled by it. It was always her spirit that would guard my grandmother and me, and not my father’s. My grandmother said that my father was not as pure in spirit as her, as such; we never felt his presence lingering anywhere close to us.

We did pray for the repose of his soul though, just so that he would rest in peace.

One fine day, when the weather was at its best, so endearing in its touch to my senses, I lingered a little longer at the creek. I saw my reflection in its clear waters, and the face that stared back at me looked as resplendent as the blue of the pristine waters.

My face was oval in shape, and my green eyes I knew was as enticing as the white rose’s perfume that wafted to where I was seated. My lips were rose red, and I attributed it to the freezing cold of the weather. My porcelain face stared back at me as one who was endowed with a magnetizing beauty. Not many can attest to having skin and tone so smooth and silky, such as that face reflected on the surface of the gentle, soothing waters.

I knew that I looked beautiful. I stared at my reflection feeling a sudden glow overcome me. There was a song in my heart and my feet were nimble and light as I stood up on the soft rocks that surrounded the creek.

I was the happiest at that moment.

Suddenly, I felt a strong breeze brush past me. I felt myself whirling at its sudden contact with my body. I felt lightheaded, and couldn’t stop my head from spinning. I sat down on a higher rock by the creek, holding my head in my hands, hoping for the dizziness to go away.

I don’t know how long I sat there, but it seemed like the hours bypassed me with alacrity. I heard someone say something to me.

“Who is that?” I asked, a little fearful. The voice was hoarse and unintelligible.

I heard laughter in the background. It seemed like the whole of the forest was laughing at me. Echoes of the laughter vibrated throughout the forest. I looked around when I heard the echoes. I looked to see if anyone was close by and there wasn't.

“Who are you?” I questioned once more, trying to steady myself from falling off the rock.

There was no answer forthcoming and I started getting fidgety.

I tried to stand up when something pushed me back to sit down. It wasn’t rough in its handling of me but neither was it a gentle push. There was something sinister behind its powerful ****** at me.

Then, I heard the voice say with a little more clarity.

“Don’t you know who I am? I have been a haunt to you since you were a child.”

I started trembling a little. I felt eyes from behind the bushes and trees staring hard at me.

“No, I don’t know who you are.” I answered. Trying to be brave, I said, “Why don’t you show yourself to me. Maybe, then, I might recognize you.”

The laughter turned cynical this time. I took a quick look around. My head wasn’t spinning so much anymore. That eerie laughter, which had first sounded like it came from some place far, was getting closer.

Afraid of the voice, I shut my ears, and tears started rolling down my face. I suddenly looked at my reflection in the water, and was taken aback to see an old woman standing behind me. She was the ugliest woman I had ever seen.

She wore a black garb, with a hood over her head. Her face was all wrinkled with deep lines running down the corners of her mouth, and her eyes were eyes of evil. They were blackened with hatred and animosity.

I turned to see if she really was standing behind me, but saw nothing instead. I heard the leaves moving with the winds in the background, and felt cold all over. I looked again at the reflection in the water and there she was, still standing behind me.

I suppressed a scream when she smiled. It was so distasteful that she looked like a demon, her teeth like that of the wolves. She almost gnarled when she opened her mouth to speak.

“So, my dear beauty, do you recognize me now?”

At that moment, I felt faint, and jumped when I felt her old wrinkly hand on my shoulder. She held me tight and pressed her nails deep into my flesh. I was sure that my skin was ruptured by her long claw-like nails, and felt blood oozing down my shoulder.

What she did next frightened me out of my skin. She started licking her fingers, wet from my blood. She kept on licking her fingers hungrily, like she was enjoying the taste of my blood. I stared at her, shocked beyond words, and when she saw the tears in my eyes, she put her forefinger out to touch it. I tried to move away from her disgusting touch but I was rooted where I was seated.

“Tears!” her voice crackled as she said it. “Ah, yes, they are for the soft-hearted, aren’t they?” Her ugly laughter rang out loud after that, echoing eerily across the forest. Some birds perched on the trees nearby, flew away in fright. Her crackled voice was tormenting to say the least, that even the creatures of the forest grew afraid of its sound.

“I have the means to let the wild beasts that await a feast like you, have their way. But, I think I will play a little game with you first, before I let them devour you. I have waited for a long time to get you, my little beauty. Do you still not know who I am? Well, let me tell you, then. I was once a beautiful princess who ruled over this forest, the most beautiful creature in its entire kingdom.”

As she said that, as if in agreement with what she said, a wolf howled from somewhere close by.

The old wrinkled woman let out an eerie cry too, in answer to the wolf. I felt my whole body stiffen. My fear was inexplicable.

When she opened her mouth, her protruding and large uneven teeth was stained with traces of my blood. I cringed and let out a whimper at the gory sight of her. She stopped to stare at me, her eyes angry and frighteningly red. They were bloodshot and the veins pronounced. She had the ugliest eyes any one could imagine.

Then, she smiled at me. With sudden greed, she started touching the blood on my shoulder and slurping it again off her fingers. She kept on doing the same over and over like she was quenching a hidden thirst.

I winced, crying softly as the pain on my shoulders increased, my eyes glued at her reflection on the water, when suddenly, I saw her transform into the most beautiful maiden I had ever laid eyes on. I couldn’t believe my eyes.

There was light radiating all around her. She held a golden wand in her hand; her black robe had changed into a purple and red gown, with a golden hemline running down its centerpiece. She wore a small crown of rubies on her head and her hair was long, cascading down to her waist, and jet black - the shiniest you have ever seen. Her face was as translucent as the clear waters that ran down the creek, and her ugly eyes now shone like beautiful blue crystals.

She stood there looking at me with a smug expression on her face, like she finally succeeded at being released from a dark spell. It was definitely an evil spell that had befallen her, and I turned out to be the maiden whose beauty tainted with blood, enabled her release.

“Well, well, so it is you who would finally restore me to my human form. I had hundreds of maidens killed by the wild beasts that roam this forest, to seek my freedom from a dark spell cast upon me by a wicked sorcerer who had the audacity to take my beauty away.

The only way I could be freed was to drink the blood of a ****** maiden so fair in the entire kingdom, which I tried to attain from the hundreds that walked through this garden, who unfortunately succumbed to tragic deaths under the wrath of the wild beasts that guarded me here.

However, none of their blood could resurrect me to the way I was before. I am the white rose that enchants anyone who enters my garden, who was cursed, transformed into a hideous witch, and who is now liberated!”

I stared in absolute astonishment at the bewitching woman who now whirled around in glee, happiness shining in her face. The light that radiated from her body made her look like a goddess. Then to my utter disbelief, when I shifted my eyes to look at my reflection in the water, I saw that I had turned into the old woman, the one who had pressed her nails into my shoulders and drank my blood earlier. I had become the hideous witch, while the freed sorcerer had regained her beauty!

I blinked, unsure if my eyes were deceiving me. The fear in me knew no bounds. Then, like in a trance, my eyes were drawn again to the beautiful lady standing behind me.

The bewitching lady continued, just as if she didn’t see my transformation, “And, for years I have waited for a chance to take a sip of your blood, for I have seen you enter my garden, and stare at me for hours. I could sense a need in you, to pluck me off my stem, but you never did, did you? Did you feel guilty trying to pluck the white rose? Ha, ha, ha, ha!”

She laughed, though this time her laugh was humanely tolerable. She didn’t shriek like the last time. However, underneath the sinuous laughter, I could detect a tinge of maliciousness.

I started screaming hysterically at my reflection in the water. I touched my face and it felt saggy and wrinkled. I looked down at my hands and it was just like that of the old woman. And, instead of my beautiful pastel pink dress, I was wearing the old woman’s black garb. Through my screams, I heard White Rose laughing.

“Ha, ha, ha, well, it is your turn to wallow in captivity. I shall curse you to a life of a diseased plant that only blooms once every thousand years. And when it does, and you are lucky enough to drink from the nectar of its flower, then you shall be free. Or, if by chance you drink the blood of a sweet maiden just as I did, then, you shall be freed. Until such time, you shall remain the captive of the most beautiful sorcerer in all of creation.”

I started shouting to be set free, “Let me go, you wicked witch. Let me go!!” I suddenly realized that my voice had turned hoarse and crackled when I spoke. Something caught in my throat, and I couldn’t speak as I normally did anymore.

My bones were aching and as I arched to get up from the rock, I felt my whole body stiffen and my shoulders become hunched. My finger nails were hideous and claw-like. I tried to hold on to the rock to steady myself but kept slipping into the water. I couldn’t walk properly. I looked down at my feet, and they were webbed with only three toes on my feet.

Totally flabbergasted, I turned to look at White Rose who by this time had disappeared somewhere deep into the forest. I felt choked once more. The lump in my throat started aching. When I touched my throat, the sagging skin made me shudder with dread and I could imagine how bizarre I looked at that moment.

I couldn’t cry anymore. Any sound that came off me sounded like the howl of the wolves in the forest. I went inside the garden to look at the rose bush, only to find that the white rose plant had withered and died. Its petals looked discolored and lay shriveled on the ground. Even the leaves of the plant looked jaded and droopy. The stem of the plant looked diseased. There were black spots on it, and the whole rose plant smelled of rotting flesh. No more was it the sensation that it was when it ruled as the beauty of the kingdom of the forested garden.

My insipid mind thought about what my grandmother said. She warned me about the sorcerer that lived within that rose bush. I wanted so badly to go back to my mansion, but surely it would terrify my grandmother to see me in this condition. She wouldn’t recognize me for a start, and she would probably die of seizure seeing the repugnant appearance that had taken my form.

I knew that she would be frantic by now, since I hadn’t returned home. There would surely be a search party, and even if they were within close vicinity, I couldn’t show myself to them, could I? They might kill me thinking that I was the sorcerer instead. Well, I might look like her, but, I didn’t have the capacity to cast dark magic or spells.

I felt hopeless and walked about aimlessly. Nothing made sense to me at this juncture. I plucked some leaves off the stocky trees and ate some seeds, and then went into hiding in some bushes nearby the creek. I fell fast asleep, and at some point, I heard myself growling, then, went back to a restless sleep. I don’t know what made me growl, but I felt vicious eyes upon me. Too tired to be concerned about it, I fell asleep again.

I woke up to the sounds of people calling out for me. The search party had finally arrived. I looked between the bushes to see my grandmother and a few uncles, together with some policemen scouting the area. My grandmother looked frantic, and my uncles had worried frowns on their faces. Some tears fell off my eyes, but, dried just as quickly.

What was I to do? I wondered. The curse of the bewitching White Rose had me fuming like a wild animal. There was smoke coming out of my nostrils. I climbed atop a nearby tree and hid myself between its thick branches, my heart aching to run to my grandmother, to tell her that it was me, that the evil sorcerer, White Rose, had cast her wicked curse on me.

“Grandma, you won’t find me until this curse is lifted. Please be brave, and pray Grandma, to be strong willed to face my disappearance.” I whispered in my heart.

The search party looked and looked for me, while I was sometimes only inches away. I felt helpless that their search would be in vain.

I heard my grandmother repeat, “She is always here, never ventures anywhere else in the forest. Please look for her once more.”

Then, she started crying loudly when she saw the white rose plant, all obliterated and stinking. Its stench was so nauseous, when at one time its lovely scent perfumed the gardens.

I think she suspected that the evil sorcerer had killed me because she said, “Look, look at the white rose bush. It was the one that enchanted her the most. I warned her about going near it!”

One of my uncles took her hand in his and guided her out of the garden. “Let’s go,” he said to the rest. “It will be dark soon. Let’s hope and pray that our girl returns home safe and sound. We will come back again at the first dawn of daylight.”

I heard my grandmother sobbing and felt my heart go cold. I regretted staying out so long in the forest. Long enough for the sorcerer to find me and cast her spell on me.

After they had gone, I climbed down the tree. With my hunched shoulders and my shriveled form, it was difficult for me to be fast in my steps. I felt like a huge animal in a small body, and limped terribly while taking my steps.

I stood looking at their receding backs, still hidden from view, in case one of them heard me and returned to look for me again. I growled and gnarled; a disgruntled animal in a human body.

Darkness soon fell and the forest showed the other side of its facade, unlike in the daytime when it was so fresh and alive.

There were eerie sounds coming from the bushes and trees. I could hear animals prowling the area, looking for fresh meat, and shuddered. I climbed up the same tree to hide yet again, hoping fervently that it would be morning soon.

The owls hooted and one flew and sat on the branch next to me. I jumped when I saw its large glowing eyes in the dark. Bats swam the area. The air was freezing cold, and I suddenly felt hair growing on my arms and legs. They looked like the fur on wild animals. I thought about a chameleon then, how it changed with the surroundings. I mustered that when it was cold, I grew fur all over my body to keep me warm.

The owl stared at me and hooted a couple of times. Almost like it was a call to the bats, a few flew to perch upside down on the branches in my tree. I was so shaken and frightened in my human heart. There were no tears this time. I wondered if the animals thought that I was an animal just like them.

Then, I heard her voice ring loud, singing to the wild animals. It was like a mating call, and suddenly the whole forest was pulsating with clatter and commotion. The birds flew about crazily, their wings flapping wildly, the waters of creek, gentle as it was in the daytime, now rushed like the wild seas, splashing its hurried waters on the rocks nearby, and the animals were disgruntled and disturbed.

Fear seized me yet again. Was this how the animals and birds felt when they heard her song? I covered my face with the hood, and closed my ugly eyes.

However, she found me. She was standing at the foot of the tree, looking up at me. I saw that her beautiful face lighted up the whole garden. Beautiful face? Hmmph!! She had the ugliest heart any one could ever imagine.

A few of the bats flew away, but, the owl with the scary eyes looked first at her, and then at me. Then, as if tired with all the unwarranted drama, it hooted a couple of times, and closed it eyes to sleep.

White Rose smiled the most angelic smile, and beckoned me to get down the tree. At first, I refused to do her bidding, but, when she said, “Come down, before I send a wild beast up the tree and maul you down.” I became terrified, and slowly climbed down the tree. She had moved away and stood in the center of the garden.

I had never seen beauty such as hers. Flawless, she reminded of the angels that caroused the heavens on lyres and harps. Her dark hair shone in the moonlight, and she looked graceful and composed.

I limped to where she stood. “Take this curse off me, I say. How dare you? You have destroyed me by this wicked spell you have cast upon me. Lift this curse off me, right now!!”

White Rose started laughing, first cynically, then, in ridicule. “What, you dare stand there in that form and demand your release? Don’t you know that I can curse you for another thousand years, and turn you into a wild beast with no turning back?

Walking about the garden, she suddenly said with a wicked gleam in her eyes. “Well, I thought hard about letting the wild beasts eat you. However, I decided that I shall keep you alive so that in the event I need some of your blood again, I can always take it anytime I want, so in a nutshell, I need you to be alive.”

She started laughing hysterically once more. “You never know if the old sorcerer who cursed me might come back to haunt me again!”

My heart cringed at her hideous words. I scampered away, frightened, and sat under the tree. I saw her looking at me taking painful steps, knowing that she would be elated by my misery.

She smiled sweetly again. “Tired, are you? Well, get some rest, and I shall see you in the morning. Why don’t we become friends? That might make you less miserable.” Her laughter rang loud and vibrated with the winds of the forest.

There was a sudden strong draft as I saw her disappearing into the bushes and trees. The vicious eyes that watched out for her followed her, and I thought I heard that lone wolf around me again.

I closed my eyelids, as they felt heavy with sleep, but sleep didn’t come as quickly. My whole body started aching so badly that I twisted and turned in that hideous form.

At around midnight, when the moon hid behind the clouds, and darkness covered the whole of the forest, I started howling like a wolf. I still sat under the tree. I felt a small animal run over my feet and scamper into a hole in a tree nearby. I jumped and started howling.

My howl was that of a tortured animal and I couldn’t stop the mournful cry escaping my blistered mouth.

Suddenly the shape of my face took on that of a wolf. My eyes stretched across my face, and I felt my form turn into that of a big burly animal.

My furred webbed feet started scratching the ground until I made a deep depression in the soil. The black hood fell off my head and dropped onto my shoulders, and I felt the black garb that I was wearing turn into long, thick hair that stretched across my hunched body.

The moon appeared yet again, and I roamed the garden looking for food to eat. I was famished and I hungered for blood and meat. I howled louder this time. It amplified my urges to appease hunger.

I saw a small four legged animal come out of the shadows of the bushes nearby, like in answer to my hunger call. I ran towards it with the speed of a lightning, caught it in between my sharp fangs, and devoured it, meat, blood and organs. It tasted so good that except for the splattered blood on the ground, there was nothing else left of the little animal.

Having satisfied my hunger pangs, I walked out of the garden to where the creek was. I stood on top of a high rock, and howled at the moon.

The moon shined brightly once again. I howled at it as its rays shimmered in the gentle waters, and when I saw my reflection in that light, I became so scared and started scratching the surface of the rock frantically, then; I jumped down from the rock and ran back into the garden.

My eyes craned for the tree that had been my hiding place when the search party came looking for me.

But, the tree was no more. It had fallen, crumbled to the ground and its branches were strewn all over the garden.

The owl was missing and the bats had flown someplace else. The whole atmosphere was frighteningly quiet, and I sensed that I was alone in the garden.

A strong gust of wind blew and I felt my long furry hair stand on its ends. The air was freezing cold. I looked at my arms, and it looked like what a scared animal would look like when chased for the kill - stiff and spiky.

Where were the rest of the animals, the birds and the other creatures that was in the garden just hours earlier? Where had they disappeared to? What happened to the tree?

I looked around and shivered. The atmosphere was eerily quiet. Shadowy images reflected under the moonlight, and figures of unknown creatures lurked from behind the bushes and trees.

The animal instinct in me braced for a sudden attack, or something equally horrific about to take place. I paced the garden, unsure of what to do. I didn’t feel like going back to the creek. I was too afraid to run out of the garden, so I stayed rooted to the spot I was on.

The moon was slowly disappearing into the clouds once more. Darkness was beginning to envelope the forest again.

I sat down in the middle of the garden, where earlier White Rose had been standing.

The exhaustion of the day was seeping into my human body. I yawned, but, I was too afraid to lie down or close my eyes.

I wasn’t sure if I could sleep anytime during the night. I had to stay awake in case something happened.

I sensed something strange about to take place. I was bracing myself for the worst.