When Night Falls

She looked into the mirror and found a pleasant image looking back. She had a young, beautiful face with short, dirty blond hair. Her crystal blue eyes looked into the mirror as she did her hair just right - she wanted some to fall down the side of her face, but not too much. Her small mouth was slightly open as she concentrated, revealing her well-rounded, glossy lips. Her room was small, well-lit, her favorite artwork was everywhere, and she liked it that way.

Perfect. It was perfect. She stepped back from the mirror and looked at her outfit. Revealing, but not too revealing. Some would even say casual-formal, even though she was on her way to a party… She wanted the guys to see her vibrant spirit more than anything else, so no cleavage or unnecessary thighs tonight! She had a flashback of the last time she dressed like that… Yikes. All the wrong guys were attracted to all the wrong places. No, tonight would be different, tonight she had her eye on one boy in particular, Jeremy. They went to school together, but they didn’t find a liking to each other until both of them graduated. Since both of them were single, sparks would fly every time they met, even if it was only for a moment.

She bit the left side of her lip in anticipation, but she quickly caught herself before she messed up her gloss! “I can’t be having these kinds of thoughts right now” she reassured herself, “I have to get to the party first.”

“Hannah! What are you doing up there? It’s dinnertime!”

Crap! Her mom never made dinner this early, it was only 5:00! She rolled her eyes; she knew she had to find her own place, especially since she worked at her local recruiting office. She was getting paid good money, so she could move out whenever she wanted to, but she wasn’t focusing on that right now… Well, maybe a little bit. She couldn’t say anything to her mom because she didn’t know about the party… If she knew, she’d have a fit. She had to come up with something, and it had to be quick.

“Mom, I told you I’m going out tonight!” She yelled back down. She didn’t think she told her mom anything about it, but she knew her mom had a bad memory. It’s okay to tell a little white lie every now and again, right?

“What? Where are you going?”

“I’m going… On a date!” She winced after she said that. A date? She wished. She liked parties but she was only going there to find him. Wait, she had an idea! Maybe she could convince him to leave with her and go somewhere private! That would count as a date! And then she wouldn’t be lying after all… Her plan was set.

“Don’t tell me you’re going on a date with that Jeremy boy. He’s got a bad reputation you know!” She knew her mom was being overprotective, but she heard the stories too… She heard he went to the abandoned barn and tore it down in the middle of the night, and that was one of the tamer things he did! She also heard he knew how to play, and that concerned her more than anything else.

"Don’t worry mom, I’ll be fine! He’s a nice guy!” She thought over what she said… She didn’t lie, but she didn’t tell the full truth. Well, it’ll have to do - she loved her mother but she could be too much at times.

She finished getting ready and came downstairs into the small living room. It was a basic home, save for the artwork all around the house. Her father was an artist, so he knew a lot of people who gave him their fine works, and she deeply appreciated them.

“Love you mom” she said as she kissed her on the cheek. “I’ll be back before midnight.”

“You be careful now, okay? I don’t want him taking advantage of my beautiful daughter. And whatever you do, don’t end up in the woods! You know how that goes.”

“Don’t worry mom, I’ll be okay.” She smiled and walked out of the front door.

She wanted to get there a half-hour after it started so she could eat and get right to dancing. She didn’t like setting up, although she had done it before. She knew that her best night was one of music, dancing, good food, and hot boys… Her stomach suddenly churned with butterflies. What was she going to say? She didn’t approach a ton of guys, but Jeremy was special, so she’d make an exception. She wasn’t going to worry about it, she’d think of something.

Wow, it was a big party! She didn’t expect this many people to be here since her friend was hosting it at her house. Maybe 50? She couldn’t quite count all the heads. She didn’t see Jeremy right off the bat either, so she wondered where he was.

Lasagna and mashed potatoes were her favorite! She was so glad that was the meal for tonight. Her friend knew what she liked and she often put it out just for her. She was a little embarrassed when she put both dishes on the same plate. They just… Didn’t seem to belong together. Normal people eat lasagna and mashed potatoes at the same time, right? Was that a thing? She didn’t even know, but she didn’t really care after taking a couple of bites.

“Hannaaaaaaah! My beautiful princess!” Her friend was always sweet to her when they met for the first time in a while. She was sweet in general, but especially after a few months or so.

“Hiiii Joanna. It’s been a while!”

The two embraced until Hannah wanted to comment on the party.

“Wow, you really outdid yourself this time! Is there a special occasion?”

“Well, I’m trying to attract that boy over there” she said as she pointed and put her other hand on her lips.

Hannah turned her head and, sure enough, there was a man who looked to be in his late 20s. Clean-cut, well-dressed, eloquent. He was hanging out with the wrong crowd, though - he definitely wasn’t her type, but she was happy for her friend nonetheless. She gasped.

“Oh, my, gosh! He looks so good” she said with a high-pitched squeal near the end. She was about to say something else until Joanna put her hand over her mouth. Hannah turned to face her.

“But enough about me… I know who you’re here to see. Jeremy! She’s here!”

What?! She just told him?! And never mind that, how did she know?! She never told anybody that she liked him! How? Her eyes widened with momentary panic and her hands rushed to her friends shoulders.

“No, no, you didn’t just do that to me. I could barely handle it before, I certainly can’t handle it now. I ca…”

There he was, walking towards her in a full stride. Their eyes met right as soon as they were in sight of each other, and he wasted no time in walking right up to her. He stopped, threw his shoulders back, put his hands on his hips and said, “hey there.”

Hannah still had her hands on her friend’s shoulders and she was looking at him with that wild look in her eyes. She was frozen in place for a moment, then she gulped and said “h-hey” in a shaky voice.

Joanna saw that her boy had moved away from his friends so she put one hand on each of her friends’ shoulders and said, “I’ll be seeing you two lovebirds around." Then she walked away.

He had dirty blond hair that went down to his shoulders. He had a face and body that was perfectly chiseled, he looked like he was the son of a Greek god. That night he was wearing a striped button down shirt and light blue jeans, and he knew damn well she liked to see him like that - it had come up in conversation before.

“Great party, huh?” He spoke with an enthusiastic and charming voice.

“Uhh… Yeah! Yeah it’s great. To be honest, I just got here.”

“No kidding! So did I.” His voice became more sincere than enthusiastic. “But your friend there, she told me to hide as soon as I got here. She told me you like surprises.”

She rolled her eyes and shifted her weight onto her left foot. “Well, yeah, normally I do. But not when I’m trying to psyche myself to talk to a cute boy.”

He smiled. “Hey, I’ve got an idea. We’ve been talking for a while now, and I want to know you better. I say we leave and go somewhere a little more private. What do you think?”

Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open before saying, “Actually, yeah! I was thinking the exact same thing!” Her face started to blush.

“I know the perfect place. Come on! I’ll give you a ride.”

He turned around and her face lit up with excitement! She didn’t want him to see how enthusiastic she was, so she kept herself under control as they made their way to his car.

---

They found themselves in a restaurant not too far from her friend's place. They caught up, exchanged a few laughs, but there was something else on both of their minds as well…

"So" she said with a curt yet seductive tone, "I would bring you home tonight but my mother doesn't like you!"

"Don't worry about it! My buddies are back at my apartment tearing the place up, so I kinda know how you feel."

She laughed a cute laugh before looking into his eyes. He knew what that look meant, "I want to spend more time with you, so think of something!" So, he thought for a minute.

"Alright, I've got an idea" he said enthusiastically. "Everyone and their mother has told us the tales of the forest. That means no one goes in there, so why don't we check it out! It'll be fun and exciting!"

She raised her eyebrows and slightly bit her lip. "Honestly, I don't believe them! No one I know has ever disappeared from walking in there, so I think it's the perfect place to…"

She put his hand on his.

"...have some fun."

He smiled, grabbed her hand and pulled her out of her chair! She giggled in delight as they made their way to his car once again.

---

There it was, the edge of the forest. She was starting to get scared, but with Jeremy by her side anything was possible! They ran in together.

Laughing, jumping, not a care in the world! This was better than the party in every way! When they felt they went far enough they stopped running and immediately embraced each other, expressing their delight as they did so.

"I've been thinking about you" he said in a seductive tone.

"Me too" she responded as she tightened her grip around him. "I've been wanting you for a long time."

They stayed like this for a minute, then they kissed. Such a passionate kiss from the both of them. Being in the middle of the woods didn't matter, the night was warm and their desire was intense… They wanted to go further.

A snap. Both of them looked in that direction, expecting to see somebody there. But it was just a deer walking some distance away.

"Ooo, kinda scary!" She said in an excited voice. "I was afraid someone found us."

"I know! Maybe the stories are true after all."

She smiled and they picked up where they left off. They were very much wanting each other in that moment, but he noticed something out of the corner of his eye.

The deer was walking away, but it was very slow. It also periodically turned its head to look at them, look back at where it was going, and look back at them. He knew this wasn't how deer behaved - they weren't smart. They weren't conscious of their actions like this.

He turned his head and began to watch. Fear began to rise within him and she sensed it immediately.

"What's wrong?"

"Mmm… Nothing, Hannah. It's nothing."

But right after he said this she heard what he saw. The deer turned completely around and stared at them. Just… Stared at them. They slowly began collecting themselves in preparation, they sensed something terrible was about to happen. This was not how deer acted, something was awfully out of place here.

They scrunched their foreheads in confusion and fear, adrenaline and cortisol began pumping through them. They didn't know what to do - the deer was standing in between them and the way back to his car, and if they ran further into the woods who knew what would happen. So they stood there and watched each other for a long while.

Eventually the deer broke its gaze and wandered off into the woods. It walked off to the side which meant they could head back to his car. They looked at each other and, after mentally de-stressing a bit, they slowly began their walk back to civilization.

They were almost there when they heard something running. Nothing was necessarily running towards them, it was just running in the distance. Leaves were crunching and branches were breaking, they really didn't know what to think of it. That's why they were extremely surprised to see a pack of three deer running towards them from the direction of the parking lot.

But how?! It sounded like it was so far away! How were they so close?! They screamed and turned around, running in the exact direction they just came from.

Looking behind him he noticed a few things. The deers were running at a very fast speed, they could barely keep their distance. Their eyes were black and their mouths were… Smiling? And showing rows of sharp teeth? What the hell was going on here?

They kept running until they saw something in the distance! A tiny shack, maybe enough for one hermit to live in, and it looked like he was long gone. They immediately climbed the steps to the porch, opened the door, and closed it behind them.

They stood with their backs against the door and wondered what they were going to do next. They could see them, they were right outside, but they didn't enter the house… Maybe it was protected in a spiritual sense, she thought. That would make sense.

"What… The hell… Are those?!" He tried to yell while catching his breath.

"I don't know, I don't know, I don't know!" She was so frantic and scared that she could barely speak, and soon she broke down and began crying.

"It's okay, we're going to get out of this" he said, even though he wasn't quite sure if he was telling the truth. He looked around him - potions and vials of all kinds, demented artwork, scrolls, bowls with who knows what inside of them, books… Lots of books.

But wait, something caught his eye. A black book with the title "teleport" written on the cover. That would be perfect, he thought! He didn't care where they went as long as they got out of there!

"Hannah, look!" She lifted her water-filled eyes to his own and he showed her the book. "It says that all we have to do is open it, and then we get out of here!"

"No way!" She screamed in disbelief and hope. He opened the book and he began to glow and vibrate, almost as if something was actually happening. It's a good thing too, the deer were very active outside, almost as if they were trying to find their way in. He quickly closed it and the effect went away.

"Oh my God oh my God! It's going to work!" She quickly got up and he handed her the book. He stood behind her, placed his hands over hers, and they opened the book together.

They teleported!

...To a beach?

Where were they?

"Where are we?" She asked right after they landed. He was just as confused as she was, so the both of them looked around.

"Welcome To The Bahamas!" The sign read.

"What?! How did we get all the way out here?!" She was shocked, surprised, and delighted at the same time.

"I don't know… I guess the book teleported us to a random place." He said. He looked down and found a $20,000 check sticking up from underneath the sand. He picked it up, then he softly grabbed her shoulder and turned her around to face him.

"I'm not complaining, though. I wanted to go on a vacation for a long time…"

She looked at him for a few seconds, then sighed and smiled. They kissed again, and after a while they both looked at each other and knew what the other wanted to do.

"You wanna go on an adventure?" She said with a smile in her eyes

"Boy, do I ever!"

Both of them turned toward the book, and opened it together once more. Who knows where they are now!