Helena bounded through the worn wooden gate and into the field where her father and brother worked, they toiled in the dirt, raking and digging furrows for the crop to be planted and they only spared smile for the young girl as she skipped about them. After a few minutes she grew bored of being politely ignored and turned and continued down through the field to where the trees rose from the earth and splayed above her like the fingers of great hangers waving in the air, she twirled about the old trunks of the trees and continued on into the wood, her fathers shout followed her in.
“Don’t go too far Helena!” the words caught her and she pouted at the authority they held, peeking about one trunk of a tree she watched the two men at their work, she imagined she was one of the fey, an elf of the forests who watched on as the humans tended to their land. Her agile mind quickly grew bored of this new game and she sought for some other amusement, she knew everything on this side of the river, the small wood of trees ran for perhaps a hundred yards to the babbling stream, which she could hear faintly as the wind swooned through the trees and caught her in its chilling embrace, behind her was their farm, her mother was in the house with the babe and she had been sent outside for being ‘tiresome’, she tried to say the word her mother had called her but she couldn’t make it fit in her mouth, glancing once more at her father and assured he was busy in his work she continued through the trees and down to the brook, the trees about her were old and worn, their leaves ready to fall they still managed to block the sun above them and only slight beams managed to break through the canopy and shoot down onto the grassy floor below. Helena danced between the rays of light until she got to the brook, she leaned perilously over the edge and stared at her blurred reflection, she could see her blonde curls and the grey of her dress, she giggled as she dropped a stone onto her mirror self and watched as the ripples spread out until calm was once again restored. She left her reflection with a smile and a wave and bounded over to where the stepping stones allowed for passage across, she remembered to keep an eye on where she put her feet and ignored her reflection as it hopped after her. Once on the other bank she paused and looked back through the trees, she could still see her brother and father and felt that she could go further before they would notice her absence, excited at the prospect of being caught she continued through the woods, she grasped at the rays of light and giggled at the way it warmed her fingers. She did not notice that she had come to the end of the tree line until the sun shone down into her eyes and she had to quickly cover her face to protect herself, as the glare abated she looked before her at the grassy clearing, it was a rough circle of unkempt grass and flowers, Helena walked forward slowly, she brushed her fingers against the soft petals of the blooming flowers, red, white and yellow petals slid through her fingers and she came away at the slightest hint of force, she stopped in the centre of the clearing, amongst the bed of flowers and smelled in their heady aroma, it was sweet and earthy. She heard the wind rustle through the trees and even turned to see it as it washed against the clearing, her eyes widened and the corners of her lips tweaked into a smile as the wind swooped down and bore away with it a cloud of flower petals, the air was now filled with twirling and dancing colours and Helena giggled as they fell about her, she twirled amid the soft and gentle downpour.
As the wind picked up once more she saw the petals thrown back into the air once more and then dragged through the trees towards the brook. She waved a goodbye to the petals and continued on and into the woods once more, here the ground was rougher and slightly steeper, she used her hands to help her climb over a rise or two and then steady herself on her descent. Having never gone this far from home before she walked slowly and took in the new surroundings with a delighted rapture, as she gazed about her she saw something dark flutter onto a rock a few feet from her. The large butterfly was graceful as it perched within a spot bathed in light, its dark brown and black speckled wings wafting lazily under Helenas gaze, she cooed and grasped out at the delicate thing, her fingers raking at the air towards the creature. The butterfly took flight at her movement and circled into the air above Helenas head, she jumped to grasp it but it sailed further and further out of her reach. She giggled as they played, it ducked and swooped about her head and she reached out to catch it up her fingers only ever closed about empty air. She followed her new found play mate further into the woods, all thoughts of staying close to her father had been banished from her head and only the thought of holding the delicate and pretty butterfly in her hands. She ran through the trees and over more rocks and mounds as she continued her chase.
The ground dipped slightly and rounded about the base of a sheer sided boulder and the butterfly disappeared around it, scrambling around the boulder she came to a halt. Her eyes took in the sight before her, zoning in on the butterfly firstly but then reeling back to see the picture as a whole. The mans body was strung up to a thick branch half way up a tree ten feet from her, his emaciated body dangled limply, the taught noose had cut into the mans neck and blood had seeped into the dirty rags that were strewn across his chest and legs, a thing piece of rope was tied about his waist to keep the clothes from slipping off of him. His skin looked like tanned leather and was covered in patches of muck and grime. His greasy hair was like a curtain over his face hiding it from the young girls view yet she could not resist trying to see his face, her body finally managed to overcome her initial fear as the wind slid against the body and he only swung slightly, the smell of decay and human excrement flooded her nostrils and it made her halt only for a second, the babe smelled bad when it needed to be changed but this was far worse. She cupped her hands before her as she walked onward again, her lips were pursed and her eyes watered as she took another step. She was just a foot away from his and she ducked to try and see his face, her urge to look was scaring her almost as much as the sight before her. She couldn’t explain it, she just had to see. She went to her hands and knees and scrunched up her nose as she noticed his bare feet, his feet were black and blue but his toes were jagged and yellow. As she knelt on the ground she looked up and through the parting of the mans hair, his face was frozen in a grimace, his lips were bared and his swollen tongue was poking out between his broken yellow teeth. His chin was covered in a scraggly and dirty beard and Helena could swear she saw small maggots moving through the thick hair. But despite all this it was his eyes that caught her attention, they were open and bulging from their sockets, swollen and red they burrowed into her. She knelt there with her mouth open as the dead man kept her stare. It was then that the protective naivety of childhood stripped away from her, she understood now that the man was dead and that she was kneeling beside a dead man. The stillness of the wood was broken by the girls flight, a blur of grey and blond as she fled back to the safety of her family. As she vanished and the wood returned to normal the butterfly returned and alighted on the dead mans shoulder. The wind shook him once more and the butterfly took flight leaving the flight of innocence and the finality of death far behind it.
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