Curse of the Midnight Mushrooms (a we-write with @kaelci)

We-Write - Part One - Kaelci
Prompt: Shade

Beneath the shade of the forest canopy, where creatures lurked in the undergrowth and overgrowth alike, Elliana sat with her mushroom-patch and watched the fungi breach the soil.

Tiny pods of red and purple shot from the soft dirt on long, gangly stalks, their hooded heads as perfectly curved as the curvature of an arched doorway. Some white ones popped up, larger and wider than the others, and then came the thin, flimsy ones of midnight hue, the ones that sparkled beneath the moonlight, the ones she was waiting for.

With a steady hand, she grasped a tiny pair of silver shears, barely able to hold them with her sausage-like fingers, and retrieved the midnight mushrooms with ease, cutting them with an unlikely care and grace for someone with such unwieldy fingers… if she were too rough, they would never grow again. That could not be allowed to happen. If they never grew again, her village would be unable to drink of their essence and travel the astral planes. That knowledge steadied her fat fingers evermore.

A piercing giggle echoed through the trees, ribboning around each trunk before touching her ears, and horrified, she dropped the shears.

Part Two - Scribblingramma

Esther! Her little sister must have followed her into the cool, dim forest. Esther had been begging for years to come with her on this mission, but Elliana had always said “no.” Esther was too young to be trusted with the tiny silver shears, or the fragile midnight mushrooms. Although Esther’s fingers were as slender as the sparkly mushroom stems, she was as clumsy as the five-legged oxen-like creatures she had seen somewhere beyond Sirius. Esther must not be allowed to interrupt this important ritual of harvest!

Elliana retrieved the dropped shears and put them, along with the mushrooms she had already cut, into her basket. Carefully and quietly, she stepped away from the precious patch of fungi and slipped back along the path toward the village.

“Esther!” she called. “I’m already done, and I’m going home now. Come along with me; I’ll let you carry the basket.”

The giggle sounded once again, this time quite close. Peering through the grove of shrubbery, Elliana only had time to catch a glimpse of the tiny woods elf, grinning maliciously as he let loose the arrow that was aimed for her heart.

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A we-write is a different kind of freewrite! One person starts the story with a five-minute writing session, and another person ends it in another five-minute writing session. It can be quite challenging, and always heaps of fun. You can read more details about how it's done here. There are still a few days left to enter this week's contest.

This was the first time I did a we-write with @ kaelci. She left a delightful cliff-hanger for me, and as I wrote I realized there simply wasn't going to be a nice, happy ending to this one.

Here is the link to her post: https://steemit.com/wewrite/@kaelci/those-that-lurk-a-we-write-with-scribblingramma

Thanks, @kaelci, for writing with me!

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