The Girl in the Wood

I started thrusting in and out of her and she matched my rhythm in perfect counter-point, her thrusts exactly timed to mine. We started slowly, then started the long climb to orgasm. Our pace increased as we went on and on until at last we were moving against each other at full speed. We were both breathing heavily as we kissed and broke to look into each other's eyes. Finally I felt her movements take on a new urgency as her orgasm approached. The pulsing of her sex was driving me closer to the edge as well. Then she cried out again and arched her back, her hands grasping at my back as she was lost in the throes of her release. That was all I needed and I exploded into her in a series of sharp thrusts. Her legs squeezed tightly around my waist and she cried out over and over as I thrust and pumped my seed into her, again feeling like I couldn't breathe, seeing stars behind my tightly closed eyelids.

I collapsed on top of her and she cradled my body in her arms and legs. At last I regained my senses and lifted myself on to my elbows to first look into the green pools of her eyes and then kiss her again softly. We kissed again and again in a lovers' embrace until I noticed that my erection had returned, then we made love again. And again.

Finally I was completely spent. Aceria had shown me a variety of positions and techniques that were unknown to me. At last we were laying facing each other on our sides, holding and caressing each other.

I stroked the shining softness of her hair, and on down her back as I asked, "Will I ever see you again?"

Aceria raised her head and looked into my eyes. For the first time I saw a hint of sadness there. "Perhaps, someday," she answered, "but to be honest, probably not. It is the way of things, cruel to you, but the way of things none the less." She rose to her feet and I followed, pulling my clothes on as I did. The wolf was awake and moving about, sniffing, marking trees with his urine. He came to us, rubbing against our legs, accepting pats and rubs from me. "It's time," she said.

Aceria came into my arms, raising herself onto her toes, twining her arms around my neck. Our lips met in a long, deep kiss. It was bitter-sweet, that final embrace. Our lips parted at last. She stepped back from me and said, "Remember me." Then she turned and walked away, the wolf in the lead. About ten paces away from me, she stopped and turned for the last time. "Remember me," she said again, "Remember for the rest of your life." Then she turned and ran lightly away. The wolf was already out of sight, and as I watched, Aceria faded from sight. Not becoming obscured by the trees, but actually fading, becoming more and more transparent till she was gone. The breeze carried the sound of a wolf's howl from far off back to me.

How long I stood there I never knew. I had wanted to follow her with every fiber of my being. But when I tried, I found myself frozen to the spot as if I had grown roots. I could only stare at the spot where she had vanished. Finally I blinked and as if released from a spell, moved slowly, aimlessly around. I picked up my rifle and started for home.

That was almost forty years ago. I have searched for all the intervening years to find Aceria, or at least a woman who could take her place. I have had my share of affairs with women of almost all types. Some were close in appearance to my lost Aceria, some were vastly different. There has been almost every type of sexual relationship along the way. The so-called straight sex, as well as most of the kinky styles. The sex has always been exciting, but the link I had found with Aceria has never been there. I've never been able to fall in love with a woman the way I fell for her.

There was one time I thought I was going to find her. It was almost 9 years after that magical day in my woods. I was hiking in Europe, near the Norwegian border. My carbine was slung across the top of my pack and I was enjoying the solitude of the forest. Quite suddenly there appeared a giant wolf, directly in my path, only about 15 or 20 feet from me. He was watching me with his head lowered, his ears up. I could tell that this was not a young beast. He was an old loner, grey around the muzzle. I simply stood, my hands open and away from my body. He looked me over for a moment, then came forward and sniffed me, walking around me. He seemed to reach a decision, and moved back the way he had come. He stopped, looked back at me, then moved off again. Something in his manner made me decide to follow him, which I did. We moved through the forest until he led me to a clearing. In the center of the clearing was a huge maple tree. Its leaves were that exact shade of red-orange as Aceria's hair had been. It was early fall, few of the other trees in the area were even beginning to turn color yet. There wasn't a hint of a breeze anywhere else, yet this tree's leaves trembled in a breeze of their own.

The old wolf walked to the tree, circled around himself, then laid down at its base, and watched me intently. I could only stand there looking at that fiery tree and its guardian. A few leaves came free and drifted to my feet. I picked them up, studied them, and then carefully pressed them in the pages of a book from my pack. As I returned the book to my pack, I heard a sound like a sigh, and looked up to see the maple tree swaying slightly, the same as Aceria had done the day I met her. I found myself sure that this was her tree, her home. I spoke to the tree, telling it how much I loved her, how I missed her, how I had been searching for her. But she never answered me. I sat and talked to the tree for hours, till early evening. Finally, the old guardian wolf got up and came to me. He stood and let me pet him, then finally pushed me with his nose and moved away. His message was clear, it was time for me to go. He led me back to where he had found me, then with a final rub against my leg, he left, trotting off in another direction.

I still have those leaves. I looked them up, they are from a Norway Maple, Acer platanoides. According to legend, that's the species preferred by the maple nymphs. I've tried a few times to find that tree again. I spent weeks once combing that area. I know I found the spot where the wolf met me, but I never again found that tree, or that clearing where it stood. As Aceria said, it's the way of things.

She did warn me. She tried to make me see the possible danger. I went ahead anyway, and it truely marked me for life. I sit here now writing this, a life long bachelor; I've never married. Because try as I have over the years, there has never been a human woman to compare with her. Her final words are still clear in my mind. "Remember me, remember for the rest of your life." I have, Aceria, and I always will. I can't lose the memory of the Girl in the Wood.