The Water of the Woods

"The woman leaned over the glistening water watching her reflection ripple as she plopped the tip of her finger into the cool liquid. She sat down on the edge of the small pool and rubbed the bricks reverently that held the water in. The water rippled again, but this time it was not because someone had touched it. It was calling to the woman, beckoning her to drink from it. The tired hands dipped her silver stein into the placid liquid and drew it back out, water dripping silently back into the pool from the bottom of the stein. Her hands shook with excitement as she raised the cup to her lips and allowed the fresh water to drain down her throat. She felt something spark inside her and caused a shiver to run up her spine. She finished off the water and eagerly filled her cup for the third time. The last drops from the cup dripped into her open mouth, her hand slipped from the stein’s handle and the metal cup came crashing down upon the stone floor. Her senses reeled, and her body felt like a boneless fish. She knew she had drunk too much, this had happened before, but once she began it was too hard to resist. She fell to the floor with a sickening pain throbbing in her head. She opened her eyes for the last time before she fell into a painless sleep. Her eyes caught the beautiful words written in Latin across the brick border… “The Water of Life.”"

The Water of the Woods by, Anna Michael (prologue, pg. 4)