Work Text:
Erin was lonely.
They’d never had many friends, but the few they did have had gotten in a fight recently, and the group had broken into pieces and left them on their own, midway through the school year and feeling like they had neither the energy nor the opportunity to form a connection with anyone new.
They sat in their room, struggling to do math homework they’d always had help with before, and felt the cold damp fog roll in through the open window.
It was a day or two later when they first heard the singing. It was not a song like any song they’d ever heard. It was soft, and pervasive, and somehow many though it sounded like one voice. It was a wordless buzzing humming, and yet seemed to call to them. Join us, it sang. Come into the forest, and lie down in the wet fallen leaves, and be consumed by that which loves you.
Erin tried to ignore the singing. They had a life, didn’t they? They needed to graduate school, and – something. They were sure they’d figure it out when they got there.
(But to be consumed by what loves them would mean that something could love them – )
Erin sat at their desk, and did homework, and watched the fog and did not listen to the singing.
Erin sat at their desk, and did homework, and watched the fog and could not help but listen to the singing.
Erin sat at their desk, and tried to do homework, and watched the fog and wished silently that the singing would come just a little closer.
Erin followed the singing into the forest, and laid down in the wet fallen leaves, and accepted that which sang to them so sweetly.
Erin rose, the little things of the forest crawling through and settling in their flesh, and knew that they would never be alone again.
Erin sat in their room, and watched the sun play over their desk, and thought about how best to share this wonderful crawling gift they had been given.