The yellow and red leaves crunched under Shawn's feet as he followed behind Diane through the woods. Diane held a rife in both hands, her black hair tied tightly and stuffed under a National Guard baseball hat. On her jacket was a patch with her last name: Lin.
Shawn dropped his rifle for a moment to adjust his glasses. Lin turned to look at him. In her dark mirrored glasses, he could see his own face. He had a slight five o'clock shadow, and had hazel eyes. He had light brown skin and dark hair.
Suddenly there was a rustling of leaves. A large buck appeared before them. Diane raised her rifle to shoot. Then a fawn jumped in front of the buck.
"No, don't." said Shawn, pushing the barrel of Diane's gun toward the ground.
The shot hit the dirt and the pair of deer ran off into the forest.
"What's wrong with you. You know I would have hit that."
"But the fawn." was all Shawn could manage.
"Come one bro. I could have hit that buck blindfolded and drunk. I was top of our class. You owe me.
"Sorry."
They walked on in silence as they went deeper into the woods. Many of the trees still had their leaves and it was a canopy of red and yellow. There, at the entrance of the forest was a large bolder with an apple on it. Shawn picked it up and took a bite of it.
"You crazy! How do know that thing isn't poisoned?"
Shawn could not speak with his mouth full so he just shrugged.
"It's just an apple." he said, after swallowing. "Here. Take a bite."
Diane studied him for a moment. Shawn took another bite, cleaned off the other side and then held it out for her. Reluctantly she took a bite.
There was a bright flash of light. In front of them were two large trees that had grown together, and in front of them were two thrones, made of roots. The roots twisted into a braid design around the edges of the thrones. When Shawn looked at Diane he noticed that she was dressed like a Princess and when he looked down at himself he noticed he was dressed like a Prince.
"Oh, hell no. I'm not wearing this girly shit." said, Diana as she struggled to take off the white silvery dress.
"Please..." said a voice "I want to thank you for your kindness in not killing my brother. We will not harm you. We just want to serve you."
"Who are you?" said Diane, looking around. "Where are you?"
"We are near. Please sit down. My brother would like to thank you personally."
"That's not necessary. We have places to be." said Diana.
"What's the harm in staying?" asked Shawn sitting.