She wandered through the forest of flowers for what seemed like days,in fact it hadn’t even been an hour,time was warped by the mesmerising smell of the reds.

Her mother always warned her not to go down to the valley,those enticingly beautiful red flowers were toxic.

Annabelle had heeded her mother’s words until she was told about the toad man that lived in a cottage on the other side of the reds.

Intrigue became her,with not much more than a glance over her shoulder to make sure her mother wasn’t looking she left the house and quietly unlatched the front gate to let herself out,surely she would be back by dinner time and her mother would be none the wiser,they were only flowers after all.

It only took a few minutes to get down to the valley,she paused for a moment at the edge of the reds forest whilst convincing herself that it will be okay,she just won’t touch the flowers and no harm will come to her,obviously other people have been through the forest and survived if they lived to tell the tale of the toad man.

Off she set,stepping excitedly onto the path,feeling a rush of exhilaration course through her blood,she could feel her heart racing.

She had better walk quickly to get far enough into the forest so that no one could see her.

She still knew she was doing the wrong thing and didn’t want a townsfolk to tell her mother.

Once she was out of sight she slowed her pace and took in her surroundings,she had never seen anything like it,flowers so tall she had to look up to see them.

A sense of calm flooded her being and she decided to lay down on the path so she could stare up at the flowers towering above her for a while, she had never felt so at ease and started to drift off into a dream…..

‘Hoppity hoppity hoppity hop, I am toad man and I will not stop, I need glasses and bottles and lots and lots of shiny things to decorate my plot ‘

‘A girl I tell you,just lying there,I’ll take her too,she is so fair,my magical spell will get her there ‘

With a wave of his arm he brushed through the air and transported the sleeping girl to take into his care.

A few drops of potion to make her awaken then she will be living with me,a lovely toad lady to be.

Annabelle awoke feeling drowsy and took a moment to take in her surroundings,she jumped and sat upright at the sight of toad man staring down at her.

How much time had passed,she felt internal panic at the thought of missing her dinner and upsetting her mum.

Still not aware of her surroundings or how she got there she stood up,although unsteady,

without saying a word she ran towards the forest of reds,she entered at a path she did not recognise and bolted along it without her feet fully touching the ground,so fast she felt she was flying.

The sun was going down in the west and she knew her mother would be looking for her soon if she wasn’t home before the sun sunk below horizon.

She barely remembered how she got out of the reds and didn’t know how to explain what happened while she was there,she just knew she was never going back again and she would take this secret to the grave,…..unless one day she needed to warn someone ‘don’t go into the forest of reds,those flowers are toxic and you may never find your way out’

Annabelle opened her front gate still panting from running and fear.

She let herself into the house,greeted by the sumptuous smell of her mother’s baked lamb,she washed her hands and splashed water on her face and went to the kitchen to take her place at the table just as dinner was being served.

She will never step one foot into the forest of the reds again but will carry the warning not to go back with her in her unclear memories for the rest of her life.

It really felt like more than a dream,toad man staring down at her…….