<hr/><br/><div class="floatleft">(https://i.imgur.com/QA0sQg8.png)</div><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 12pt;">ELODIE MAY REED</span><br/><strong>Blessed By::</strong>Themis<br/><strong>Location::</strong>Front Gate<br/><strong>Company::</strong>None<br/><strong>Date/Time::</strong>Saturday, June 20th 6:34am<br/><strong>Mood::</strong>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Q466ZPyNAo (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Q466ZPyNAo)<br/><strong>Wearing::</strong><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">This Outfit</div><div class="spoiler_body">(https://i.imgur.com/Kw641Rm.png)</div></div><br/><strong>TRIGGER WARNINGS::</strong>None<br/><br/><br/><hr/><br/><br/>How could it be so easy to defend children who'd made choices that put their entire future in peril- but saying goodbye to her own parents turned out to be too difficult a prospect to confront head on? She'd packed her bags in the middle of the night, freshly eighteen and never having stepped foot outside of the comfortable upper class suburb she and her family called home. But she'd taken those bags all the same and left before dawn , nothing but a note to explain after eighteen years  of love and security- that she was ready to discover what more was out there...And she was ready to do it alone.<br/><br/>The Uber pulled into the small bit of shoulder on the road, the elderly man driving turning to her with slight concern in his face as he shifted his small car into park.<br/><br/>"Are you sure this is it, young lady?"<br/><br/>Elodie smiled reassuringly, knowing to him she must appear crazy or in trouble, or both. But she'd never been more certain of anything in her life. Completing the transaction on her cellphone, she nodded.<br/><br/>"This is it. The house is at the end of the path."<br/><br/>It wasn't a huge lie, but then explaining precisely what she was doing in the woods before dawn wouldn't exactly be reassuring. Or sound any less insane. He nodded in response, still not convinced, but apparently having decided there was little else he could do about it. Elodie opened the car door and dragged both her bags out behind her. Dead leaves crunched beneath her sandals as she stepped off the road and onto the heavily wooded path. With a last wave to the driver, she set off into the early morning dark.<br/><br/>The walk wasn't a frightening or eventful one, for all the horror movies she was sure began this same way. As she walked the sky gradually began to brighten above the treetops, dawn spilling golden rays over the trees and down in little shafts of sparkling light. It was beautiful. When Elodie had first received her letter, summoning her to the village, she'd had no way of knowing whether or not she should actually uproot her entire life and go. But now, with every step in this fairytale like wood, she felt the confirmation that she was exactly where she should be. 'Kismet' her father had called it, the path she'd taken in her life leading her to such a moment. Now, she couldn't really doubt it.<br/><br/>Through the trees ahead she caught sight of gates and with a deepening smile, she hurried forward, panting a little as she at last broke through the tree line and into the clearing. Before her stood a small village, gated and beautiful in the full light of morning. A soft laugh of amazement left her lips as she walked, overjoyed that it did in fact exist. At least she wasn't crazy. Elodie stepped toward the gates, calling out softly as she walked, given the early hour.<br/><br/>"Hello?"