Contemplation Amid Danger (Short Story) | A Mixed Media Art Project

A headstrong young woman, Sybillia, recently turned seventeen, dismissed her parents' warnings not to roam the woods near their home. Feeling she was protected from harm, she set out on many nights to enjoy the peace and quiet of the woods. With ten siblings at home, all younger than her, she desired just a moment alone with her thoughts.

The pressure was intense to marry given her age. Accused of selfishness in not wanting to help secure a future for her family, she avoided her parents as humanly possible. Her siblings admired her tenacity and strength. However, she cast off the label of role model frequently advising them to chart their own course in life.

But that's just not what young ladies do in your position, she was reminded as the admonishment lingered. Determined to remain single and pursue a life work in environmental studies, she shunned all young men who approached her.

Casting off the external beauty compliments others admired and lavished upon her, she donned clothing meant for a male until she reached the clearing at the edge of the woods. She frequently refused adoration for external beauty alone.

Rochello, also aged seventeen and a masterful woodsman, followed her, careful to remain unnoticed. He vowed to ensure her safety, even though he knew her temperament and disdain for him.

On that particular night, he concealed his presence behind a large tree. His weapons will be useful, he reasoned, against the swamp creatures known to reside there.

Sybillia traveled until she reacheed a clearing in moonlit night.

As the rose-colored moon cast playful shadows onto the shallow water, she paused to rest on a rock structure she assembled a few years earlier. Slowly, she removed her leg coverings and tossed them onto the grass, then placed her bare feet in the cool water trickling past.

She leaned back against the structure and glanced up at the sky. Suddenly, the rustling of branches, followed by loud hissing sounds, startled her.

She screamed as three huge alligators rushed foward.

Paralyzed with fear, she watched in numbed horror, too overwhelmed to move. The beauty of the night immediately disappeared as she could no longer see anything but the massive teeth of the beasts moving slowly toward her.

I have no one but to blame but myself, she thought in that moment. I deserve whatever fate befalls me.

It was the screams of another that pulled her out of her shock. She turned to see Rochello jump from behind the tree, running full force toward her.

His actions temporarily distracted the alligators as all turned to assess their new target.

But Rochello was an expert; and he was ready. With a short sword, he stabbed one of the beasts in the head, then quickly gorged out the eyes of the other two, knowing their vulnerable spots.

From behind the stone structure, Sybillia watched in awe as Rochello seemed to effortlessly dismantle the animals.

After a several long moments, all was quiet. She rose and scoured the blood-filled water. No movement came from the animals.

Rochello rushed over to her, scooped her up, and carried her away a few paces from the gruesome scene.

""How did you know I'd be here?" Sybillia stammered, still shaken, but looking deep in his eyes before adding, "and thank you for your bravery. You saved my life."

Surprised, Rochello paused, then confidently confessed, "my mission in life is to happily watch over and take care of you until I'm no longer able to do so. From afar if that is your wish."

Sybillia stared at him. No one had ever spoke to her in that manner. She half-smiled.

"No. It's not my wish. I expect to see you the morrow if we live through this night."

For my current mixed media art project "Contemplation Amid Danger", a short story emerged in the form of a fairy-tale romance of a young man smitten with a lovely female. Sybillia shunned Rochello's advances, until one night she came face to face with danger.

I utilized only a few elements to create the dangerous scene lurking in the swamp. I required a night scene in a wooded area. I feel the moon image was the star of the scene with its subtle rose shade casting the reflection on the water.

Below are the images I included in my scene:

^{Landscape with pink moon ~ Warrior ~ Woman ~ Crocodile ~ Allenwood Stone Sculpture - Contributed to the #LIL by @agmoore}