Eliza

"Let us get lost in the woods, until the sun must rest in darkness; 'til his last rays reach out to fetch the moon that she may watch over us!"

"That doesn't seem like such a good idea, Eliza. Aren't you afraid of anything? You know, things like monsters, and ghosts!"

"Sometimes I am afraid of things. When I am having a lovely dream, I am often afraid of waking up. But monsters and ghosts, why! Monsters are like majestic kings that a humble and ignorant child, such as little ol' me, should stand before them in awe! And a ghost is quite nice, like a delicate and solitary lace glove floating in the wind, free of the hand that kept it from flying for so long! I think I should one day want to get eaten by a monster, that I may turn into a ghost!"

Eliza ran off into the woods. The boy stayed behind and waited for her return until an hour after sundown. She never came back. And he had understood now, what she meant about being afraid of waking from a dream. As he exited the forest he noticed something frightening glowing under the moon. When he came upon it, he had realized that what had appeared to be a body was only a flimsy white gown swimming gracefully down stream, most likely nabbed by a thieving wind from his neighbors' clothesline.

Safe in the dark belly of the beast that was night, he was no longer afraid of such phantoms.