Continuous story

This is just for fun.
I'm going to provide a scenario and then anyone who wants to, can add to the story. It's like one of those campfire games where each person takes turns adding to the story and it can go in any direction any person wants. Please, no trolling.




Paige flipped through the stations for the third time. She didn't even know why she ever bothered.
"Lemon Squeezy" she thought. This was a phrase she said to herself every time she found herself in a situation of boredom so encompassing that it was impossible to enjoy anything. She and a friend had come up with it. It means to find enjoyment in everything you do no matter how small the enjoyment might be. Why sit around thinking about what could be fun, not doing anything, when you could get up and do something?
It was a brutally beautiful day outside.
"Why not take a walk?" She considered. Maybe the fun will come with some much needed fresh air.
Paige slipped on her old floppy tennis-shoes and headed towards the lake.

Outside, the summer sun bore down with a nice warmth, the air punctuated with cool breezes every now and then. "Perfect weather" Paige thought to herself, suddenly feeling very gloomy. She was still angry at her parents for deciding to take this trip during the one summer holiday she had actually made plans for with her friends. She'd been making these plans with them all year afterall, and then out of nowhere her parents had decided that the whole family was in need of this stupid trip.
"Ugh, why do they have to ruin everything!" Paige muttered under her breath, kicking angrily at one of the many rocks settled upon the dirt road she was treading. It flew off into the thick forrest undergrowth to the side of the road, just a little further up.
"OUCH!" came a gruff yelp.

Something walked out of the bushes. It IS rather hairy, Paige thought to herself. Then she realized it was a dog.
"You're a dog!", Paige said. "But how can you talk?"

"Actually", replied the dog, "I'm a spirit of the wood."
Paige could only continue staring in utter amazement.
"Ok simpleton, a spirit is a guardian who looks after the way things aught to be. A spirit of the wood looks after the way things aught to be in the wood. Oh, and thanks for kicking that rock into me."
Paige looked embarrassed but couldn't quite bring her scattered thoughts to the surface. Finally, one question rose in her mind and she blurted it out almost immediately.
"Why haven't I ever seen a spirit before?"
The spirit dog developed a confused expression on its face. Paige thought this was odd considering that the spirit dog had no way of making facial expressions.
"I have no idea." replied the spirit dog.

" Well, that's no good", Paige said.

"But far better than seeing them everywhere, for those who do often end up confused about the difference between fleshy relevance and ephemeral influence," the dog said. "For whatever reason you've never seen my like before, I'm visible now, and loose in this forest. Shall we see where your wandering takes us together...or shall I be a memory left snapping at your heels?"

Paige thought about this for a while...

Part of her wanted to simply walk away, as if the talking dog were an hallucination, brought on by lack of sleep.

But part of her sensed there was something important happening here. She could feel a stirring within her, and knew she could choose to ignore the voice that said she was crazy or that it's best not to entertain such silly thoughts. Perhaps she'd never seen a spirit before because she'd never opened her mind to the possibility that such things exist.

"Are you here to teach me something?" she asked.

"Maybe...but I have reason to believe I'm here to learn from you."

And with that, the dog looked up into her eyes to ask without words which way her feet wanted to go, what forks to follow to whatever road in these woods might take them to where they needed to be.

The dog said nothing for now about their belief about the spirited things people can be...but harbored a secret hope she would begin to believe he was real, like anything wondering where wood ends and the suppleness of bending soul bound in skin begins.

Paige smiled, and all that came to her mind was "swings!"

"I want to fly on a swing. Surely there's a playground near here somewhere.... Let's go find it!"

And so they wandered out of the woods together, heading back to civilization for a bit, Paige leading the way and the spirit dog patiently following.

...with tail wagging as their wings sprouted from their backs.