A New Pink Dress

“Samantha, please come home with Ella by sundown!” 

“Got it mommy!” Samantha picked up her jump rope and quickly sprinted towards the town’s playground.
Ella ran out to join Samantha, wearing her new pink dress and carrying her hula-hoop. 

As the two girls ran down towards the town playground, other children ran along, bouncing and skipping, laughing and twirling. The sun was only just starting to dip towards the horizon, the spring air as soft as a lamb’s coat. 

From the forest bordering the playground, the satyr clenched his fists a little tighter in the shadows of the blooming trees. Children. He hasn’t been with a child for a while. Modern world problems. 

He bent down and picked up his pan-flute. They tell of me in legends, he scoffed.Once I had been a god. I could have had anyone I wanted, any time I wanted.  

You are still a god, a voice in his head argued. 

Hungrily, he watched the little girls in their dresses twirl each other around, jumping up and down. 

They all scorn you, a little voice in his head whispered. It has been centuries. Who knows if your pan-flute even works anymore? 

The satyr stamped his hoof on the ground angrily. Shall I charm them? Win over their affections slowly? Wait until they trust me completely? 

It will not be fast enough, the damning voice in his head countered. Children talk. Their parents will know. Everything gets messier faster once adults are involved. If you are quick now, the world may never know. 

Fair enough. The satyr blinked slowly as he stepped out into the gentle sunlight. At once, the laughter of the children ceased. 

Quickly now, before it’s too late. As he lifted the pan-flute to his lips, a little girl inquired, “What is your name?” 

“Pan. What is yours, little girl?” 

“Samantha. And this is my friend Ella. Isn’t her new pink dress pretty?” 

“Lovely,” he murmured. “Do you like music?” 

“We do!” the children cried. They all gathered around in a loose circle. Not close enough.

Pan lifted his pan-flute to his lips and the haunting melody arched past the playground to reach the nearby apartments. Other children began to peek their heads out of their windows towards him. 

It’s time. As Pan backed into the forest, playing his haunting tune, the children all gladly followed, spilling into the streets to the playground, laughing and dancing once more. 

By sundown, Samantha’s mother was only mildly concerned that her little girl didn’t show up. It was normal for her to come home a few minutes late. 

Several minutes later, Sammy’s mother was irritated. It was so unlike Sammy to come home so late; both Sammy and Ella had no trouble following their parent’s instructions. She called Ella’s mother to see if Samantha was with them, but Ella’s mother responded that both girls had not shown up.

Distraught, the two mothers then ran to the playground, only to find it completely deserted. The only trace of the town’s children was a scrap of Ella’s new pink dress, caught on the branches of a nearby bush.