The gift of the darkest forest

In Module three, I wrote a story called 'The gift of the darkest forest'

Once upon a time there was a beautiful young girl. She was beautiful, because she shined. She shined as a golden light. And everywhere she went the light was spread. Until the night she became 13. That night a spell was cursed on her. She was touched by the darkest witch from the darkest forest. The spell made the girl feel grey. Empty. Numb. She couldn't smell smells anymore, she couldn't taste tastes anymore, she couldn't hear the birds singing their songs, sounds disappeared. It felt for her as if life withdrew itself every day a bit more. One could see it in her eyes. Her alive sparkling brown green eyes became day by day less sparkling. The colour shifted every day more towards grey. When she realised that everything she looked at also became grey, she ran away. She left a grey trail behind her. And went deep into the darkest forest. Cause the darkest forest was so dark that even a grey trail wouldn't been noticed.
In the depths of the forest, she found herself a place as far as possible from life and build a little shed to hide. It was made from dark pieces of wood, dark leaves and a few dark rocks, who turned grey, but stayed unseen in the darkness. Once it was finished, she closed her eyes so she was sure she could not hurt any other being with her greyness. And so, time passed.
Every day the girl, who became older, went out in the forest, looking for berries to eat. She, helpless of most her senses, had one gift left. Through touch she made her way, felt where she could go through the forest looking for food to not starve. It were the most precious moments of her day, moments where for she still wanted to stay alive. That's how she spend more and more time out in the woods, out of her hidden shed. She felt the earth, water, stones and trees and came in touch with all kind of creatures. Although her senses didn't really respond, she was in contact with life to stay alive.
More and more time she was close to the dark creatures of the forest. She climbed their giant bodies and drove along with them wherever they would go. When one would have seen the creatures, one would have been scared away by their gigantic teeth, harmful tales and claws. But the girl had her eyes closed and got in touch with the darkest forces of the darkest forest.
Years passed by, she had doubled her age. For 13 years, she had not seen the light, she had not seen all she had touched. Until one day she made her way to the lake of the darkest forest. She sat at the shore and knew she wasn't alone. While seated, she moved her hands slowly to the presence and made contact. The moment she touched, her eyelids felt lighter and an energy from underneath her eyelids, from her eyes, began to rise. It felt as if a light from her eyes needed to come out. She couldn't resist the strength, couldn't keep her eyes closed. And so, after 13 years, she opened them. The darkest woman she had ever seen was sitting in front of her. But the darkness was getting lighter and lighter from the centre of the woman, where the once a girl, a woman now too, had placed her hands. She looked into the woman's eyes and they turned into colour, into life. The two woman stared at each other.
'Thank you', the woman who turned to colour, said. 'Thank you for giving life back to the darkest forest.'
The girl looked around, and saw a forest in her most vital colours, a forest that had been known for centuries as the darkest forest.
'Thank you', the woman said again. She, this time, closed her eyes and placed one hand on the heart of the girl and one on her own. The girl closed her eyes too and felt a gentle bounce in her heart and belly. She recognized it, 13 years ago, the same sensation had happened, only years ago, it had hurt. Now she felt her body got filled by a gentle, yet strong energy. She opened her eyes and found herself alone at the shore. Alone, but full of life again. She smelled the leaves from the trees surrounding her, she heard birds singing. She stood up, walked to a bush full of berries and tasted a sweet-sour explosion on the tongue. She lay her hands on her belly and heart, felt her body with all the colours it presented. She looked out over the lake, felt the sun on her skin and knew it was time to start the journey back. Cause all colours were there.

For me, this story is about integration of all our colours. Integration of the shadow and so a step forward to wholeness.