I stretched out a hand, but it danced away again, just out of reach. I giggled and took another step forward. Again it evaded my fingers.

I went to take another step, and felt empty air. Looking down, I saw that I was on a ledge. It was only a drop of six feet, but I still didn’t want to go over it. I backed away carefully. I blinked. The forest around me looked darker, and the air seemed cooler than it had been. How long had I been hiking?

I thought I had better call my partner so they didn’t worry, but as I reached for my phone, I saw that sparkling thing in the air again, right beside me. What could it be? I paused, considering. There was a stump nearby, so I sat to study it.

When I looked at a tree, or the path, or even the orange and purple sky, I could clearly see it out of the corner of my eye, a shiny, moving glimmer in the air, flitting about like a dragonfly. But when I looked right at it, my eyes never seemed to focus on it.

Whatever it was, though, it sure was pretty. I found myself looking at it more intently. I no longer felt the need to catch it, content to just watch it for now as it flitted to my left, then back to my right, then left again…

I pulled my head up suddenly. When had it started to sag forward? When had my eyes gotten so heavy? Blinking again, I noticed there were stars overhead. Those were sparkling, just like the thing. It was so nice to watch. Maybe I could just lie down in this nice, soft moss I found around myself, and look up. It was strange to see that six-foot ridge above me, when I didn’t remember climbing down, but as I watched the sparkle, I found I wasn’t worried about that. It didn’t really matter how I got here, or what the pretty thing was, or how late it was getting. I could just watch, relax, breathe, and sink deeper and deeper into the welcoming forest floor.