- Looking up I saw tree limbs blocking the night's sky. Staring, I struggled to slow my breathing and tried to figure out what the heck had just happened. One moment I was pushing a boy out of a glowing green circle in the city park, the next I was slamming into the ground, tumbling and rolling down a hill in what seemed to be a forest. Just a few seconds ago I had finally come to a stop.
"Ooh, ow." I moaned as my body reminded my mind that descending down a bumpy hill hurts. Slowly, I sat up, cringing and gasping as my muscles protested.
Sitting up means my back isn't broken, I thought as I gingerly waved my arms in a circle, checking to see if they were broken. Nope. Next, I checked my feet and legs, stretching them out until I could feel my toes pointing in my shoes. Everything hurt, but nothing was damaged. Even though my body was screaming at me, I stood up and looked around. It was dark, and even though the moon slightly lit the area, all I could really see were the dark shapes of tree trunks.
"Heh, so I really am in a forest." The words sounded loud in the silence surrounding me. But now what was I supposed to do? How did I even get into a forest? What was up with that glowing green circle in the city park? And why was it now dark? A million questions dashed about in my mind. Out of all the questions popping up, almost overloading my brain, one caused me to freeze, making the hair on the back of my neck stand up. It came right after I heard, Crunch, snap…
What was that!? Wolf.. Or is it a werewolf!? My mind reeled, imagining every monster it could think of. I could feel my heart start to beat faster. Listening intently for another crunch, my body tensed. Trying to catch the sound again, I swung my head back and forth like radar. Much to my dismay, the noise came again. Crunch, snap, shuffle…
Whatever it is, it's coming closer…! I gave a out a high, short, pitiful squeak. Not daring to move my head and breathing heavily, I searched around with my eyes, and strained my ears for any sound. Where had the crunches come from - my left, my right, behind me, or in front of me? Crunch, shuffle, shuffle, crunch… In front of me! Scrambling, I quickly backed up, bumping into a tree.
Good! I thought, turning, I can climb it and get away from whatever is on the ground. Reaching up I tried to climb it, only to fail, as I learned that there was nothing for me to grab onto with my hands and nothing for me to step on with my feet. Oh, how I wished I was a Koala bear. Crunch, crunch, snap, crunch, shuffle… It was getting closer. What to do, what to do!? I could feel myself start to panic as fright flooded over me. Shuffle, shuffle, crunch, snap, crunch, Trreet.
Huh, my panicked mind thought, That noise was new. I had never heard of a monster or beast that made a 'trreet' sound before. I slowly turned around and found myself staring at, what looked like, a small rodent type creature on its hind legs. Of course, I couldn't be too sure, since the moon didn't light it up that well. I saw, what I believed to be, its head tilt to its left and heard, Trreet, trreet again.
It's talking to me? I blinked, baffled about the turn of events. Not knowing what else to really do I responded with, "So-Sorry, I don't speak your language." I felt slightly stupid for saying it though. The little creature, who had just realized I was something that could be considered dangerous, let out an alarmed hiss and quickly ran away. I watched it until I couldn't see its silhouette anymore. With the adrenaline slowing down, and my heart calming, I smiled and let out breathless laugh. How ridicules I felt for being afraid of a non-threatening creature and for letting my mind imagine some large, horrible beast coming at me. I leaned against the tree and slumped to the ground, continuing to laugh at myself. It was a calming effect that I got from my mom.
Whenever my mom got scared, she would scream at first - much like I was going to do if I had found it to be monster - but then she would laugh hysterically, much like I was, calming herself down. As my fit of laughter started to wind down, I could feel a slight breeze.
Breathing in and out slowly, still somewhat giggling, I peered around, and my smile fell. I'm pretty sure that if I hadn't been laughing so hard and loud I probably would've heard the crunching of someone walking through the forest towards me, I and would've probably been ready to see the two people standing in front of me a little ways away. Also, if I hadn't been closing my eyes while I had laughed, I probably would've noticed the light that was coming from the lantern that the one person, a male, was holding near his face.
Two things registered in my mind at that moment. First was that the guy was actually holding an old fashioned lantern, the ones that hold candles or oil in it, and the second thing was that the guy holding it did not look all that friendly as he started to walk closer to me, the other person slowly moving forward from behind him.
And to think, before all this happened, I was just getting out of school for summer vacation and being incredibly happy about it. . .
