Terribly lost.
Hopelessly lost.
The trees seem to multiply all around her as the sun slips lower and lower on the horizon. It is dark and growing cold. She should have been there by now. But there is no sign of Emma’s house. No sign of any house at all. Just more trees, more leaves, more ferns. Mosquitos sting her bare arms and legs. She slaps at them.
Go away, stupid bugs!
Maybe she should turn back. But which way is back? Which way is home? Every direction looks the same in the lengthening shadows. Reeds and roots under her feet; bushes and boughs swaying overhead.
The girl is growing frantic. Her parents will be worried. And the girl loves her parents, even though she sometimes questions if they love her in return.
She rounds a bend and spots a path ahead, aglow in the moonlight.
A path!
A path will bring her home. A path will lead her out.
But the path is not the salvation she thinks it is. As she gets closer, a figure steps onto it, out of the shadows. The girl sees the gleam of two eyes in the dark as it comes at her.
A monster!
Dirt-streaked. Silent, even as it moves closer. Reaching out with ragged nails…
She tries to run, but she slips on a mossy stone.
Water seeps into her white sneakers.
Two hands close over her arms.
More sparks.
More purple.
The vision shifted yet again.
The girl wants to run, but she is too tired. She hasn’t slept in days. The monster in the cabin keeps her wide awake. Creeping around in the dark. Her limping gate echoes oddly against the crooked floorboards. Her hair is a wild tangle down her back.
The monster never speaks.
She gives her food.
She gives her water.
She gives her a blanket.
But she never, ever speaks.
Just stares and stares, until the girl thinks she will be pressed flat under the weight of that unflinching gaze.
What does the monster want from her?
She does not ask. She does not dare say a word, does not dare make a sound. She thinks maybe if she’s quiet enough, the monster will forget she’s there. Maybe, if she’s good, the monster will let her leave.
On the fifth morning, the girl wakes alone in the cabin. The monster is gone. Out, somewhere, in the woods. She dashes for the door and out into the daylight. It is blinding after so many days spent in darkness.
She walks and walks.
Away from the cabin, down a short dirt road. Past a broken down car, red with rust. Through a swampy marsh, her sneakers making slurping sounds. Up a slippery slope, grabbing tree roots to keep from sliding back down.