Hidden in the Woods

Athena had always been a girl who liked to wander around and go for walks for hours on end. She loved blasting music in her ears and just letting her feet take her wherever they pleased. She usually ended up passing the woods, but never dared to go through them, she had heard the stories and she had concluded she didn’t want to turn into a werewolf so it was in her best interest to steer clear from venturing into the woods. Today, like any other day, Athena decided she wanted to go for a walk, and so she got ready to go out, it was a rather chilly afternoon so she had to bundle up before she could leave. When she stepped outside her house, a cool wind rushed past her making her shiver. “Thank goodness I checked the news. I guess I’ll try to find the sun today.” and so she walked down her usual path, making the odd wrong turn every so often, mindlessly walking, enjoying her music until all of a sudden she heard a branch breaking in two. She opened her eyes quickly, looking around confused as if she had just woken up and had no idea where she was, which in a way was true. She had never stepped foot in the forest, yet here she was, confused as to how she got in so deep. She looked around again, starting to worry when she didn’t see a clear path back to her familiar small town roads. Athena looked straight forward, and saw quite a bit of sun shining down on what seemed to be the center of the woods, so she walked towards it. “I might be lost but at least I'll be warm while I figure out how to get out of here.” She cautiously walked towards the ray of sunlight, remembering all the stories she had heard about this forest as a child.  She brushed away her thoughts, and kept walking. There was an odd shimmer to the light but she ignored it, getting colder as the seconds passed. Athena carefully walked as silent as she could, as if the spirits of the woods would hear her and send the horrifying creatures after her. She shook her head dismissing the thought, knowing they were just silly little stories. She calmed down as she got closer to the warmth of the sunlight. She was merely a few feet away from the light when she froze. A branch had cracked again, but it wasn’t Athena this time, there were no broken branches around her. The overwhelming feeling of worry got her to look around again, searching for where the noise may have come from. Her heart beating fast, not seeing anyone who could have made the sound, she looked for a way out, maybe the roofs of some townhouses, stores, maybe an office building, but she was too deep in the forest to see anything. She walked a step closer to the tree stump in the center, but froze right away. The bush a few feet away was swaying, as if someone had been hiding behind it and ran away. Athena reached for her pockets, maybe she could call someone to find her, someone who knew the forest well, who didn’t get paranoid like she did, but when her hand reached inside her pocket, all she was able to grasp was her keys and mp3 player. She frantically reached and checked all of her other pockets, there was no way today was the only day she left her phone at home. No, she remembered to pick up her phone before she left the house, what if it had fallen out of her pocket? Athena’s fear was growing by the minute but she knew she had to backtrack and try to look for her phone. Maybe on her way she would find a way out. She took one last long look at the magical looking light around the tree stump and started her way back to where she thought she came from. The more she thought about she entered the woods, the more foggy the thought became. How did she get in so far without realizing? It was like she had been put under a trance, or someone had pulled her in. Athena looked down at the leaves, looking for her cell phone, occasionally looking up to make sure she wasn’t being followed. “Maybe whatever was following me is still by the tree stump back there.” Athena thought, but as she looked up, once again, there was the tree stump with the mystical looking light shining on it. “I was walking away from it! I’m sure I didn’t just go in a circle.” Athena looked around to see if anything was around hiding in the bushes, and when there was no sound, she turned around and walked away again. She kept her head slightly tilted up, eyes no longer focused on the ground to make sure she was going in a straight line. There was something wrong about that tree stump, something that gave her an uneasy feeling she couldn’t shake off. Athena moved as far as she could from that stump but everytime she thought she was far enough, she would see the stump coming closer in the corner of her eye. Frustrated, Athena changed her path and walked towards the stump. As she got closer, the russling got louder, as if someone was running back and forth in front of her but she couldn’t see them. She shook her head, doing everything in her power to not let her fear overcome her. “You're trapped,” a voice in the back of her mind told her. Athena was right beside the stump when she saw the figure- figures. When she looked around from beside the tree stump, there was a whole new world. What she had heard running were wolves and unicorns, there were bats and fairies flying around. Elves and goblins, trolls and pixies played games, laughter filling Athena’s ears like music. The trees were bright green and full of life, everything seemed so light and happy. She stepped onto the stump to get a better look, but seconds later her vision began to blur. Black spots were appearing and her head became heavy. The last thing she heard before collapsing on the ground beside her was, ”you shall look but never experience. Your kind will reduce our world to a wreck, similar to the world you live in now.”