Alone

Katka F. Williams

She caught herself on the carpet, staring at the photo on the closet, with her brown jacket on her lap. "What if I go to the forest tomorrow and bump into dad by accident? He's probably dead, but still, it would be pretty cool. Anyway, I haven't been there since he took me there. I should do this; this is definitely a good idea."

She got her backpack and started to throw random stuff she could find around her room that could be helpful. Some repellent, extra socks, a flashlight, a knife, sunscreen, a bag of dried bananas hiding underneath her bed, a book, a sweater... By the time she was done, her backpack was filled just right, perfectly. She went down to the kitchen to get food. After opening all the shelves and analyzing, she sighed and took what was best. Some apples, a cinnamon bun and a piece of cold leftover chicken she could use as bait for fish. Her backpack ended up hidden, all the way in the back of the closet, far enough in case Michael the cat got any ideas resolving in him eating her fish bait.

She had troubles sleeping that night, kept tossing and turning, thinking if this trip is useless or if she's going to find anything interesting. But eventually, she drifted off.

As her eyes flied open the next morning, she darted out of her room like a dog chasing a ball. Everyone was still asleep, so she left a note saying she was out for the day. Some train stations and walking later she wandered into the forest and took a deep breath. This was her favorite part. Even though she didn't find herself in the forest too often, she always dreamt of the smell of the trees, the peace in the leaves, faint birdsong in the distance, from time to time she heard a twig crack. But otherwise, no one nowhere. Admitting there were sounds surrounding her, in fact, she was engulfed in all sorts of different kinds of sounds, still, it was as quiet as a sleeping infant.

She stood there, looking all around, embracing the chilly forest, not daring to take a step and disturb the peace by a loud crunching of fallen leaves. When she did, she did so slowly and gently, not to make any sound at all, if that could be done. Her slow steps took her towards a huge moss-covered boulder sticking out of the ground like a sleeping stone giant's belly. She sat on top, on one of her brother's sweatpants, which she brought for exactly this purpose, pulled out her sketch book and started to draw.

Lines and squiggles turned into trees and branches, splotches and circles became leaves and logs, squirrels or birds. It all came together to form what she saw in front of her, not what was there in reality, but what met her eyes with a hint of imagination. She added a doe in the corner, for her own amusement.

All of a sudden, the steady hum of the woods was interrupted by a very vague rushing of leaves. She could barely hear it, but it was there. "Who in the world would be stupid enough to go into the middle of the forest in mid-November!?" she thought, hearing that the footsteps were steady enough to be human. "Maybe someone just followed me in," was her first thought, so she swiftly packed her things and headed the opposite direction. "If I walk long enough, I should be able to lose them."

She eventually did, even though it took her a little over half an hour. The footsteps kept getting closer and closer. It irritated her, to be honest. She went to the forest, in the middle of nowhere, to get away from people, not to meet new ones. She wanted to be alone. No Lena, no Todd, no Debbie. Not even mom. She wanted to be by herself for a while. Just the trees and Alice. That's it. She stared at the ground, grumpily keeping a steady pace, picked up a rock, which then came flying at a nearby tree stump. Alice halted. She slowly turned around and looked back at the stump that was just attacked by her flying rock. She knew that stump. Now it came back to her. She taught her brother Todd how to build houses against that stump. Hers were always prettier, so he got a tantrum and pieces of moss and stick flew through the air. They'd do it again the next time they were around, and again, it would result in the same events.

She stood on the sump, under the placebo effect that she was taller and would see further. She went here with her father quite often. They always went a different direction. Alice then heard the crunching of leaves, yet again. The person was definitely following her. Her heart was thumping in her throat, as she ran away, anywhere, just out of reach. "What if it's someone who wants to kidnap me? Or just steal stuff? What if they've got a knife? Why would they follow ME?" And then she stopped, breathing as heavily as ever. She stared at the ground, her hands shaking. "What if it's dad?" She hugged herself, wrapping her arm around her torso, huddling more into her brown jacket. What if the person she was running from for the past hour was the person she was trying to find for the past 7 years? What if she just lost them now forever and will never find them again? Tears started to roll down her bright red cheeks, she started walking slowly, slumped, crying. She wiped her nose in her sleeve, but that didn't help. She was pretty sure she just lost the person she loved, yet again.

She wanted to go home. It was freezing outside and she had enough of this. Yes. Alice was fed up with the forest. It was cold, and wet, and smelly, and full of emptiness. She thought of warm tea, steaming next to the fireplace. The thought of her in the deep cozy armchair, with Michael on her lap made her shiver even more. She stood straight, looked around, and cursed. She was lost.

"I can't believe this. I'm the daughter of a forest keeper and I'm able to get lost in a forest. Great. How many times did dad tell me, always pay attention to where you are? How many times I promised this wouldn't happen? How many hours I spent learning all the tricks? And here we are. In the middle of nowhere, probably going to end up dead. Like dad." She talked to herself. Alice often did this, under the impression of either calming herself down, or shouting at herself, whenever she did something wrong. Her mom often came to her aid if she heard Alice shouting at herself too much in the kitchen. But now, here, no one was going to come. She was alone.

Suddenly, it hit her. She passed a creek on the way here. Where's water, there's people. While heading back to where she thought the creek was, her whole body was already shaking with cold. She thought three layers were enough, evidently, she was wrong. Her hand slid into her pocket to pull out a Kleenex, but as she did it, a wrapper fell on the ground. She bent down to put it back, when she heard a loud TWANG! She jumped up and saw, that the tree next to her, a huge oak, had a new branch in it. About two inches away from the place where her ribcage was, a massive arrow stuck out of the trunk.