A Walk in the Forest








G1



“Ah! Mom please stop nagging me!” Julie cried as she ran out of the house. She lived on the edge of the forest so that’s where she would escape to when her mom upset her. She usually never ventured off of the familiar trail, but she was feeling especially resentful towards her mother today so she decided she would explore somewhere new. Traipsing around the woods put her mind at ease and she loved it, so naturally, she hadn’t even noticed when three hours sped by. She looked up to see the clouds blackening and decided to head back. But where was back?

She wasn’t very scared to begin with, but the wind was making strange patterns with the clouds and latent sounds. She was ambivalent in deciding if the forest remained safe or not, when CRACK! A streak of lightening hit a near by tree. She ducked behind a bush so when it fell it wouldn’t hit her. When she came out of her crouch, she found, to her great surprise, a man sitting on the tree which had just fallen. He was a handsome man with black hair and grey eyes. He was smiling and quietly humming to himself, when suddenly, his eyes snapped up, resting immediately on Julie.

“How ‘bout I grant you a wish sweetheart?

“But where did you—“
He got up and appeared in her face so quickly that it cut her sentence short.

“One wish, and in return, your soul.” His stare burned into her but she gained an ounce of courage.

“Ha! No one would be stupid enough to agree to that even if it WAS true. Thanks guy, but I just want to find the path that leads back home before dark.”

“Certainly.” He said, sitting back down. “Try the direction of that tree over there with the patch of reddish leaves.”

So she took off that way, not being able to help the creepy feeling she was getting because of the surreptitious man. Her scruples wouldn’t allow her to make the deal the man was offering. She walked for about ten minutes when she began to see something familiar, but not the path. Just ahead of her, sat the man on his fallen tree, facing the way she was coming.

“I don’t remember walking in any direction besides straight, but somehow I must have walked in a circle and come upon you once again. So, do you know the way out of here or don’t you!” she said becoming very irritated.

“Certainly.” Said the man once again. “You must not have heard me correctly. Go in the direction the tree with the bare patch is pointing.”

She barely gave him time to finish speaking. The sun was going to set soon, and she was still a long way from home. Her faith in the man was deteriorating quickly, and just when she was about to lose hope. Her feet hit the path. She was so overjoyed that she began to sprint. After a while she stared to see the end of the path in the distance. Was that her mother waiting for her at the end? She ran even faster. She was almost to the end when she realized that what she had mistaken to be her mother was really the man sitting on his tree with that disgusting smirk on his face.

“I WISH YOU WOULD JUST HELP ME GET OUT OF HERE!” she gave a visceral scream.

“I see we have a deal” he said as an evil, victorious smile danced across his lips.