strength

Part 3. "What lays beyond"

Picture on the side of how ‘The Forest’ looks!! à

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Slowly Joey steps forward, one foot in front of the other. He holds in his breath, holding his arms out to keep his balance. He looks down and bites his lip when the water moves.

After walking through the forest for a while,  the ground started to get more mushy and soon enough, Joey was surrounded by water.

He was  now balancing on one of the many rocks in the water, trying his hardest not to fall in. His mind reminded of what could be in it. Just because the river was safe – for all that he knew- doesn’t mean that the swamp water was just as safe.

With his arms stretched and one leg in the air, Joey hopped onto the next stone. Joey is go wide as he almost slips over the edge. He sucks in a breath and tries to calm his breathing. Fear is making him cringe and danger is surrounding him.

Joey can already see the shore. He can almost reach it. Only seven stones left until he’s back on land. But then again, so much can go wrong in such little time.

He takes a deep breath once again and looks to the stone in front of him. He slowly lifts one foot in the air to keep his balance as he bends forward. He takes a step and his feet lands on the solid rock. Joey’s eyes are fixed on the next stone as he slowly lifts his other leg to move forward. He sighs deeply as his other foot also steps on solid ground.

It takes way too long before Joey can order himself to move. ‘Only five stones left’ he thinks as he moves forward, once again feeling large waves of relief rushing through him as his foot lands on solid ground, instead of the rushing water that looks surprisingly calm. But then again, he has learned not to trust anything. Not here.

Joey steps forward two more times and he is only two stones away from –what he hopes to be- safe ground. When his foot lightly presses against the surface of the rock, he can feel it fall away underneath his foot. Joey quickly pulls his foot back and his arms fly around, trying to find something to hold on to.

Joey can’t feel anything and to his deepest fear, he feels his other foot slip off the edge of the stone. With a splash he lands in the water and the ice cold water burns his skin as it numbs his brain, making him slip away.

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‘Cold’. It’s the only thought in Joey’s mind as he slowly wakes up. He feels solid ground underneath him and he has to feel his wet hair slip down the sides of his face to be convinced that he actually fell in the water.

When he moves his head to the side he feels something break under him. His eyes shoot open as Joey sits up with his hands spread on the ground. He lifts them and sees leaves falling from his fingertips.

He lets out a breath of relief as he stares at the ground, playing with the leaves. His head hurts when he looks up to see where the hell he was.

The place itself looked like the swamp only now the dark black and green colours were back to their grey-ish ways like back in the forest. The walls were high and his panting breath echoed in the empty hall. It looked like some sort of cave and for a minute  anxiety took over Joey’s mind. Joey places his hands on the ground and breathes in the air to calm himself down. The air was warmer and the ground was… soft?

Joey digs his fingers in the ground and feels in the dirt. It is moist and Joey can’t help but giggle softly. Moist. He shakes his head as a feeling of happiness mixed with relief washes over him. He’s not dead, not yet, Joey thinks as he looks up to what he thought was the sky but turns out the be some sort of ceiling.