° 𝘉𝘦𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘋𝘰𝘰𝘳 (𝘏𝘢𝘭𝘧𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘋𝘰𝘯𝘦!) °

𝙃𝙞𝙙𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙎𝙚𝙚𝙠

Arya was starting to think she must be dreaming or hallucinating. 

Where were his footprints? 

She kept running into the forest, making sure she wasn't getting lost. This forest had no real paths or landmarks so she tried to be extra careful. She tried to be alert of any animals that might sneak up on her and slowly walked into the forest.

By the time she had walked for about a minute into the forest, she started to really worry. She looked around for Holden but saw nothing except for trees that were hundreds of feet tall surrounding her. 

As soon as she heard a rustling sound in the forest, she quietly backed away out of the forest and soon started running.

She sprinted out of the forest as fast as she could, dust flying around, and managed to make it out of the forest back into the cold rain. 

She laughed at how scared she was of the forest, and thought that her brother was probably just hiding in a bush somewhere trying to scare her. 

Was her dad actually telling the truth, or was he hiding a surprise from us? If so, she didn't really want to know, but the forest was probably safe... for a while, at least. 

Right?

She sat down on a log in her backyard, trying to catch her breath. She tried to calm down a bit, but she was still slightly worried for Holden. 

She knew he knew better than to get lost in the forest, but she wanted to be sure he was ok. She stood up, rain dripping off her jacket into her boots, and started to venture slowly back into the forest.

As she walked in, she begin to think about all the dangers that could happen in the forest. 

Eaten by bears... or wolves... or a sasquatch? 

Most likely. 

Fall into a pit and get stuck forever? 

Maybe. 

Get lost in the forest and not find my way home? 

Probably not. 

Get trapped by a scary hunter and be mistaken for a deer? 

Definitely not...?

She almost decided to turn around before she saw something move in the distance. 

At first she thought it was the wind, but then she saw something red shining in the distance. AS she ran up to it she saw that it was hanging on a branch, and it was a shoe. Her brother's shoe. 

She resisted the urge to scream but instead she yelled, calling out for her brother. 

"Holden! Come here NOW! This isn't a funny trick anymore. This is the Forbidden Forest, you know that! Dad has never allowed us to come here with him and you shouldn't be here this far alone!"

She kept calling her brother's name for a couple minutes until she broke down into tears.

"H-Holden! I want to leave, please come back, wherever you are. This isn't funny at all... I want to leave- please j-just come b-back!"

She reached out for the shoe, taking it off the branch. She made sure it was Holten's, but as she placed it onto the ground, it started to fade away!

She tried grabbing it, but it was glued to the ground, and it just disappeared slowly, becoming more and more transparent until there was nothing there. 

Nothing.

Where the shoe should have been, there was only dirt and rocks, but the branch that held up the shoe had not disappeared. It was still there.

She melts into a puddle of sobs on the ground, so confused and angry at the forest, crying for her brother. 

She kept yelling out her brother's name and her mother's name, but they all just faded into the vast forest, along with her sobs and her brother's shoe.

She finally got enough strength to go look for more signs of Holden's clothing, maybe he made a pathway to where he was hiding? She kept walking on the path, unsure of where to go or what to look for. 

She finally saw a big, open space in the distance, and slowly walked toward it, still at watch for any sign of Holden or an animal. 

She reached the open space, which was a big circle of trees, which seemed unusual to have such a round circular area of trees in the middle of a forest. She walked around the circle, listening and looking for Holden but finding nothing.

She decided to stay in the circle and find somewhere to sit for a while, staying aware of her surroundings but starting to give up. 

She sat down on the rocky bath, taking a breath and having a good look around. 

Still nothing. 

Her panic sense started to kick in, and she decided to go for a jog, just like her mom did every day, hoping it would give her ideas.

Arya started running in circles, but after a while she started to get tired. The only thing she could do was call for help from her mom or her brother. 

She kept calling their names as she ran in a circle, hoping something or someone would hear it and find her. After a while, she knew there was going to be no response, no one was coming. 

She stopped and sat down again, disappointed and extremely worried for her brother and herself. 

She needed to leave now before it got dark, it was around dinner time already. 

She took another look around her surroundings when she realized that the opening to reach her house had disappeared!

She was getting frantic by now, as she thought inside her brain she was definitely dreaming, but even her big, smart, brain could not dream a dream this weird! She poked herself several times, only succeeding to hurt her own skin. 

There was no way this was real, she was so dumb to disobey dad's biggest rule of not going into the Forbidden Forest. What was she even thinking? 

She could have just called for him to come back out, instead of going in to search for him! It was too late now, but where did she even come out of? Maybe she just went too far and could not see it, or a tree was blocking the entrance? 

She doubted it, but what other explanation did she have?

 Arya walked backwards in the direction she came, but she was not very sure anymore, now that her footprints had disappeared. 

What was it with this forest, and why were the footprints suddenly disappearing? 

She was walking for quite a while, and she was so tired she was about to fall asleep, even though it was still bright. 

How long had she been out here? If she had been out here for a long time, why was it still bright as day? She guessed she just pretended it was a long time, like she always does. 

Normal for someone living in the Yukon, being completely bored every day and having only a little talkative brother, since her mother and father were always busy, or at least it seemed like it.

She decided if she can't find the way to her house, she might as well find a good spot to rest. She walked for about an hour before she was satisfied with any spots, examining the surroundings first. 

She decided it was safe to take a quick nap here and get more energy to search for an exit tomorrow, and to release the worries off her mind.

She was exhausted, and decided to lie down in a small patch of grass near a stream. She would have drank from the stream before going to bed, but the stream seemed very muddy, too unreliable to drink out of. 

She would not risk getting sick and not being able to continue searching for her brother.

She closed her eyes and tried to think about home and good things. She thought to herself that maybe this was all a dream. 

She soon fell into a calming, deep sleep, but before she was fully asleep she thought she heard something outside... 

Something that was music-like, but it was not the music she was used to...