Insanity - H.S

3

"I like your dress."

The words replay over and over in my head. My hand clenches the sheets of my bed, making a fist, until I realize that I am not laying on my bed, but on the forest ground.

That was real? What happened last night, it really did happen?

It seemed so surreal to me, I have never felt so vulnerable in my life.

I try to get the dirt etched under my nails out of my skin, as I get up and brush myself off.

I look down at my dress, remembering how I fell in that puddle while running into this mad place, but confusion and panic etch across my face.

Splashes of a dark-reddish brown liquid scatter all across my dress in large patches. I can confirm that its most definitely not water.

No, it has to be water, I remember it perfectly, I mean I couldn't really see what the color of the water was, but I was sure that it was water.

Right?

But then the memories come flooding back at me, and I remember that the water seeped into my mouth at one point, and it definitely didn't taste right, it was sort of metallic tasting.

"Oh god."

My head drops into my hands as I shake my head.

"It can't be, it can't be, it can't."

I repeat the words, trying to assure myself that it was just water until I just give up and accept the fact that what I fell into last night was most likely blood.

But why?

Why would there be just a puddle of blood lying in the forest?

I mean I didn't see anything dead around it, you would think the blood must have been coming from something, and it was fresh too, it would have been dried up if it wasn't.

Something about this forest is seriously wrong, and and its probably the only thing that I can't blame the officials for banning. The way the trees faded to black, how the air became thicker. Everything about it just creeps me out. I need to get out of this place, I can't stand it any longer.

I look around me, but all I see are trees. Luckily this time they are actually their normal green color, and the ground is back to being brown.

I walk for a few minutes, the tree branches gently prodding at my arms as I push them away. I climb up on to a stump, making it a little easier to see past the trees for any signs of a way back but I still have no luck. I'm seriously regretting running into this place. I walk a little while longer but I realize a few moments later that I have just been walking in a circle that whole time.

"Help!" I cup my hands around my mouth trying to make my voice project further, but I don't think anyone can hear me. I know that if someone hears me and finds me in here that I will be punished somehow, no one is supposed to venture into the forest at all costs, but if it means a way to get out of this place, i'll do anything.

I still wait for a response, but I finally give up. I guess I'm going to have to find my way out myself.

I lift up my leg to check my ankle, balancing myself on one foot. The area around my ankle is noticeably bigger, and beet red, you can tell that it's swollen.

I start hopping on my good leg out of the forest, and I sigh in relief when the familiar buildings and shops that I have grown up with come into view.

"You shouldn't be going into the forest you know," I jump when I hear the voice of someone, standing at the edge of the trees, bordering the beginning of the woods.