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Shards of moonlight cut through the canopy of trees, remnants of the late night. The moon sure looked pretty tonight. I, along with Emma and Mary Margaret followed Graham as we trudged our way along the overgrown path in the woods. I didn't know why I had agreed to go with them, I was sure it was because I couldn't stand the sight of Regina and that grumpy dwarf.
I sighed as ancient trees creaked and groaned all around us, like old ships straining against the tide. Tired from our long walk, I nevertheless was very alert and as I walked - turning at every noise, sharp eyes nervously piercing the ever-darkening shadows closing in around me.
The leaves were crunching underfoot and there were rustling around in the trees - probably the wind but thankfully there weren't too many bugs. They had pretty much disappeared for the week, thank fuck. It really wasn't easy to enjoy a walk through the woods when you were being harassed by mosquitoes, deer flies, horse flies, and other pests.
In fact, I once had a deer fly harass me for a whole walk through the woods - back in the day when I had a job, a responsibility. I kept forgetting that I was an ex-cop lmao. Anyway, those bugs kept buzzing me, landing on me, even after being shooed away, they kept on coming back. I knew the little bastard would bite me if given the chance. That was until I smashed him against my arm on one of his landings. Then and only then did the harassment stop.
Well anyway, back to our search for John Doe aka Prince Charming. He was no where to be found. Where the fuck was he? I wanted to go back so bad but every time I tried to do that, Emma would somehow know and instantly give me her puppy eyes which made me feel awkward so I had to keep on walking. I could hear the flow of water nearby. Was it a spring or a stream? I stepped carefully over the stones to come to the clearing. I just hoped that John Doe would be lying around somewhere close. I didn't even know how deep the woods were and I didn't want to walk anymore.
Suddenly Graham stopped and I bumped into him. "Ow. What is it?" I asked but he didn't answer. I looked back and everyone glanced at each other. Not daring to move, we waited, still as posts, straining for every sound and looking for any movement nearby, hoping beyond hope that at last we might see 'him'. Minutes passed, seemed much longer, but nothing.
"The trail runs out here," said Graham and I frowned.
"You sure? I thought tracking was one of your skills." I said back, disappointment lacing my tone.
"Well that's your skill too, isn't it? Oh wait, you don't know anything about these woods because you've been here only for a week and you are not the Sheriff of this town. This is my world. I got it, yeah?" Graham snapped with a low growl.
"Damn. Who hurt you?" I mumbled and took a step back.
He was about to speak but Emma interjected, "Hey, we get it. It's your world. Go on. We'll wait."
