The school day was a blur. I was never a particularly academic student, but today, I had more on my mind than usual. A whirl of images - some of the forest, some of Juno. Some of the moon, shrouded in clouds. A blanket of intrigue and curiosity lay heavy over my whole body, preventing me from concentrating on my studies, and all I could think about was visiting Juno again. I didn't see them at all during school - most probably because they were in the year above. I figured I would be okay staying over at their house again tonight, but just to be safe I headed to the corner shop to pick up a few things. As I walked, I noticed a few kids running down the street with a ball, closely followed by their parents. I looked down and shoved my hands in my pockets.
It took just over 15 minutes to reach the small corner shop from the school, and by the time I had arrived the wind was picking up and the temperature was dropping. The inside of the shop was barely warmer than the outside, and as I perused the shelves the bright lights began feeling harsher and more unfriendly. I grabbed some fruit pastilles and instant noodles, then headed over to select whichever pasta was cheapest, settling on penne. As I walked down to the front of the shop to pay, I noticed the meagre yet vibrant gardening section, something I had never had a reason to pay attention to usually. My hands hovered over the seeds, pondering whether or not to get some for Juno to try and sweeten the hopefully budding friendship between us. I didn't know much about the meanings of flowers, but I figured as long as they looked pretty it would be good enough, so I selected some called "red spider lilies" and placed them in my basket. Finally, I grabbed a packet of cigarettes, rummaging through my bag to find the ID I had forged a few years back. The cashier of the shop here was usually fairly apathetic and lenient with checking identification, and considering my height and dyed hair I could just about pass for 18. It was a routine I was used to by now.
The sun was just visible above the trees, beginning to cast its golden hues over the sky to prepare for the arrival of the moon. As I began my walk home, I noticed a girl sitting on the side of the road, crying. Her knee looked slightly scraped up under the rip in her cuffed blue jeans, and her arms and head rested on her legs as she sobbed into the denim. She had long wavy hair so dark that it almost looked black and a fairly dark complexion with freckles splattered loosely across her face. I thought I recognised her from my English class, and despite never having spoken to her before, I planted myself next to her and tapped her on the shoulder.
"Hey, what's up? Do you need any help?"
She looked up and wiped her eyes and nose, then stared at me with muddy green eyes before shuffling back slightly. "Woah, y-you're Tobias right?"
I blinked. "Um, yeah? Most people call me Tobi though. I'm sorry, I don't know your name."
"I'm Aubrey," she said, smiling through her tears. She had a gap in her teeth, and for some reason it seemed to really suit her. "You have quite a big reputation, I'm sorry for acting weird - I just didn't really expect to be talking to you."
Right. I got into trouble a lot in school, picking fights and walking out of classes, though I'd never really considered it something well known amongst people. I mostly enjoyed the attention, to be truthful, but sometimes I felt this itching under my skin and couldn't bear to sit still in a classroom. "I guess so. And it's no problem by the way, what's up?"
She wiped away her tears again, her eyes beginning to dry up, and took a deep, shaky breath. "It's my cat. She ran into the forest and I don't know how I'm supposed to get her back on my own, but both my brother and my mum are working, and the longer I wait the more lost she's getting."
"The forest, huh?" I smiled slightly. "C'mon, I'll come and help you find her."
We walked for half an hour through a half lit forest with no luck, the light starting to ease its way behind the horizon. Aubrey and I chatted the whole time. She told me about her favourite band and her fear of the dark. She expressed her opinions on the best way to practise sketching anatomy, something I hadn't a clue about but was glad to listen to. She seemed to know exactly when and how to respond, the best thing to say to be funny and suave, the most appropriate response to a sombre story. She radiated confidence in a way that I tried my best to match, but the initial concept of "Tobias the cool and intimidating troublemaker" was stripped bare as I repeatedly stumbled over my words, feeling as though nothing I said was funny enough. It wasn't that she made me feel bad about myself, it was that I had never met anyone as effortlessly fun to be around. I was just Tobi now, the kid with the short attention span and poor grades. Tobi: the kid who can't sit still.
Although aimlessly strolling through the forest sounded nice enough with her company, we still hadn't found Aubrey's cat, Mimi, and knowing I needed to speak to my parents and see Juno tonight was weighing down on my shoulders like a lead scarf. We kept heading onwards, the sky darkening around us as we chatted, oblivious to our surroundings. It took longer than it should have to notice how quickly the light seemed to fade compared to most evenings, and it was only when I properly stopped to look around that I realised I could see close to nothing.
The dark had become darker, and the colours of the forest had become duller.
I tried to call out to Aubrey that we needed to turn back, but no sounds left my mouth. No sounds could be heard anywhere, not from my feet on the leaves or my own heartbeat in my ears. It smelt too sickly sweet, like rotting flowers.
I could barely make out her face anymore. I could barely make anything out anymore.
A sharp pain suddenly emanated from my right forearm, as if I had burnt it on the edge of a baking tray, and I yelped out in pain without making a noise. I must have caught it on a tree branch, I thought to myself, trying to stay upright, trying to believe that a tree branch would hurt that much. I needed to look around, to find an exit, but it was all too dark.
Everywhere around me was silence. My mouth tasted of silence. My arm reeked of silence.
My arm reeked of blood, too.
I steadied my breathing and tried to calm down. I knew realistically that it was just the covering of the trees growing thicker, that there wasn't anything supernatural to it, that Juno was wrong. Trying to feel around with my arms, I noticed something soft brush past my hand, and running my hand along it I came to the conclusion it was some form of grass or grain. It had a long stalk, with a slightly bristly top, and feeling further I realised that there seemed to be hundreds all around. What use would there be for hundreds of such a plant to be planted in the middle of a forest?
I realised in an instant that I had no clue where Aubrey was. The panic rose in my chest. It was too dark. Everything was wrong. It was all too dark.
It was all too dark, then it was all too bright.
I blinked twice before my eyes got adjusted to the sight of normality.
I was sprawled along a bed of white clovers and ferns, the last of the sunlight trying its best to make its way through the thick covering of leaves. To the left of me sat Aubrey with her knees up to her chest, crying, the ends of golden hour painting her face with an ethereal shimmer. In front of us stood a tall figure wearing a deep blue knitted jumper with an embroidered shooting star across the back. A tall figure who's entire person was surrounded by an entourage of floating rocks and sticks.
