Willowwood Forest

Chapter 5

As I approached my cabin, the dining hall generators faintly hummed in the distance, blending with the rustle of the leaves in the wind. It was a welcome noise after the silence that suffocated the forest I had just left behind. The air even felt different here, less heavy, like the trees lost their focus on me.

My cabin door creaked as I pushed it open, and my muscles relaxed at its familiarity: a neatly made bed in the corner, my worn-out dresser, and my little brown book shelf standing on the other side. The place was small, but it was enough.

Without thinking, I tossed the snake onto the bed. Realizing what I had done I quickly checked to see if it was okay. But it simply coiled up, comfortable on my thick blanket. Turning from the bed, I rummaged through my bookshelf. I had a few books on there, the pages yellowed from over-use. They were novels I had brought from home. I've read each of them countless times, so it wasn't worth reading them. They weren't what I was looking for however.

As I was flipping through the few books I had, someone knocked at the cabin door. I paused. Most people didn't bother coming to my cabin, they knew better than to disturb me. Especially if it was unannounced. I stepped cautiously, hand hovering near the pocket knife on my dresser. Who knew what was going to happen?

Though, when I opened the door, a familiar face greeted me. "Oh great!," Marissa exclaimed in my face, "You're home!"

She was as cheerful as ever. She was also gripping a paper intently.

"What's up?," I asked.

"Oliver sent me on an errand to give you this ." Marissa shoved the paper into my hands, before grinning.

Taking the paper, I thanked her. "Is this like a message or something?"

"Oh, I don't actually know."

"Great."

"Hey!," She threw her hands up in a mock-offended way. "Don't blame the messenger!"

I rolled my eyes jokingly. "Geez sorry."

"Oh wait! I remember!"

"Remember what exactly?"

"You're also supposed to go meet up with Oliver."

"At the office?"

"Yeah, he said he'd explain more."

I looked at the paper. It was folded up neatly, yellow and weirdly soft. Marissa took the opportunity to peek into my cabin. Her eyes widened at me and asked, "Is that one of your snakes? I thought you said you didn't like them!"

"This one is just..very clingy. Won't leave me alone."

"Mhm...sure.." She didn't believe me at all.

"Don't you have anything else to do?," I glared at her, face red.

She took a second to think about it. "I could go check up on Aspen. Haven't seen her since we had dinner together."

My stomach tightened. I shook off the guilt growing under my skin. That wasn't important. "Yeah, that would be smart probably."

"What have you done today? Anything cool?," Marissas eyes twinkled with hope. She loves to hear about people's adventures, even if they don't think they're all that interesting.

"No, just the normal stuff."

"Just keeping that snake as a pet, huh?"

"Don't."

Marisa giggled. "Well for your information, I had to stop a breeze that was becoming a tornado!"

I blinked. Oh right, I had forgotten she took care of the air flow here in the forest. Like the shadows, the wind has a mind of its own, and that's why Marissas here. I peered down at her light blue tie then back at the paper.