Butterflies

Before; Part 2

  There was not time for me to think. I just had to do it.

"Mai! Mai! Come back inside right now. Do you remember what I told you about being outside this late?" She continued to call out for me.

"Yes, I remember what you told me. But I get the feeling that none of it is true. I want to see what's in the woods. I have to go mom. I'm sorry."

  Not soon after I finished my, mother was running towards me. I had already chosen what I was going to do. No one could stop me from going into the woods, not even my mother.
  I turned on my heel and ran as fast as I could from my mother. Tears started to swell up in my eyes and made it hard to see.

  'I shouldn't be feeling this way. This is what I wanted. I chose to leave.'

  I continued to run until I was at the point of breaking. I found myself in a clear grass meadow. I looked at my watch to see the time. It was already 12:30.

'I wonder if my mother is still looking for me or just gave up because of all her stories.'

It was late and I was tired. I flattened out some of the grass by a tree and sat beside it. It wasn't going to be the most comfortable thing but for the night it would have to do.

                            •~•

  I awoke to bird calls I had never heard before. Everything here was new to me and I was going to have to adapt to it.  I looked around at my surroundings. The sun was shining up above and made it hard to look up. Everything seemed to be fine.
  I got up and started to walk. I still had no idea what I was looking for, but I know I would find it at the right time. I just had to make sure I didn't get lost. I grabbed my compass from my bag and held it out. The arrow pointed South East, but I needed to go West. All I had to do was make sure that the sun was over me the entire time I was traveling.
It didn't take long for me to get heading in the right direction. I wasn't that far into the woods but I was far enough not to know what to expect from it.
As I walked I kept thinking of the stories mom would tell me.

"Remember Mai, don't go into the woods. The animals there will smell you immediately. They'll come for you. What am I supposed to do if you go in there and never come back?"

I really didn't know what she would do if I never came back from here. I feel like she would just cry for a few days and then be over it.

•~•

   It was starting to get dark, and I needed to find a place to stay the night. There wasn't much of anything that I could use to make a shelter. I saw a willow not far from where I was and decided that would be the best place for me. But what I found there would change my life.