Working Title- Loyal

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                   I stood there for long, my legs growing weak, the feeling of nothingness creeping upwards. I remained that way another minute, two. Five. Low hanging whisks of mist clung to my ankles, sending feeling of shivers shooting up my frozen statue.

                  My eyes betraying the ground, I stole a glance at the sky, risking vulnerability for a moment. Stringy clouds barely holding themselves together met my stare, my mind morphing their disfigured forms into new ones. A rabbit, dashing towards an opening in a tree. A cunning and curious cat, displaying a magnificent smile stretching ear to ear across his mischievous face. A heart, spikes like arrows stabbing and stretching outwards, finding revenge for its feelings long lost. All these dreamy stories brewing through my mind, along with multiple gambling cards floating, no, guarding the heart with a crown now gently place upon the royal queen's heart.

                   A snuffed out noise below awakened me from a dream of wonder. My gaze first swept around me, caution in every fiber of my being, then swooped down below as I performed a delicate plie to silently stoop above the tiny caterpillar crawling out of the muddy dirt.

                  The sounds he made were so little, but the silence around me very grand in comparison, that therefore only but the wind danced through the small clearing in the woods. I lifted him to the palm of my smooth hand, feeling him wither and scramble. I let him glide across the back of my other hand, memorizing the patterns and colors embedded on the caterpillar's silky skin.

                   A sudden sound registered throughout the woods; snapping twigs directly behind me. I negotiate and debate my fearful self to seek what the cause was. Is it here? Is one here? But then the terror of not knowing was greater than knowing, and I swiftly turned my head to meet the stare of...

...nothing.

                  It's gone. It's okay. I repeated to myself. No, it wasn't ever here. Nothing was. Nothing is. I reminded myself. Nobody comes here anymore. Nothing but me.

                  I slip the caterpillar down to rest peacefully upon his leaf, his head hung low, probably still foggy from the fumes of the forest and me twirling him around like a conductor's wand. Speaking of twists and turns, I did so with my eyes only, carefully scanning the terrain around me, otherwise it would know I know it's here.

                   Stop thinking like that! I screamed in my mind. Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP! There's nothing, nobody here. At all. Ever. Forever. And. Never. This is my spot, and always will be. True, true, -and truest of all things true: It is and was and will be mine. End of discussion.

                  At this moment, I understood what I was here for. Escape. The grateful isolation from society... and some things alike... Yes, you know what. Like the monsters lurking in the woods, waiting, watching...

                  NO! I was not going to freak myself out over this, ever again. Not going to happen, nice try. Unless your right, Skeptical Me intruded into my thoughts.

                 What if I am right? What if I'm going insane? What if I already am?

                 Nope, Miss-Always-Right-All-The-Time Me stated strongly. You're not insane, just weak. Why don't you spend more time with, I don't know, normal people for a change? Maybe stop ditching school, letting yourself be afraid of things that don't exist? I've now decided to rename that part of my brilliant mind Miss-Mom Me.

                Why are you even giving the parts of yourself names, Loyal? You might not be insane, but you sure have a few screws lose with you.