The Bright Wood

Chapter 1

"My name is Connor Manning.  I live at 914 White Rock Lane.  My current guardians are George and Sharon Cronwell.  I don't have a family.  They never found them."

These words, which I thought over and over again, were the only thin string of consciousness I had to hold onto as my world spun and went dark.

***

I slowly opened my eyes.  My head beat with a ferocious pounding that threatened to split my skull.  I looked around, and the first thing I noticed was the wet bed of leaves that I rest my head on; it was drizzled with acorns that dug into my head, making a seemingly comfortable place increasingly undesirable.

There was a stench.  It wasn't a bad smell, but it smelled of tree sap and cedar.  I sat up, rubbing my sore head.  I looked around, seeing only trees wherever I cast my gaze.  The treetops loomed over my head at what seemed like a thousand feet in the air.  Birds chirped in the branches around me, singing their sweet songs as if without a care in the world until a loud caw came from above the greenery and a crow swooped down, scattering the little birds and their songs into a million different directions.  As quickly as the crow came, it disappeared into the treetops again.  The small songbirds flew gracefully back to their previous perches to sing once more.

I stood to my feet, taking care not to further hurt my bruised body.  I took another look around to better judge my surroundings.  Other than the many trees that I saw, there was also low brush and shrubbery, some of it being so thick with thorns that they would be impenetrable without any tools to brush them aside.  I looked up at the sky, and through the trees, I could see the sun looming close to the western horizon; the sky around it was littered with clouds that glowed pink, orange, and purple.  If not for the fact that I didn't know where I was or how I got there, it would be beautiful. 

Without knowing what to do and trying to keep the panic I was feeling from clouding my thoughts or actions, I watched the sun dip slowly behind my viewable range, the trees on the horizon seemingly swallowing the light to allow none for my eyes to see.

In the opposite direction that the sun had set, the moon began to rise.  It was a beautiful crescent beaming its magnificence through the sky and weaving around the branches until it reached my eyes.  Though it was light to see by, I would have rathered complete darkness, for its light showed an eerie glow on the landscape and cast frightening shadows on the ground around me.

The panic I felt only edged its way to the top of my consciousness.  My breathing became rapid and my heartbeats became quick.  I began to shake from head to toe.  I sunk to the ground and crawled towards a large tree that may offer even a little shelter.  As I crawled in the darkness, tears began pooling in my eyes and, and they slipped down onto my soft cheek which was still shaking with the fear that I felt.  I hadn't noticed earlier, but the ground beneath me was wet and cold, and my fingers and toes became increasingly numb.

When I got to the tree, I sat against it and curled myself into a tiny ball.  As soon as I closed my eyes to block out the horror I felt inside, a high pitched shriek came from a branch above my head, and I jumped up and screamed before I realized that I had only heard an angry raccoon far up in the tree and unable to hurt me.  As I heard the echoes of my scream bounce between the trees, a dog-like yelp made me jump back to my position with my back against the wet bark of the big tree.  First, there was just one yelp, but shortly following it was the yelps of a dozen dogs coming towards me.

I stood frozen in fear with my back against the tree when I saw it, a large dog standing upon its rear legs with a coat of fur that glowed silver in the soft light. It stepped through the brush towards me.  I could see a necklace of teeth around its neck and several golden rings pierced in its right ear.  Its yellow eyes stared at me as it slowly and soundlessly moved toward me.  I could see other dog-men through the corners of my eyes doing the same.