The Woods

Chapter One

Sawyer walked slowly past the woods, and, as always, felt a strong urge to go into them. Ever since that night three months ago, she had been longing to go back to the woods. She was always curious, and desperately wanted to know the secrets held in the dark, mysterious forest.
The only other person who seemed to show the same interests in the woods was Quentin, a shy, mysterious boy in Sawyer's class. Unfortunately, Quentin had gone missing a week ago, leaving Sawyer alone to ponder the bizarre recent occurrences by herself.
After passing by the woods, Sawyer seemed to relax. She let out a deep breath, realizing she had been holding it. She then walked quickly home, only stopping to say hello to a neighbor walking their dog. When she got home, she said hello to her eight-year-old brother, Marshall, and went to her room.
Sawyer's room was almost a mirror image of her personality. Each of her four walls was a different color, making her room black, grey, red, and white. All but one of these walls were covered in posters, mostly of her favorite bands.
     Sawyer looked into the black-rimmed on her grey wall and stared at her reflection. Her long, brown hair was pulled back into a French braid, and dirt streaked across her olive complexion. Her eyes were lined with mascara, her irises multiple colors. In the center of her eye was an explosion of brown; next was green, dark green, and a thin rim of grayish blue around the outside.
     Since Sawyer's best friend, Julian, was busy, Sawyer decided to just sit down and read to kill time. Before she knew it, an hour had passed, and soon enough two had. She glanced up at the time, and, stifling a yawn, turned off her lights and got into bed. She sighed, knowing that a long and restless night awaited her.
     She opened her eyes and looked around. It was dark, very dark, and she could hardly see her own hands held out in front of her. "Where am I?" she thought, confused and shaking from the cold. She looked up at the night sky, and wondered why she was outside. Suddenly, she heard a rustle in the bushes...
     She wanted to sleep, of course, but had a slight dilemma. Ever since that night, two months ago, she had been having horrible reoccurring nightmares that seemed to get more and more realistic.
     Sawyer sat in silence, waiting for sleep, while, at the same time, dreading it. She glanced at her watch, and was surprised to see it was already midnight.
She got out of bed and, tip-toeing quietly, walked out of her room. She opened the door silently and slid out of her house, marching solemnly into her backyard. She laid down in the grass and stared up at the night sky, wondering if somewhere, someone was doing the same thing.
     For about an hour Sawyer stared up at the sky, thinking and thinking. It was on nights like these she could feel truly at peace, alone in the peacefulness at night. She stayed there in the darkness until she slowly sunk into a quiet sleep.

That was when the nightmare started.