The Secrets in the Forest

Chapter 1

Chapter one

The sound of the alarm ringing vibrated in the air, while vibrations shuffled the phone on the wooden nightstand. Amelia winces at the noise that was her daily despair, causing her to groan in response.  Her eyes which were once sealed, started to open by the slight light penetrating it's way inside the room through the gaps of the blinds. The sound of stifled groans continued around the room as Amelia  released the stiffness in her body, excessively stretching, clicking her bones into place. Her eyelids fluttered open; her pupils dilated adapting  to the rays of light. Amelia's right arm reaches to grab her phone, checking the time with her visually impaired eyes. Amelia's eyes widen in realisation as alarm bells go off in her head, her focus diverts back to the time on the phone.

08:15.

"Shit!" Amelia's voice croaks out in a sharp tone. She leaped out of her bed tangling her legs to the duvet. "Fu'aahh my life" she cried painfully, currently laid on the floor wrapped in her duvet. A few seconds passed as she laid there regretting her existence in this universe. A sudden adrenaline takes over, erasing the pain while she drags her body into the family shared bathroom down the hall from her room.

"I'm so freaking late" a scream/cry for help exits Amelia's mouth  as she tumbles her way down the stairs. At the same moment Amelia's mum walked towards the staircase,  placed opposite the main door.

"What on earth are you doing?" A confused glaze falling on to her. "I'm late" Amelia panicked trying to keep herself together. She wasn't scared of being late to school, she was scared of her homeroom teacher who takes delight in handing out hours' worth of detention, like a person giving out candy on Halloween.

"Amelia, it's Saturday. Where are you going so early?" The woman that she called mum laughed out with curiosity. Time felt as though it had stopped, no movements or noises were heard in the house. The only sound that had kept Amelia slightly sane was the sound of the grandfather clock ticking, however, Amelia's sanity was running thin as she wanted to curl up on the floor while having a meltdown.

Amelia's conscious decided to finally take over, making her stand up straight. " I knew that" she said placing her hair behind her ears. The shame had sunk in as she turned around and made her way back up to her room. Her mother's laughter could be heard echoing around the house, igniting the curiosity of her father. Knowing the curiosity of her father and the exaggeration of her mother's stories, Amelia ran back to her room. She made sure not to slam the door, not wanting to receive more attention than she already had.  Not wanting to face the embarrassment of her parents and her immature brother making her the laughingstock for the next 10 years, she procrastinated whether she should get back into to bed and hibernate for the next 20 years or whether she should prepare for the humiliation by going on a run.

Amelia changed her clothes to gym trousers and a baggy black top with her favourite sports bra underneath, she grabbed her earphones and phone making her way to exit the house. While walking down the stairs she shouted, "Mum I'm going for a run" rushing out of the door before any comments could meet her ears. Amelia decided to do her usual run along the main roads and make her way around the forest back to the house. And stopping by nearby cafe to grab some breakfast for herself. Amelia had regularly gone for runs but not for the reason her parents had thought she was going for. She had despised having to move her body more than she had to. Amelia had decided that if reincarnation was real she would come back as a rock sitting in a stream running through a green meadow, filled with all types of flowers and a beautiful sunset to watch every night. 

She had finally reached the nearest cafe, about 15 minutes of half runs and half walking. Living in a small town meant that Amelia knew the faces of everyone, even if she had never spoken more than a few words with them. So, it was a shock to see two men dressed in black standing in the queue waiting to order. She stood behind one of the men who was at least twice her height and three times her size.

Amelia racked her brains to remember if she had ever seen them before, but nothing came to mind. "Good morning Amelia, odd to see you so early in a weekend" the sweet old lady behind the counter smiled. Amelia grinned a sheepish smile, walking up to Mrs Kasey, the cafes owner, and the neighbourhood babysitter. The lady was definitely in her 50s, yet still working in this small cafe Amelia had frequently visited since she was a child.

"Good morning" Amelia replied, avoiding looking at the two men sitting on her right. "And what can I get you today. Let me guess ... a cheese and onion pastry" Mrs Kasey said, pausing for effect. Mrs Kasey has treated Amelia as her own granddaughter, as she did not have any grandkids of her own. Her memories of Amelia were of her babysitting the siblings when their parents went out for date nights once in a while.

"Yes please" Amelia smiled. Handing over tenner. Mrs Kasey made a funny face, pushing away Amelia's hands, like she had always done. Amelia did not understand why she would never take her money, she still had a business to run after all. But to Amelia's surprise, her parents had asked Mrs Kasey to give Amelia whatever she had wanted, and they would pay for it every week. It was a secret that Mrs Kasey and her parents would take to their graves, knowing that Amelia felt loved.

"Here darling" Mrs Kasey handed Amelia her food.

Amelia turned to leave, accidently meeting the gaze of one of the men who she tried to avoid. She didn't know why she had a slight fear of them, possibly because they were strangers or because they were men, or because they were strange men. Whatever it was, she did not want to be in the same place as them for long. She felt as though she had a bounty on her head, and they were there to collect her.

But as she turned, meeting eyes with the shorter one, she smiled a faint smile and walked out. The first step out of the tiny cafe, out came a breath of air she hadn't even realised she had been keeping in. Her body shivered. She walked along the road, finishing off her pastry. Her humiliation of this morning had finally passed, and finally had the courage to go back home and face the jokes of her brother who would most likely be awake and heard the story from her parents.

The walk back towards the house, would have taken a long time, but the path through the forest which she and her friends discovered could take her straight home. Amelia and her friends had used that path so many times, that the map of the forest was engraved in their heads. Amelia made her way to the path entrance placing her earphones in listening to 'Black Swan'.

Running through the forest always brought back past memories of her childhood, yet those memories also brought back a strange feeling that she could never figure out. They were a bit blurry, but she still had some recollection of her memories. Five minutes had passed, and Amelia had stopped running, moving at a slower pace as she tries to breathe air back into her lungs. Amelia's pace starts to move slower as the wind seemed to be against her as it slams against her body.

Suddenly, a warm sensation filled Amelia, causing her heart to beat faster while her hand started to sweat once again. Before she could take another step Amelia's body had frozen, as though her foot was stuck in the mud. The wind slammed once again against her body causing her to gasp out to nothing. The sound of her heart pounding seemed to echo around her, turning the music into a noise in the background.

People talk of having a flight or fight response, but Amelia had neither. When her body had decided to unfreeze, she still couldn't seem to control her legs to move, instead her right hand reached towards her earphone, letting it dangle. The sound of leaves crumpling on the ground were clear. Amelia's eyes rolled to the corner as though she could see a blur like figure walking towards her. The sound of the leaves crumpling moved closer, causing Amelia to snap back to reality and the sense of danger flooded her entire being. Her legs automatically  started out in a sprint and heightening all her senses. Amelia thought of how she wanted to die, but she never knew her own idiocy of running through the forest alone would be it. Her parents had always warned her to not enter the forest alone, yet here she way. If she survives, she wants to apologise for not listening but knows that she would not actually do it.