Silently crying, I kneeled down on the forest floor - collapsed, really. I dug my fingernails into the dirt and yelled, "Why did you have to take her?" The silence just made me more upset. "Why did you have to take her?" Having only been eleven, and being put through this much pain - parents gone, sister kidnapped, and possibly even killed. I breathed heavily, covered my head in my hands, and shouted, "GIVE THEM ALL BACK!" This just made more tears come. I had a wrenching pain in my side from screaming so much. I didn't care. All I cared about had just been whisked away with the wind. I couldn't see, couldn't breathe, couldn't keep it in. I just kept on howling into the night, until I cried myself to sleep.
Morning came, and my eyes opened lightly. They were wet and puffy. I guessed it was about five in the morning. For a moment, I didn't remember anything. What am I doing in a forest? Why am I alone? How did I get here? Then the dreaded moment came.
I'm in the forest because I ran away from home.
I'm alone because my parents died and Anna was kidnapped.
I got here by foot with Anna, most of the night anyway.
Grief.
Unquestionable grief. Treacherous grief. The tears came again. Not so much that they were blocking my vision, though. Slowly. They slunk down my face, two by two, and gently started to flatten my hair down. I just sat there, crying, for about twenty minutes. I was finally drained of all my tears, and could cry no more. I straightened myself up and brushed the dirt off of my pants, took a deep breath, I mean a really deep breath, and started walking barefoot. I left my shoes behind to mark the spot where I lost her. Engraved in the dirt above them were the words: "Annabelle Marguerite Bellamy." One more tear managed to escape onto my cheek, which now felt stiff, dry but wet. I wiped it off and sniffled.
I sulked melancholically through the forest until the first rays of sunlight burnt through the heavy wych leaves. I peered up at them and sighed. The forest was too big. I wanted to get out, but I was afraid that if I ran, my feet would get tangled in vines on the way. I'd already been scraped up by some thorns. I decided that jogging wouldn't be so bad. I prepared myself to leave the forest.
Finally.
