Departure.

change.

     After noticing this abrupt change in the woods I'd once loved, on the same route I knew like the back of hand, in the only place I'd ever called my own home- it almost hurt to see the twisted branches that looked like long, spidery fingers, reaching out to grab you by the collar of your shirt at any given chance, the strange and unusual "faces" that the trees now called their own, and the almost robotic way the small bits of plant life swayed in the cool, harsh Autumn breeze.

     I look at my companion, the fox looks at me, and for yet another brief moment- all seems peaceful yet again. Only for a slight moment, for my fluffy friend darts off ahead of me again. This time, no noise was the cause of this. I take off again, the forest begins to thicken, the sky going gray, the trees becoming more and more distorted with each wretched step forward. Soon my boots begin to drag, almost seeming to tell me to go back. But maybe for the sake of pure idiocy or maybe something more, I continue to run.

     Every last bit of sense I've ever been taught is telling me to turn around. To stop- being stupid and to stop running.

     I come to a cleared out area in the once dense forest. Light fills the once dark areas of the forest, and I can't help but feel incredibly relieved somehow. This sense of relief lasts only a few moments before I realize something- the fox. The fox is nowhere around me,I don't see it at all. My eyes begin to scan the treeline, but all I see is the forest. My eyes then focus on something peculiar. A shadow. It doesn't belong to a fox, however. It looks like a human, and it's moving gracefully over to me. Then I hear it. The whistling. It's coming from the shadow's direction. My brain is now spinning, where do I go? Is this the end of me? Where do I hide?

     I look up. I see a man dressed in a black suit, he has thick, fiery red locks of hair, he's very thin and unusually tall. He looks down at me. He smirks. I feel all the color drain from my face.