A walk in the Woods

Chapter Two

Audra stopped after walking for quite some time. For some reason, the creek she had lay bye earlier came to mind. Feeling that it was nothing to be wary of, she brushed the thought aside. After a few minutes of walking, again came the nudge. She felt drawn to the source of whatever was beckoning her so strongly. She had come such a long way without having any problems, why should she now? It was starting to annoy her, so in her ignorance she continued along the path she was walking. It now seemed as though there was no longer a path, and the foliage and undergrowth was tripping her up. Audra shook her head and turned back, running towards the way she had come. She tore through anything that got in her way as if it were a life and death situation.

Eventually, after a lot of struggling through thorns that weren't there at first and running into trees, Audra found the creek.

It was as if the water was radiating an energy that taunted her, dared her to come closer or even follow it. So that is what she did. The creek flowed to the west, towards the sunset. It was starting to get dark, and lightning bugs were flashing their little warning signs and mating calls to each other. Audra walked beside it. It was sort of strange to her that there was no struggle to walk alongside the creek when she had had such a hard time running through the woods to get back to it. When she looked closer, It seemed as though the trees were moving themselves aside so that the could walk. Peeking behind her, she realized that's exactly what they were doing. The trees and plants were creating a sort of unpenatrable wall along the bank of the creek behind her, if she walked forward, the trees in front of her bent away, and the plants flattened themselves. If she walked backwards, the forest wouldn't open back up to let her go back along the path she had came. She felt trapped, and she didn't like it at all. She ran, still following the creek even though it felt… evil, to say the very least. As Audra strode slowly beside the water, she noticed movement. In the small stream, there were fish. The fish were beautiful creatures that seemed as though they didn't belong in the serene forest at all. They glimmered with gold, yellow, blue, and even green colors. More than that, Audra noticed the creek wasn't just water flowing down a bed of rocks; it had a sort of system. There were small pools that trailed off from it, and a fish or two inhabited each one, like they were little houses. It was interesting, in her opinion. Things in this forest were a bit too welcoming, in a way. She decided to watch her step from now on.

Again, the foul thought of there being nothing like this in her own biome was infuriating. Seeing her reflection in the running water, she stomped on it with one of her front paws, sending droplets flying and making fish race away from the spot where her small foot had smacked the surface. At that moment, everything seemed to get very quiet. It was eerie, and Audra grew nervous. She knew nothing earthly could hurt her, but the natural fear of the unknown came and stayed for a while. The trees stopped moving, the wind went silent and the creek was the only sound that could be heard. No songbirds, frogs, crickets, squirrels, not a thing moved. She stayed completely still, unmoving, pretending not to breath even though she didn't need to anyways.

A single bluejay cried out into the dark woods, bringing everything back to life all of a sudden. Audra sighed inwardly and continued on. She was a bit more wary now and walked with lighter steps. She was very out of her comfort zone being here, her meadow was much more open, even if it wasn't as pretty as this place. Slowly, the bitter jealousy she felt melted away, replaced by fear. It was so strange, being here whenever there wasn't a good reason to be. But yet, she felt like she needed to stay, at least for a little bit. It was as if some sort of ghost had put a spell on her that compelled her to follow this small creek. Audra tried poking a paw in the water, it was cold as ice. Even if she wanted to turn back, she realized, the water was too cold and the forest wouldn't have it. There must be a reason, she thought, and followed the path that the woods had set out for her with more determination than before.