By Herself

Deep In The Woods

  What!? Where'd she go that fast? I had a feeling I was gonna see that girl again... I looked around at the other houses. There were about 10 houses on this street. All of them were at least as big as ours. I saw other people greeting Dad by the car. I trudged in my furry, white, winter coat towards the front door.

  "Eliana! Eliana! Com'ere look at this rock! It's for you!" Jake comes up the small, snowy, hill, as he carries a light-colored rock in his hand. He comes running towards me, happily.

Uh thanks, but why did you give this to me? It's just a rock." I asked my brother. I was for real, confused. I think i sounded kind of mean. He was only five after all.

  "I don't really know. This girl just came up to me and handed me it. She said to give it to you. She's right over ther-" Jake turns around and points at them bottom of the small hill that our home was perched up on, by our car. He stopped talking and looked around the car from where we were standing by the door.

  "Uh Jake, there's no one there." I wait for him to turn back towards me, a bit startled.

  "Hmm, I told her to wait for me." Jake stated turning back towards me, slightly annoyed with the fact she wasn't still there. I nervously chuckled and quieted my now-racing mind. Who is this girl? What's she doing her? Heck, what even is her name!? I led my brother into a game of tag and forgot about her. Mama and Dad went into the home, starting to cook dinner (from what we have right now, anyway) and setting up our furniture.

〰〰〰〰〰

  "Jake...ugh...you...win." I pant, Jake still running wildly through our front yard. How can a five year old run that fast! He started running back towards me. My phone buzzed in my coat pocket. I went to grab it, reaching past the empty Lays chips and of course, m&m bag. Then I took it and glanced over at the sender. It was Mama.

Time: 6:30 p.m.
Date: December 3rd
<><><><><>
Mama
Mama: Hey! Are you still outside playing with Jake?
Me: Yea! I didn't realize it's been 20 mins.
Mama: Come back inside, dinner's almost ready.
Me: K, coming.
<><><><><>

  I look to see Jake only a few feet away from me, already. That was quick, as usual.

  "Mama said we need to go back home now. It's time for dinner." I explain to Jake, knowing that he most definitely wouldn't want to come inside. That is, unless the reason was fun. Therefore, he became very stubborn and didn't want to go back home.

  He started running towards the beautiful woods behind our home. They large, deep green trees, enclosed us. They surrounded us, standing tall and proud. Some trees had light droplets of snow dripping from the edges of the leaves. I stomped through the forest chasing Jake, stepping over crunching sticks, crinkling leaves, and small stones. Our shoes melted the ever so thin layer of frost that painted the tips of the grass with every step. Aw Crap! This is bad. I raced after him as fast as I could. My heart started beating as fast as it had during tag After a few minutes, I realized he was coming closer. Could I be getting closer to him? I realized after getting extremely closer to Jake that he had stopped. Why did he stop now? I was about to scold him for running when I realized why he hadn't gone further. A few feet in front of us was a girl, sitting on the forest floor, back facing us.

It was a small girl...
Probably no older than 9.