LOST IN THE BLACK FOREST | A SHORT NOVEL

1

"Life is a

journey not

a destination"

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Humming along to Hotel California by the Eagles I nodded and tapped my foot on the seat in front of me, not caring whom I was to bother at this moment.

"La-" I heard something and looked up and saw the creature in front of me nostrils ablaze and eyes bloodshot. It's long nails red and its hairy fingers and long legs made it look perfectly lengthy to its masculine size. The fur along the sides of this rambling beast's face and the canines that could crush with a single snap. I removed my headphones slowly, that's when it began to speak. "Stop tapping you goddamn dirty feet on my new leather seats! This is a new Mercedes that me and your father bought and I don't need childish feet ruining it!" Meet my step mother, Gale. Or what I like to call her, Hell.

"Sorry He- I mean Gale... didn't want to ruin DAD'S new car with MY oh so DIRTY feet. Maybe YOU should make it more BITCH PROOF!" She was going to reach over and pop me in the face if my dad hadn't let one hand off the steering wheel and control his dog. Once she calmed down he fixed his glasses and brushed back his silver hair, looking in the rearview glaring at me.

"Laura." He spoke in his more deep, dark tone. I folded my arms, raising my brow and smirked back at him.

"Yes?" I said in a playful deep tone. He couldn't help but smirk but then faded quickly as he looked at the road again.

"Be nice to Gale, she has done nothing to y-" I interrupted by slamming my hand on his headrest.

"Besides bitch all the time and hurt your feelings by sleeping with your fr-" His face went red as he pulled off the side of the road and stopped rather quickly sending me forward and back. Especially Gale who didn't wear a seatbelt.

"That's enough Laura!" He shouted, while rubbing his eyes under his glasses. I knew what he was thinking all the time. He knew he messed up by marrying Gale, but couldn't divorce her because she might make up some lie so she could put him in the slammer for good. Sly, foxy hoe. "Please can you two just get along? I just want that for one whole damn day without any commotion! No interrupting my work, my studies? Please?" He asked in a pitiful tone, Gale just glared at him the squinted her eyes at me.

"Fine." She said childishly as she folded her arms. He sighed in relief until she spoke again. "On one condition," we groaned as we both put our faces in our hands, "I do not want her sleeping in the same tent as us, I don't want her near us when we are walk-"

"Gale there are wild animals out here!" He shouted as he stared at her. She just shrugged in return.

"Who would want to eat a bratty child and a scientist?" She rolled her eyes huffing. "ANYWAYS, back to what I was saying, I don't want to go fishing, I don't want to be in the water at night or near it because there are WAY too many mosquitoes!" She did all this wild expressions with her hands and face me and my dad had to look at each other like, is this bitch for real?

"Can we just go now? I'm getting hungry and we haven't eaten in miles." I whined as I wrapped my arms around my father's neck like I was putting him in a choke hold.

"Yes, we can. We just need to find the camping grounds." He said as he pulled off the shoulder of the road. The drive was eerily silent even for the freakin' jabber bird Gale. I dozed off and on then I was noticing, the forest grew darker, I looked at the sky and the sun was still in the sky but the clouds were grey. Rain? I looked around and the mountains, the plants, the grass were so dull, they were nearly colorless.

"Dad?" He looked in the rearview meeting my questioning eyes. "Where are we?" I asked, he disconnected the gaze right away and kept the focus on the road. Gale sat up in her seat nearly asleep, she looked around and also looked worried.

"Honey where are we?" She asked before looking around the whole environment. This place looked so creepy, so dead and dull. It looked as the forest was coming to life with ash and smoke. It's own life, so boring and colorless, maybe, this was the last place to call a sanctuary. Mary is this home? Is this my final destination? I looked around before Gale shook my father again and he smacked her hands away. She gasped and I stared them down. He'd never hit a woman let anyone anyone!

"Dad-" I was cut off by the screeching of tires as a deer stood in the middle of the road, blank faced and scared. With a sharp right we were about to fall off the cliff's edge until I woke up. I looked around, life and color was surrounding me. "Holy fuck!" I whispered to myself as I sat up in my seat from leaning on the glass of the window. My dad looked at me from the rearview and furrowed his brows.

"Something wrong Laura?" He asked as he put his attention back to the road.

"What?" He stared at me again so I can have a more clear train of thought of what he just said. He hated repeating himself. "Oh, no sorry. I'm fine." I rubbed my head and squinted at the sun's blazing light as it slowly sat on the horizon's lap. "Are we almost there?" I asked. He nodded in response while pulling his visor down. I slouched in my seat, looking into the forest.

Later we came into a small campsite. There was a lot of people there. Children, adults, pets, wildlife, it all surrounded us.

"Ew pest!" I heard Gale mumble as she folded her arms staring the laughing children and yowling animals.

"The only pest here is y-" I met my father's stare and it was not a pretty one. His jaw clenched, his eyes narrowed and his body language scared me the most. I kept quiet and Gale giggled at my silent scold. I rolled my eyes and helped dad with the unpacking. After an hour of struggling and heavy lifting, I went out to look around camp in search of something interesting besides Gale trying to seduce my father to bed with her, Now that is something to see.

"Hey, excuse me Miss!" I heard a small squeaky voice come from behind me. I turned and looked around confused. "I'm down here." I looked down and there was a little boy with a stuffed Stitch plushie. His ginger hair, green eyes, and freckled face made him so adorable. "Can you please help me find my dad?" He asked in a soft voice. I smiled and tried my best to avoid from ruffling his hair and pinching his cheeks.

"Okay, I'll help you find him." He grabbed my hand and he dragged me along a trail. We stopped before we entered the path.

"He was right here, then when I turned around, he was gone." He looked around as he held his plushie close to his chest as he scanned the environment around him. I saw his eyes light up and he bolted.

"Hey wait-" before I went to run for him I saw him hug a rather muscular man who looked pretty heated. His hair looked dark and messy, his eyes were icy blue and his body... oh sweet jesus his body was like heaven on earth. His bulging neck muscle, his arms look like he could kill with a hug. Along with his chest in that tight shirt and those abs were like the gods of olympus! Why was I drooling over his body? I soon heard a chuckle making me snap back to reality as a blsuh plastered my face. He caught me staring. Shit. He jogged over to me as a smile grew on his face.

"Hey, thanks for finding my son for me. I don't know where he could've ended up in this forest." He said as he scratched the back of his head, his son stared at me then him, then me again with a smile that grew across his little freckled face. He was close to looking like a lion, if they could grin, hunting. Cheeky bastard. "Well I'll be going now. Me and my son have to have a long talk before we go hiking." He raised his brow as he stared down at his once grinning son to know a sad young child who hung his head low. He looked back to me, our eyes both connecting as his canines hung a little onto his bottom lip. Weird, I didn't notice that before. I shrugged it off and smiled at him lightly in response.