Don't Fall Asleep

Chapter 6

Asleep

Tuesday. July 22, 2014. 11:16 PM

I was expecting to gain consciousness in the same basement I had been in before. This time, however, I was in a forest with a sleeping bag. I also had shoes on. This stupid girl must have broken into her house and stolen her own stuff. Her parents must be worried sick about her.

This was a problem. Not only did I not know how to get out of this forest, but walking in shoes made it harder for me to use my senses and not walk into things. Okay, the first part was kind of a lie. When I first started taking control at night, I wandered into this forest. It was the only forest in town. I just wasn't completely sure how to get out, considering it was ten years ago and I only went in then never got out on my own.

All I could do was wander around until I found something I recognized. I would also need to know how to get back, so Zena could wake up in the same place again. First of all, I needed to find the trail again. She couldn't have been that far from it.

So, I took ten steps from the tree. When I still didn't find the trail, I turned to the side and walked in a circle around the tree until the ground became flat. Nearly tripping a few times, I found it. Checking to make sure it really was the trail and not a flat spot, I memorized my way back and forth from the tree to the trail. Also, I marked the trail with a line of big rocks so that I'd know where to stop.

When I was confident that I would know where to stop and how to find the tree when I got back, I decided which way to go. Taking a right on the trail, I began my search for the exit. It wasn't long before I began to here the voices of other people. That wasn't a good sign. The voices meant I was deeper in the forest, close to the area that the homeless took refuge. Letting out a sigh, I turned around an headed back the way I came.

I found the rocks on the path that marked where my little camp out place was. It was hard to miss, which made me smile. I'd be able to find my way back easily. Continuing down the path on my journey to civilization, I listened for anything that might indicate a way out of this maze. I was also listening for animals that could be harmful, but I didn't think there were any in this forest. It was a small forest in the middle of town and the people walking through all the time did a good job of keeping animals away.

After walking for long enough that I considered turning back and trying to find another way, I felt a breeze that was too strong to be coming from between the trees. Shivering from the cold, I walked a little farther and came to the end of the seemingly endless trees. I couldn't help the smile that spread across my face. Finding the exit had been easier than I thought it would be. Thankfully, Zena had stuck to the same path she'd entered on. I assumed she was afraid of getting lost.

Even though it was easy to find the exit, I had taken too long finding it to be able to investigate tonight. All I could do was turn back and wait for tomorrow night. Dammit. I had lost a whole night of looking for the killer just because this dumb girl thought it was her fault and hid in a forest.

I had taken the time to think about what my next move would be, however. Since I needed to know how I could use each of my senses to find the killer, I decided that tonight would be a good night to figure that stuff out. Considering all that time I had available for thinking. Once I got back to the camp, I had figured out that I couldn't use my sense of taste to find the killer. That sense was completely useless for this investigation.

So the only senses I had left were touch and smell. While thinking about this, I realized that the only way I would be able to find out who the killed was, was to somehow run into them again. All I could really do was bait myself and hope that they would come after me. Then, I would use my sense of touch to tell if it was really them since that was the only sense I still had heightened when they attacked me that would be useful. If it was them, I would memorize their smell.

Of course, there were many holes in my plan. It wasn't going to be that simple. I had no idea how I was supposed to get away when the killer found me again and once I did find out who the killer was, I didn't know how I could get evidence that it was them. All I could do was hope everything worked out.