Fantasy Forest 3: Ressurection

1. City Heights

"I want you to make me a promise."

"What sort of promise?"

"I want you to promise me that you will never go into the woods."

"Why?"

"Because I said so."

"But why?"

"Because its dangerous."

"...I'm not scared."

"Y/n."

"I'm not!"
"Still promise me, alright?"

"...fine. I promise."

In the midst of a relatively cool Friday afternoon I sat with my friends on the roof of my family's apartment complex. Ten stories up and we still weren't at the highest point of the city but we were high enough to be above the average, peering down on smaller building and spying on neighboring tenants.

"Please get down from there." Earnest begged from down below. I was sitting on the wall that bordered the roof standing about four to five feet tall, tall enough to stop someone from accidently falling off but not so tall that you couldn't still look over the edge and out into the city. Earnest with his curly brown hair and polished blue eyes was by far the prettiest of my friends but he had a clumsy personality being as social as a pea and as brave as a dormouse. He paced along the wall while his cousin Talia laid out in the nearby lawn chair, her sunglasses pushed up high to obscure her hazel eyes and her long black hair pulled back in a loose bun with small strands falling over her tanned forehead.

"Leave her alone." Talia barked without looking back at us.

"She is going to fall!" Earnest argued.

"She never falls and she does this everyday so leave her alone!"

"You know you could join me up here if you want." I told Earnest only for him to gain a pale complexion before slowly sneaking away in a huff to sit on the concrete floor next to his cousin.

"What are you drawing this time?" Talia asked me as she pulled down her glasses and looked over. I had my sketchbook out in my lap and I showed it to her as she squinted her eyes to see in the harsh light.

"More trees?" She asked with a raised eyebrow and a disappointed look.

"I'm sketching the forest." I told her as I pointed at the distance where the buildings gave way to rich green trees that went on for miles and miles. Talia got up and looked out with me before furrowing her eyebrows and pursing her lips.

"You're weird." She said at last.

"Why?"

"Aren't you scared?"

"Of what?"

"Of the forest."

I paused. "Not really. I know everyone says I should be but I'm just not."

"Have you ever thought about going in?" Another voice asked and we both turned to see Vince coming up the stairs to the roof. Vince was tall with short cropped brown hair, piercing black eyes, and thick eyebrows. He wasn't fat but he wasn't skinny either and he often stood like a bull with no intention of backing down. He closed the door to the stairs behind him and turned to us with a cheeky smile.

"Are you nuts?" Earnest asked. "You go in those woods and you are as good as dead!"

"I don't believe that. That's just a myth they tell us kids to keep us out of trouble!" He said. I was sixteen, Earnest and Talia were fifteen, and Vince was the oldest at seventeen years old. He would be eighteen in less than three months and he made himself clear that once that day came he wouldn't stay long. He wanted out of the city. He wanted to travel.

"Have you ever thought about going in?" He asked me again and I answered honestly.

"Once or twice."

"Want to come with me?"

"You're going?"

"I'm not hearing this!" Earnest cried as he plugged his ears and walked away. "I am not hearing this! You are all crazy!" He left going down the stairs back to his apartment on the third floor. All my friends except Vince lived in this building so meeting up was pretty easy.

"Are you serious?" Talia asked Vince and he nodded with a big smile.

"Its not like I'm going to go hiking deep into the woods." He assured her once he saw her worried expression. "I'm just going to take a quick look inside. I wont be gone for more than an hour."

"Can I come?" I asked and Talia looked at me like I was nuts while Vince just smirked.

"Sure." He said. "I'll see you tomorrow at 6 o'clock. Don't tell your parents." And with that he stormed off back down the stairs.

"What are you thinking?" Talia asked me as we both turned to look back out at the forest in the horizon. The sun had almost set over the trees painting the clouds an orangish purple.

"I want to see." I told her honestly. "I've always wanted to see. I'm not scared."

"I know that but..." Her voice trailed off. "What if you get lost out there?"

"We wont go far."

"What if you meet a monster?"

"We will fight it off." I said with a smirk and Talia growled and punched me in the arm before she turned and leaned her back against the wall. Just then she got a call on her phone and she left but not before turning and giving me one last piece of advice.

"Don't die." She said as she picked up the call and walked down the stairs. For a few minutes I just sat there in silence before packing up my sketchbook and heading back inside to my apartment on the 6th floor. Unlocking the door I was met with a dark room and silence. Dad probably wouldn't be home tonight so I grabbed some cold food from the fridge, sat down on the couch, and put on a movie. I fell asleep to the sounds of the television as well as the sound of a distant wind sweeping through the city that seemed to whisper: "we'll be waiting".