The Forest

Chapter 1

     Being lost in the woods was no big deal for Clara. She always loved the outdoors, it was peaceful for her, and it made her happy. Clara seemed to be at the heart of the forest when she could see something glow in the far left corner of her vision. Destined to figure out what it was, she headed towards it. With each step she took the glow became brighter and brighter. It got so unbearable, but Clara was determined. So, she lifted up her hand to help shield her eyes but kept pushing forward. Soon her vision started to fade black. At this point, Clara began to feel light and her knees buckled and collapsed below her. She could no longer walk, and it felt as if she was falling into abyiss where there was no ground to land on. A single tear slipped down her cheek as her vision went completely black, but her heart was still beating.

     Clara then woke up with a sudden jolt as she frantically looked around her surroundings. She was at home in her bedroom, laying in her bed. A wave of relief washed over her as she processed her surroundings, it was just another dream. 

     Clara turned to look at the clock on her nightstand, it was four a clock in the morning. She flopped back down on her bed and figured it was no use getting up again, she had to get up at five for school. So, with a groan, she flipped her pearly white covers off of her, and turned and sat up with her legs resting on the floor while she sat on her bed slightly light-headed. Despite the sun still hiding behind the darkness of the night, Clara first opened her curtains looking outside of her bay window. She turned the intensity of her Himalayan salt lamp's light up, and then she picked up her water pitcher and watered all her plants. After that, she continued with her normal routine but this morning she had an extra hour so she decided to read.

     Once the clock hit six-thirty, Clara was off to school and luckily she lived close to her school, so she walked. Clara loves walking to school every morning no matter the season, and recently the season just changed to fall. The air became crisp, leaves were falling, and best of yet, it was sweater weather. Who doesn't love sweater weather? By the time Clara got to school she met up with her friends Dillian, the artistic gay one who plays soccer, Milly, the super-smart girl who loves dancing, and then there's Harper, she has a lot of sass to her and she loves superheroes and comic books. There's also a newer addition, Dillian's boyfriend Max. He is a redheaded sweetheart who's also really smart and wants to become an aerospace engineer.

     The whole school day goes by fast, Clara and her friends are pretty much all back to back in academic success. They pay attention in class, do their work, volunteer, and get good grades. They are the "weird but alo not really that weird" group of kids. At lunch, they always sit outside at the picnic table under one of the many trees on their high school campus. Their school was Corner Mills High School, it was a fancy school, but not too fancy. It was a public school but the school put a lot of trust in their students, and in return, they put trust in the school. Unlike most public schools this one cared.

     After the school day is over at three, Clara heads home. Most of the time she is home alone when she gets back. Her dad works till six and her mom works until eight most of the time. This gave her time to unwind and be by herself though, which she loved. Most of the time she would go outside in her backyard and ready in her swing that was attached to her favorite tree. This tree was an oak tree that was on the edge of a forest, one that looked almost exactly like the one in her dream. The thoughtsent shivers down Claras back and felt a slight ache in her head, but she shook it off and began reading the latest romance novel she discovered in her local book store. 

     The rest of her school day is spent doing homework, eating dinner, feeding her two cats, getting ready for bed and sleeping. It's a pretty normal day. On the weekends its more exciting, she goes out with her friends and they go explore i in the woods, go to Dillian's treehouse, or go see the latest film. When Clara goes to go to sleep she meditates, she's not a hippie, it just makes her feel calm. It helps her fall asleep too, the anxiety gets pushed back and she goes to sleep peacefully.

      The forest, she sees it again, she is lost inside the heart again. The glow, it's back but closer, Clara wants to know what it is. So, she walks towards it again, and just like last night her eyes hurt, but she doesn't cover them this time. She picks up her pace and starts running towards the glow. The crunching of leaves beneath her feet slowly fade and the sounds more like running on concrete. What was happening? Where was she going? Better yet where was this glow taking her? She kept running despite her head pounding and limbs aching. She had to figure out where this went. Her vision wasn't fading black this time. The glow was fading, so she kept running faster. She started to make out the forest again but she could make out blurry shapes with little glowing yellow lights. From the distance she was away from them they looked like stars but right in front of her not in the sky. The sound of crunching leaves beneath her feet started to come back.

      Still running she felt pushed back like a huge force just smacked her whole body and pushed her back. Almost like an explosion of force. She fell back and the wind got knocked out of her lungs. She collapsed on the leaves gasping for a quick breath and looked up and saw the forest clearly now.