Once in a blue moon

stay cautious of the path ahead

Eliza walked frantically around her home and grabbed supplies, rope, a pocket knife, bandages, and some money she was saving up, Shoved them into her small backpack and stormed out of her front door.

"where do you think you're going?" Jace screamed at Eliza "it's too dangerous to go out by yourself, what are you even thinking!" Jace grabbed Eliza by the arm and tried his best to keep her from going "what are you even try to do? where are you going?" 

Eliza pulled away from Jace and walked out the door. Jace and Xaver chased after her, calling her name and demanding her to get back into the house didn't seem to work, so instead they did the only thing they could do. Jace and Xaver caught up with her and followed until they all reached the edge of the thick forest infront of them.

"I'm going to get my parents back" Eliza said sternly, Jace knew she was serious, but Eliza hardly knew what she was trying to deal with. She was going to go into the Magical forest, to the village deep inside, where witches were rumored to live. Witches in their time were deemed as un-trust worthy but citizens often used them to complete rituals for their needs. Today Eliza was one of those people, she was going to find a witch. Any one she can, And bring her family back.

Eliza stepped foot into the mystical forest standing in-front of her, towering over her small figure. Eliza tied her short brown hair into a pony-tail and readied herself for the adventure ahead. Jace and Xaver reluctantly followed behind her. Eliza was determined to get her parents back.

Eliza walked farther ahead than the boys, she didn't care she wanted to get to the witch as soon as she could, Xaver had tried catching up to her multiple times but to no avail. Jace have had enough and ran up in-front of her and stopped Eliza in her tracks. Eliza wasn't paying attention to the point where she didn't know that there was a cliff not even three feet in-front of her. 

"You need to start paying attention! There's a cliff right there!" Jace pointed down into the pit and Eliza broke out of her straight forward thinking. Jace didn't notice the ground breaking underneath him, his shoes lost friction with the ground and he slipped. Eliza was quick to grab him but he fell too far down. Eliza had lied on her stomach and had to use all of her strength to pull Jace up. Eliza didn't have much upper strength but she was close to getting Jace back up onto the safe ground. her shoes started slipping as well, dress flats are not very good for a adventure through the woods. Before she knew it she was holding onto the cliff with one hand and with the other, holding onto her best friend, who was one moment away from certain death.

"Guys!" Xaver yelled as he got to the ground to pull up the two, he grabbed Eliza by the arm and tried his best to pull her up, He soon realized he bit off more than he could chew, he started slipping, but kept his ground.

"Eliza! Xaver!" Jace yelled up to the others, "I'm too heavy, Eliza you need to let go!" Xaver teared up and tightened his grip on Eliza's arm.

"NO!" Xaver screamed "I'M NOT LETTING GO OF YOU!" Jace smiled up at Eliza, who was staring down at him, telling him 'please don't' with her eyes. Jace loosened his grip on Eliza and he slowly slipped down, Eliza desperately tried to grab onto him but she slipped out of her grasp. Jace fell. Eliza was soon pulled up after she couldn't see Jace's face anymore.

"w-where is he?" Xaver asked with a quiver in his voice, Eliza knew that Xaver cared a lot about Jace, and he didn't want to come to the terms that Jace let himself die. "no... he's-" Xaver then grabbed Eliza by the shirt and pulled her into an embrace. He cried onto her, letting out wails of pain for loosing his best friend. Eliza held onto Xaver tightly, she didn't want to loose him too, but she knew they had to move on. Eliza stood up and helped Xaver pull himself up. She hugged him one last time before pulling a long string of rope out of her backpack. 

"How did you even fit that in there?" said Xaver as Eliza tied the string around his waist, and then around her own. Eliza pulled on it for extra measure to make sure that it would stay there, "Liz- what is this even for?" she looked at Xaver, then down at the ground, then back at him.

"So I don't loose you too," Eliza said sternly "this rope will make sure you stay close behind me, but still stay cautious, we don't know what could be lurking in the forest." Xaver nodded, Eliza pulled her pocket knife out of the bag, it was a bit rusty but it would do the job, slugged the bag back onto her back and continued on their way. There was no way they were going to get past the cliff so they had to go around, they eventually found a different path and started walking. 

Eliza checked the time on her phone, they had been in the forest for almost 3 hours, Xaver was close to collapsing from exhaustion. Eliza knew they had to stop and rest, But where? They came across a small abandoned house. Xaver was excited that he was finally going to be able to get some rest after almost 3 hours of wandering in the forest. They walked close to the home, it was abandoned all right. Xaver went inside, and was bewildered to find almost a perfect living situation! A bed lied in the left corner of the room, there was a pantry filled with boxed food and cans, a stove which seemed to work and a faucet for some water. Eliza pulled a box of matches and striked the stick, lighting some candles that were found around the small home. 

"If only this place had a bathroom" Xaver said jokingly "i could freshen myself up in-case any of the witches fell in love with me" Xaver laughed, Eliza quietly chuckled along with him. The small home soon being filled with their laughter. The laughter soon died off, they were both reminded why they came into the forest in the first place. 

"You get some rest, 'kay? I'll keep watch" Eliza said to Xaver, who had already laid his head onto the pillow of the bed. He smiled and turned over, quickly drifting off into sleep, Eliza chuckled and looked around, "I guess i can make some food for us for when he wakes up," Eliza started for the pantry and looked inside, first at the cans, "Corn...Corn...Beans....Corn.." Eliza laughed "gosh the person who lived here before must've really liked corn." She reached into the back of the pantry and pulled out a box, "All right! Macaroni!" Xaver loved macaroni. She shook up the box, it definitely wasn't empty. She found a pot and filled it up with water from the tap. She tended to open the container of what she was making and this time was no different. Eliza opened the box, and looked inside cautiously. She sighed in relief when it was, indeed regular macaroni. The water turned to a boil and she carefully pored the uncooked macaroni into the pot. 

Eliza heard shuffling behind her, when she had turned to Xaver he was staring ahead at something, and laughed "You smell the macaroni don't you?" Eliza said with a chuckle.

Xaver didn't move, Eliza turned to she what he was looking at, the front door of the house was wide open and a dark figure stood in the doorway, at first it looked like a woman with pointed ears. But it started to change form, the figure got taller, then shorter, then changed appearance all together, the figure walked into the light. Xaver and Eliza were frozen, the face of their dead friend stared back at them.