The leaves crunched under my boots, that was the only sound, that and nothing else at all. It should have been tranquil or peaceful in a sense…instead I found that the silence was leaving my nerves frayed. My fingers couldn’t stop trembling. I knew this place wouldn’t let me leave, but I don’t know how it would accomplish that. I was only about a hundred yards in when I realized that I had been distracted, I couldn’t even remember which direction I had come into the woods from.

Lost already…but that was to be expected. This place has a way of crawling into the recesses of your head, a way of turning you around. Tricking your mind…if you will, maybe this had been a mistake.

No point in turning back now, not on my first real go at this. The sound of the leaves faded over time and the trees became fewer and far between. I relaxed and let my feet take me to where they felt that I should be… hopefully a way out.

I distracted myself with thoughts of my life before I ended up here. I thought of an afternoon tea before a stroll through town. A proper town, one with traffic and crowds and the familiar energy of life. I thought of the familiar feel of simple things, such as standing in a line, or even just buying something from another person. I let my mind get lost in the nostalgia of things that I never even knew that I could miss.

Then, before I knew it I was standing in a vast and wide open clearing. There had been no signs that I was about to be out of the forest. One moment there had been trees and then suddenly there wasn’t.

I looked all directions and could see for what felt like miles, despite the fact that I had just emerged from the trees moments ago. This clearing couldn’t possibly be here.

Day one of these expeditions… already I have gotten further than the last time. I don’t feel any closer to escaping though.. Just feel like perhaps the woods have less tricks then they had that day. Maybe winding down would help me figure out where to go next.

I sat in that meadow for hours, I twiddled my thumbs and even had a light snack to get a little bit of my energy back. I simply existed and tried my best to be comfortable.

Strangely enough, the sun never moved. It hung serenely in the sky… right where it would have been if it was about five or so in the evening. It never went any higher or lower.

It was the sunset that never seemed to fade. There was an ever so slight breeze that kept me cool, it never got too gusty. Perhaps I had been too harsh on these woods.

The temperature was consistent, bringing with it a level of comfort that I had forgotten nature could provide. Not too hot, not too cold, just warmth from the sun and cool from the breeze.

The perfect temperature.

It was a wonder to behold…the sunset that never actually set. Usually the sun sets of course, but not today. It just rested there in the sky, in that same exact spot for hours. My eyes never having to adjust to a dimming light. My retinas soaking in that view that would have been magical even for a moment, for what felt like could have been endless days.

Perhaps it had been… time no longer seemed to matter to me. Maybe I had been too quick to judge this place, there could be some good that could come from all of this. Society never seemed to accept me, out here there was no reason to ever even seek that acceptance. Out here it was just me… no one left to disappoint.

Comfort can be a dangerous thing. I knew that, especially here. Blades of grass swayed gently and the sun relaxed at that perfect point. I felt as if I should sleep, or perhaps eat, yet I found myself unable to move.

Wait… I couldn’t move.

My toes were rigid and my tongue sat against the roof of my mouth. My fingers were planted on the grass but didn’t respond to my signals for them to grasp. My legs felt like static, also not responding in any way.

The view was beautiful… but it was a trap. I should have been more careful.

It had been about a minute since I realized that my body wasn’t responding. There was a tense feeling in my neck that was growing, as if building up and waiting to let itself out.

Wait a second…I blinked.

So there was one thing left that I could control. There was hope to be had after all.
I blinked rapidly…my eyes were the only part of me that still responded. Each blink shut the sunset out of my mind for a split second. It was working…there was the slight feel of feeling returning to my stiff form.

It worked until it didn’t.

As soon as I saw the darkness of my eyelids on what felt like my hundredth blink, I heard them… just barely. They started off as faint whispers carried across the wind. They were voices carried from somewhere else that was not this place.

I heard people pleading and begging for mercy. Their weeping seemed so close that I was scared to open my eyes again. I knew if I did that those poor souls would be right in front of me. Warm tears streaked down my face as I listened to their haunting cries. Some were begging for their lives to be spared, other’s begging for theirs to be taken away. No matter what they wanted… it was not what they would receive. Helping them was impossible… if they were even real.

If any of this was.

Then suddenly there was her scream.

It shattered past the sound of everyone else’s voice. The desperation behind that scream was enough to make me feel entirely hopeless. It was only after a few seconds that it occurred to me that I hadn’t tried to move again.

I realized the feeling had returned to my limbs… so I ran. I never opened my eyes, never looked behind me. I didn’t want to know what it was that I was running from. My legs burned but I didn’t stop.

I woke up in the center of town at sunrise the next day, or the next week, who knows. I just know that it was morning. My body was exhausted and every inch felt as if it had been pushed through a meat grinder.

The Meadow of Eternal Sunset.

It was as if someone had carved the words directly into my skull, nothing else was present there. No thoughts, no images, no memories. My body moved on autopilot and carried me back to the library. I never thought that I would be glad to see the library ever again…but I was. I fell into my bed and slept for what could have been days.

Whatever made that scream was still out there. It was a woman…or at least once was. Whatever she is now… She’s not that anymore. The meadow is her home and I would be a fool to try and go near it again. The view, as wonderous as it was, was simply not worth dying over.

Those voices belonged to others, people who were no longer here with us. Whether it was because of her, or the meadow, I don’t really know. Honestly…I don’t care.

If survival is a priority, which of course it is, it starts with avoiding both her, as well as her neck of the woods. One thing is for sure though… I am not as alone here as I had originally thought.