The canopy of trees blanketed the sky, letting only slivers of moonlight slip through.
The air was damp, sweet with moss and memory.
I wandered, following the birdsong that flitted from branch to branch, never staying long —like it was leading me, or teasing me.
Each step crunched over leaves and stones, echoing through the night.
I didn't know why I was there.
But it felt like I was searching for something.… or maybe escaping something else. Either way, the quiet was welcoming.
I passed a tree with a hollow center –one that looked like it had been carved open from within.
I peeked inside.
It was empty.
"...."
My gaze followed my back.
....And I started going faster.
And faster
And FAST■R.
I barely noticed the trail twisting, the trees closing in on each other, whispering.
Until something in me stopped when I saw a fallen tree before me.
Moss clung to its bark like faded memories.
It lay across the path, not tall, but enough to stop me.
"..."
I jumped over it.
But the ground didn't feel as soft on the other side.
The air grew colder.
Still, I kept picked up my pace.
And when I looked back again, I heard faint footsteps drawing closer.
It was too soft to be wind, too heavy to be imagination.
And I ran.
My body started to tremble.
I didn't know why I was afraid.
Only that I was.
More trees had fallen up ahead. Some blocking my path. Some buried half in dirt, like graves too shy to be noticed.
Every tree that had once towered proudly now lay across my steps, daring me to trip.
And sometimes, I did.
And every time I fell, the sound behind me grew louder.
And closer.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
The wind picked up.
It whispered things I didn't understand.
Names I didn't know.
Questions I couldn't answer.
And when I looked at my skin, like the flower I once was....
With thorns dragged across it.
Like petals being plucked.
One by one.
....the bruises I didn't remember earning began to throb.
My chest tightened. My breath grew sharp.
It didn't feel like a [ ■?-■•].
Still, I ran.
Each footstep left behind wilted grass.
The green faded where I touched.
[ I was hurting everything I passed. ]
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
And the trees... they weren't just fallen now.
They were rotting. Splintered in strange patterns, like something had clawed them open from the inside.
My breath hitched.
*ThUD*
Echoes of trees fell behind me.
It was heavy.
Like it had been waiting to collapse.
....But I kept going foward.
"....."
I paused. Just enough to breathe.
But my lungs were fighting me.
Up ahead, the forest split.
I stopped.
Two paths lay before me.
One on the right...
....and on the left.
I hesitated.
The right one felt familiar.
Or maybe I just liked the sound of it.
And... I chose the right.
Because "right" means safe, doesn't it?
Because right means correct.
Because someone once told me to always choose what felt RIGHT.
So I did.
"...."
But the forest didn't stop following.
*DuN DUn duN*
The echoes behind me grew louder...
They weren't like footsteps anymore, but something I've been trying to run away from.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
My breath caught in my throat, my lungs trembling under the weight of fighting back.
I couldn't hold it in anymore.
The ache in my arms and legs.
And the feeling under my skin, like something buried too long was trying to claw its way out.
I felt it...
a slow, splitting crack beneath my flesh,
like light trying to bleed through old wounds.
The further I ran from it, the more it burned.
Like my body was being torn from the inside,
my flesh gnawed by invisible things I couldn't name.
It stung.
It ached.
It HURTS.
I wAnTeD To eScApe.
Please...
I—
I wanted to scream.
To rip open the sky with my voice.
But nothing came out.
My mouth stayed shut.
My voice buried beneath years of quiet.
Just the thought of speaking back made my knees shake.
The idea of being heard....
....felt like it would wake the forest itself.
like the trees would twist toward me,
like the wind would sharpen and punish me for making a sound.
So, I stayed quiet.
[ Like I alw■ys did. ]
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
*DUn*
The footsteps caught up to me.
[ .... ]
But when I turned..
There was nothing behind me.
Only a vast stretch of breathing darkness,
silvered faintly by the indifferent eye of the moon.
The sound of leaves crunched in beneath unseen steps.
And they weren't MINE.
I froze.
And in the stillness,
I watched as fine fractures webbed across my skin like hairline cracks, delicate as glass.
But they hurt.
They pulsed with something deep and old,
a pain that sang in the marrow of my bones.
And my senses were screaming me to...
RUN.
RUN FASTER..
My body moved before I understood why.
My feet obeyed a rhythm my heart didn't set.
But I felt like it would ... .- ...- . / -- .
....so, I kept running.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
The leaves broke beneath each step like tiny apologies.
Around me, everything wilted,
except for the narrow trail ahead.
It was as though the forest tolerated only my forward motion...
...never my rest.
But my lungs rebelled.
My body, loyal for so long, began to betray me.
Even as I pushed,
even as I begged it to hold on....
my legs trembled and collapsed.
My eyes closed.
And all that remained was the sensation of
my soul scorched, like something sacred being burned in secret.
And when I opened them again,
I saw ahead trees encircled like old memories.
And at their front lay a fallen trunk.
Without thinking, I hurled myself over it.
"....."
The footsteps stopped.
But my body's still tormenting me.
And now, the cracks spread... sharp lines across my forearm, like vines twisting in patterns I couldn't untangle.
They hurt in a familiar way.
An intimate kind of ache.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
"....."
What lay ahead of me was a pond surrounded by trees.
But behind those trees were the ones who had already fallen.
My gaze fell to the pond before me.
It was like a mirror too honest to lie.
My reflection stared back, fractured by ripples.
....My senses screamed how deep it was.
And I—–?
I stepped in.
The water was cold, but not cruel.
It washed away that pain that kept eating me alive.
It felt like being held.
Like someone humming a lullaby into my bones.
And I didn't want to let go.
"...."
Something rang in my skull, distant and panicked.
I couldn't breathe.
I—
I was drowning.
I tilted my head to the surface.
The moon looked back at me,
unmoving.
But my arms didn't rise.
My legs didn't kick.
I had never learned how to swim.
I had never learned how to fight this kind of weight.
I just.... stayed there.
Suspended.
Looking above.
The water whispered around me.
It didn't scold nor scream.
It simply accepted me.
And even if panic prickled beneath my skin....
I let it go.
I sank.
And beneath that heavy stillness, with the moonlight warping above me like a distant memory....
I turned my face to the light, and embraced the only ending that ever felt like mine.