She brushed up branches as she hurried her pace, and the wolf wasn't slowing down either. She was going down in a slope but the trees didn't shown an end of the earth; which made her think the series of trees were long and so as the ground supporting them.
While running, she took glances on her back, making sure there was a secured distance between her and the wolf. But her inside stomach suddenly flipped as her shoes couldn't felt the ground below.
And now she realized she was falling. She closed her eyes and was near to tears. She couldn't stand the sight of heights; she got an acrophobia. And the thought of being lost in nowhere, plus being chased by a wolf didn't eased the situation either.
She mentally braced herself for the impact and just hope for the best that she could at least die a proper death. But what came was a slight thud as her butt collided on a pile of leaves.
The panicked subsided as she let out a weak sigh. She finally opened her eyes and looked around. There was no sign of the wolf.
'Did I lost him?' she asked herself and looked up while shielding her arm on her face for a clear vision as the sun was on the center, radiating light.
It was quite a long fall she had managed to get herself out.
'And now what?'
But the state of being relief had faded as she caught a sight of the wolf again. And it was facing her. But the enormous animal was a few galloped away. Its eyes were still fixed on her and she couldn't tear her gaze away. She tried to move her body in panic but she failed.
When she managed to, it was still a dead end as her back collided with a boulder. She was nowhere to go again. She knew she couldn't do a thing so she voluntarily closed her eyelids and prayed for the worst to stay away.
She wished a good death. The kind of dying while being fast asleep. But what if she was sleeping anyway.
'Please, not this way.' she thought.
And it struck her like lightning; the thought blown her. It was the idea that if she'll be dead then maybe she could see her mother. And she remembered it was Anna's funeral today, and what was she doing here?!
It was a good moment to think while she waited for the ravenous wolf to attack her. And yes, it was galloping closer.
She mentally counted from ten while she waited for the arrival of death himself.
Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five. Four. Three. Two. One. Zero.
But nothing happened!
It's strange to think about that the wolf with such speed couldn't reached her quickly than she expected.
She slowly opened her eyes in curiosity and a human back was facing her with a cloth the same as hers; a knight-themed cloth.
But what shocked her was that his other hand was gripping a sword and blood was dropping from it as he slipped it off on its scabbard. The body made a sudden jerked and Anne's eyes have widened as the wolf fell down with a heavy thump and its blood pooling beneath its body. But it didn't came long as the wolf's body turned to ashes and fade with the wind.
Anne couldn't move in terror and she sprang upright when the man made a sudden moved. He slowly turned around and peered down. Anne was quite in an inside panic but managed to held a strong facade as the man looked at her.
The man's head was covered with a black cloak, and his upper visage wasn't visible.The only portion of his face that could be seen was his lips, and it formed a smirk to Anne's grimace. Anne could only guess he was a man because of his broad manly shoulders, and his height as well. But fairly saying, Anne was quite a bit tall, making the man a few inches taller than her.
She was pulled back from her reverie when the man bent down, making him closer to Anne. But Anne couldn't see his face. It was quite a horror when you can only see blackness in someone's face except the lips that made it more creepy.
Anne looked away nervously on the other side, trying to ignore the creep in front of her. But what made her shiver was when the man cupped her chin and inspected her intently.
She wished she couldn't see the blackness, as she looked away. But her peripheral vision was betraying her. And she wanted no more but to just die than be held by a creep. Or was it a monster? She don't know either.
"Interesting," the man talked mischievously and Anne's inside shivered more.
"Who are you?"
Anne's gaze turned to the man in irritation and opened her mouth to talk about who she was but no words came.
She was Anne Hamilton. She's 17 and her mother, Anna, died on Saturday at 3:25 am. She wanted to say that. Then she tried to speak again and every detail she knew about herself disappeared.
Before her mind could fully forget everything, she managed to utter a phrase.
"I need to go back." she spatted in the man's empty face.
And the memory disappeared in her head, and all she could clearly remember was these: she found herself on a pile of leaves, in an unfamiliar forest she thought was named black forest, she was then chased by a wolf, and fell down in a cliff and met a man. A man without a proper visage.
"Who are you again?" the man asked and Anne stared at the man's face. Even though she could only see depths of blackness in there, she thought a pair of eyes was hidden there and it was staring at her right now.
"I don't know what was I called," Anne answered truthfully.
"But I need to go back." The word echoed in her head. And it was the only thing she could think clearly — it was that she needed to go back.
"Go back to where?" the man asked, his hand still holding Anne's chin. But Anne surprisingly felt calmed. She didn't knew why but the calmness felt new. She wondered if she was nervous before the relief took over.
And so she answered, "I don't know where." Feeling bewildered, she told him that.
Where was she going to? she don't know. She tried to probe her mind but she couldn't get a clear answer.
As if the man was reading her mind, the man stood straight, leaving Anne sitting on the earth.
"I get it. You wanted to get out of this place, am I right?" the man asked.
"Yeah. ... You're right. That's right." Anne said, more of convincing herself it was right.
"And you know how, right?" Anne added with a question.
"Hmmm.." the man pretended to think as he looked at the sky.
Anne watched the man's mouth moved and he said, "Of course, I know."
"Great." Anne reacted and stood up. Her head reaching the man's face.
"Take me there." Anne added.
"But of course." the man said in finality.
The man turned his back on her and started walking. Anne silently followed him and both of them walked in a path being just cleared from the enormous roots of the trees.
After what seem like hours of walking, Anne huffed in boredom.
"Are we there yet?" Anne impatiently asked.
"Not even close." answered the man with his gaze still fixed on the way.
Anne looked ahead and saw the same path with the same tree and everything.
'Could it be possible that we were going in circles?'
'But we didn't even made a turn to a curve.'
'But everything was just similar!'
"Are we there yet?" asked Anne again with a hopeful look in her face. The man didn't looked at her but the way Anne talked is enough to understood that Anne was damn serious.
"Can you just stay silent for a moment?" the man retaliated and Anne pictured out the man rolling his eyes just now. If only she could see then.
Knowing she should not irritate her last hope, she obeyed what she had told. She inspected the man's posture as she trailed the man from behind, he may be a teenager like her and his voice does match if he actually was. Her eyes landed on the sword after. And she questioned herself why was he carrying one.
'Should I carry one to?' she asked herself as she remembered she was nearly eaten to death back there. Luckily, the man came.
"We're here." uttered the man.
'Is he serious?' Anne thought. She did see the long path ahead just now. And when Anne looked, the path ended in between a bent tree with black leaves on its branches — forming an arch.
"Follow me." the man said and stepped forward and disappeared.
"W-wait!" Anne exclaimed and stepped forward as well and found the man's back.
Anne's heart felt like it was going to explode in her chest as she watch the unraveling view on her sight.
"No way,.." Anne trembled as she gasped in both terror and surprised.
"Welcome." said the man and turned to her with a grim expression written on his lips.