Silence is the most powerful scream.
—Anonymous
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They would stay safe with him while she went to search for the treasure!
Eva quickly made a U-turn, retracing her steps back and heading back to the old man's house. She would try to talk to him and make him understand.
Stanley was not an ordinary person even if he seemed a little aged. Sometimes, his actions misled her into thinking him to be like a young man. His face, though wrinkled, showed that he had been handsome when he was young and he did things that people of his age were incapable of doing.
She had come to trust him after all these years and he could keep an eye on her mother and sister while she was gone. If something happened, he could take them safely into his house which was hidden well. She had asked him how he managed to keep his house secret for so long, but he had diverted the conversation, avoiding the topic so she forgot it as well.
Reaching the cottage again, she knocked on Stanley's door and waited with her eyes strained on the wooden door.
A few minutes later, when she heard no answer, she knocked again harder thinking that he must have fallen asleep. Her foot continued to tap impatiently on the ground.
Had he gone out, she asked herself. But it had only been twenty minutes since she left; where could he have gone all of a sudden?
She was about to depart with the intention of coming back later when she heard the slight rustle of leaves behind her.
Her body froze just as her senses suddenly became alert. Looking around, she spotted a head of brown hair vanishing in between the trees. Eva wasted no time in running towards the direction where she saw the head disappear.
She continued to walk deeper inside the forest, walking in the direction where she thought she saw the person. The reason she was trying to find the person so hard was that she saw nobody enter this place except for her and Stanley. It was strange to see that a person had found this place.
There was no sign of any human in the vicinity as her eyes roamed around the forest. Eva felt disappointment taking over her but as she turned around to head back, the dismay quickly shifted into dread. All around her, she was surrounded by tall trees, so high that she was unable to see where they ended. All sunshine was blocked from the trees and she was engulfed in the darkness with only a ray of light shining through some leaves.
Nibbling on her bottom lip, she tried to retrace her steps back from where she came but it seemed as if she had wandered far into the forest. There was only one forest in the city of Gleana.
The Enchanted Forest. And she had foolishly rambled into it without thinking about its dangers. She felt lonely and scared amongst the trees which looked as if they would swallow her up at any moment.
If the forest was lighted up with the Sun, it wouldn't be such a frightening ordeal but evening was soon approaching and she knew that soon she would be enveloped in pitch-black darkness.
Gathering up her fallen courage, she tried to keep her senses in check. Walking around, she attempted to look for a way out or an exit which led back to the village. She hadn't even known that the forest had another entry from Stanley's cottage. If she had known, she would never have ran into it without any hesitation.
After several minutes had passed which felt like hours to her, she ended up more lost than she had before. Negative thoughts clouded her mind, blocking out any sensible thoughts on how to escape. Panicking was not the solution but she was starting to feel suffocated amongst nothing but blackness.
Leaning her back against the rough bark of a tree, she slid down to the ground. She took off her bonnet and laid it aside which made her hair fall out. The smallest rays of light that had been shining through had now entirely faded away. She could hear the faint sound of the wind moving through the tree's leaves as well as the growls of the animals inside the woods which scared her the most.
How worried would her mother and sister be right now?
Not wanting to waste her energy more, she brought her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, burying her face.
If someone saw her, they would think that an angel had lost its way in this world. Her silver hair which had been previously tied in a braid had fallen into light waves hiding her small body in a pearly cloak.
Minutes passed, turning into hours and slowly Eva lifted her head. Her sense of sight had been stolen yet she could still see the faint outline of the plants that surrounded her. Tears blurred her vision and she blinked to let them fall down her cheeks.
A sudden idea planted itself into her mind. Her eyes lit up with hope as she planned to carry out this idea. After taking a glance at her hands, she got up to her feet and approached the tall tree that she had been leaning on.
Tearing off the bottom part of her gown, she tied it into a knot which made it easier for her to move around. Now it looked like a short dress that did not restrict her movements.
A small breath escaped her soft, and now pale lips. Planting a foot on the trunk of the tree, she grabbed a branch and started climbing up the tree. She was planning to reach the top of the tree so that she could find out where she was and how far from the village.
She had learned how to climb from her father when she was young since she loved picking out fruits from the trees to help her parents. But this was a tall tree with sharp branches sticking out from unexpected locations.
Her breath turned heavy as sweat ran down her slender neck but she didn't look down and continued climbing. Soon, she finally got a glimpse of the dark midnight sky with the Moon shining right on top of her head.
Eva's eyes glimmered as she looked at it when she felt a sudden sharp pain in her leg. Looking down, she found a pointy branch had gotten stuck in her leg which had led it to bleed. Her slim and fair legs were now getting stained with red. She was in excruciating pain and she still hadn't managed to reach the top.
Blood dripped down her leg making her feel dizzy. Well, this is how I die, she thought to herself with a sad smile. There was no way that she could climb down safely with a severely injured leg. Neither could she climb to the top when she couldn't get the branch out of her leg.
Her worried thoughts roamed around her family. What would happen to them? She hadn't even managed to inform Stanley and already the time of her death had arrived.
Her eyelids drooped as her head fell sideways and her grip on the branches loosened.
The last thing she remembered was the Moon before she fell down into complete darkness.
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Nyx ^.^!