"What do you mean you can't find them!?" A man shouted, his hands slamming against the desk startling the coworkers in the room, their bodies tense with anxiety. "Those are Theo's debut pieces if we don't get them to the public do you know how long it will take until-"
The man rubbed his temple, slumping back into his chair to calm down, though it was hardly helping.
"We're sorry sir but it's just impossible, our workers keep leaving the woods lately shouting nonsense about weird creatures or noises in the night," They protested, the fear evident in their own eyes even though they hadn't experienced it themselves.
"Look, this is very important to the kid, up until today no one ever wanted to read his works. We can't let this just happen, besides a lot of money went into those books!"
The man lit a cigarette, his tanned skin brushing against the falling ashes once it ignited, his brown hair resting over his brown eyes strapped down with the weight of sleep.
He exhales, puffs of smoke slowly leaving his mouth as they trailed up to the roof.
"Listen, Theo himself will be going with you to look for his books, do not return without them, understand?"
______
A man with brown hair sat at a nearby camp in the forest, his hands fiddling with the object in his hand, a crimson cylinder with a cut that was far from clean and seamless it almost looked like it broke from something.
"Hmm," he hummed to himself deep in thought as to what this could be or who this could belong to, "Maybe the rumors about people in the forest are true."
"Hey Theo! Can you give me a hand with this fire?" one of the workers called out to him,
"Oh, yeah sure one second!" He gets up walking towards them.
The night burns away along with the flames that kept them warm, cooking their perversions before they searched once more.
Their footsteps crunched against the dead leaves, the silence and heavy breathing flooding the ambience with dread, shaking hands never getting used to their surroundings. Flashlights dashed throughout the forest, gazes following their trails.
"Say, can't we just go home? I mean there's no use looking anymore." A man muttered from the group as they searched.
"I mean you see for yourself right? There's nothing." He continued, his pleas getting more desperate as he walked up to Theo's side but there was no response.
"Hey! You hear me?" He grabbed his shoulder, causing him to stop, silence spreading throughout the group for a while. "uh…"
Without saying anything Theo tugged his shoulder away from his grasp, walking ahead leaving them to look at eachother, confused eventually dispersing back to the camps leaving Theo alone in the woods.
"Honestly," Theo muttered, his hand formed into fists. "Don't they understand that my career is on the line?!"
His voice starts to get a bit more aggressive, running in tangents with himself, grabbing the hair on his head in frustration.
"I want to go home too, it's been months, but if I don't get these books how long will i even have my home for?" A sigh escaped his lips, his path soon turning mindless as he just walked without a cause and goal.
"I poured too much into my writing to let a failed delivery ruin it, especially when I'm so close."
Theo soon stopped, his emerald gaze catching something, a path that seemed like something had been dragged from here. Remnants of wood resided by his feet leaving only speculation. With narrowed eyes and a determined face he set forward making sure to step quietly.
The added silence and the path of the unknown only brought more dread, his heart panging in his chest, his heavy breathing only getting more and more out of control as he followed.
The trail goes through a bush in the forest. It seemed out of place and stand-off-ish, slowly he got closer and closer to the bush, lightly moving it aside, his eyes widening when he saw.