Lost in the Woods

Camping was Amelia’s favorite thing to do. When she was young her parents would take her, her older sister and her younger brother out into the campsites and they would bond like she supposed all family members did. There was something tranquil about being surrounded by nature.

She would always suggest to her friends that they could all go out hiking and camping, but a lot of them felt wary from being away from their modern comforts for long. She supposed that they felt lonely when they weren’t directly connected in one form or another to the internet. Amelia never had that problem. She loved the isolation, and besides, the forest itself was great company.

There were a few friends that shared her enthusiasm with nature. Prin was a quirky young woman who adored nature. She would spend a lot of her time trying to identify birds and trees. Amelia would be the poor soul who would be forced to listen to Prin talk about every plant and bird and why they were all so different and important. It didn’t interest Amelia a whole lot what the plants and birds were so long as she got to be surrounded by them. Jonah was another friend who adored nature, though he found comfort in the paved paths of walks already taken. Amelia preferred the unruly nature, but for as long as she's traveled, it seemed that no matter how far Amelia would go she was never far enough away to escape civilization.

“I have the same problem,” Amelia’s friend Shawnese took a bite of her pumpkin pie while the two sat at a diner after one of their hikes. “See the thing about it is, right? That I always end up on the border of one area or private property or another when I’m hunting. I’m tracking a deer or rabbit and after a while, it seems like the best game is sitting in someone’s back yard.”

“Sounds annoying.”

“It is,” Shawnese exclaimed. “A lot of the people don’t use that land anyway, why does everything have to be owned?”

“I don’t know,” Amelia replied absently. She looked out the window towards the sea of forest and mountain, but even from this far she could see the gleam of windows hiding behind the branches.

“You should go hunting with me sometime. Prin is vegetarian and Jonah is an asshole who’ll scare all the animals away.”

Amelia chuckled a little, but her eyes never left the window. “I don’t think I’m comfortable shooting a gun, but maybe I’ll come watch sometime.”

The two girls were silent for a few seconds. “This is really bothering you that you can’t go anywhere unexplored, huh?”

Amelia sighed. “No, not really. It’s fine.”

Shawnese threw a fry at her friend, who turned her head in surprise. Shawnese held up another fry as a warning. “Don’t lie to me, girl. You gonna tell me what’s up or are we gonna have some fighting words?”

“Alright,” Amelia laughed a little before eating the fry Shawnese tossed at her. “You’re right I guess. I just wish I could go somewhere where I’m not within sight, sound or smell of humanity. I want to be able to go out somewhere and get a real feeling of nature. The woods around here feel like they’re shrinking, I’ve been everywhere. I want to get out there into somewhere that’s never been discovered. But everything’s been found already out there. I don’t think there’s an inch of land that’s not claimed somehow.”

“Wish I could help, Amelia,” Shawnese replied. “Have you told Prin about it? Maybe she knows somebody.”

“Somebody to what?” Amelia asked.

“There’s gotta be places ‘somewhere’ not yet explored, right? Prin’s family travels a lot, right? Maybe they’ll know of somewhere.”

“I don’t really know if she’ll know anyone that is as much into nature as I am. Besides, even if there was a place how would I get the money and the time off work to go out to wherever it was if it existed?”

“Jonah’s got money, and he’s got the wanderlust almost as bad as you do. And even if he decides not to, I’ll help you raise the money.”

“Wow Shawnese that’s really great of you,” Amelia smiled. She really did have the best friends.

“Don’t thank me too much, I get paid dirt in retail. Still, I’d love to help you out.”

“Well, anything is a step up. Anyway, I seriously doubt there’s anywhere we’ll be able to go. It’s all been done before. Maybe I’ll just drive to the valley where it’s more open next time.”

Shawnese shrugged, “Whatever you say, girl. Just stop moping around though. I get upset seeing you like that for real. Smile more.”

Amelia gave her friend a crooked, goofy smile. “I said a smile, dammit,” Shawnese threw another fry at Amelia as the girls laughed.

Weeks went by and Amelia’s mood didn’t change too much. Her desire for something new burned into her soul. She hoped she could find relief in the valley, but everywhere she went was still familiar to her and didn’t provide relief for very long.

Amelia had made good friends with Shawnese, Jonah and Prin in college seven years back and the four of them were very close. Despite their branching paths throughout their education the four of them kept in touch through all of it. There were other friends, but when life greeted any of them with pain or pleasure, it was the other three in the circle who would know about it first. Amelia wasn’t surprised, therefore, when Jonah came up to her house to have a talk.

“So I heard you had some wanderlust blues?” Jonah asked just as Amelia answered the door.

“Good to see you, Jonah,” Amelia responded. “I’m guessing Shawnese told you about it.”

“Actually Prin did but I think she heard it from Shawnese.”

“Fantastic.”

“Why didn’t you tell us about it, Amelia? We could totally hook something up I think if you really wanna go,” Jonah gave Amelia a wide smile. “Prin’s got that grandpa who’s traveled the world, he might know of somewhere. And I can get us some tickets somewhere no problem. You have like a week’s worth of sick days, don’t you? You never get sick; you won’t be needing them the rest of the year.”

Amelia simultaneously hated and was relieved at Jonah’s ability to make her excited for a trip she felt was practically impossible. “I don’t know,” she admitted.

“Look, you work too hard. Prin works too hard. Shawnese works too hard and I’m too bored. I think this would be a really nice trip for all of us. We’re all still young, no kids, no health problems, nothing but our jobs weighing us down and even then, one little week away won’t hurt anyone.”

“I agree with Jonah,” Prin piped up from her bedroom. Amelia and Prin had been roommates since Prin graduated from college. It made things harder when Amelia felt the need to hide away from Prin’s barrage of plant and bird facts. For now, it made things hard for Amelia to get away from the whole idea of going somewhere without human habitation.

Prin picked up on Amelia’s hesitation, and it concerned her. “Amelia, you act as though you don’t really want to go anywhere new.”

“It isn’t that,” Amelia sighed. “It’s just,” honestly, she didn’t know what it was. There was just something nagging on her at the back of her mind as a sign that this was a bad idea.

“Amelia, you’re the most adventurous of all of us. I thought you would be a lot more excited about this, honestly. Where’s that sense of unbridled bravery you have? Where’s the Passion and the nagging voice that says ‘get up,’ ‘do something,’ ‘Try something new?’ You’re always so excited about stuff like this,” Prin urged.

“I don’t really know myself,” Amelia confessed. “Something just seems off.”

Prin walked out of her room. “Well I was talking to my grandfather about mysterious forests that he might know about his travel. He did mention the sort of forest that’s right in our country, though we’d have to travel to the other side of it. The forest is called ‘lost forest,’ have you ever heard of it?”

“Lost forest?” Jonah chuckled. “No, I haven’t heard of it.”

“It’s filled with Douglas Fir and cardinals,” Prin explained. “I researched it. Apparently, it’s a forest that not many people know about except for a green patch on the map. The reason being the locals try to keep it as secret as they can. It’s believed that once you step foot into the forest, it’s impossible to find your way back. The natives there told my grandpa it was tradition to give tribute to the forest spirits in order to bring back long-lost travelers, and the story is that the few that survive find their way by following a river made of silver.”

“Sounds spooky,” Jonah grinned. “I think I’ll stay in the village where it’s safe. But you guys should go hike there, it sounds awesome.”

“What’s the point in going if you won’t hike with us?” Amelia asked.

“It’s vacation with my friends,” Jonah grinned. “You wouldn’t be spending ALL your time hiking anyway, would you?”

“I beg to differ,” Amelia confessed. She had to admit, going to this place sounded like a great opportunity, and potentially sating her wanderlust would give her a huge piece of mind.

After a few months of planning and waiting for the perfect fall weather to go on their trip, the four friends were ready to go.

“I’m so excited,” Shawnese cheered. “This is gonna be so much fun, just us, and nature. Too bad there’s no hunting on this trip but that’s a small detail. What’s this tribe like, Prin?”

The two sat together in the plane, while Amelia and Jonah shared a seating lane behind the other two girls. Everyone was chatting and excited except for Amelia who kept looking down from the window at the land below. Everything looked patterned from the sky, not a single wild arrangement to be seen all across the country.

The scenery changed about ten minutes away from their destination. There was a huge area of nothing but forest. It looked like it may be a national park, but it was so vast that Amelia was sure it would have to be the biggest national park in the world.

Everyone was tired from the flight when they finally landed. Jonah arranged for the four of them to stay in a hotel across the village so that they could visit whenever they like, but more to the point, they could stay close to the forest.

“Where’s the forest?” Jonah said to the group as they arrived in a gimmick-like voice.

“Oh no, it’s lost!” Prin replied with a giggle. The two of them laughed as though they were the cleverest people in the world.

The four of them walked from the small airport to the hotel carrying a week’s worth of luggage and hiking supplies. There was a grocery store where they could buy snacks and bottles for the trip, and it was just on the outskirts of village property. The hotel had two rooms; one for Jonah which was much smaller, and the three girls got a three-bedroom suite. It wasn’t super fancy, but Jonah wanted to make sure that everyone would be comfortable nonetheless.

Amelia was already lifting her spirits. The sight of the seemingly endless sight of forest filled her with determination, and she couldn’t wait to set foot into it.

After the girls set their things down into the hotel, Amelia smiled more than she had all summer. “Let’s go,” she said.

“What, now?” Prin sighed. “But we just got here.”

“You’re not tired after spending eight hours in a plane, Amelia? The sun is already setting; can’t we go tomorrow morning?”

“We came here to hike, right?” Amelia insisted. “So we should go hike. We should go explore and see what the Lost Forest has to offer.”

“That’s the thing,” Jonah chimed in from the doorway. He had all his things tossed into the room down the hall. “People already get lost in those woods, right? So let’s not test faith and start bright and early tomorrow instead. I personally would feel much better in the daylight than I would at night.”

The other two agreed, and Amelia was left huffing and putting her things away. The group settled down for some breakfast and went to bed. Amelia, however, couldn’t sleep. She looked over to where the village was. It was as though the end of life started in the village. Once everyone was settled into their homes, nothing stirred. Not even a lantern glowed. From the vantage point of a two-story window she could look onward to the forest. It was much larger than she had imagined. She was sure that she would be let down, and the Lost Forest wouldn’t be the same as it was when Prin’s grandfather visited the area. Amelia marveled at how dark it was. She looked up and saw the stars, but even through the hotel lights she could tell there were more stars than they could see in the city.

The cicadas outside and Prin’s light snoring was the only noise Amelia could hear. Everything else was like a void. It was more soothing than what Amelia had anticipated. A few hours more and Amelia couldn’t fight the sleep anymore. She crawled into bed and fell asleep as soon as her ear hit the cool pillow. She sighed, feeling much better over the whole adventure. She was so glad that her friends talked her into this, despite the feeling of warning at the back of her mind.

The next morning, the group ate a big breakfast at the hotel’s diner. They chatted excitedly over what they planned on doing during this vacation. Prin wanted to get a look at the birds and trees that were indigenous at this part of the continent, Jonah was interested in hearing some folklore from the villagers, Shawnese was interested in knowing about the kinds of animals that were in this area, and Amelia was just excited to get into the woods. She would be lying if she hadn’t confessed to herself that a part of her hoped to get lost, at least for a little bit. She was a bit eager for the feeling of isolation, of complete spiritual synchronization with nature.

At long last, the friends geared up for the hike and wandered through the village. Amelia was too excited, but Shawnese noticed the odd looks that the four were getting on their way to the forest. ‘They probably aren’t used to visitors,’ she supposed.

“Wait, travelers,” a man’s voice gained up to them on the dirt road. “Where are you going, don’t you know the forest is dangerous?”

“Dangerous?” Jonah turned around with the others. “How so?”

“The forest is sacred,” the man explained. “It is not kind to people, it will try to keep you lost in it forever. The trees and paths change so that you cannot find your way back. I am telling you, you cannot go in there.”

“But we came all this way,” Prin explained. “Could we maybe at least arrange a tour inside, just a hike along the border?”

Amelia’s body tensed. No, that was not the experience she had wanted. The man seemed hesitant to agree, but did so in the end. “There is a man who has traveled into the forest many times, he can guide you a little bit but you must come back quickly before the forest is aware of your presence.”

The man had left to find the person who can tour them, and Amelia turned bitterly to the others. “We can’t just be here to be babysat into the forest.”

“It’s their rules,” Shawnese shrugged. “They probably have a good reason for it.”

“At least we can get into the forest. I know it’s not exactly what you wanted Amelia, but it’s still somewhere new.” Prin gave her friend a supportive smile. “Maybe we can find another place sometime next year; somewhere where we can have the real experience.”

The man returned with a guide who was five-and-a-half feet tall and lanky. He wore a t-shirt and shorts with sandals, and he seemed quite interested in the newcomers. His accent was so thick it was hard to understand, but Jonah especially was good at making it out.

“So what’s so sacred about this forest?” Jonah asked the man.

“Dis forest,” the man began. “Many spirit, stay away from human. Very very dangerous for people. Lost brother eight-eighteen year. Lost many people. It will change to confuse you.”

“But you were able to get out alive?” Jonah asked.

“Ah was very lucky. Figure guide me, silver path led me out. It was my wife’s prayer to save me.”

When they reached the forest, the guide took out a ball of twine. He tied one end of twine four yards away from the forest on a pole that was possibly placed there for this reason, and he breached the first trees of the forest. “Come, hurry, do not want to be behind.”

The group of friends stayed close to the guide. Prin was having a great time naming the different plants and marveling at the three or four she didn’t know. Jonah kept talking to the guide about the secrets of the forest, though there was very little that the tribesman would tell an outsider, since a lot of the stories were sacred. He did, however, share a lot of jokes and his own story about his family quite readily. Shawnese became interested in some imprints on the ground. She muttered about the prints looking like deer prints but bigger, and they were a little ‘off.’

Amelia kept quiet, stewing in her bitterness, wanting to just leave the party and run off into the woods on her own. She felt the light wind through the leaves, as though it were a whisper, ‘come closer.’ She was confident in her sense of direction, of course she wouldn’t get lost. Besides, at the very worst she had a compass in her backpack. She gripped the shoulder straps of the pack and, watching her friends, slowly backing up into the forest. She went until she couldn’t see anyone, and farther still until she couldn’t hear anyone.

“Amelia don’t you remember,” Prin started. She turned to notice that Amelia wasn’t where she had been moments ago. She could easily see the guide, Jonah and Shawnese but she didn’t see Amelia at all. “Shawnese, Jonah, do you see Amelia anywhere?”

Shawnese felt a sudden rise in her throat. She looked around for Amelia, and even went so far as to go deeper in until she could only see Prin, but she hurried back in a panic. “Amelia’s gone!”

“I had warned,” the guide shook his head gravely. “She is now lost.”

“Lost, no she can’t be lost,” Jonah protested. He called out for Amelia, but she didn’t answer. He started to head forward into the forest, but Prin stopped him. “No use in you getting lost too, Jonah.”

“What else are we supposed to do,” Jonah demanded.

“Not’ing to do but wait,” the guide sighed deeply. He seemed somberly indifferent to the loss of another human to the forest.

“You have to have like a rescue team or something,” Shawnese insisted. “You can’t expect us to just wait and see whether or not our friend turns into animal chow, do you?”

“It is will of spirits now, if she is spared.”

Amelia’s friends left the forest to look for someone who would go in and look for Amelia. The three of them thought to go in together to find their lost friend, but once it was found what they wanted to do they were not allowed back into the forest. They tried to run in, but some of the villagers that were concerned for the outsiders and the state of the Lost Forest kept them pushed back. Prin started to cry. Shawnese tried to console her while also trying to keep Jonah’s head calm all the while freaking out herself.

The three waited as close to the forest as they were allowed, but the night started to fall and there was still no Amelia.

When Amelia had escaped the village, she felt a sense of liberation. ‘I’ll just go on a quick hike, just one or two miles, and then I’ll come back,’ she promised.

Amelia walked slowly through the vines and trees. There was so much shade, Amelia was sure there’d be little difference between day or night in some areas. Amelia found a cave and explored it for about twenty feet before it looked too far deep to continue any further. Having no one around felt exhilarating. “Hello,” she cried up to the trees. She heard scurrying and distant calling of animals. ‘Shawnese would love this,’ she thought. There may not be any people, but the forest was littered in creatures. She heard a sort of cricking. When she looked up, she noticed it was a bird making the noise. ‘I bet Prin would love to know what that bird is,’ she thought. ‘If she doesn’t know it already.’

Everywhere she went, she could feel the purity of the forest. There was no sound of cars moving on roads, there were no distant house lights, there was no private property. Amelia rested by a creek and took out some food to munch on for a bit. She wondered if she should go back. Her running off probably worried her friends. “Just a couple hours,” she said to herself. The sound of her voice always seemed to startle something nearby, which was somewhat satisfying to hear whatever it was scurrying away.

She wandered farther in and took note of a plant with purple leaves. It branched off of the ground like vines on the floor, and the center were five stocks growing together and twisting around each other in an explosion of more vines and leaves, but they became more pink as they got to the top. “Wow,” she breathed. With her desire to be as lack for technology as she could she didn’t bring her phone or camera, but she wished that she had then. ‘Prin would flip if she saw this,’ Amelia thought for sure.

Amelia noticed a little while longer that she couldn’t see very well anymore. She felt a rise in her chest. “Uh-oh,” she muttered. “I really better get back now or I’m going to end up in a lot of trouble.” She didn’t think she had even been hiking that long. She tried to find her way back to the purple plant, which had become a landmark in her mind. She struggled to see her compass, turned in the right direction, and started going onward.

“I should have hit it by now,” she muttered, gasping at the creatures that fled at the sound of her voice. There were less animal sounds now. Things were getting really quiet. Amelia wondered were the cicadas were now, and why they weren’t singing anymore. Amelia stopped to take a flashlight out of her backpack.

“Rrrch!”

Amelia jumped and held the flashlight close to her, trying to make out in the darkness what she just heard was.

“Rrrch rrrch!”

Amelia quickly zipped up her pack and lit the flashlight on. Normally, she knew it was best to make a lot of noise in the forest to alert bears that would then stay away from the sound of the person. Amelia didn’t know anything about these animals, so didn’t know what the best decision would be about them.

Would she have to spend the night here? She didn’t pack for that. Amelia turned on the flashlight and tried to calm herself down. “Okay Amelia come on, you got this. You just have to find some shelter and sleep it out for the night.”

“Crit crit crit.”

“What was that?!” Amelia spun wildly, trying to find what was making noises. She thought she saw a pair of nocturnal eyes in the darkness, but as she turned her flashlight to it there was nothing there.

“Oh please, please,” Amelia whispered. “I’m sorry, I just wanted to get away from civilization for a little while, I don’t want to die out here.”

She warned herself to calm down. She had to keep positive. She had to tell herself that one night was no big deal. It was just like camping. “Just like with my family when I was younger,” she reminded herself. She closed her eyes and slowed her breathing. She thought back about the camping trips with her family. She remembered fishing with her dad and playing UNO in the campsite with her mom and older sister. She remembered catching lizards and minnows in the water with her brother. She felt herself sigh in nostalgia.

“Mwwwoooorrrrrrrrrrr!”

Amelia opened her eyes and spun the flashlight around. She could have sworn the sound came from right behind her.

She found herself at the mouth of a small cave. The wall of rocks startled her, but she looked into the cave warily and realized it was only about ten feet deep. She checked every crack and underneath rocks, but there was nothing in this cave. She hurried to bring her things inside and put her back to the wall. She felt much better now that she had shelter. In the darkness, she felt less a part of nature and much more like she was being hunted by it. But in the cave, she felt shelter. She couldn’t help but cry thinking about how worried her friends must be. She thought about the legend of people being lost in the forest forever. No, she couldn’t think like that. She closed her eyes and revisited her memories camping with her family and hiking with her friends. She always fantasized that she could survive the forest alone. After all, she felt so at peace with nature when she was hiking. Even when she traveled in the darkness with Prin, they had the stars and they had each other. Being in the forest this way, she didn’t realize how terrifying it was being alone at night.

The next morning, she opened her eyes slowly. Once they were opened, she became aware of something moving around her. Amelia’s body tensed. She was no longer in the cave. Whatever was moving around her was big. She tried very slowly to turn behind her and look.

It had antlers that grew up in elaborate swirls, and the head and body looked like a deer. It had four eyes and four ears underneath the antlers. The creature was as big as a Clydesdale, and it had something in its mouth. Amelia thought at first glance that it could be a large rabbit, but she was more focused on the deer-creature’s huge fangs, like a saber-toothed tiger.

The deer turned its face right at Amelia. She froze, thinking this could be it. The deer’s left ears twitched and rotated before the deer turned around and started bounding away, it’s deer-like tail disappearing in the thicket of the forest.

Amelia felt as though she could breathe again. She sat up to notice that she was nowhere near any caves or cliff walls. In fact, nothing looked familiar at all. She looked around for her things and noticed her backpack hanging on the branch of a tree. Amelia jumped to knock her backpack down, and she caught it. “How did I get here?” She mumbled. How far was she from the village? She went into her backpack to take out her compass.

“Where is it?” she cried aloud. “My compass, where is it? Oh no,” she emptied the backpack of the contents and there was no compass.

“The sun,” she sighed. “I’ll just climb one of these trees and try to find out where the sun is rising.” She might even be able to see the village from that high up. Amelia sighed and put her backpack on, not wanting anything else to go missing. Amelia started climbing a tree with low branches, and tried to get herself all the way to the top.

Some branches were far apart so she had to take a few leaps. She didn’t want to think about how much harder it would be to get down. Well, potentially it won’t be hard at all, but terribly painful.

The leaves were bigger than the palm of her hand, and they intertwined together so much that breaching through the leaves was almost like opening a heavy door. She kept climbing, desperate to reach the top. “Come on, let me through,” she grunted.

She breached the leaves, and she felt a chill and a huge gust of wind. It surprised her, since the ground was so peaceful without any sign of wind at all. She tried to find the source of the sun, but as soon as she began to absorb the sight of the sky, she felt herself start to cry.

It was daylight, but the sun was strangely missing. Worse yet, it was as though she were in the middle of an ocean of leaves. Every direction, every horizon looked exactly the same. There was no distinguishing feature, no source of light, and no sign of civilization anywhere.

“No, noooo,” she cried. Where was the village, where were her friends? She was completely lost. There was no way out, she was lost forever.

Amelia started to climb down from the tree. On her way down, she saw something moving. Amelia paused to see what it was. She saw the side of it as it passed from one tree to the next not far from her. It was a giant spider, green and brown and almost perfectly camouflaged. It was the size of a cat.

“Oh no,” she moaned, and almost lost her grip on the branch. She kept climbing down, spotting more of the spiders. “Aaah,” she went to grab a branch, but it turned out to be one of the spider’s legs. The spider jerked her away, hissed and ran off. It startled her, and she fell.

She screamed on her way down, but as she fell, she noticed somewhat that she didn’t hit any branches. She kept falling when she thought she should have hit the ground by then. She was going to die, this was it.

She stopped falling, but she didn’t hit anything. She opened her eyes and stopped screaming, and tried to reach for a ground. She twisted her body to look behind her, hoping to see some sort of safe ground or anything like that. There was the bed of leaves. She reached for it, unsure of why she was suspended in midair. Then, as though a cord had snapped, she fell on the bed of leaves.

“Okay, okay,” she wiped her eyes and sniffed. “I get it, I understand. I shouldn’t have run into the sacred woods. I just wanted to feel part of nature. Please, I just want to go home. Isn’t there anything in this forest that will help me get back home?”

Silence was all that replied to her. She took a moment to cry, wiping her tears and trying to calm down. She picked herself up from the floor, and choosing a direction, started to head that way.

Amelia kept herself aware of the creatures in the forest. Now that she was aware these creatures were nothing like the ones she had ever seen, she had to be careful to not antagonize anything. She thought of what the guide said about the forest changing to confuse people. If that was the case, then the landmarks she had in her mind were no help to her. She hoped she could, at least, find a stream. Her water bottle was empty, and she was so thirsty. It occurred to her that she didn't seem in any danger, nothing had attacked her and even the nature itself seemed to have stopped her fall before. But she was scared, thinking that she may be lost forever if she didn't find some way to get out.

She thought about her friends. She hoped they didn’t try to hunt for her in the forest. What if they were also lost in the forest? “If my friends are in here,” Amelia begged the forest. “Please don’t let them get lost because of me.”

A bright, unnatural light beamed from the distance. It was as white as heaven’s door. ‘Or a flashlight,’ she added in her mind hopefully. She hurried towards the light, not saying a word in case it was a sort of creature. The light started to dim, and Amelia started to run faster. Wait, don’t go, she wanted to call out. But she didn’t. By the time she got to the source, the light was very dim. It was coming from a tree.

The illuminating, white source was a face, poking out of the tree. The face looked serene and otherworldly. Her mouth was open wide, but her eyes were closed as though she was asleep. Around her, silver hair like strands of fine metal fell down the tree trunk, their individual strands flowing finely as a spider’s thread.

Amelia became entranced. It was strange and gruesome, but somehow serene. It was something beautiful. She worried that saying anything would made the vision fade away. She took a step away from the tree she used as a hiding spot.

The ghoulish, yet strangely relaxing white-faced figure didn’t move, but her hair started growing. It fell and twisted through the forest as though the face were the source of a stream of chrome. Amelia looked down to where the hair was growing. She recalled for a moment the story they were told in the village about a river of silver.

The hope in Amelia’s chest rose again. Was this the silver river? Would this be the way home, or was it a trick? She had no other choice.

Amelia took one more look towards the glowing face, mouth agape, eyes daintily closed. She looked back down to the stream of hair.

She began to follow the path, but didn’t dare say a word. She started out jogging through the forest. As the forest became denser, she had to slow down. She noticed then how the stream of hair also emitted a light glow. Small puffs of light drifted away from the hair, like embers in a heavenly fire. She walked beside it, keeping her eyes on possibly dangerous beings. She noticed, as the forest became dark as night, there were lights in the trees. The trees ceased and Amelia found herself going through a tunnel of vines through a cliff. On the walls were glowing blue mushrooms, like the lights that were on the branches of the trees before she entered the tunnel. The glow of the mushrooms caught minerals in the rock of the tunnel that shone like stars.

Amelia’s breath caught in her throat. For a moment, she had forgotten her fear. It was one of the most beautiful things she had ever seen.

It was almost with regret that she passed through the tunnel to the other side. She tried to keep the memory of the tunnel in her mind, closing her eyes so that she could keep it. She wanted her friends to know about it, if she ever saw them again.

Amelia felt her legs ache. She stepped to the side to sit on a rock and eat what she had left of her snacks. As she ate, she noticed a faint sound in the distance. She crammed the last of her granola into her mouth and hurried to where she heard the noise.

It was the stream of water she had passed yesterday. She swallowed the granola and cupped her hands, enjoying the clear, cool feeling of the water. She took a drink. It was, to Amelia’s mind, the perfect definition of refreshing. The water tasted like a breath of fresh air, as though she had been before holding her breath her whole life. She drank some more, but when she tried to fill her water bottle, the water went right through it as though it didn’t exist at all. If she hadn’t dealt with stranger things before, she might have been concerned. For now, she was only glad the water was there. It didn’t necessarily mean she was going the right way, but it felt good to finally see something familiar.

She continued to follow the silver stream, her hopes raised and her walk determined. She stopped when she saw something off in a clearing. She hid behind a tree and took a look at what was moving around. Hopping around in the clearing were creatures that looked like neon blue, pink, purple and green rabbits. They had long ears, but they were longer than a normal rabbit. Their tails were longer and swayed like cat tails. They had long whiskers and bright brown eyes. They made a soft ‘meep’ noise as they hopped around grazing the grass, their little bodies moved every time they cried ‘meep.’ They seemed to put their whole bodies into making the noise, but it was so quiet regardless.

Amelia mused how Shawnese would adore these animals. She wondered if they were the creature the deer she saw before had in its mouth, and if Shawnese would want to keep or hunt it. Amelia took a bit of time watching these adorable creatures hopping around. She lost track of time for a moment. She lost track of urgency. She almost lost track of what she was doing before. The little neon rabbits started hopping away, and Amelia thought to follow them. “Wait,” She whispered to herself. “Don't stray from the silver path. You want to go home Amelia, remember?”

Going back to the path, she caught sight of the purple plant she had seen. It took a lot to keep her from exclaiming with joy. That was two out of the three landmarks she had on her way in. She became determined to keep on the path, walking fast again, trying to keep her eye out for the cave she saw.

It was starting to get dark again. However, she was no longer afraid. On this guide back, knowing there was a way home, she felt her connection with nature again. Even as she traveled in the darkness, the dense forest started to ebb, and she was able to see the stars in the sky. They were so numerous, Amelia was sure they would fall on her like glitter. The silver hair’s glow was dimmer than Amelia remembered, but as long as she could still see it, she didn’t pay much attention.

During her walk, she almost felt sad to leave the Lost Forest. It was filled with so many beautiful things, and since it constantly changes she would never get bored hiking it. Honestly, it was everything she ever dreamed of. Maybe she could come back sometime. Or even, maybe just stay one more night.

Amelia stopped walking. She could see the edge of the forest now. Looking down, the silver stream of hair was gone. Amelia opened her mouth. “I could stay,” she hadn’t heard her voice in so long, it was louder than the forest, and it startled her. She could stay. Things were frightening, but she seemed to never be in any real danger. The forest was beautiful, and mystical, and there was nothing else like it in the world.

Amelia took a step back into the forest. “It’s everything I wanted.” Amelia felt pain similar to homesickness at the thought of leaving the forest.

Her legs mechanically took step after step, further into the woods. She could find the silver river again. She could stay just a little longer. The mushrooms, the interesting plants, the strange creatures, the night brimming with glittering stars, would she regret leaving it all behind? There might be more things yet unexplored. She took a few more steps into the forest.

Before the sight of the village faded completely, Amelia stopped before the silhouette of a large deer, antlers twirled, standing alert, welcoming. It waited for her. Her head bowed. “Thank you,” she whispered. There was a moment of stillness before the deer bowed its head in return. For that moment, they both knew. They understood each other, and Amelia left a bit of her soul in the forest to remember her by. With the final blessing, Amelia turned and ran out of the forest. She wanted to stay, and felt as though she needed to stay, but her family was waiting for her. Her friends were waiting for her. She could hear her friends begging for her to return. Their voices were crisp in her mind, as though they were there with her.

“Her praying worked for you,” Jonah asked their guide. They had remained in the guide’s hut as guests, waiting for the return of their friend.

“My wife,” the guide gestured to the old woman cooking. “Pray every night that I return. I hear her call and silver river bring me home.”

Prin had her hands folded, staying silent, muttering her pleas to anyone who would listen to help Amelia find her way back.

“It's been so long now,” Jonah whispered. “I'm all prayered out. What if she doesn't come back?”

“Don't say that,” Shawnese called from the kitchen as she helped the guide's wife and daughter with the cooking. “Keep praying Jonah or I swear you'll wish you were lost in the woods.”

Jonah sighed. “It'd be better to just go out and find her.”

“No good,” The guide replied. “You get lost too. Best stay here where she know you waiting.”

“This is impossible, we should be filing a missing person's report or setting up a search party or something.”

“Jonah, please,” Prin told him. “I'm trying to pray.”

Jonah looked over to Prin, fresh tears in her eyes. She had been crying for every day Amelia's been missing. He sighed and closed his eyes. He prayed with her. He prayed for Amelia to come back for all of them.

Moments later, there was commotion outside. Prin gasped and looked out the window again. Her heart nearly leapt out of her. “It's her! She's back!” Prin lept from her spot and sped out of the hut.

Shawnese and Jonas followed Prin outside, cheering and crying for Amelia’s safe return. They embraced her. The embrace snapped Amelia out of her daze. “Guys?” she asked, hugging them back. Her disappearance came back to her quickly and she hugged her friends harder. “I’m so sorry I worried you, I didn’t mean to be gone so long, I intended to only stay a few hours. I didn’t know I would get lost until the next day.”

“The next day,” Prin wailed through her tears. “Amelia you were gone for five days!”

“How did you get back?” Shawnese demanded.

“It was,” Amelia thought a moment. “A face in a tree. Her hair flowed down and showed me the way, like a stream of silver liquid.”

“Are you sure you’re okay, Amelia? You didn’t eat anything weird, did you?”

“No, I didn’t eat anything weird,” Amelia replied. “Oh, but I saw something weird. And I have a lot of things to tell you guys about.”