was never afraid of the woods behind my house growing up. my friends never wanted to play outside and I never understood why. at the end of each day I would go out with a blanket and talk to it, about anything. I never considered the fact that anyone could be listening. I told it my deepest fears and my darkest secrets. during high school I was always bullied about living with monsters, I didn't know why.. I thought they were talking about my parents. they weren't. I would come home everyday and cry my heart out to them- the woods, I mean -I always felt comfort with them. my friends eventually stopped talking to me and started talking about me. it wasn't until graduation that I noticed something was off about my woods; they were darker. revolting. and yet, they kept luring me in. I should have seen something, I was too naive. the night of my 19th birthday, I went out to my woods and sung happy birthday to myself. in those 19 years of my life, I learned to expect the unexpected, but what I never expected was that my woods sang back