Chapter One
When I awoke, I wasn't in the woods anymore. At least not like anything I'd ever seen. The trees were tall in a vivid purple hue with long thin branches like the arms of a skeleton. The ground was covered in leaves the darkest black I'd ever seen.
I sat up, taking in my surroundings. No more snow. In fact, it was awfully hot out. Needless to say, I was very confused. Where am I? How did I get here? Who, or what, did I see before I passed out? Standing up now, I felt very dizzy. How long ago did I leave home? When was the last time I ate, or even drank for that matter?
I noticed a large gray-ish bush not too far away with orange berries. I'd never seen berries that were orange before. I didn't know whether they'd be poisonous, but at that point I wasn't so sure any of this was even real.
I limped a few steps over. I didn't remember hurting myself. Looking down, I saw one of my pants legs coated in dry blood. Did that thing in the woods do that? I shook my head, trying to convince myself that whatever it was, it wasn't real. I swore up and down I'd wake up in a hospital somewhere with an IV pumping some sort of hallucinatory drug into my veins.
"Yeah, that has to be it," I whispered to myself before continuing my limp over to the berry bush. The berries looked like some sort of cross between a raspberry and a strawberry, but didn't taste like either. They were quite bitter in fact. But I still ate like they were the best thing I'd ever tasted.
Soon, the whole bush was bare. My stomach grumbled loudly, and I realized that I couldn't stay here, dream or not I began walking once more, and noticed I no longer had a limp. Did the berries contain some sort of healing power? I was becoming more confused by the minute.
I wandered around for a while, hoping to find some sort of explanation as to where I was and how to get home. Stumbling over branches and chain-smoking my last pack of cigarettes, it felt like hours before I noticed any sign of life.
And then I heard a rustling in the leaves ahead of me. I looked up and just barely caught a glimpse of a large rodent-like creature awkwardly shuffling away. Against my better judgement, I decided to follow this creature, hoping it would lead me to answers. Instead it led me to the most haunting experience of my entire life.
The rodent approached a human-like creature. I crouched behind another berry bush, shocked by the appearance of the creature. It was naked with a humanoid anatomy. It was tall and bony with a visible spinal cord. Its skin was opal in color, almost transparent. It turned around as the animal approached and that's when I saw it's face. It had no mouth or nose… But the eyes. I'd seen the very same eyes before.
The rodent climbed up the scaly skin and perched itself atop the man's shoulder (I knew once he turned that human or not the creature was most definitely male). I didn't think it could see me, but a chilling whisper echoed through the trees, and though the creature had no mouth, I somehow knew the voice I heard came from him.
"Come to me, my daughter," it said. I didn't know what to do. Was the creature dangerous or just strange-looking? Do I approach it or do I run? Before I could make up my mind, I found myself frozen solid. I couldn't move a muscle, as if a spell was cast over me. I was more sure now than ever that the creature did in fact intend to harm me, but without bodily movement, I could do nothing but wait.