I can't go back.. I can never go back...
These were the thoughts ringing back and forth in Thorn's mind as she ran, nonstop and erratically, as far as she could go.
I let Mama down... I let Papa down. I let the doctor down. The mayor, the town, everyone...
She could not be consoled. Her every breath, her every movement, there was only fear driving her now.
I shouldn't be Pumpkin Queen. I should've rejected the Mayor and Papa. I should've rejected the crown and gone into exile sooner. Even if no one would understand...
She was not paying attention to where she was running anymore. Her force of will drove her forward, though her legs ached and screamed. She didn't care; she had to get as far from everyone as she could.
What was I thinking?!
An uprooted tree root was the only thing that could possibly stop Thorn, and with her thudding on the ground, everything went black, but only for a brief moment. She rose to a sitting position, clutching her head in her dazed state.
She was alone, far from town without any real idea of where she was. She had never fully explored the far reaches of her Halloween world, only the town itself and the Hinterlands, the mysterious circle of trees that housed the doors of other holiday worlds, the one her father told her about as the next holiday leader. There was nowhere else for her to really run, or hide.
A whimper choked her, and her chest was heavy.
"What should I do now...?" she exhaled, her words barely coming out. "Mama, Papa..."
Her fear controlled her, more now than at any other point in her life. There was no escaping its icy, merciless grip. She knew this, and embraced its darkness, so similar to her own. It was time to let go and let the darkness consume her.
And yet...
A breeze blew through her hair then, almost tugging forcefully at her. Thorn paused. The breeze, however, continued tugging.
"Do you want...to take me somewhere?"
Thorn rose to her feet slowly, letting the wind pull her along slowly. Her steps were quiet yet deliberate, a new life being breathed into her motions. Moments before, she lay crumpled on the ground begging for answers and feeding her sorrow. Now, she just followed the wind's urgent guidance carefully and meticulously. No breath exited her; she held it as if she was afraid to release it. Although, she really had no true reason to breathe. She wasn't alive, nor was she dead.
Finally, the wind stopped.
She had been led to the Hinterlands.
"Why here?" Thorn finally asked, curious and so confused.
The wind heard her question, and led Thorn once again, to the same tree her father had approached so long ago: the door to one very special place known as Christmas Town.
Carefully, she took the knob and turned it ever so slowly, as her father before her. She looked down, but saw nothing. Just as she pulled back to stand and walk away, the wind blew with new ferocity, so much so that she was blown into the tree.