by Irene Davault

Created on: September 02, 2011   Last Updated: October 15, 2011

I realized that I had only gone through the woods one other time and that was when I followed my dad.  I wished I had paid more attention instead of just following him.  This time it seemed different and I could not recognize the area.  I was only ten years old then and now four years later I thought it would be easy to cross through the trees and pasture.   

The sun set faster than I thought it would and the darkness amid the trees came quickly. There was no moon, I noticed, just a black night with millions of tiny blinking stars. I was beginning to get scared.  I did not like to be out in the dark in the country.  I had heard so many scary stories about the woods when I was younger and now they were flooding my mind. I struggled to keep my balance over some logs and I stopped long enough to catch my breath. I could hear my pulse beating in my ears. The sounds of the night were coming alive.  There were so many different sounds; I tried not to listen as I squinted to see through the blackness surrounding me.  

I started to think I was lost in the woods.  I did not know which way to go or if I was going the right way to begin with, but I pressed forward.  In the daylight, I knew to keep the sun be behind me, but in the dark, I had become confused about the direction to take.  When I followed dad to grandma’s house we were there in no time.  Tonight it seemed like I had spent an eternity walking and still there was no house.

I was elated as I looked through the darkened shadows of the trees and saw a small light ahead.  I hurried until I was at grandmas backdoor.  She gave me a hug before I could close the door that shielded me from the woods and the night.  I was safe at last.

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