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003 - Forest hike

003 - Forest hike

As a little girl is sitting in her bed, she thinks back to what her parents have told her.

“Starting next week and for the weeks that will follow, a personal tutor will come here every day and help you study. He’ll be there specially to teach you what you have missed.”

Facing a tall man, a young girl with a big frown was sitting at the dining table.

“I don’t want to! Why do I have to study?”

As she was pouting to the best of her abilities, a hand reached her back and started to slowly rub it. Despite her best attempt at ignoring it, she couldn’t lie and say that it didn’t feel good. As the gesture continued, a voice came from her left.

“Now, don’t be such a baby. You’re a big girl now, aren’t you?”

That was her mom. She had come around the table and had kneeled next to her. Rather than answering that she was indeed a grown-up and lose any right to argue with them, she only opted to mumble a few words under her breath. This almost brought a smile to her mother’s face although she restrained herself and the little girl didn’t see anything.

“What did you say?”

“Nothing… Why do I need to study? I didn’t need to until now!”

That question was answered by her father. He didn’t seem angry that she wasn’t listening to them. It had been some time since he had started to look happier overall. She could guess the reason and she thought that it was also the reason for that tutor.

“You know why you didn’t have to study until now, this was because of your health. We couldn’t send you to school. And even when you looked better, it never really lasted. But it’s been more than a year since you last had a health problem. Don’t you want to make friends? You can go to school! You can live like a normal girl.”

As he answered her, his response completely stunned her. Although she had guessed the reason for the change, she hadn’t really thought about what this implied further down the line. She had lived within the confines of her own house and the surrounding garden for as long as she could remember. But now she had the opportunity to finally go to the city. After all, even if it was quite close, she never had the opportunity to really go there.

According to her parents, she had been a few times when she was little but it always was to see a doctor when she was really sick and that they couldn’t wait for one to come. This meant that she often was unconscious during these “visits” of the city.

She looked at her mom, her eyes asking if what her father had said was a lie but she could see the smile on her mother’s face.

“Really? I can go?”

She still asked, as if it was really unbelievable and to her it was. When they assured her that it was indeed the truth, she started to run around the house screaming in unbridled joy. She finally ended up in her parents' arms with definitely no tears in her eyes. After all, she was a grown-up.

“Thank you, I promise I’ll study really hard.”

“Good, I hope you will teach me everything you know, after all, it’s been a long time since your dad has been to school.”

She nodded her head violently, making anyone seeing her wonder if it wasn’t going to fly off.

“Yes, I’ll be the best teacher ever!”

Putting a hand on her head, he ruffled her hair and despite her best attempts, she was unable to escape his grasp.

“Well, even the best teachers need some sleep, so go wash up and go to bed!”

Not even bothering trying to get more time before bed, she immediately went and listened to her mother.

Now, she was in her room but she wasn’t going to bed. She was looking at a corner of her room. Lying there in a ball, almost like a cat was a person. It looked like a woman, definitely an adult and probably around the same age as her own mom. It looked like she was naked but she wasn’t really sure because she was covered in a blurry fuzz. As if she was looking at her through tears or behind a mist. Beyond that, she didn’t know much else like the color of her hair or her eyes as she was only one color. To be more accurate, it looked like she was kind of transparent and slightly glowing. This gave the impression that she was made straight out of light. So overall, she looked kind of yellowish-white.

Although in a normal situation anyone would at the very least be surprised by seeing that, the little girl was only looking at it with a complicated expression. She was already used to the sight, after all, it had been a little more than a year since she had appeared in her room. She had appeared after her last unconscious bout. It was a stable one so she didn’t need to be brought to the city but she still had stayed several days unconscious.

Looking at her hands, she pushed the image of their once bony appearance out of her mind. They were now completely normal. Maybe a little bit less fat than other kids her age but still healthy. She more than anyone else understood what had happened to her. Unfortunately, it wasn’t much. She knew that there was something pressing against her all over her body but coming from the outside.

Most of the time it was just pressure but from time to time it would get worse until either she screamed from pain until her throat was hoarse or she simply lost consciousness. When she first saw the woman, she tried to tell her parents but she was the only one seeing her. She quickly learned not to talk about her and leave it as an imaginary friend she once had because she saw how her parents started to worry as she tried to prove to them the woman really existed.

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Which was the second point, unless it was herself, everything seemed to go through the woman. She still remembered trying to throw her bedsheets on her to show her parents she was there. The sheet simply fell to the ground, completely ignoring the woman.

After the first mess of trying to prove to her parents that there was someone in her room and ultimately failing, she had tried to talk or interact in any way with that woman. However, she seemed to be in a really deep sleep, and no matter what, she never woke up. Quite like a cat. Or maybe not since a cat would have already woken up and taught the offender not to mess with it.

After several weeks of inactivity, the novelty of a light-woman wore off and she simply put her in a corner of her room. It was good that the woman weighed literally nothing as she probably wouldn’t have been able to lift her otherwise. She felt a bit bad for letting her sleep on the floor but she didn’t have any other choice. She went through the bed and she couldn’t really put something in the corner without her parents asking questions.

After all of that, she simply decided to enjoy her healthy time as it seemed she was in one of the longer stretches of healthiness. She went to the garden and watched her dad tend to it, asking questions about things that seemed new since the last time she came. She played with her dolls and helped her dad cook when it wasn’t too dangerous even though she felt ready to use a knife if you asked her. When her mom would come back from the city, they would eat and she would listen to how her day was at her work. After a while, she would go to bed after listening to a story from her mom.

However, as the days passed, she felt healthier and healthier. She tried not to, but she couldn’t help herself but think that she was perhaps not ill anymore. Of course, she didn’t tell that to her parents, she didn’t want to give them hope and fall ill again the very next day.

So she started to move more. Although she was afraid to tire her body, she also didn’t want to have those thin limbs and her ribs poking out anymore. She started to eat a lot more and she could see how happy her parents were about that change. She also started to run around the house when her mom had already left and her dad was in the garden.

Finally, one day, when she felt strong enough, she decided it was time to explore. Which was when she learned the third point about the mysterious woman.

This was something that anyone her age had already done. Taking a backpack that her mother had bought once when she thought she was cured as well as a few knick-knacks, she went out of the house through the front door so as to not be seen by her father.

She went around the garden, staying behind the tall grass, and finally reached the edge of the forest. Taking in a deep breath, she made her first step into it. Waiting for something to happen, she only heard the sound of the forest in front of her and the sound of her father, at the back. Finally, feeling a bit stupid for expecting something but also happy that nothing happened, she started to run in the forest while trying to stifle her laughter so as to not be heard by her father.

Once she was a bit further away, she let her laughter echo within the woods. She never felt as free as she was today. She decided to go a bit further, to a stream that her father told her flowed not far from the house. She didn’t really know where it was but it didn’t really matter. Today was about exploration.

After a few more minutes of walking,  she felt a slight tug on her back. Frightened, she immediately turned around as well as taking a few steps back but there was nothing behind her. However, the tug was now in front of her even if she couldn’t see anything. Feeling more and more scared, she started running away from the pull. The further she ran, the stronger the pull felt even if every time she looked, there was nothing behind her.

Finally out of breath and starting to get tired, she tripped and fell to the ground. Closing her eyes and waiting for something to happen, for something to attack her, she let out a scarred scream. But even after a while, nothing happened. She opened her eyes and simply saw the forest, the same as it was when she entered.

Managing to calm a bit, she tried to understand what was going on. She still felt something pulling her in one direction but couldn’t see anything. It was far stronger than it was when it first appeared and she had the feeling that if she went farther, at one point, it would become painful.

Concentrating on the feeling, she tried to understand what it was. As she was concentrating on the feeling and on the direction from which it came, a barely visible rope appeared in her vision. It came from the direction of the pull and went towards her. When it reached her body, it became fuzzy and almost impossible to see. The other thing that she noticed was that it looked as if it was made of light. Exactly like the woman in her bedroom even if dimmer.

Deciding that she needed to be sure, she started to go back to her house, only to realize that she didn’t recognize her surroundings. While running away from nothing, she had somehow managed to get lost in the forest. Trying to stay calm and not let herself panic, she decided that she might as well follow the pull. After all, it at least pointed kind of toward where she came running, if a bit to the left.

Taking a deep breath, she started to walk towards what she hoped was her home. As she followed the rope, it seemed to get shorter so that it was always taut rather than dragging behind her. As she walked more and more, the pull became lighter and lighter which she assumed meant that she was getting closer.

The problem was that as the pull became lighter, so did the rope. Since it was already really hard to see, now it was barely visible. What kind of scared her was that she still couldn’t recognize her surroundings. So once the rope disappeared, she would be lost again.

Looking at the rope, she couldn’t decide whether to try and follow the rope until it disappeared and then hope that she could continue in the correct direction or if she should try to think of another solution. However, while she was looking at the rope thinking about her choice, the rope seemed to become more solid if only slightly.

She felt surprised as this was new and the rope returned to her previous state making her doubt whether she had imagined everything. Trying to concentrate on the rope again, she couldn’t see any change at first but after a few seconds, it started to become more solid again. It seemed that concentrating on it allowed it to become more visible.

Spending a few minutes concentrating on the rope, she finally decided that she could concentrate enough on it while walking. With the added solidity, it should stay visible until she was close enough to her home. That was assuming that the rope led to her home.

As the rope started to become almost invisible again and she started to lose hope, she finally heard the voice of her dad. She lost her concentration and the rope completely disappeared but it didn’t matter anymore. She started running toward the voice of her father but stopped herself. If he saw her coming from the forest, she would for sure get scolded. Thinking a bit, she walked until she was at the edge of the forest and then went around her house to enter back from the front door.

Once back in her room, she let out a breath she didn’t know she had been holding. Letting herself fall on her bed, she couldn’t help but let her eyes go to the woman in the corner. It was definitely the same color or material as the rope however, it didn’t really help her understand the situation. It seemed she was connected to that woman in some way. This wasn’t completely surprising since she was the only one that could see her but that was about everything she understood from the situation right now.

As she continued thinking, the weight of her escapade and the ensuing fright finally caught up to her. Although she felt better than she had ever felt, she was still a little girl with under average physical capabilities. A few seconds later, she had fallen asleep.