She´ll vanish if you leave her,

She´ll warm you if you need her,

Watch out, don´t forget, who she is

1. Chapter: The Shadow Town

They celebrated the Forrest as sacred. He surrounded the Little Town with all its cornfields, silent waters, the laughing children and its deadly secrets.

Not too long ago, there had been Forrest Ghosts living in the Trees, that grew and spread for miles around the settlement. They had kept the outside world away from them as much as they kept something in.

But, for some reason, the townspeople never asked why things were the way they were, and they were happy, perhaps one of the happiest people on that Planet.

There was something peaceful in the way the wind chased the clouds in their fields of golds, far away from the world, and their little Bliss would probably have gone on forever.

Until then, one day, the Ghosts disappeared, leaving only Silence behind. The Villagers didn´t speak of it, but the wind had switched directions, following a new, unknown path. Change was in the Air, and the Villagers certainly didn´t like change. The Silence wasn´t peaceful anymore, and had they not entered the Forrest before out of deeply held respect, they now stayed away from it out of waging Fear, spreading in their Hearts like Fire.

There was one heart, though, that wasn´t filled with fear. Jamie didn´t believe in scary Stories. And today, she was going to prove there was nothing behind this Story, either.

A light wind blew her hair out of her face when she reached for one of the trees at the edge of the Forrest. For a second there, she almost thought she heard a strange sound from inside the Woods, and then scolded herself. Once her fingers touched the dark and hard bark, a feeling of familiarity calmed her heart. The Forrest had always protected her.

She thought of her father, how cheerfully he had carried her on his shoulders, how he had pointed at all the different Plants and sporadically educated her about their healing and nourishing powers.

Her head hurt slightly at the memory and Jamie inhaled a gasp of air. She stepped deeper into the Forrest. It was silent, she hadn´t heard the birds singing in here for Days, neither had she seen any other animals, not even deer in the early moments of the days, who used to visit the Grassland surrounding the Settlements.

After a few steps into the forest she heard something again. It sounded like heavy breathing, as tough the lightless Green surrounding her was an organic Being.

A cold wave went down her spine. She tried to calm herself, reminding herself of how silly the Stories the Villagers had spread sounded to a reasonable mind, and even chuckled a little.

Then, suddenly, she heard it again.

And again.

She crouched down, not making a sound, starring at the Soil in front of her. She didn´t move for a few seconds, listening to the now very present breathing and groaning.

Jamie bit her lip and then squatted towards the sound, coming from a few bushes surrounding a tree. She inhaled air until she felt her chest inflating, then stood up and stepped around the shrubbery.

There was a boy on the ground, maybe a few years older than her. She slowly observed the wounded stranger and decided he was no danger. Then she got closer to him.

Jamie stared at him, and he stared right back at her.

Only vaguely did she notice his blue shining hair, his Eyebrows that were raised high in sheer surprise or the Blood on his hips. Because she couldn´t look away from his eyes.

Those light, Gray Eyes that she thought she had seen before.