As the smell left with the wind so was Mira. She was nowhere to be seen just like the monster chasing them a while ago. Leaving no footprints, noise, and no sight of her, she was gone with the wind. 

Nothing was left but some blood and a head that stained the white snow with its innocent color sparkling with the moonlight. 

It was the head of a female deer on top of the cold snow. The crimson blood from the deer tinted the white snow making it glow in the creepy forest. The deer's head was cut off with such precision it wasn't even humanly possible even with the weapons that the village had. The deer's antlers looked like they were crushed in half like dried twigs. 

It seemed like it was being held in one place by the horns and sliced with little to no effort by the neck. Betsy deduced that no weapon or human could do this by themselves, but a beast or monster. Betsy caressed the deer's head with sympathy and pity. She then picked it up to examine it. A small note fell off the deer's mouth. The note was stained with blood from the deer and a handwritten letter with less than ten words yet it spoke volumes.

The deer seemed to symbolize something, but Betsy didn't have time to think of trivial things. Without hesitation, she grabbed the severed deer's head by its horn and snatched the letter from its mouth. She dropped it on the snowy floor and opened the letter with frantic hands.

She wiped the snow off the paper that covered up the messy writings. Which said 'A life for a life.' 

Betsy crumbled the edge of the paper in anxiety, they knew she wasn't going to sacrifice her own life for a stranger. She sprinted her way out of the forest attentive to her surroundings. She started looking for Kaleb and found him in a blink of an eye. Kaleb was with another boy playing cards outside while drinking hot cocoa in the freezing snow. Kaleb notices Betsy from a distance and stands up abruptly spilling the steaming hot chocolate onto the snow. 

"What are you doing here?!" Kaleb shouted demanding an answer as soon as possible.

"Your friend has been kidnapped by my family," Betsy said with a worried expression on her face. 

"She has to be lying!" The boy shouted standing up from his seat as well. “That’s impossible.”

His name was Royse Fortuna, Mira's brother. Royse saw his sister as a brilliant girl for her age; she was smarter than any adult he met in his life. Royse couldn't believe his older sister had let herself get careless enough to get kidnapped. He knew Mira was a cautious person not letting anything take her by surprise, so hearing Betsy's news sounded like lies to him. Royse then picked up the snow from the ground and began making snowballs. He then threw them aiming for Betsy's face. 

Kaleb then pointed at Betsy with his index finger pointing her out.

"You're a danger to this village. Even if you could help us from these monsters and storms you've proven to me that you have no interest in helping us out, but only yourself." Kaleb argued with a firm voice. "Why was Mira even with you in the first place?"

"She wanted to make a deal," Betsy responded to Kaleb's allegations.

"Do you not see the problem here?" Kaleb asked while dropping his hand dramatically. "Either you're telling the truth and helping us recover her, but in the end, you might betray us and get whatever you want out of the deal by force. Or you're lying to us and want to get rid of both of us just like you did to Mira." 

Betsy was dumbfounded by Kaleb's logic, there was a reason why he wasn't the brains in the group. Betsy was getting frustrated by Kaleb's explanation, but at the same time, she understood why he didn't trust her. They were afraid of her. Mira was brave enough to confront Betsy face to face and then she suddenly disappeared, because of her. So trusting Betsy was deniable since she was a monster just like her family after all. 

"How about you get out of here," Royse demanded with a menacing tone.

Betsy was frightened by both of the little boys’ attitudes and tones against her. She thought it would be best to leave them alone and rescue Mira herself. She was just about to turn around and leave until she was taken by surprise. Bailey suddenly appeared out of nowhere with a large cane and slammed it on top of Royse's head. It seemed like Bailey was eavesdropping for a while. 

"You kids and your silly imaginations," Bailey said with an angry tone. "How about you start to be friendly for once in your life and play with the lonely girl? Bullying is never the answer you know."

"Fine, fine." Kaleb interrupted Bailey before she got into one of her deep lectures. "We were just about to leave anyway."

"How dare you interrupt me while I'm speaking! you have no respect for your elders… no you have no respect for anyone." Bailey continued. "How about you go and play with my employee for a while and she better be back before nightfall you understand? 

"Employee?" Betsy asked 

"What am I paying you for?" Bailey asked in an annoyed tone. "Now go run along your scaring my customers."

"We were here first," Kaleb mumbled to himself

"What did you just say, little boy, come closer so I can hear you better with my cane." Bailey snapped raising her cane so she could hit him when he came up close.

"That doesn't even make sense," Royse mumbled, hoping Bailey didn’t hear him.

Bailey smacked her cane into Royse's forehead. “I heard you now, didn’t I?”

Kaleb ran away first so he wouldn't be Bailey's next victim, then Betsy who followed Kaleb's lead, and finally Royse followed close behind Betsy while tumbling down into the snow after Bailey threw her stick on the back of his head. He grabbed a handful of snow while falling. They finally got away from Bailey's raging grasp and now the boys were trying to get rid of Betsy. The two boys were walking side by side while Betsy hung around, behind them. Both of the boys made eye contact and nodded simultaneously. 

The next thing Betsy knew they ran in opposite directions, Kaleb went to the right and Royse to the left. Betsy didn't even hesitate to run after Royse. She was keeping a short distance between the both of them, but she wasn't even trying to catch up to Royse. Betsy followed Royse because he was unarmed and he seemed a bit confused when Kaleb ran. While she didn't have the slightest clue if Kaleb currently had his gun on him. She wasn't trying to catch up to Royse, instead, she was trying to tire him out while chasing him.

The chase between Betsy and Royse was disastrous turning, jumping, dodging, and bumping into and over people. 

Royse knew the village from the back of his hand while Kaleb knew everyone and everything like he had created the village himself. Royse tries to lose Betsy in the shopping center where everyone is outside shopping and trading their goods. He jumps into the crowd hoping to get Betsy off his tail, his plan of course doesn't work with her extreme sense of smell. He weaves and dodges across the crowded people, but he still can see Betsy right behind him. He then runs over to the farmer section where they keep wild boar, sheep, chicken, and fur. 

A weak wooden crate filled with chickens catches his eye and so does a pen filled with sheep. He kicks the wooden crate with the chickens causing it to break and releasing the chicken onto the snowy road. Many bystanders notice the chickens running around and so do thieves. Royse also opens the pen for the sheep and releases them while everyone is distracted by the chickens on the road. Right between the pen that contained the sheep and the crate 

was Betsy, she is now the main culprit of both scenes. 

Royse had lured Betsy into a trap and framed her for freeing animals into the marketplace which can potentially be stolen. The owners of the animals noticed the chaos that had ensued in his small market. His chickens and sheep were running away aimlessly in fear. The farmer's face turned red and his bushy eyebrows furrowed into his eyes. With a sharp tone, he pointed his finger out to Betsy who was unfortunately the closest to his animals due to tailing Royse who framed her. 

"You little girl what do you think you're doing?" The farmer pointed at Betsy, making her stand out in front of everyone, which made Betsy anxious. "Go get my animals back before I call your parents out here." 

Without a word Betsy straight away went to catch the chicken which was harder than expected. Each time she snuck up on one, it would just escape from right under her, so she gave up and moved on to the sheep. The sheep were moving slowly and had very calm mannerisms, unlike the chickens. She went over to pick one up and it weighed a ton. Its fluffy fur made it hard to see but she was still able to pick up all of them and put them where they belonged.  

She had finally caught all the sheep, but at this point, she was worn out because of their weight. She was too tired to catch the chickens so she dropped to the floor exhausted and hungry. The man called Betsy over. She was resting on the floor when the farmer gestured for her to come over for a hot drink. 

"You don't have to catch my chickens anymore. I already handled it and put em on my sled over dere." The man continued while handing Betsy a hot drink. "These drinks are extremely rare so don't make em go to waste. People would kill to have Repeating Forest merchandise." 

"Repeating Forest merchandise?" Betsy asked.

"Ah, you don't know what that is?" The man asked with a surprised look on his face. "In the Repeating Forest, there are dead bodies scattered everywhere. Those bodies have weapons, food, and accessories we have never seen or made before. Only specific types of people can go through the Repeating Forest and they're rare these days because of a monster that lurks there."

"Are those dead bodies from somebody you know, by any chance? Like are they from the village?" Betsy continued to question the man.

"No. Nobody knows the bodies that suddenly appear in the forest." The man pauses to take a sip of his drink, hesitating to keep talking. "I know a guy who can go to the forest and back, but if the villagers knew about this they would send him over there every day and plausibly he can be sent to die. He’s a bit slow with his delivery so I just can't fathom what he goes through in dere, he’s so traumatized that he doesn’t even speak. He just stares off to the distance as if witnessing terror"

"Who is it?" Betsy asked with curious eyes gleaming.

"Now I'm not telling you all this just for fun." The man added with a smile spreading across his face. "You aren't a normal little girl, aren't ya? I have never seen someone who can pick up all my sheep and they weigh tons. Plus the way you sneaked up on my chickens almost catching em. They are fighting chickens. I train them to fight in."

"What is your point?" Betsy interrupted while reaching for her drink before it got cold. 

"Work on my farm and I'll tell ya everything ya need to know and ya will be paid handsomely." The man smiled brightly as he gave her a deal.

"I don't even know your name," Betsy said with a suspicious look on her face. 

"My name is Ryan Hollow!" The man stood up from his seat excited to at last have a worthy partner for his business. He gave a different vibe from when he first met Betsy. "What's your name, young lady?"

"Betsy" she answered him

"Betsy what?" Ryan asked

"Betsy Gas- Gallico" she answered him once again with hesitation.

"Well Mrs. Gallico, let's meet at the same spot tomorrow and I'll answer all your questions. I have some business to attend to now see ya." Ryan said with a smile and started to pack his store.

Betsy finally sipped the steamy drink. Her face turned bitter, disgusted as she spat the drink out into the snow. It looked like chocolate which she had expected, but it was bitter, you could also tell it had a bit of sugar in it. Betsy gave back her drink to Ryan who was busy organizing his sheep. 

"Ahaha I forgot some people aren't too fond of this merchandise. It's called 'Coffee' I believe. You'll have to get used to the taste, it helps me stay up on long nights. Anyways see ya later." Ryan said while finishing Betsy’s drink, and finally leaving in a hurry.

After getting distracted for a while she found Kaleb and Royse again.

“Ugh, what do want?”

"I'll go find Mira myself and rescue her without you guys," Betsy said unbothered. "And if she dies, blood will be on your hands."