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The steady crunch of autumn leaves underneath his feet, reminded Rick that this would be his last chance of the year to explore the forest. Rick was 17 and dressed in a lightweight jacket, blue jeans, and tennis shoes. Cold weather was not far away. He would not venture this deep into the woods during winter. After that, he would have to worry about college. Life from this point on would be quite hectic for him.
The leaves seems magical as they blended together in a brilliant display of red, orange, yellow, gold, and brown. It almost made him forget about his problems. It did make him forget about something else. The sun was starting to set and he was still a considerable distance from home. He was also getting hungry. At first he put thoughts of food aside as he tried to find his way back. Then he realized thoughts of food was the only thing keeping his mind off of more serious problems. The leaves had lost their magic. All he wanted to do was get home.
He tried concentrating on the things around him instead of his hunger. A spider had built a web nearby which glowed dimly in the fading sunlight. A squirel moved towards him, looked at him for a few seconds, and then scamppered off again. Nocturnal birds and insects had come out and immediately made their presence known. Dispite his efforts, thought of food kept returning to his mind. Even this was overshadowed by another thought. One he did not want to admit to himself. He had to get home.
A chill crept though his body as the wind picked up scattering leaves all around him. A sudden gust of wind caught him off guard. He was temporarily blinded by a leaf that hit him in the eye. Shielding his eyes, Rick made his way forward one step at a time. Looking down, he saw what appeared to be a path. It was not the path he wanted but he felt any path was better than none. Gradually the wind died down until he could once again see clearly.
It was strange that the path was absent of the leaves that covered the rest of the forest, but he did not have time to investigate such things. The sun was halfway below the horizon and soon it would be dark. When he heard running water in the distance, a new excitement came over him. He could follow the river downstream and back to civilization. Even his hunger subsided. As he followed the river downstream, the wind once again started blowing. It was as if the wind was guiding him somewhere. He laughed at the idea. His laughter ceased when he turned in the direction the wind was blowing.
He saw an old house in a place he thought no homes had ever existed. It appeared to be a one room log cabin, at least as far as he could tell. The ceiling and top part of the walls was completely missing. Charred pieces of the walls, broken funiture, and a partially rotted floor was left of the structure. Even from a distance it was clear it had been destroyed by a fire of some sort. Curiousity got the best of him and he walked over to the house for a closer look. The house had only one room. Pieces of a bed frame could be seen in one corner. The opposite corner had a stove where the fire probably originated. Ironically, it was in better shape than anything else in the house. Another corner contained what appeared to be a table and two chairs. The final had a book cover. Its title and pages were charred beyond recognition.
Although the remains appeared to be over 100 years old, he could still smell the smoke as if it happened only recently. He wondered if he had misjudged the age of the house.
Without warning, a glowing light source entered through the door. Gradually the light source began to take the shape of a human being. The once white light had a distinict greenish color to it. Rick trembled as he realized what he was seeing. It was a woman! She appeared middle aged with black hair and a full length green dress. She continued with her daily routine as if nothing unusual was going on. The sun had just set and it was time for her to cook dinner. Rick was standing next to the house in plain sight, but the woman did not seem to notice him. The strangest thing of all was hecould see right through her.
Gasping with horror, he realized he had seen a ghost. He screamed. The woman continued as if nothing had happened. Not daring to look back, he followed the river downstream and did not stop running until he was out of the woods entirely. Mild curiousity had swallowed by his fear. He would not be coming back to the woods for quite some time.
Copyright 2007, Steve Lucky
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