• size=10]The woods were dark, even for a day like this. The trees were thin and easy see behind. But even with that, there would always be that random bush somewhere, and it would catch you if you don't pay attention to the ground. The ground was mostly dirt and fallen leaves. But it wasn't to the point were the leaves were crunching with every step. A boy walked passed a tree. He had short orange hair, and wore a blue shirt along dark blue shorts; they had a grass stain or two. He walked looked , avoiding one of the tricky bushes. He had his school bag wrapped around his side. He opened the flap then took out a bottle of water. He looked around again, searching around for anything threats. There were a lot of things that could kill you inside of the woods. Making sure he wasn't about to end up as bear food, he continue walking after a few steps, then stopping next to a tree. He wished that there were more randomly placed stumps or rocks to sit on. He sat down under the tree. Tired from the small hike uphill, his feet felt a little sore.

    "Alex, better like this!"

    He had gotten back up. He wanted to go back to the orphanage. But that wasn't what he had planed to do. He had to keep his promises. He continued to walk though the woods. After a few minutes the leaves, and dirt had started to change into grass. The more he walked. The more grass showed up. He smiled. He had been about to get what he came for. He started to jog a little. Then had his foot caught in a bush. He glared at it.

    "Really?" He groaned. "I look away for one minute and this is how the woods treat me!?"

    He slowed his pace again. In front of him the trees were bunched up. It looked like they formed a wall of green and bark. He couldn't get past it. Even though he was a little on the thin side. He looked at it again. The wall went far down. He could sneak a peak though some of the trees. There were more trees. He sighed. He was hoping to hold this off as long a possible but now he couldn't hold it off anymore. He looked up the tree. The first branch was a few meters high. But it would lead to some more. The boy moved back from the tree then started to get a running start. He then jumped before he ran into the tree, then he placed one foot on the tree, and pushed up with it. He grabbed it the branch then gasped. He pulled himself up. He didn't enjoy the first part. But that was the hardest part. He looked at his hands. They had some splinters in them but he couldn't keep on doing this. 'Without gloves that is!' He opened the flap again then pulled out some weight training gloves. Looking up, he could see the next branch. It wasn't as high up. He grabbed it them swigged to the next tree in front of him. He grabbed a branch with two hands. He moved through the trees. Then was able to reach what he came for.



    Looking from a top of a tree was better then it sounded. When your looking down. What people don't ever realized while thinking about it, is 'How am I going to get down.' Most of the time it's easy. There's an easy few branches that were luckily placed semi-perfect to be able to climb back down. But this wasn't some sort of fairy tale were everyone smiles and it's always sunny. Right now was a perfect example of it. The boy was stuck on top of a tree sitting on a branch. While looking under him trying to get to the next branch. Only that the next branch was 10 meter under him. He would surely break it if he landed on it. He started to hear the worst sound you can hear when your 60 feet above the ground. 'CRACK' It wasn't strong so he still have a minute or two, at the most. If he was lucky. He quickly jumped down. Then reached his hands out. He missed the first few branches. It seemed like he was going to die. He must have been going 20 or 40 mph falling. Then the 2nd to last branch had got his grip. Wide eyed,sweating, and thinking he was about to die. The kid let go of the branch. It wouldn't have held up anyway. Nothing would if it had just stopped someone falling that fast. He fell from the last 20 feet. He rolled when he got to the ground. He had some grass over himself, but was just glad to still be alive. He smiled. 'Gotten passed that, now for the gift'. He thought. He started to walk away from the wall of trees.


    The clearing felt so much better then Ellen had described. There was a small lake with cat tail growing around it. The grass wasn't over grown. Small bushes and berry's everywhere. A dear trotted by to the go and drink some of the water. The boy looked around. Then smiled, he had found what he had looked for. There towards the middle a few meters away from the lake were a group of flowers. There were some other wild ones that were growing everywhere. But here, they were special. Lith, as they were called. Weren't found anyway else in the country. People had tried to grow, but they wouldn't even come out of the seed. Ellen had been sending Steven on these type of chores. It was this, or doing the dishes and house work, he left that for Alex. Ellen knew that Steven couldn't stand in one place focusing unless there was something that was happening soon. But he had already gotten all the seeds she needed, She wanted him to get the flowers for Alex. When he thought about it. Alexis birthday was coming up. She wanted him to pick about 13 He promised to do it after school was out. Track had finally ended. So he was in the clear with his free time now. Steven examined the bush. Making sure it was the right one again. Even though he was sure of it. He grabbed the stems of the follows He didn't really count them. There were more then 13 there. He took out a knife then cut some stems. He places them inside of the plastic bag he had. He carefully placed them inside. They had orange petals. With a blue inside, all of them had at least 2 or 3 leaves on the stems.


    He made sure none of them folded over each other. Then he wrapped the bag, the placed it back inside of his backpack. Looking around he remembered why he was sent and not anyone else. Ellen knew that he could get in and out of any place, easy. It was told that no one would be able to get inside there. There was small chance that they did get inside. But to be able to get out. You'd have to be able to slip through one of the trees again. Steven looked around. There was no way to get pass going inside of it. So he would have to get on top again. He looked around for a tree that had a tree branch close to the ground. He was able to get what one had it's first one closest to the ground. He walked over to it then sighed, he moved back then jumped up. It was about 13 feet up high, He was only barley able to grab it. It took him 8 tries to get to finally be able to pull himself up. He was tired when he had just started. Gasping for air. Sitting on the branch and gulping down water. He looked up at the sun. He'd only have 3 hours to get to the top. Then get to the next tree, then the next one then escape the woods before the predators come out. Make it a half a mile to the orphanage. Then give the flowers to Ellen. But still, getting up the first branch was always the hardest!


    As he got down from the branch then landed hard on the ground. Steven stretched a his legs a little. He couldn't stop walking, he wouldn't make out of the forest before night if he stop. At night, the predators came out to hunt. Unless he wanted to end up as wolf chow he would have to get out of here, and we fast. He started to back to through the woods. He made it back to the tree he took a stop at, and once again. He had to take a stop at it. But not because he was taking a break, but because someone was there. Leaning with her back against the tree. She was a little taller then Steven, with black long hair. She had a dark blue jacket on, with some leather jeans. Steven looked at her. Not stopping because he was tired, or because he saw her. He had stopped because he had spotted, a dagger at her side. With a weird symbol on the hilt. He shrugged. 'She might be a threat, or not. I don't have time to stop and find out.' Steven walked pasted her.

    "Not even going to say hello?"

    He looked back at her. Her voice seemed to was sounded a little soft, but very serious. He looked back then shrugged. He guessed she might have been there just for a flower. There were rare. He wouldn't be that surprised if someone knew about it. He reached to his bag. It was right next to him. He placed his hand on the flap.

    "I'm kinda in a hurry. I have more then enough, you can have a flower or whatever."

    "I didn't come for the flowers, I came for you!"


    She took out her dagger, then jumped at him. He was caught by surprised. But something inside of him had told him to move. So he jumped to the left. She had still slashed him on his right arm. It was pretty deep. He was kept his hand on the wound. He knew a little about first aid. She had lost her balance then stumbled a little. Steven took this chance, to run like hell! He looked in front of him. To make sure he was going to grabbed by one of the bushes. He was able to avoid some of them. But one or two of them still caught him. He had to pull his foot from them. Even with the bushes. He guessed he made about 500 or 600 meters from the place he got stabbed. He took this time to help the wound. 'Last time I talk to people I meet in the woods!' He ripped off a part of his shirt. He wrapped it around his arm. Making sure it was tight. Part of his body was showing now. There was a small breeze, but it didn't feel that cold. Steven had raised his body temperature by a lot. He knew that he wouldn't be safe until he reached town. He took out some water. Then finished his bottle. He sighed. 'God, and I thought track was over?!' Placing the empty water bottle Steven started to jog to the end of the woods.




    Steven was getting a little pissed. There he had passed so many big sitting rocks! He didn't noticed some of them before. Simply because there was a huge bush that had been blocking them. He had to job passed the a lot of them. He wasn't dumb, he could tell that women was at least a better runner then him. She would be able to chase him. If she had started to run a minute or two then she would have passed Steven, right now. At least that's what Steven guessed. He felt his arm. He thought that it was bleeding though.


    He had been running for some time. He didn't know if he was at the entrance or not. But was he did know. Is that he didn't have that much time left before the hunting hour started. He started increase his speed. His legs could only go so fast. He most have gone half a mile. He looked around. His legs started to hurt. He couldn't go that far now. He sighed. Then he was grabbed by another bush. He groaned then took his pocket knife and cut it. He walked stopped running and started walking. He could hear some people. They were far away, but they were in front of him. He kept on walking.

    "You almost made it. It was fun while it lasted, but now you have to die."

    Steven looked behind him. She was getting closer. He was about to get into her striking range. He moved back a little. Then felt something grab his foot. 'It was a trap. Of course it was! She's much faster then you! She might have been waiting here for half an hour!' Steven couldn't move his right foot. It was stuck in a ditch. If he tired to pull it up. It would have just gotten pulled out of socket. She smiled then thrust the dagger towards his chest. He brought up his right leg then kicked her hand to make her drop the knife.

    "What's with you!? You just go around killing people inside of the forest!"

    "No! I'm supposed to protect hu-!"

    Steven kicked her chest while she was talking. She was knocked back by the impact of the kick. He took this time to dig under the ground to break free from the trap. He ripped out the roots and dirt. The lady came screaming back at him charging. He took a handful of it then threw it into her eyes. She screamed even more now. He was tired now. He then started the walk passed the trees. He felt a sharp pain on his arm again. There was a cut on the side. The woman had thrown her dagger at him. But it wasn't made for throwing. So the best injury she could have done with it would be this. He groaned at it. It was another 20 or 30 minutes to the orphanage. He would be able to make it. It'd be a lot better now that there is a crowd. He started to walk towards the orphanage. Ellen might have been a little bit mad that he was late. But she'd be pissed that he had TWO cuts. He started to try to walk faster. That way at least he could get there faster. He walked down the streets. Some people were looking at him. But that much was normal. He did have some very rare flowers that could only be found were he went. He looked down the street. 'What was with that lady. Might have been some crazy hag in the forest.' He was a little glad, it was all over now at least. Passing another corner, he hoped that the sun would stay up a little bit longer. The animal didn't come in the city. But he was a walking target for some people. He only had a few minutes to get to the orphanage. He was walking though the town center. He went over to the water fountain to fill up his water bottle. He moved over to drink some from the fountain. It was a quiet night. He took his last gulp then began to walk away from the center. If he stayed there, there would be every chance that he would be caught by someone.




    He reached the orphanage. The front light was still on. Ren walked up the first few stairs. Then jumped up a few. He reached the top. Then opened the door. He groaned. Ellen was the first to greet him. She smiled. She had her nun outfit on, not that surprising. She had always worn it. Being the head one. She in a way. Adopted him and Alex. Even though no went though the paper work to legally do it. But none of the parents that came would try to get between them. Each time someone came over, Alex and Steven would hide. Ellen knew it. She didn't ever tell anyone about them. She didn't lie, just not tell the whole truth. He looked around to see Alex, coming in with her, apron still on. She had tight jeans, and a gray shirt that had some food stains on it. She looked over at Steven. He smiled. They were like brother and sister. Only difference was, they might have been. They both were orphans so it was possible. She had brown hair. With small traces of red in it. He had blond hair. With a few orange strands. It was something that was rare to see. Ellen had promised that she would try looking it up. Alex hugged Steven before he pushed her back,.

    "The kids, are messy. You might want to clean up after them before they finish."

    She smiled then went into the dinning room. Ellen walked over, she knew that Steven wouldn't have been pushed Alex away unless he had something he didn't want her to see. Which was true. Also he didn't want to show her it too. So he swiftly took out the bag then gave it to her. But she was used to this. It wasn't a first time that Steven had gotten hurt. She grabbed his arm. She had wondered why his shirt was ripped. Now she saw why. His arm was warped by it. She noticed there was a huge cut on that went pasted the shirt. She glared at him. He knew what was coming up. He would have to go upstairs to his room, get treated. Then get a speech about how he couldn't do a simply task. Then be forced to work with Alex for a week, doing dishes. Then have to Alex see it, and might have the whole thing start over.



    "This is the truth, I found some crazy women inside the woods and~"

    "Room! NOW!"

    "Yeah, I guessed that..."