I wonder what my grandmother would think now.

Under the half-lit moon, I entered the forest with four people who were strangers to this wood. They were loud. They were disruptive. And we were all going to die.

As I stepped over the barrier of the woods, I found myself whispering, "My name is Willow Shade. Willow Shade. Willow Shade." I prayed they would recognize me as they had for the past 7 years of my life, but the creaking of the trees told me otherwise. Whether they recognized me or not, there was strangers surrounding me.

Aiden stopped in his tracks and spun to look at me. "Show me where he is," he demanded, roughly grabbing my shoulders and shoving me forward. I fell, grunting hard. As I looked around the ground, I saw silver trinkets glimmering everywhere in the snow, and I knew everyone else had, too. Don't take anything, I told myself. Not while the trees see you.

I pushed myself up and turned around to face them all. Aiden was looking at me, but everyone else had their eyes on the ground. Matt nudged Aiden, who shot him an annoyed look before following his eyes.

"Dude, look at all this shit," Jon said, reaching down to pick up something glimmering off the floor. He inspected it and then slipped it in his pocket. In that same instant, I saw the trees groaning and adjusting behind him. Blocking our path.

Sealing our fate.

I took a step back, and Aiden's attention snapped back to me. "This is why you don't like people in here," he chided, throwing his arms up and gesturing to the ground below him. "You don't want anyone else getting any of the shit."

My skin was prickling as I resumed my whispering. "My name is Willow Shade. Willow Shade. I have come here to do no harm and take nothing. I am Willow Shade, you know me."

The trees groaned and shook all around me, and I knew they didn't know me, and if they did, the thieves were more important.

"He's not here," I said louder. "We need to leave. Now."

I saw the small amount of light that had been illuminating the forest fade out, and my eyes trailed up. The trees were forming a circle around us, blocking us in. I swallowed hard, the chill leaving my body and sweat taking its place.

"What the hell?" Matt asked out loud, following my eyes. Aiden had reached down to pick up a small silver watch, which he greedily pocketed. Natalie took a gold-toothed comb from a nearby tree. Jon was on his hands and knees, pawing through the snow, grabbing everything he could.

"My name is Willow Shade. Don't let me die here," I pleaded quietly again, putting my hand against the bark of a tree. It ignored my request as they continued to push in on us.

I looked at the group around me. "The trees are upset," I pleaded, my voice small and pathetic. "Put everything you've taken down. Please."

Aiden looked at me, and as the dark grew more intense around us, he reached into his pocket for something. My heart dropped to my feet, and I knew what he was reaching for before I saw it.

"Don't—" I started to shout, but the light from his lighter immediately illuminated the area that we were now trapped in.

The trees shook, practically screaming now.

The fear that entered his eyes was an image that I knew I would never be able to forget, as I realized roots had begun to twist up his legs, trapping him to the ground below him.

I saw the last gap in the trees, and I ran.

-

My feet were hitting the snow as the forest around me adjusted and changed with every step, trying to keep me in.

"My name is Willow Shade!" I shouted, and I heard people following behind me. Three sets of feet instead of four. "I am here to get nothing and take nothing!"

I ran in any direction I could, bobbing and weaving out of the way of the dimly lit trees. The leaves about me were shaking, and I could feel the rage surrounding me.

"Willow!" A male voice shouted from behind me. Jon.

"Over here!" I shouted back, but I didn't stop moving. I kept my pace of hopping, rolling and ducking as best as I could.

I was deeper in the forest than I had ever been. Even deeper than I had been the night I found Chris.

My feet were frozen and my legs were protesting every step I took, but I didn't stop. I continued hopping, rolling, ducking-

My foot hit something hard and cold, and I let out a scream as I toppled forward into the snow in front of me. I looked back at the assailing root, which quickly retreated back into the ground. I pushed myself up, but my foot was now pounding along with my legs and my head. I felt tears threatening to spill.

And then I saw them.

Two butterflies. One white, one black, doing their dance that promised death. And with no other options, I set out to follow them.

I stumbled over my feet a few times while the screaming pain begged me to stop. I was trying hard to keep up with them, as they seemed to have a hard time navigating the forest as well. Desperation was clawing at my chest and I ran and ran, not realizing the other's footsteps had disappeared from behind me.

Whether they made it out alive or not, I didn't care, but my heart clenched. These boys seemed to have gotten tangled up in something terrible, but they had made their choices. I looked up to the sky for one instant, seeing the stars peeking through the leaves, and when I returned my gaze forward, the butterflies were gone.

I only looked away for a second.

I stopped dead in my tracks, now looking desperately to my left and right.

And then I saw it; a break in the trees.

I broke off into such a quick sprint that my legs struggled to keep up with me, but as I broke free of the tree line, I collapsed and heaved, trying to collect my breath. I looked behind me at the woods that had nearly eaten me alive as I coughed and grabbed my chest, unsure if my heart was still beating.

I had made it out of the deep forest, not on a full moon, alive.

I felt my entire body relax as sobs broke free from me. I was free. I was okay.

I examined the tree line, but so no movement. I swallowed hard as my thoughts were rapid firing in my head. Ultimately, I decided that one death was enough for tonight.

"Jon! Natalie! Matt!" I shouted, my voice reverberating off the trees and into the night. A pause of silence. Then,

"Willow!"

It was closer than I expected, and I ran to where I had heard it, careful not to re-enter the forest.

"Jon! Natalie!" I screamed once more. "Matt!"

I then heard them, barring towards me. I took a good few paces back, and confusion struck me as only two bodies broke through the forest line. Matt and Jon laid on the snow, seeming as out of breath as I had been a moment ago.

Matt pushed himself up and scrambled as far away from the trees as he could get. Jon tried to do the same, but I watched in awe as a root rose from the ground, wrapping around his ankle.

They're still upset with him. "Drop everything you have," I shouted. "Now! Get rid of it all!"

Without a moments hesitation, Jon began pulling everything out of his pockets, littering them on the surrounding ground. It wasn't enough. Too late, too late. He looked desperately back up at me as he was dragged through the snow. His hands tried to find something to hold on to, but he instead plowed through the soft snow.

"Help me!" He shouted, but I didn't move. "Help! Help me!" I stood frozen in place alongside Matt, watching as Jon disappeared back past the tree line. My heart was hammering in his chest. And next, I heard a long, far-away scream, and then silence.

I collapsed back onto the ground. "Where's Natalie?" I croaked, remembering I hadn't seen the blonde since before I had ran.

"She went back to get Aiden," Matt responded, sounding distant. "What the hell is this place?" He looked over at me, his chest heaving violently.

"It's the deep woods," I responded simply, like he had any idea what it meant. My mind was swirling with thoughts, but one made me shoot back to my feet.

"Go back to whatever hell you came from and never, ever approach me again. I'm going home. I suggest you do the same." I said, and began to run towards my house against every one of my body's protests. Dog has to be okay. He has to be.

I didn't bother turning around to check if he listened, or even moved, as I flew through the snow. My feet were throbbing; my left foot most of all. But as the dark cabin came into sight, my heart rate picked up and I felt emotions swirling in my stomach, so much it made me sick.

I threw open the door, looking over to the wall that I had last seen Dog. And there he was, curled into a ball. My heart dropped, and I slammed the door closed behind me, racing over to my best friend. "No, no, no, you have to be okay," I said as I lifted him into my arms.

He was cold.

Too cold.

I clumsily carried him to the couch and set him down, throwing logs into the fireplace and desperately hitting steel on flint. "Come on, come on," I pleaded, and I nearly sobbed with joy as the sparks landed and a flame erupted, small at first, then much larger.

I turned back to Dog. He lay motionless on the couch, and I collapsed beside him, pulling his body into mine. "Come on buddy, you have to be okay. Please be okay." Tears were now coming out of my eyes, and I buried my face into his fur. "Come on!" Sobs rocked my body as I gripped onto him, hard, every bone in me screaming. I wish the trees hadn't taken Aiden, or I would spike his head outside of my door for this. I wanted to throw up and die all at the same time as I held the only consistent thing in my life, who was now dead.

"Come on," I whispered, rocking back and forth. But I knew my sweet boy wasn't going to open his eyes again. I sniffed, burying my head between his ears and planting a kiss between his eyes like I had so many times before. "You did a good job, buddy. You did good," I whispered. "Thank you for everything."

-

The sun was beginning to set over the horizon when my daughter kicked in the front door, a smile I hadn't seen in nearly 4 months lighting her face. She held a large white bundle of fur in her arms, whose canine face was sharp and alert, but his tongue still hung out of his mouth.
"What is that?" I demanded from the kitchen, and her smile immediately faltered, making my heart drop.
"It's...Dog," she said quietly, shyly looking back up at me. I squinted from across the room.
"Bring him here," I commanded, and she did as I said, carrying him into the kitchen.
His dark eyes met mine, and I pretended to crudely examine him while he lay, floppily hanging in her arms.
"I like him," I said, then feigned giving him a sniff and made a disgusted face. "But he needs a bath, whew!" I waved my hand over my nose to emphasize the fact. Willow's face lit up, and she giggled.
"Can I keep him?" She asked excitedly. Both her and the wolf looked at me expectantly.
"Yes, but he sleeps in your room," I responded, and she cheered, jumping up and down with the wolf in her arms. "What's his name?" I asked again, my own smile impossible to hide as I returned to my cooking.
"Dog. His name is Dog and he's going to be my best friend."