Halloween MMXXI: Uncanny Woods

2021-10-31, post № 251

prose, #halloween

Treading muddied woodland grounds, a squeak did interrupt my slumber: for that I knew I was alone, amidst the grayish silhouettes ahead of me, a dim cinder I could witness. For it was only briefly lit, I felt its simmering prolonged. A frosty gust of air firmly held me grasped in place: a shuffling in the branches sent blockage swiftly my way. I dare not dream a moment shifted, was forced to alter all my venture. It had been long from when I hurried, it would be long to when I rest. Marching ment moving, a certain goal. But arrival was not certain, the path now winded and uncharted. What was it that has led me here, what did I seek, what wish to find? It could be that it was quite near, or ever further gone the more I hoped to clench it tight.
Canopies lifting everso slightly, my future forking akin to the countless branches left behind: should I continue forward, sloping down and narrowed, or should I turn and head on sideways, this path more open though it may be longer? A twig fell down, to guide me it seemed. I wedged my feeble body through the thicking foliage. Slowed down by ever denser flora, drained and worn I stopped. I stood. I listened to the world around me. I slumbered.
Close off my entrance the woodlands did. For I was drowsy, forwards slipped my mind. Where to now? — Another spark. The last remnants of hope mounting, I stepped, misstepped. Leafy branches swept over. The forest rested.