Jenny woke up in a panicked sweat. Her top and jeans were drenched and her breathing heavy. She began to weep, breaking down in a frantic crying. She didn’t feel safe anymore. That dream, the horrible dream. All she could remember was that hideous image of her mother in the front of that car. It felt so real. The wind rushed through the tree’s sweeping the leaves in its force. Jenny felt the cold damp soil drench the bottom of her leg, but she didn’t care anymore, she didn’t care about the dirt, her whole life was falling apart. She refused to see any bright side; all she did was sit and think. She thought of the accident, how that one wretched animal that ran in front of that car had ruined her whole life. Her mind slipping into a form of melancholy madness, numbed down, made a wreck that the only thing she could do was think.

How she wished it had never happened, she would do anything just to get those years back that had been forced away from her; just to see her sisters face again, feel her mothers arms wrapped around her, what ever she could of done, she would. At the base of the tree several leaves lay scattered around. It was the beginning of autumn so the ground was coloured with bright oranges, yellows and deep browns. The wind moved them like a river’s current; weaving through the trees trunks as does still waters do the reeds. Jenny lifted her head; she watched the leaves as they danced across the ground. They twirled and frolicked in the wind, making a path like a stage. Jenny sat and watched them until they settled. As she watched, one leaf twirled its way down from the treetops, and rested on a stone ledge. But it was not the leaf that Jenny’s eyes now focused on.

The mist lingered up ahead. The blurred tree bases seemed to shift in the haziness, but black shadows of the forest could still be seen. There, past the tall shadows of the trees and the small ones of rocks, were two irregular shapes. They weren’t from the forest; they were different from the other misty images somehow, the difference being ...they were moving.

The two shapes moved ever so slowly closer to Jenny. They moved with no sense of agility, they staggered with jerks and little progress was made the while Jenny was sat there. But the figures got closer; certain parts could now be seen. An arm flailed quickly into the light, only to move back out of it as quickly as it had came. Jenny stared into the mist, her mind whirring and she squinted her eyes to try and focus on the now confirmed shapes of people, two people coming towards her through the trees. Jenny’s hopes began to rise; at least she wasn’t lost now. Some one had found her…even though these people seemed to walk, very oddly to say the least.

With her new sudden burst of hope emerging in the depths of her heart, Jenny’s energy built itself up. The sun began to shine through the treetops as the sun came out from behind the clouds. Moving onto her knees, she shifted her weight to her legs and stood up. Feeling the warmth of the sunshine on her face, she looked towards the people at the far end of the forest. Her energy levels rose and rose as she began to take her first step towards the people.

Moving closer, Jenny realised she recognised the figures, as more details came into view. She stared as she walked slowly closer, she couldn’t believe her eyes…it was… her mother. But it couldn’t be…could it? It looked so much like her; she looked so real, but better than real. And as Jenny moved closer it almost seemed as if the figure of her mother was glowing in the trees ahead.

Jenny continued to walk closer, keeping her eyes on the figure. The other one beside it was shorter and thinner. This one was also recognisable.

Jenny watched as the two figures stopped about six feet away. Even through the horror that was stuck on her mothers face, there was a sense of welcoming. Her mother seemed to be welcoming her to come towards her decaying body. And Jenny found herself wanting to move forwards and obey. But there seemed to be a force of some kind. Jenny’s feeling of want to be by her mothers’ side re-emerged stronger than ever. With this sudden sense of welcoming and want, Jenny suddenly knelt down on the floor. She picked up a small, sharp pebble that lay by her foot. Bringing the smooth black stone to her wrist, she took in a short, sharp breath as she pierced the skin making a deep cut. Blood rushed out forming a puddle of dark red liquid settling on the leaves scattered on the forest floor. As the young girl lost a vast amount of blood, she slipped into a coma and visualised what she had wished to see for most of her life.

They say one should never go into the cursed forests of Smallwood…they still speak of the story of the poor girl who journeyed to those wood just to fall into misery’s dark claws and kill herself.

Yet some will still go, the brave, the ones who hadn’t heard the stories... or the just plain stupid. All of these people run out of those woods screaming after what they’d seen. The sight of a young girl, her sister and mother drenched in blood and walking the earth as corpses; Jenny finally found happiness as she walked into the sunset. Death had haunted her ever since the crash…and now, death had won over another victim.