#001: Beginnings (The Forest: I)

     Most people think, when they hear the word, of New Years, of Septembers, of projects. I think of an old wall in a forest, slowly crumbling through time as if it had been there always. Looking back, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that it had. 
     When I found it, I was walking through the woods, along familiar paths. My house was close by, and the forest was a favorite spot reflect or just get away from the rest of the world. Impulsively, I turned away from the path and ventured into the forest. I did this sometimes, when i had a particularly stressful day, or if I needed more time. It would, so I would think, calm me more to be more in nature.      In reality, it just caused more stress, as I would eventually get lost and worry that I was never going to get out; not good after a long day. Still, the next time I would think the same thing, and it would lead to the same result. Maybe I'm just not good at learning from my mistakes. 
~~
     Samantha looked up from her journal, the pen hovering over the next space. She never finished writing an entry in her journal, instead she decided she would "come back to it later" and put it aside. She didn't like endings. Slowly, dejectedly, she got up from her spot against the wall and began to make her way back home, knowing another time in the forest was ending.
     She made it back to her house, avoiding her neighbors looks on the street. She knew why they were looking at her strangely; she had come from the forest. The town believed that the forest was haunted. People didn't mention the forest in public, and going in was out of the question. Samantha hadn't known this when she had moved to the small town of Montrey. She had taken a short walk, and become the outcast of the town. She just accepted it and realized that she would never be disturbed in the forest.
     In fact, the cause of most of the stressful days that led her to the forest was the people trying to keep her away from it.
     It would always start the same way, with hatred from the other person, and it would always end the same way, with Samantha being too angry to do anything. She had never seen anything in the forest, and it frustrated her that no one else would even budge on their view. The closest thing she had to a friend in the town was her boss, and that was only because she would leave if he brought it up. She worked at the library in town, and it was obvious to everyone that the building would probably be in rubble if she left. For this reason, and this reason alone, they tolerated her.
     Samantha had considered leaving the town many times, but something always held her back. Part of it was spite for the people of the town, but part was simply the forest. If she left, who knows if she could find another place like it. A place all to herself.
    There was no way she was leaving.