We weren't supposed to be out this late. We weren't supposed to go past the second lamppost. We were supposed to tell Mamma and Poppa where we were going before leaving the house. But I was never one for following the rules.
It was so cold when we stepped out onto the abandoned street. And silent, too. The street which rumbled with carriages and rang peddlers selling their wares during the daytime was now silent. It was eerie. I poked my head around the corner first, tip-toeing alongside our building. Anna kept staring down at her hands. They were shaking violently. "Maybe we should go back," she said, afraid of the lashing we'd both get if caught. I asked her if she trusted me which was always a guaranteed way to get her to do damn near anything I told her to afterwards. She shook her head.
"Good," I smiled. "Now, come along before someone sees us." She hastily made her way over to me without making a sound as I had done. I gave her a reassuring pat on her shoulder.
Before long, we were in the forest. The elders called this place "Bosque de la Muerte." The Forest of Death. When I was a young girl, they told me of the horrible creatures which lurked in the shadows, between the twisted trees and beneath the forest floor itself. But the stories didn't frighten me as they did Anna. She believed in the creatures from the old fairy tales. And truly feared them. I laughed at her ignorance.
I tried to recall some of the stories as we walked through the forest. It was truly beautiful at night; the moon bathed the trees in a hazy white light, illuminating the way for the stray leaves to dance about the cool forest floor to the music of the crickets and the owls. I felt Anna's hand squeeze mine suddenly. I turned around to see her eyes fixed on a point far off and wide with fear.
"Los diablos," she whispered. "They're watching us."
I pulled her along, deciding it was time to leave. I found it hard to enjoy the solice the forest had to offer with Anna's sniveling whines in my ear. Perhaps we'd return when she was a bit older. And more adventurous. I continued walking, assured I was going in the right direction. But the trees somehow seemed different. Yet, they were also all strangely the same. I tried not to show my fear to Anna. She ought not to see her elder sister like this. But I could feel my heart pound against my chest and my breaths become shorter with each step.
"We're going to die here, Sophia." Anna said after we traveled in circles for what seemed like hours.
"Don't be foolish. The sun will rise in a few hours and we will simply use that to guide us home." I said evenly.
She shook her head. "How will we see the sun through all the trees?" My eyes followed hers to the tops of the trees.
As we stared at what was a starry night sky, the forest began to shift and move. The top branches of the trees grew closer and closer together until a thick, opaque canopy was formed over our heads. I rubbed my eyes several times, knowing I was hallucinating. But Anna looked on, too, as if she knew this sort of thing could happen. Soon, we were enveloped in the darkness. No moonlight. No stars. No hope for the sun.
"We're going to die here, Sophia." She said once again, her voice not full of fear but assurance.
