East, to the Forest

"Nothing ventured, nothing gained." Mia thought to herself, taking a deep breath as she steeled herself to enter the dark forest. It was not at all like the woods she often walked through at home, the trees looked gnarled, and she swore some of them seemed to have horrible faces. It was very quiet, aside from bugs chirping and the occasional sound of a broken branch. Mia felt very frightened, and turned to return to the tree stump she had landed on.

To her shock, the way she had came from was gone. In its place was an impenetrable wall of thorns. Mia had **** but to turn around and continue through the forest. She tried humming a tune, but that only made her more aware of how creepy the place was.

Out of nowhere, she was tackled to the ground. She looked up and saw something she thought she would never see.