Yelling. Crying. Bleeding. A usual Tuesday for me. My mom found me down in the woods again with my friends, and got mad that I'd fallen and hurt my knee. It really wasn't that big of a deal- all I needed was a band-aid- but she just had to start yelling about it.
“Chara, what were you thinking, going down there?” Mom scolded, watching me with stern eyes. She always had this.. look she got, whenever she was really mad. It always made me get all nervous n’ gross-feeling. “I swear, we’ve told you this so many times! Don't. go. in the woods! We don't know what's in there!"
I sniffled, and looked down at my knees, tucking them up to my chest. They were bruised and scabbed, a few of those scabs tearing at the tension of my knees bending. Nothing I wasn’t used to, though I couldn’t help but wince a little. I knew she was right- there was a lot of stuff in the woods- but still, I wish I could be in the forest forever. I liked the trees, and I liked the stream me and my friends found. We found a frog there once, actually. I've asked her if she wanted to go with me, but she always told me no, which is stupid! Why is she getting mad at the person thaat knows more about the woods than her?
I started to hear Mom's words less n' less as I thought more about the woods. Maybe I could sneak out tonight, and try to go back with proof that it isn't dangerous! Yeah, that'd just make her more mad, but I've gotten pretty good at tuning her out! What's the harm in walking around, anyway? If anything, I'm doing something good because I'm showing her it's not dangerous!
After dinner, n' after Mom put me to bed, I waited until I could hear the telltale sound of her snoring. I'd practically memorized my way out, so there's no way I could ever get caught. I even made a dummy in case Mom got up and came looking for me!
Slowly, I crept out of bed and put some of my stuffed animals in my place, throwing my blanket over them after. After that, I went to the kitchen and ran out the door after unlocking. It felt.. way too easy, but whatever. That just means it'll be super easy to get back in too!
When I got outside, though, I realized there was one biiig problem.
I couldn't see where I was going.
I hummed, nervous, and looked back at the house. I wouldn't get in trouble if I went back in, but I was already outside, so..
"Too late now." I mumbled, walking away from home.
I never liked the dark. Everything was always colder, and it's always so hard to see things. Heck- I was just going off of memory right now. I had no idea if I was going the right way. The forest is nearby, though, I'm sure, so it shouldn't take me too long to find it!
Time passed slowly, and it became more n' more obvious that I had no idea where I was going. At all. I sighed, frustrated, and looked around for any sign of anything I knew. Maybe going home wasn't that bad of an idea after all. .. That's when it hit me.
We lived close to that mountain! If I went to that, I could find my way back and to the forest!
.. Or, I could climb it, and be able to brag to my friends that I made my way up Mt. Ebbott all by myself! It quickly became obvious just what I had to do. I started to race toward Mt. Ebbott, not even thinking about how long it might take, or the fact that I didn't know how I was gonna climb the darn thing. .. It's fine, though. People always talked about how dangerous Mt. Ebbott was, so if I managed to climb that, Mom will definitely let me go into the forest, right?
Determined, I started to scale the mountain as best as I could. Sure, I cut my hand on a rock and banged my knees waaay too many times to count, but I think I was doing pretty well.
At some point, I found some spot on the mountain n' went in to rest. I would say it looked pretty neat, but.. it was just a hole in a mountain. And it was really dark. I couldn't see anything.
Exhausted, I walked around, looking for somewhere to sit down- to rest so I could actually make it all the way to the top- and tripped on a vine. I quickly put my hands under me to try and catch myself, but..
I never touched the ground.
