#newforest

Part 1: New Forest

When she awoke, she found that she was resting on a soft springy surface. Small spines poked her as she rolled off of her back and sat up. Evergreen needles. She ran her fingers through them and looked up at the trees around her “where am I?” she whispered.

This place felt whispery, with no usual forest noises: no animals scurrying about, no wind in the trees. Everything stood very still. She slowly got to her feet “oww.” She rubbed her arms; they felt slightly bruised; actually, her whole body was sore. “Did I fall?” She looked around and laughed softly “Oh, they’re tiny?” she smiled up at the trees. They were in fact very small trees. None stood any taller than 7 feet and most were between 4 and 6. When she stood up, she could see right over the top of the tree in front of her.

she yawned and tried to think back to how she had gotten here. It was quite odd, and why were there so many sapling trees all in one place? She couldn’t really remember anything. “I hope I didn’t hit my head… do I normally talk to myself this much I wonder?” She smiled again.

This place was odd, but it had some sort of pleasant feeling to it. The temperature wasn’t too warm or too cold. The air felt brisk, like a fall or spring morning. She still wasn’t sure exactly which season it was. A lot was missing from her memory actually. “Perhaps I’ve got a concussion” for some reason she found this funny “yeah, probably…” she rubbed her head, but it didn’t hurt at all.

She soon forgot about the possibility of concussion as she began walking through the trees. The needles were soft and springy under her feet and the air smelled sweet from the evergreen sap. It was sunny but not oppressively so, she felt happy. She hummed a wordless tune as she walked through the New Forest. She realized that’s what she was calling the place in her head: New Forest. It was a funny name for the little woods, a bit whimsical and absurd, she thought, but fitting. After all she was new to the woods and the tiny trees seemed rather new and young as well.

Her stomach grumbled and she vaguely remembered reading somewhere that one could eat pine needles; She wasn’t sure that the trees were pine, but they seemed close enough. She picked a green bunch of needles from one of the little green trees and tasted them. They were slightly sweet and fresh tasting, they reminded her of the snow with maple syrup she had tried as a child.

She remembered how she had eaten the whole bowl of sweetened ice powder, and how she had asked Mom for more. The thought made her stop walking. Mom. Was Mom supposed to be with her? Why was she by herself? Perhaps it was fine. She wasn’t a child anymore but still; she felt certain she didn’t normally walk in forests alone. She was usually with a friends or something, wasn’t she? She glanced around, but the woods remained empty of all non-vegetative life. She started walking again, speeding up to a brisk trot. She almost tripped over a protruding evergreen root and found herself at the bank of a small brook.

She wasn’t sure how far or how long she had walked, but her body suddenly felt very tired. She took a seat on a boulder at the edge of the water and sighed “where am I?” The shock finally seemed to be wearing off and for the first time that morning, she was scared.

Part 2: Westward

She yawned and rubbed her eyes; she had fallen asleep slumped forward on the boulder. It was now midday and the sun was a bit hotter. The situation seemed brighter after her nap. She stretched and stood up. Then looked down into the brook.

“Oh…” she giggled as she finally spotted the first sign of other creatures in the wood. In the water, small silver fish were darting back and forth and nibbling on the algae on the little pebbles along the creek bed. At least she wasn’t totally alone.

She could survive here in the New Forest. There didn’t seem to be any larger animals to be scared of, and she could eat from the pines, drink brook water, and perhaps catch some fish. For a moment she wanted to stay there on the edge of the brook, just living like that for a while and waiting to be found. But she shook off the thought; she couldn’t have been out completely alone. She didn’t like not knowing how she had gotten where she was, and who she was missing.

She looked up at the golden sun and noticed it seemed to be moving slightly to her right. Ok, so she was facing south. The place she had originally woken up in the New forest was roughly north of the brook. She decided to follow the sun and head west. She had a rough idea that maybe the daylight would last longer if she headed toward the sunset.

She walked for several hours. At first she moved quickly, but eventually she slowed to a steady plodding pace. She took several breaks, sitting under trees or at new brooks and snacking on more fresh evergreen needles. She still liked the flavor, but the thin green spines weren’t very filling. She kept walking.

All at once the New Forest ended and she was among mature trees. They seemed to be of the same or a similar species to the earlier saplings, but they were much taller. She studied the rough pillared trunks, noting how she couldn't reach even the lowest branches. She thought about turning back as her stomach grumbled but she decided to keep going “You can do this…” she looked around to find the speaker, but it was only herself. After walking a bit further she found some mushrooms and picked them. She stored them in her pockets but decided she wouldn’t try them unless she was absolutely starving. She had known evergreen needles were edible; she wasn’t near as sure about strange mushrooms.

Good morning, folks. Here's a rare landscape for you: burned gorse with ferns. Autumn in the New Forest.

Houses and Bricks Brokenhurst, New Forest UK