Chương 1: Cookie
A loud thump reverberated throughout the house and, immediately following, panicked bangs slammed onto the door.
"Emile!" A woman's voice rang from beyond the door, "Cookie just ran out the back door! Help me catch her!"
Emile sighed as he put his pencil down. He grabbed a sweatshirt and began walking downstairs. This was the third time this week their new cat, Cookie, escaped through the back door.
"Why don't we just let her go?" Emile asked his sister while coming down the stairs, "She clearly doesn't wanna be here."
"Would you stop it with that!" His sister snapped back. "And could you at least pick up the pace!"
Emiles sister was waiting at the back door and once Emile made it down the stairs she firmly grasped his arm and yanked him into a run.
"She's about to go into the forest!" Emiles sister yelled.
"It's about to be dark," Emile replied unenthusiastically.
Emile and his twin sister Emma had recently moved into a small two-story home on the outskirts of town. They had both been accepted to the same university and discovered that living next to the forest was cheaper than living in the university's dorms.
The two sprinted across the uncut grass that was supposedly their backyard. Meanwhile, Cookie had stopped right on the tree line of the densely populated forest and looked back at the two charging youths.
"She stopped!" Emma announced excitedly.
"For now," Emile responded.
Cookie licked her paw and combed her head then looked at the two youths, then to the forest, then back to the youths. Having made up her mind, Cookie turned towards the trees and gracefully hopped over the small brush separating the grasslands and the tree line.
"Cookie!" Emma bellowed, "Come back!"
"…" Emile sighed.
The two of them flew above the brush and stormed into the forest as the sun slowly set behind the roof of their house behind them. Between the dense forest and the receding skyline, it grew dark unnaturally fast.
"Emile, do you see her?"
"It's getting hard to see anything really."
Without knowing what to do, Emile and Emma continued to run deeper into the forest. They zig-zagged between the trees. Hopped over hollow logs and stumps, and ducked bellow overgrown branches. After a while the two were panting and almost out of breath.
"Emma—we can't keep this up. It's already too dark and getting darker by the second. Maybe she'll come back on her own. We have to turn back." Emile argued.
"Come back on her own!" Emma protested, "It's barely been a week! Cookie isn't familiar with anything and she could get hurt out here—"
"We can get hurt out here!" Emile interrupted. "I don't know if you've noticed, Emma, but we are also as good as lost! I'm going home and you better come with me!"
Emma clenched her fists and dejectedly lowered her head.
"Okay—" she said, "fine."
Emma looked towards Emile and saw him standing still in front of her.
"Emma?" Emile asked through clenched teeth.
"Yeah?"
"Which way did we come from?" Emile asked, staring blankly into the woods.
Emma froze. Then completely spun around, looking in every direction possible.
"Um—uh—" Emma patted herself down looking for her phone, "Emile, you have your phone right?"
"It's charging."
"Right! Of course! We can um—we can follow our footprints, right?" Emma pleaded as she dropped to the floor trying to perceive their tracks.
"Emma, I can't see my hand I'm holding out in front of me. If—and I mean if—we could see our footprints we'd have to crawl back to the house an inch at a time."
"Okay!" Emma yelled, "Then what are we supposed to do!"
"I'm holding my arm out. Come grab it and we'll wait until morning—"
"Until morning!" Emma panicked. "Are you crazy!"
"Emma!" Emile shouted, "We have no other choice. We'll be fine. It's not that cold tonight. The worst thing we can do is move somewhere even more unrecognizable. We're better off staying right where we are."
Emma didn't respond after that. She knew Emile was right, but staying outside in the black pitch of night in a wild forest wasn't easy to just accept. Emma found Emile's arm and took hold of it. Then Emile led both of them to a nearby tree.
Emile had remained still all this time so he could vividly place the last things he saw once the complete and utter darkness settled. The two of them sat and leaned back against the tree.
From what Emile could remember, it was a tall and wide tree. Its trunk easily large enough for the two of them to feel as though they were leaning against a flat wall. Although, the deep and rough grooves in the trunk competed with that feeling. The leaves were long and thin like needles and hung low enough to the ground that Emile had to constantly hold his arm forward while running to push them out of the way.
The ground upon which they sat was an amalgamation of dead leaves, dirt, and a type of large seed or nut similar to unfolded pine cones. For some reason, the grass didn't invade the forest and the trees didn't invade the grassland.
Hours passed in silence. Emma had long ago calmed down and fallen asleep with her head on Emile's shoulder. Emile, however, remained awake. He stayed up, unmoving, and stared into the never ending darkness. There were some moments where Emile had forgotten if his eyes were opened or closed as he couldn't tell the difference; but after blinking a few times he remained still, watching the darkness. Searching for any sign of movement within it or any rays of light his eyes could grab hold of.
And yet, nothing, and more hours passed once again until eventually Emile heard a snap or perhaps a crack? He wasn't quite sure of the specifics, but he was sure that something interrupted the deafening silence. He waited, still, and then heard it again, this time much louder.
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