(Into) The Woods

Chapter 5

Large trees loomed overhead and Cricket folded her hands together, looking around. She was in a dark, shady forest, and she heard a snap somewhere behind her. Cricket turned to look behind her, but there was nothing there. A chill ran down her spine and she turned again, just in time to see a shadow disappear behind a tree. Cricket backed up and then bumped into something. Heart racing, she turned only to see a tree. She stared at it for a few moments, to reassure her that it was only a tree. She was alone, there was nothing to be worried about.

And then she heard a sharp chuckle behind her. "Hello, Cricket. I've been waiting to meet you."

Cricket's eyes shot open and she sat up, gasping for air. She was in her room; it had only been a dream. Her head throbbed, however, and she was still half asleep. She shook her head and lifted a hand, resting it on her temple. With a sigh, she slid off of her bed and got ready for the day.

Luckily, she didn't have to do anything today. Cricket was hoping to visit the library she'd heard about from her parents. She had decided to wear a bright blue hoodie with dark exercise pants. Cricket didn't feel like telling anybody she was leaving, so she just unplugged her phone from the charger, slipped it into her pocket, grabbed her airpods and left the house.

It was still pretty dark out and Cricket frowned, pulling out her phone. It was 5:30, which was strange. Cricket usually wasn't a morning person and almost never woke up early. With a sigh and a shrug, she continued along her merry way. She put in her airpods and looked for some music to listen to. She decided to try a new kind of music today, and found herself putting on a weirdcore playlist.

She barely knew anything about the genre and had only heard of a few descriptions of it; strange in a way that made the describing person nostalgic. It was just making her uneasy, if she was completely honest. Still, she didn't feel like turning it off so she kept walking towards the library. She could change the playlist when she got there and picked out a book to read.

When she finally got there, she realized that it wasn't open. "That sucks." She sighed, looking around. It was only a six minute walk from her house, so it was still pretty dark. Cricket's dream had also put her on edge, so she decided to sit right beside the door of the library and stare down at her hands. The music was starting to make her panic, so she fumbled with her phone, changing the music to something more calming. It didn't do much to help her, however.

Cricket heard footsteps and froze, looking up. There was a girl walking towards the woods right behind some of the houses. She had long, blond hair and bright blue eyes and she was pretty tall. Cricket didn't think anything of it, tipping her head back down towards her phone. She then thought about how she'd stormed out of the house immediately after getting out of bed, and hadn't looked at herself once.

If she was going to get a fresh start, then she needed to make sure that she didn't look a mess. After all, she was trying not to get picked on. With a sigh, Cricket opened her camera app and stared at herself.

Long, dusty brown hair outlined her bright green eyes, and luckily, she didn't look as much of a mess as she'd feared. Cricket sighed and turned off her phone, slipping it back into her pocket and closing her eyes as she tipped her head back against the wall. She wasn't necessarily tired, but it was pretty early and she didn't want to crash later on.

Cricket was the kind of person who absolutely had to get at least eight hours of sleep or else she wouldn't be able to reason properly. She was the kind of person who could get twelve hours of sleep and go back for twelve more. She recalled having to wake up early to accompany her mother to her meeting, since her father had been out on a business trip. She'd only gotten four hours of sleep and hadn't been fully awake for the day. She'd pretty much crashed by the time they got into the car again. It had been noon at the time.

Cricket's dream was already starting to fade, yet the uneasy feeling lingered. It didn't help at all when the sound of close footsteps became louder than her airpods and she heard a voice say, "Hello, killer."

Cricket jumped and looked up to see Micheal's sister standing in front of her. She didn't look angry, just a bit curious. "Waiting for the library to open?"

Michelle, as Cricket remembered her to be named, had fairly pale skin with a brown splotch across her face that Cricket found quite fascinating but never worked up the courage to ask about, not wanting to sound rude or mean. She had short black hair and warm brown eyes. Cricket opened and then closed her mouth a few times, trying to figure out what she should say, then finally settled on a wobbly, "Y-Yeah."

Michelle rose her eyebrows. "You know, when confronting my brother's murderer I was not expecting someone like you."

"Sorry." Cricket mumbled softly and the other girl facepalmed. "Don't apologize...oh my goodness. Have you seen anyone around here? Specifically a very annoying girl who is very full of herself and likes to party?"

"I saw a girl go that way." Cricket pointed in the direction that the girl had gone and Michelle frowned. "What'd she look like?"

"Uh..." Cricket thought back on it, "Tall blond with blue eyes?"

"That's the one." Michelle sighed. "She's been acting weird lately. So, you just moved here?"

"Trying to get away from the drama." Cricket sighed, and to her surprise Michelle laughed. "Same here." The other girl sat down next to her. "I'm curious...if you don't mind, could you tell me what happened?"

Cricket winced as she thought back to what had happened. She hadn't known why the first thing she'd gone to was a brick of all things, she hadn't even thought that she would be able to throw it that far. She couldn't even throw a pillow, even one of the really small ones. The only sport she'd ever really been good at was soccer, and she rarely even played that.

She didn't even know why she'd refused, especially on that certain day to that certain people. Cricket knew that some of the bullies at the school talked more than they actually hurt anyone, but she also knew that Mike definitely wasn't one of those people. She'd been stupid and now she was a murderer.

Cricket inhaled sharply and tried to retell the story as best she could. "I was, uh...I was about to walk home when he told me to do his homework. I told him no, and...he started teasing me." Cricket's hand went up to her face for a moment as she remembered when he'd punched her. "He broke my nose."

Michelle winced and then said, "Go on."

"So I threw a brick at him." Cricket's voice became hoarse and she cleared her throat, "I thought it'd stub his toe or something."

"Oh." Michelle said softly and Cricket looked over at her. She could tell that the girl didn't really trust her, but she was happy to finally get it off her chest, whether she was believed or not.

"Why did he want you to do his homework?" Michelle asked, and Cricket shrugged. "I'm the smart kid, I have a photographic memory. Everybody wants me to help them or do their work for them, since I can't forget any of the answers. I don't forget anything, except dreams."

"Oh." Michelle repeated, and Cricket looked down at her phone. It was almost 6:00. "Hey, do you know when the library opens?"

"In a few minutes." Michelle hummed, and Cricket looked over. The sun was beginning to rise and her dream had pretty much fully faded at the moment. Cricket was ready for the day. She jumped as a woman came to view, pausing by the two girls. "Hello?"

"Hey, Ms. Becky." Michelle hummed. "We're waiting for the library to open."

"How long have you been here?" The woman, Ms. Becky, asked.

"Since five." Cricket said and Ms. Becky's eyebrows shot up. "Come inside, it's chilly out here! I can't believe you've been out here for an hour!"

The three walked into the library and Cricket gaped at how enormous it was. Every section took up at least three rows of bookshelves and Cricket's heart sang. Ms. Becky walked over to her desk. "Would any of you like some coffee?"

"Yes, please." Cricket hummed, and Michelle shook her head. "I'm short enough without it."

Ms. Becky was a nice lady and chatted with Cricket for almost an hour about different books and authors. Eventually, the librarian even pulled out some cookies that Michelle and Cricket shared. Cricket then broke off from Ms. Becky and Michelle to go look for a book to read.

Hopefully, today would be a good day.