The Boy From The Forest {1Px2P HongIce}

Part One

The faint scent of smoke curled through the air, stirring Leon in his sleep. Something felt wrong and set off the alarm bells in his head to wake up. His vision was blurry as he squinted sleepily, checking his alarm clock that read 3:12 AM. He angled his head to look out the window, catching a glimpse of a stay amber flicker in the trees. He hauled himself up, bones creaking slightly from sleep, and shuffled to the window. Peering out across his backyard and into the forest that was behind it.

Once his vision has cleared, he saw a small orange tinted light flickering between the trees about a few hundred metres away. It was a fire. The realisation hit Leon like a tonne of bricks. Would his house burn down? Upon further realisation, he saw that the smoke was a pale grey colour, only curled up into the night sky in a single column and there was a voice, occasionally screaming.

Someone may have been in trouble or possibly summoning Satan, who knew? The curiosity felt like panic as it crawled up Leon's back and without thinking, he grabbed his coat and crept down the stairs and outside as quickly and quietly as he could. He jumped into a pair of sandals and jogged into the forest in the direction of the voice.

Upon approaching, the scent of burnt wood became stronger, reminding Leon of how roasted marshmallows smelt. The voice became clearer, sounding more like a child's and it was singing something Leon couldn't understand. The fire came into view, it appeared to be a bonfire of some sort and a child wearing a black coat and red scarf was dancing around it, screaming with delight as it tossed more fuel onto the fire, causing bright ashes to spark up and gently float down like deadly snow.

"Ösku, ösku þeir brenna niður!" The child sang over and over again, building in hysteria at the end of the line.

"What the fuck?" Leon whispered under his breath, hiding himself behind a nearby tree. What on earth was going on? Was this a nightmare? He pinched himself just to make sure he wasn't dreaming. He definitely wasn't dreaming, the scene playing out in front of him was definitely happening. He couldn't decide what to do; go back inside or interrupt the kid, because he definitely wasn't going to stay behind the tree.

"Brenna! Brenna! Brenna!" The boy screeched, clapping his hands with delight. Leon had finally had enough of the nonsense, his curiosity had gotten the better of him and he stepped forward into the clearing, but still remaining shadowed. Even as he stepped on the crumbling leaves on the forest floor, the noise did not disturb the kid. He cleared his throat preparing himself for a brave entrance.

"What are you doing?' The sudden sound of Leon's voice scared half of the life out of the kid, causing him to scream and fall over. He quickly turned around, grabbing a burning stick from the fire and pointing it toward Leon to defend himself. "I'm not going to hurt you," Leon reassured, stepping back.

"Who are you?" The kid asked, his voice was high pitched and wobbly but there was definitely a foreign accent in there as well. His black hair was a little shaggy, like someone who definitely wasn't a hair dresser had cut it. He seemed very young to be out at night.

"I'm Leon. I saw your fire from my window," he explained hesitantly. "You can put the stick down now."

"Why are you here?" The kid questioned, seeming a little more confident than when he last spoke. He didn't drop the flaming stick, only lowering it slightly and standing back up. Leon was about average size for a sixteen year old, maybe a little shorter, but this kid was definitely about a head length shorter than him.

"I was going to ask you the same thing," Leon muttered. "What's your name?"

"E-Erikur," he mumbled uneasily. As he turned his face to the fire his eyes flashed in the flickering light. They seemed to be a deep crimson colour, which sent tremors down Leon's spine.

"You look familiar," Leon began, cocking his head sideways. "Where are you from?"

"Uh, my house is over the other side of the forest," Erikur replied more as a question than an answer.

"I mean, like, where are you from originally?" Leon clarified further.

"Oh. I'm from Iceland," Erikur said with a sweet yet unsettling smile. "Where are you from?"

"I know someone from Iceland...I'm from Hong Kong," he explained. Erikur didn't seem to respond, he only went silent as if he was confused. Leon was about to open his mouth to explain where Hong Kong was but was cut off when Erikur lunged forward and grabbed his forearm with surprising strength.

"Do you like fire? You can help me burn all of the sticks I got," Erikur blabbed excitedly, pointing to a very large pile of sticks and assorted logs.

"Oh uh," Leon stuttered, feeling quite threatened, especially by Erikur's disturbing, blood coloured eyes.

"Or you can sit and watch, leave all the fun to me," he suggested. Leon had been partially raised with the concept of stranger danger, and only now did he realise that this boy, Erikur, was a stranger and potentially dangerous. The idea of going back inside seemed much more appealing than hanging around this pyromaniac. "Don't you like fire?" Erikur asked sadly, his eyes turning big and curious but still retaining that hellish appearance.

"I-I do," Leon stuttered. "Back at home my parents used to have a store that sold fireworks."

"Oh my god, that is so cool! I love fireworks!" Erikur shouted, jumping up and down.

"You do?"

"Yes, I love anything that burns or explodes!" he growled viciously.

"Calm down there kiddo."

"Do you have any fireworks now?" Erikur interrogated, pulling Leon even closer to him.

"They're at home," Leon mumbled.

"Could you maybe..." Erikur trailed off into a mumble and tapped his fingers together and swinging his shoulders side from side.

"I suppose I could go get some," Leon mumbled out the side of his mouth trying to pull away slightly from Erikur to get a head start.

"Ha ha! Yes!" he shouted victoriously, letting go of Leon and taking a lap around the bonfire. "I'll wait here for you," he said, sitting himself beside the fire, probably a little too close.

"Be careful, you'll burn," Leon warned.

"I won't," he replied, smiling sweetly, crossing his legs.

"Uh, okay. I'll be back," Leon said, turning to walk back to his house. Once he turned his back, Erikur began to sing a song, slowly and unnervingly, just urging Leon to sprint once he was completely out of sight.

Once he was inside he locked the door, locked all of the windows and every other possible entrance into the house and took a minute to stand still and clam his shaking body. His heart pounded in his ears and felt as if it was going to jump out of his chest. He jumped into bed, hid himself under the covers and tried his hardest to go back to sleep, wishing he had never stepped out of the house in the first place.

A/N: A short start, but chapters will be longer.

Translation corrections done by the wonderful i-ate-the-pastels

- Fjords <3