The Woods

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Saya closed her science book with great satisfaction. Studying on clouds wasn't her preferred way to end an evening, but her mother and Yume always told her that the best way to start a weekend was with finished work. Now that all her work for the weekend was done, Saya could agree.

"I finished!" Saya called out as she dashed out of her room and over to the living room where Yume was reading a book. "Yume, I finished. Now can we start Movie Night?" 

Another favorite part of Saya's Fridays was Movie Night. Every Friday night Yume would bring a movie for the two of them to watch that started with a certain letter, Saya (and sometimes her mother) would make a snack that started with the same letter. Today they were up to the letter S.

"Movie Night?" Yume repeated "Nah, let's just send you to bed!"

"What?"

"I'm kidding!" Yume put her book down and reached over into her bag and took out a DVD case. "Snow White, a classic!" Saya beamed "So what did you make for a snack?"

Saya ran over to the kitchen then came back with a sealed plate of treats. "Sugar cookies!" Saya exclaimed

"Perfect!" Saya ran over to the living room and placed the tray of cookies on the coffee table. Yume was starting to play the DVD when she suddenly stopped "Oh! I almost forgot. Saya, I want to give you something before we start,"

"Give me something?" Saya echoed as Yume rummaged through her bag "Aha!" She exclaimed when she took out a small rectangular box "My parents were going through their attic yesterday and found this. Go on, open it,"

Saya took the box with a "Thank you" then started to open it, excited. "A book?" Saya flipped through the pages "It's empty,"

"Well it's my old diary," Yume said "My great-aunt gave it to me for my birthday a few years back when I was ... about six,"

"Wow, how long ago was that?" Saya asked

Yume took a second to think "Twenty, I believe,"

"Wow, that was forever ago!"

"Hey I'm not that old!" Yume said, tickling Saya for a few moments as revenge "But I never used this, so I want you to have it,"

"Really?"

"Sure, do you want it?"

"Yes!" Saya exclaimed before hugging Yume tightly "Thanks Yume,"

"You're welcome. Now come on, let's start the show!"

~~~~~

Anchor


Dear Journal,

             Do you mind if I call you a journal? Cause diary is a very girly word and I can't use it for the situation I'm in right now. You see, I'm in The Wonder. Oh right, you probably don't know about that yet. It's a tree house that my neighbor, Henry Bokerdole, has in his backyard. The Bokerdole Mansion, where he lives, is huge by the way. Henry is really nice too, he lets me call him by his first name, he lets me play in The Wonder whenever I want to, and ... he's nice. Anyway, I'm on an adventure today, I'm going to explore The Woods!

Wish me luck,

                           Saya


Saya shut her journal/diary shut and placed it in her backpack before leaving the safety of The Wonder  tree house. Today she would explore the Woods, going deeper into them then anyone had gone before. After taking down the flag the stayed limp in the air from the lack of a Spring breeze, Saya headed out with her backpack on her back and binoculars around her neck.

"I'm off!" she cried

"Have fun!" Mr. Bokerdole said from his kitchen window

Saya took off, over the fence, past the Bokerdole Mansion (which took a bit longer then Saya expected due to its deceptive size, then into the Woods.

The Woods  was what everyone called the dozens to possibly hundreds of acres of trees that surrounded the Bokerdole Mansion and also a the baseball field where Saya sometimes played. It never really had a name, so everyone just called it the Woods. No one had really been deep into the Woods, since - according to Aikatsu Street Lore - everyone used to be afraid of Henry and his home back in the day, when they were only a few years older then Saya. But once they met Henry and his late wife Margaret (who everyone called Shelly) the fear had vanished. But Saya was about to go further then that, deep into the Woods.

"'Saya's Log,'" Saya said aloud as she wrote in her journal "' It is day one of my exposition and all seems normal. A lot of trees, bushes, and -' Ooh! Raspberries!" Saya put the journal/diary back in her backpack and headed over to the raspberry bush. Before taking a single berry off the branch, however, Saya took out a book on wild plants Kanata had given to her as her birthday present last year. "Yep! Raspberries!" Saya nodded, closing the book then popping a few berries into her mouth. Saya had never had fresh raspberries picked from the vine, but she never wanted to have them another way. They were so sweet and tart! Perfection beyond perfect! Saya picked a few more then co continued with her exploring.

~~~~~

It had been a good half-hour since Saya first entered the Woods and she feared she might be lost. She had enjoyed herself, she found more raspberries, saw a lot of amazing animals including some very cute rabbits and colorful birds, but after crossing a small broke she couldn't seem to find her way back.

"'Saya's Log: I think I'm going to die.'" Saya wrote down, her mind began raising with ideas of her fate.

What if it got dark and ghosts appeared from the trees? Saya had heard stories about lost children whose souls inhabited old tree stumps. What if she turned into a spirit or a pixie? A pixie who guided those who were lost so that a horrible fate would not be in their future!

Just as Saya was starting to get excited on the idea, she spotted which was, without a doubt, a fence! A fence to a house! Saya quickly ran for it but tripped on a tree root and onto some moss, scraping her knees. "Ouch!" Saya cried. She rubbed her knees to try and cease the pain, then poured the remaining water from her water bottle onto her knees. She hadn't brought any bandages, but she was a big girl, she would walk it off until she got home.

Saya limped over to the fence and looked at the backyard that was on the other side. It looked familiar. Then Saya remembered, the Yuki home! Kanata's parents' house! Saya wasn't far from her home.

Saya did feel like she was trespassing as she climbed over the fence, but she was sure Mr & Mrs. Yuki would understand completely. She would just go around and back home.

But once Saya was on the other side of the fence, two dogs came charging at her. "Ah!" Saya exclaimed as the French Bulldogs sniffed her, jumped on her, and licked her. "Stop! Stop!" Saya begged, only after pleading for the twelve time did the dogs stop.

Saya took a moment to breath and subside her shock, she didn't know the Yukis had a dog, let alone two of them. "Stay," she ordered the dogs. The two dogs looked at each other then seemed to silently agree to listen to Saya.

Saya quickly left the backyard, not eager for anymore canine surprises, but was greeted with yet another surprise. There, in the driveway, was an unfamiliar car. Saya didn't pay much attention to cars, but this one was definitely different. It was an old truck that looked looked so rusty it could turn to dust if it got any rustier (if that were possible.)

Using her logical thinking, Saya figured, the owner of this old truck and the owner of the two dogs must be one in the same! Mr & Mrs. Yuki must be having company, an old friend grown-ups always seemed to have.

As Saya marveled the wonder that was the old car, her foot knocked against a tool box, a wrench had fallen out. Saya knelt down to pick it up.

"Excuse me," said a strange voice "Can I have that, please?" Saya gasped and froze, the voice was coming from underneath the truck.

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