Pinocchio

Chapter 1 : the Heart of the Forest

She's just a piece of wood. She's just a piece of wood that came from the oldest, biggest branch of the oldest, biggest tree from deep down in a deserted forest. No one has ever come to that forest, because if someone walks through the thick bushes and tall, tall trees, the forest will capture the person with its branches, holding them down until that person, becomes one of them. And that's what they do for hundreds of years. No one has ever come to the heart of the forest. No one has.

Except for one person. She heard the story of how beautiful it is in the heart of the forest. How the sun shine never ceases to warm our bodies and keep the forest alive, or how the moon never stops being beautiful and gives away the warm embrace for those who need it. They said that in the heart of the forest, you would find a place where eternal happiness lied, where no one would ever get sad because everybody is dancing and playing music, everyone would be loved and no one would ever lose their loved ones. And for years, she believed it. She dreamed that one day, one day, she would go there to have that happy life.

But no one has ever gone there before. So she was determined to reach the beautiful heart of the forest, she wanted to see what lies beneath the thick forest that no one has ever gone to, what secret it held. Nobody had ever gone there because they still had their loved ones, back in their hometown. Nobody wanted to die during the expedition to the heart of the forest. But she had no one anymore. Everyone she loved, had been taken away, gone. So she went there all alone, all by herself.

With a sharp sword and blade as the weapon, some clothes, compass, a few boxes of matches, lantern, and candles, she was ready to go. She didn't tell anyone about it. She didn't want anyone to forbid her to go inside the forest. But she was all equipped, she was ready. And people looked at her when she walked by, wondering where would she go. And before she entered the exuberance of the forest, she stopped. This is what she dreamed of for years. And now she's going to reach it. It's so close to her hands. She's so close to her dreams. All she needed to do was to take the first step.

And she did. She stepped inside the forest, leaving the people of her hometown screamed in horror. The first few days went well without any obstacles. She rested behind the bushes or high up in the trees so that the animals wouldn't be able to have her flesh for dinner. She had fruits and nuts for meal with water from the trees. The next few days, she realized that she hadn't seen any animal, at all, not even one tiny ant or small bee. She was worried at first, but she walked forward, anyway, with no fear in her heart.

She walked through the forest fearlessly, cutting down trees that held up her way and pierced through thick bushes with her sword and her blade. . Her clothes were starting to torn apart because she pushed toward the trees, she walked away from the branches which were trying to keep her in the ground. She gave such a huge fight. She believed that, soon, she would reach the heart of the forest, the place where she didn't have to live in sorrow anymore.

One night, when she slept, she felt a warm breeze covered up her body. She opened her eyes and sat down. It was dark and she saw nothing, because it was night at that time. And then something blinked. A light. She was surprised. And the thing blinked again, twice. Now thrice. And the four times. And then it continued blinking until it became one little bright spot in the distance. She immediately went there, leaving everything she brought behind.

She didn't even think. She didn't realize that the pathway to that light was clear; no tendrils, no roots, no plants, nothing. She was so close to the light when it suddenly went off. She was blocked by a high wall made of tall, skinny trees. She pushed the trunks away and she stepped inside.

And there was the light. It was the moon. It shines upon her and the space inside the high wall. She looked around and there was nothing in it. It was just simply a blank space inside the high wall of trees and leaves with dirt that kept her in the ground. And she realized that she was standing right in the middle of the forest, in the so-called beautiful heart of the forest. It was just rumor.

She felt numb, her heart hurt. She fell on her knees and cried. At first she was just sobbing weakly, and she started to cry really loud. And then she laughed. Her voice filled the silence inside the forest. I was fool to believe in it, she thought to herself. I was a fool for letting myself believe that there is such a thing called eternal happiness, you shouldn't have believed in rumors, you stupid girl! she cursed herself. And she couldn't control herself. She felt really sad and stressed out.

Suddenly she felt something touched her legs. It continued grabbing her legs up to her thighs. And she also felt something held her hands, making her almost fall down, but stood still in her position. She looked at her hands and she saw large tendrils grabbing her hands and legs. Another one held her body, and it squeezed her body tightly. She gasped, but it didn't hurt at all. More tendrils started covering her whole body. She closed her eyes and sighed. And so she became the heart of the forest itself. What she did was keeping the forest alive, and vanish people who tried to go inside the forest with the same way the forest had done to her.

She's just a piece of wood. And that's all she is.