Into the Unown

In the Forest we Hide

The wind would rustle the leaves, making Dawn turn around. There's nothing chasing us, Dawn thought. But it would still send chills up her spine. Chill winter wind would come round, and sweep some of their heat away. Everytime Dawn exhaled, a cloud of white mist would come out. Winter sang its dull melody, which brought no warmth or shine, only the smell of distant snow and salt mixed with dull leaves and brought a bitter taste to her lips.

“Have any of you seen anything yet? It’s starting to get cold…”

“No,” both of them said at the same time.

“Well our only option is to keep going. By the way, is it just me or do I hear a lot of rustling leaves?”

“Of course there are rustling leaves. It's probably just Pokemon,"

“Yeah. I just hope we- OW!”

The other 2 turned around. “What’s wrong May?”

“I stubbed my toe on something. What even is this damn- wait, what?”

May wiped away some of the underbrush and found something that wasn’t a leaf or root. Tangled in the underbrush of all things was a shoe.

“A shoe? I’ve heard of littering, but why of all things a shoe?”

“No… this isn’t litter. She always-”

May flipped to the back of the shoe. It was a perfectly normal lace shoe, but there was something about it. Scrawled on the heel, was a faded name: Lyra Arai.

“This.. this is Lyra’s!” May exclaimed.

“But why is her shoe out here?” “Chloe inquired.

“Do you think she dropped it? No, you would definitely notice if a shoe fell off, there’s no way this is an accident. She did this intentionally,"

“But why would she throw her shoe?”

“I think I have an idea. I’ve heard of this sort of thing happening before to people who got lost. I’ve heard of some people, they go out walking in the wilderness, right? But they get their leg broken, fall into a hole and they’re trying to make themselves easier to find. So they throw out their belongings to make a trail to where they are,”

“That’s… pretty smart now that I think about it,” Chloe commented. “Wait, so is Lyra close by?”

“Lyra is pretty smart, and she watched that documentary with me, so she knows about throwing her stuff to make a trail. There’s probably more around here, come on!”

The girls moved. They headed from tree to tree, looking for more clues or any signs of Lyra's presence. As they combed through the underbrush, they came across more strange things: a piece of torn cloth, another one of Lyra’s shoes, her hat hanging from in a bush, and a broken branch that looked like it had been snapped by something large and heavy.

“Lyra! We’re coming!” May yelled “Call out!”

“Lyra!” Chloe called.

“Uh, guys? I feel like we shouldn’t be calling that much attention,” Dawn warned.

“Why? Isn’t this the best way to get her attention?” May questioned.

“Well… yeah.. But something feels… off,”

“That’s probably just the forest vibe,”

Dawn pondered for a moment. While logically there wasn’t any reason not to shout, a lot of her bodily instincts told her to be aware. Then she heard the same voice from when she fell into the hole.

Your instincts are right maiden.

Shut up.

“Hey guys, isn’t that Lyra’s coat?”

Dawn looked up and noticed a white jacket hanging from a high branch.

“That… that’s it! Come on, let’s go!”

They headed there, but only saw a rock underneath the tree.

“It’s just a rock,” May said disappointingly.

“Well I guess we’ll follow the trail again. See anything?” Dawn admitted.

But then Chloe walked closer. “Something about this rock is familiar… hold on a- AHHH!”

“WHAT’S WRONG?” the other two said, and rushed to Chloe’s side.

“What happened? Are you hurt?”

“It isn’t me…” Chloe stammered. “It’s…” she pointed to the side of the rock they were looking at.

“What is… oh… oh Arceus no…”

Dawn couldn’t believe it, and yet it was there. Her stomach sank. It was impossible, and yet there it was. A statue. A statue of a young girl, carving something on the tree, missing her shoes and a jacket. It seems she was frozen there, with a face mixed with fear and determination. It could have been a coincidence, but it was too much. It lined up too well. Her face was the same. It was Lyra.