One Shot.

The winds howled as it breezed by within a small village. It was not the richest, nor was it the poorest. Right at the boundary of where food isn't scarce, not easy to find. A peaceful life is the evidence future for these souls. The hills were green, and forests were commonplace all around with remarkable lands, as if taken out of a child's imagination. The land was safe, the land had food and had the terrain advantage in case of attacks. The insurmountable sun provides the land so gracefully with its warmth and light, and enchanting the blue sky.

Within the village, a small boy, peers into a forest nearby. Gazing at a juicy fruit, hanging from its branches, it was no different then calling the boy 'Come here, and have a taste. You wont be hurt, your people are near! What's wrong with one small bite, it never hurt anyone!' Enticed by the fruit, the boy looks around. Its not common for him to have one, much less find a whole, ripe one. Pulling himself together, he moves forward, inching silently and as stealthily as he could to have a taste of heaven.

Just as he proceeds close, a shout resounds: "Kenneth! Where are you?!" The boy flinches and runs away, in fear and panic "Kenneth! Come here now!" The boy gets to his mother who's face of anger, for a moment, turns into relief, then annoyance. "Don't wander on your own without doing your chores!" The boy looks down and cries. "Sorry mother, b-but I found a fruit! A big juicy one!"

His words shock his mother. "A fruit? Now? Show me."

The boy waltz happily over to where the fruit bares its stance. They both see the fruit as they fruit sees them back. The mothers face goes from delight, to curiosity, to confusion and then ultimately.... panic.

"I told you mother, I told you there was a fruit!" Kenneth joyfully expresses, with a voice loud enough to garner the curiosity of other tenants of this village.

"Kenneth! Get back here right now! Don't take that fruit!" The anger drained from the mothers face as horror covers it. "Huh?" The boy says as he approached the tree. Looking back, not a single villager.

Not.

A.

One.

Followed him.

Not his mother, not his father.

No one dared approached, in a fixed line over 20 meters away.

"Kenneth, my boy, please! Return here!" For the first time, his angry and grumpy father shows genuine fear. What? Why so afraid of a fruit?

Looking back, the fruit glistens in the sun. Droplets of water fall onto his face as temptation overcame him. Why so afraid of the forest? "Kenneth! Come back!" It wasn't just the parents anymore, it was the villagers. They are practically begging him to return.

Why? The boy would usually listen to his parents without question, so why is he conflicted? Is it the fruit? Looking back, for the first time...

He cant make a choice.

Its so easy to make one! Listen to his parents, but why is the forest calling him? Its always so full of life, I always hear the chittering of birds, their melodies, their beauty as they fly in and out. I always hear the galloping of passing horses unbound by villages. Why cant I enter? Why hate it? Why cant I make a choice?

Wanting to go back to his parents, yet reluctant to. Wanting to enter the forest, yet afraid to defy his parents. Why?

A howl resounds throughout the lands, the boy looks back and stares into the forest, where he sees a dog with beautiful, oversized golden fur, sitting there, tongue out happy with two pups next to her. The sight reels him in, the beauty of such a dog swallowed him whole. Yet, when he peered at the dog as the dog peered back, it growled. Not out of anger, but out of warning.

The growl was deep, unbefitting of such a being, for him, it was no different then a beautiful women who's face rips in half to reveal a monstrosity that will consume him. Fear gripping his heart strong and survival instructing his every move, he runs to his mother crying "Mother! Mother! Save me!"

The mother grabs him into her embrace as he cries into her arms. "It was scary mother..."

The villagers begin to isolate the two as they hug, one large man comes forward and says "Kenneth, what.. what did you see?"

The boy does not stop crying, the mother brings him home to rest.

…

Hours later, the sun fell and retreated under the horizon as the darkness consume the lands. the villagers returned to their home, warned their children again and again, to never enter the forest. Not alone. Not without knowing what you're doing.

Within the depths of the forest, the beauty that was shined on and exaggerated upon by the sun, no longer bare the warmth and unity that was shown during the day. It was dark, darker than anything seen before, where even a torch couldn't pierce its terror, the birds rest in their homes, not daring to mutter a single sound. Predators tread carefully, prey sleeps warily. The forest seemed happy during the day, and a nightmare at night. Its just animals and the darkness that threatens you... right?

You'd be lucky if you only encounter them. At night, strange things appear, call, and cry. The forest is angry. Very angry. Unknown entities screech into the sky as they wander. A mere dog has stolen its prey.

The dog, as mysteriously as it appeared, disappeared. Its the forest, its the dirt, its the life and its the air. It knows every living being, both unseen and seen. Yet, that dog appeared. It appeared out of no where. Not assembled by its air or the space, not created by the mass, nor walked there. It appeared, as if it just decided to exist and disappeared as if it never existed in the first place.

The forest silently looms on, staring at the village. The fruit that enticed the child earlier, was a withered mess, with wasps flying out, tearing the fruit apart.

…

Days pass, with the children educated and more villagers looking about, the forest will gain no new friend. It cannot break its appearance, forever beautifying it, as a heaven that is being rejected by fools. It awaits for the day a boy who thinks for himself is born, who asks about the forest, who learns of its beauty, and how it never did anything. That boy will come. They always come. They always will and always have.

Its only a matter of time.