Now walking through the forest again, Hector was cautiously following the walking flower.

I don’t like how that looks. It’s too unnatural….even for a dream.

Seeing a flower with plant limbs made him feel uneasy, as it didn’t quite look right. Even so—with the fruit he was given still in his hand, Hector continued to follow it.

It wasn’t a smooth journey, as there was a problem with the flower he was following. For some reason, it was having trouble walking correctly. But, the elderly woman did make another request before Hector had left.

“Be a dear and teach it how to walk properly.”

Hector looked at it’s legs.

Did it just learn how to walk?

The legs of the flower kept tangling itself, and would often cause it to stumble to the side. Because of this, Hector constantly had to help it back up—as well as untangle it’s legs.

“Fine. I’m guessing if I show you how to walk, you’ll learn then,” Hector said.

So he began to teach it as simply as possible.

After a few minutes of Hector slowly walking, and putting one leg in front of the other, the flower started to more consistently walk for longer periods of time.

Seems to be getting the hang of it. But seeing it walk like that, it kind of reminds me of Sofia. She took longer than usual to learn to walk. Lucky she had me there to show her how.

His train of thought was suddenly interrupted by a series of movement off in the distance. This caused him to panic, as he couldn’t quite see what it was. He grabbed the flower, and hid behind some bushes.

What..what is that?

When he took a closer look, there were dozens of strange looking plant cocoons moving through the forest. They were all varying sizes, from very large to very small. It was difficult for Hector to see what exactly was carrying them, as he could only see the upper parts.

Soon, the strange plant cocoons had been carried away further into the forest.

I just realised that old lady didn’t tell me anything about this place. It’s my fault for not asking I guess.

The flower with him attempted to continue walking, so Hector let go of it.

Eventually, it led him to an open area with a large rocky wall at the other end. The flower travelled to the wall, and stopped next to a small hole at the bottom. Hector looked down at it, and noticed markings on the floor near the opening.

“It’s in there?”

But the flower did not respond, as it of course did not have a mouth to do so.

I guess it can walk, but not talk. Maybe it’s better that way, else it would be too weird.

Hector knelt down to observe the entrance, and saw it was only big enough for a small animal to get in. Seeing that the fox was most likely in there, he decided to place the fruit next to the hole.

If it’s hungry, it will probably notice the food then.

He then backed away, and waited for a few seconds.

Actually, who knows how long this will take. Maybe I should just head bac—

However when he turned round, the flower had disappeared.

Where did it go!?

He looked around and observed the tree’s, but didn’t see any signs of the walking flower.

So what. I’m supposed to just wait for this fox to come out?

Not knowing what to do, Hector decided to sit down and wait. But after a few minutes, there was still no sign of the fox.

Maybe I’m too close.

So he got up and walked away from the hole. After a few steps Hector stopped, as there was a sudden rustle in a nearby tree.

An owl then flew out, and glided toward the fruit.

“Wait!” Hector shouted.

Before it could reach it, he ran and scared the owl away—flailing his arm’s about to do so. It then flew back up to a nearby tree, and appeared to carefully observe the fruit.

Hector sighed. “Great. Now I have an annoying bird to worry about.”

He soon started to pace back and forth from the fruit, as he wondered what to do.

If something else eats the fruit, it’ll probably mean I won’t wake up.

After a few more seconds in thought, he stopped pacing.

You know what. Maybe if I just hit my head against the wall as hard as I can, it could wake me up, and I wouldn’t have to deal with this.

So he walked up to the wall and placed his two hands against it.

A few seconds went by.

Hector decided to slowly hit his head against the wall first, just to see how badly it would hurt.

“Ouch…” he said, as he then rubbed his head.

Even with a soft headbutt, it hurt quite a lot.

Okay, never mind. I guess I don’t have any other choice then.

He decided to take the fruit, and gathered some twigs nearby. After placing them and some leaves at the place he wanted to leave the fruit, he began to build something to cover it.

It’s lucky I’ve always been good at building things. If I make this right, this should help stop that bird.

After a few minutes, he had created a small tent to protect the fruit from the owl—but big enough for the fox to put it’s head inside.

That doesn’t look half bad. It’s a bird too, so it probably can’t even tell I’ve put the fruit in there since it can’t see it.

Hector stood back and carefully watched the owl. He then took a few steps back, but the bird remained still unlike last time.

With a smile, Hector pushed up his glasses.

Good. Now, we just wait.

Just like usual, more noises began to echo from the forest. There however seemed to be something happening nearby—prompting Hector to want to investigate. He looked up at the owl again, but it hadn’t moved an inch.

Seeing that, he decided to go and check what the noise nearby was.

Whoa.

Within the forest, was a horde of deer walking together. Even though they were just animals, Hector felt it resembled a family in a way. There seemed to be younger ones much smaller than the rest, with the larger deer among the group leading them.

Never thought I’d ever see something like this up close. But it’s a dream, so I’ll probably forget most of this anyway.

He lowered his eyes.

Sofia…Sofia would of liked to see this.

But as he watched, there was a distant sound of twigs breaking behind him. Hector looked back, and saw the owl was down on the ground—poking apart the tent he’d built.

“Stop! Go away!” Hector shouted as he ran toward it.

The owl once again flew up and into a nearby tree.

Hector stood still, and glared at the broken tent he spent so much time to make.

I’m done with this.

He turned round in frustration, but quickly stepped back in shock. There was something unexpected in front of him.

It was the elderly woman from the garden.

“Giving up?” she asked.

“There’s a bird that keeps going for the fruit,” he replied. “I’m tired of waiting for it to leave.”

She looked up at the tree. “Oh, that owl you mean? Hmm, yes that might be a problem.”

The woman walked forward and picked up the fruit. She looked up at the owl, and then at the hole in the wall. She walked up to the hole and bit a small part of the fruit off. She then placed it on the ground, and then bit off another small piece.

After doing this several times, she had created a trail from the hole to the middle of the area. She then threw the leftover larger piece in her hand toward the tree the owl was on.

It flew down and used it’s talon to grab the fruit. It then flew off into the forest.

The woman looked at the broken tent Hector had made. “I see you intended to go with a rather practical solution. But it was one that would fulfil your needs, but not another’s.”

She then looked at him. “Sometimes, a compromise is the better choice.”

“Or maybe I just didn’t build a strong enough tent,” he replied.

“And because of that, nobody got what they wanted correct?” the woman said.

Hector squinted his eyes. "It looks that way, yes.”

“Never mind that now. We should move further away, else the fox may never come out.”

As the elderly woman began to walk toward the forest, Hector decided to follow her.

Once they reached one of the tree’s, she placed herself behind one.

“We will wait here, that way the fox can freely leave it’s hiding place without worrying,” she said.

Hector nodded, and also stood behind the tree.

What do I even call her? She didn’t answer my question last time, but maybe she’ll at least tell me her name.

“Do you have a name?” Hector asked. “I know you aren’t real, but it’d be better if I had a name to call you.”

“A name you say?” the woman answered. Hmm…well. How about Miss Emotional?”

Hector gave a confused stare. “Miss Emotional? Why would you want me to call you that?”

“Well, it was the last name I remember being called,” she said.

Dream’s are strange for sure. It’s like my subconscious has created a backstory for this woman, even though I’m not the one who imagined her. I don’t really like that. It’s like there’s someone else in my head, creating things I don’t know about…

“Do I really have to call you that?” Hector asked.

She smiled and nodded. “You did ask for a name.”

“Alright, whatever. Miss Emotional then. You can just call me Hec—”

“Hector…”

Hearing this, Hector raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Ye..yes. I guess you’d know that, seeing how you’re in my head and all.”

“Look,” she suddenly said, as she pointed at a nearby bush.

When he looked, he saw a spider on a spiderweb.

“So many small ones like these around,” Miss Emotional said with a smile. “Even when placed in such a big world, they still manage to create a smaller one just for themselves.”

The spider then began to crawl toward a fly stuck in it’s web. Hector watched as it started to wrap the fly up in more webbing.

“What’s with this forest anyway?” he asked as he continued to watch. “Is there a reason the plants and flowers here are as strange as they are?”

However he noticed Miss Emotional didn’t respond straight away, and looked over at her.

She was staring at the spider, with a very angry look—and a slight twitch in her eye.

But she then slowly closed her eyes, and sat down against the tree.

“While we wait, I’ll be meditating,” she said. “You can join me if you want.”

“No. I’m okay.”

And so, Miss Emotional silently sat with her eyes closed—as they waited for the fox to emerge from it’s hole.

A few minutes went by, with Hector popping his head out from the tree every so often. But each time he did, the fox still hadn’t shown up.

How long is this going to take.

Hector glanced over at Miss Emotional.

I remember Sofia saying she wanted to learn to meditate. Even after I said she didn’t have the patience for that, she tried anyway. Of course, she gave up even faster than I thought she would.

A few more minutes passed.

Suddenly, Miss Emotional opened her eyes and stood up.

Hector also stood up. “What?”

She left the tree and he followed. It was then he saw a fox in the middle of the area, sleeping.

“It finally came out,” Hector said. “But why would it just fall asleep there? Thought you said it was scared.”

Miss Emotional walked up and slowly picked it up. “The fruit it ate was a special one.”

She looked at it’s leg. “As I thought, it’s injured it’s leg. Wouldn’t be good to leave it as it is, so let’s bring it back with us.”

But she then walked up to Hector and handed the fox over to him.

“Why give it to me?” he asked.

“I know I look young for my age, but my leg’s aren’t as strong as they used to be,” she said.

Hector sighed. “Oh, right. Since we’ve got the fox, doesn’t that mean—”

A sudden hint of suspicion grew on his face.

“I thought you said you couldn’t figure out how to get the fox out?” he asked. “But….you just did.”

She smiled. “Seeing your attempt simply inspired a new solution to come to me.”

There was a pause.

“If you say so. Well isn’t it about time I woke up,” Hector replied.

“Maybe the last step is to bring it back with us safely,” she answered. “And I’m sure it hasn’t had something to drink for a while. A fruit like that has some moisture inside, but it will have to have plenty to drink when it wakes up. Staying hydrated is even more important than eating after all.”

Miss Emotional looked off into the forest. “Looks like their migrating again.”

Hector noticed several sounds echoing from behind the trees, just like before. It was the same sounds he heard earlier when he was following the walking flower. But in the direction Miss Emotional was facing, was the source of these noises.

So that’s what was carrying those pod things.

Walking past, was a legion of walking plants—carrying the same types of cocoons he had seen earlier.

“What are they doing?” Hector asked.

“They are most likely making their way to one of the towns,” Miss Emotional responded.

“Towns? There’s towns here?”

Miss Emotional walked forward. “Want to visit one? I remember you asking me earlier about the forest. It’d be better to see more of it for yourself I think.”

Hector shrugged.

“Let’s follow them then,” she said.

They both then began to follow the convoy of plants, with the sleeping fox still in Hector’s arms.

It was a short journey, as the plants soon led them to a new area within the forest.

What…what kind of place is this?

In front of him, was a very odd looking plant town.