Not even a second after, I managed to break the fatal spell it had on me, and my body reacted by reflex. I ran. I didn't know where, I just had to get away from there, and I couldn't care less where I was heading as long as I got as far away from the horrible gargoyle as humanly possible.

A large rock became my savior. And while I was hiding, my logical sense started to kick in and I began questioning what I was doing. So I peeked out from my hiding place to make sure it didn't follow me and saw something I'd never believed if I didn't see it with my own eyes. The snake grew in size and started to switch form. The body became rounder, and the face formed a sharp, arched beak. Feathers broke through the scales on its body, and wings stretched out on each side. It looked like something in between an eagle and a small dragon.

Be careful.

I immediately crept as close to the stone as I could and hoped it didn't see me. Whatever this creature was, it was far from any natural mammal I'd seen. It was more a mythical being that right now was scanning the area in search for me. Or so I thought. Fortunately, when it finally spread its wings and took off, it rose effortlessly through the air and soared across the sky in a different direction from where I was.

Be careful.

I was sweaty from climbing, but right now my body was covered with goosebumps. The girl's warning made sense on a whole new level now. Then I reminded myself that she was a hallucination just like the snake-eagle was, and I decided to use my energy on surviving long enough to get out of here instead. Mythical creatures didn't exist, and I would soon get back to civilization and regain some common sense. Hopefully.

I walked closer to the trees. It was darker here, which was just as scary as it was comforting. But at least I wouldn't be out in the open landscape, vulnerable and in danger. By now it had stopped raining, but it was still cloudy, and I wondered if the sun ever managed to break through the thick blanket of leaves crowning at the top of the giant oaks and pine trees. The ground was moist and strangely soft, consisting mostly of pine needles and moss. I could also see mushrooms that were growing in the protection of old, fallen trees. I could eat those. Or could I really? I knew some mushrooms could be poisonous, but I didn't remember how they looked. Therefore I decided to search for berries instead.

My hands wandered along the trunks of some of the trees I passed by, and the thick bark felt oddly comforting against my skin. The sap made my fingertips sticky, but I didn't feel disgusted by it like I thought I would. It smelled so clean and fresh. It was almost like Mother Nature had washed the entire world with her blissful rain, and now the pearly droplets were sprinkled everywhere around me like tiny decorations from above.

I temporarily froze when I discovered the tail of what had to be a fox in between a fallen tree and a large stone. The bushy, red fur with the white tip looked so wonderfully soft that I wished I could touch it. But just as soon as I spotted him, he disappeared in the bushes, and I never saw him again. The thought made me a bit sad. I was scared of almost all living life in this forest, and the few things I wasn't scared of was afraid of me.

I sighed and sat down on an old and withered trunk. Next to me was a little group of brown, crinkly mushrooms. I picked up one of them and studied the fragile surface on the underside of the cap. Then I lifted it up to my nose to smell it. It smelled wet forest. I studied it closer, and my stomach growled. Was this one of the 'safe' ones to eat? I mean, it looked edible. I could just take a little bite to see how it tasted. If it tasted horrible, it was most likely poisonous, right? However, I didn't get that far because, just as I was bringing it up to my mouth, my eyes spotted something better.

"Blueberries!"

I left the mushroom on the trunk and ran over to the little bush of luscious, juicy berries. And I was lucky that there were more a little further away. So for the next hour or so, my hands worked systematically through every tiny branch and leaf while I stuffed my cheeks full and eventually stifled my hunger. And when I had searched through every single one of them and made sure I got them all, my fingers and probably also my lips and cheeks were blue. That made me smile. For once I was actually glad I was alone. I was absolutely sure I looked awful. My hair was a mess, my clothes really dirty and the wound on the back of my head and the one above my eyebrow surely didn't make it any better. And they didn't feel good, either.

I jumped when I heard branches cracking and something that sounded like a grunt. Then I screamed from the top of my lungs when I saw a giant moose charging directly at me. I didn't even have the time to think about running before it sent me headfirst flying through the air. Surprisingly, I landed on something soft, and I praised higher sources for helping me out in such a surreal situation. Then I yelped and started cursing when I realized that they hadn't helped after all.

"FUCK! ANTS! SHIT!"

I jumped up from the ant hill and tried to brush off the crawling monsters, when I caught sight of the moose turning around, preparing for another attack. So I ignored the ants the best I could and instead grabbed a large branch and started swinging it above my head to scare the moose away.

"KNOCK IT OFF!" I yelled before I realized that the animal didn't understand English. So I did the only thing I could do to save myself. I climbed up the closest tree that was tall enough to get me out of reach from the angry moose. Minutes after, I realized why she was so angry. She was protecting her babies. When she had calmed down and decided everything was safe, two tiny moose calves came stumbling after her and smelled the ground where I'd been standing. I almost started crying in awe of how cute they were. The mother kept a strict eye on me though, probably to make sure I didn't try anything. As if I'd would ever dream about hurting someone as adorable as her twins. For a moment I even wished I could sit there in the top of the tree and admire nature's wonder for the rest of my life.

Unfortunately, the ants were still fighting for their lives and did their best to end mine. I spent quite some time getting rid of the ones that had crawled under my shirt. There was even one in my bra. But after a while, there were no more ants and the mother moose had left with her two calves and disappeared into the wilderness again. Still, I kept sitting in the tree until I was absolutely certain that they didn't come back.

*****

I had wandered around in the woods for hours when I reached a large river. It was quite wide but not especially deep, and I actually considered crossing it. Then I realized that I didn't know if that would bring me further away from the civilization than I already was, and that it would be smarter to stay on the side I was on. Then I got annoyed for not knowing anything. I couldn't even ask anyone because there was nobody around. Then I got annoyed for being annoyed over something I couldn't help.

The terrain was more open here, and it felt good to get out of the caliginous forest. It was slowly getting darker, and I was really not looking forward to spending another night outdoors, unprotected and alone. It hadn't rained since this morning, but the sky was still dark and threatening, and I knew I had to find a place to keep dry if it started again. It was cold enough as it was and being wet only made it worse. If it got colder, I would probably even freeze to death.

In addition to disorientation and frustration, I was getting hungry again. Blueberries wasn't really something that made you feel full. At least not for long. I was still reluctant to eat mushrooms and I didn't spot any more berry bushes of any kind, so I was starting to get pretty desperate. Then my eyes fell on the clear water and immediately caught the movements of a fish. Then another one. And another. And I found that the river was full of salmon. If only I had something to catch one.

I sat down on a rock to think out something clever and didn't spend many seconds evaluating whether or not I should just dive right in and catch a fish with my hands. Yeah... No. That was not gonna happen. I had to stay dry. So I looked around and found a long branch that had potential of becoming a fishing rod. Question now was what to use as a line and hook. I considered unravelling some of my petitely knitted cardigan to make a line, but I didn't have any tools to make a hook. However, before I came to that point, I heard a voice.

"Be careful."

I jumped up. It was the same voice as before. It was the young girl again. I was certain of that. But when I looked around, there was no one there.

"Hello?" I shouted, but only the burbling sound of the river answered. Then I stiffened. There were footprints on the ground right behind me on the riverbank! I looked around again to make sure that I didn't miss seeing anyone, but the area I was so open that it was close to impossible to sneak up on someone without being noticed, and there were literally no one there. Then how come there were fresh footprints in the sand?

Quite a bit creeped out, I walked over to take a closer look. There was no doubt. It was a child's footprints, and it looked like it had appeared out of nowhere, walked a few feet, and then stopped. Then it seemed like whoever had been standing there either dissolved into nothing or flew away.

"Oh, I'm most definitely gonna get over to the other side of the river!" I whisper-yelled to myself.

I hurried to take my shoes and socks off, then rolled my jeans up to my knees and waded into the water. It was difficult to walk because of all the stones, and I lost my balance a couple of times and almost fell, but finally I could step on dry land on the other side. I wiped my feet on the grass and was just about to put my shoes back on when I got aware of something in the corner of my eye. And when I slowly turned my head, my chest tightened until it became difficult to breathe.

"Good Lord... Nooo!" I whispered to myself, and my voice increased in volume for each syllable. I felt all levels of panic at once while I stared at the huge grizzly in front of me. Nausea and cold sweat flushed through me, and my feet just wouldn't listen to the frantic pleas from my petrified brain. And when they finally did, and I backed a few steps away, the bear followed my movements. I knew perfectly well that you should never turn your back towards a bear and start running, especially one that so obviously had targeted you as its prey, but the panic fogged up every bit of common sense in my head. So when it got up on two feet and roared, I got so horrified that I tripped and fell backwards on the riverbank. That made the bear start running towards me and quickly closed the distance between us, and the last thing I remembered was the intense smell of wet fur and a gruesome breath, just before he growled and opened his jaw.

Then everything went dark.