• I walked with the healthy stride of a child until I came to a clearing that completely rebelled from the forest I had been traveling through.
    I made a collage of glances at the tableaux above and around me:

    The wind wept a cool but welcoming breeze and the sun echoed it with a blaze that was sheltered in a way, but still undeniably visible behind the clouds.

    A mountain in the distance stood with unbelievable superiority to the fester of trees I had been scrambling through moments before.

    Ducks landed in a pond only feet away from where I was standing, and were accompanied by the soft hum of a toad resting on a half-submerged stone on the bank.

    In spite of this miraculous beauty, I frowned at the site of it.

    Home was still so far away, and only my feet carried me.

    Although I slowly turned around and returned to the wood I came from, the child's healthy stride was gone.