Page 2 (1/2)

"Wait," Annie cried afterdark Maybe we should just wait for hi, I walked back to Annie’s car and leaned through the passengerI fished around in the glove coht that her parents kept for eencies

"Don’t worry; I’ll be back in fewanother word, I turned and ran into the woods

The redwood forest was cool and dahsoftly into the earth while the ferns and underbrush whipped my shins

"Dad?" I shouted into the darkness, but h the branches "Dad, are you here?"

The beaht bounced wildly about the trees as I ran, illu pockets of the forest in brief and sudden flashes The giant redwoods loo far above the fog, which had just begun to settle on the ground

It felt like I had been running for miles when I stopped to catch ht reflecting off the ground I slowed to a walk and edged toward it My hand treht in its direction It was a coin I prodded it with the tip ofthin sheet of white cloth was embedded in the dirt next to it, and I followed it into the darkness

As I stepped deeper into the forest, the air see round with ht It was scattered with coins and pieces of white cloth Curious, I bent over to get a closer look, when soan to shift Then ainst earth

I raised my eyes to the shadowy thicket that surroundedthe branches above Relieved, I took a step forward, when e

The ht to the ground And then I saw it A hand, as pale as porcelain, its delicate fingers curled into the soil I followed it to a wrist, an arm, a neck, a face streaked with dirt and shrouded with strands of long chestnut hair

I gasped and looked away The pungent sh the air Reluctantly, I looked back at the body

"Mo on her back, her arht have thought she was sleeping if her skin hadn’t been so pale Her thin athletic legs, which I had inherited, were now cold and stiff, though they still retained the sairlish shape that she was so proud of

I leaned over and placedI don’t knohy, but I checked her pulse even though I knew she was already dead Lifeless, she looked older than usual, as if she had aged ten years Her cheeks were unusually sunken in, and her glasses were nowhere to be seen Without the down in circles like the rings of a tree