Anna Vandemeel
Location: Ghostwood Outlook - Hiking Trail
Phase: Evening Phase
Date: 08.09.1994
Weather: Overcast
As the two of them made their way through the winding trail that led through the dense fir forest, Anna’s thoughts turned back towards the school day. Which, in all honesty, had been sort of a mixed bag. As out of character as it was for the Estonian girl, the math lessons had probably been the most interesting out of the bunch. The violet-haired teacher was also the most sympathetic out of the lot for her, strict but to the point. At the very least, the lack of extraneous nonsense something that the raven-haired girl could respect. The less said about P.E the better. Someone should really put a sock in that guy’s mouth.
And the “social studies” class was pure nonsense.
To begin with, she didn’t give a rats ass about constitutional amendments, presidents, senators, or anything else related to US politics. Which already meant that the vast majority of the lesson was utter nonsense. What little remained were some tidbits about social experiments, which, granted, were at least somewhat interesting. And the teacher was… okay? There probably wasn’t a person alive that could make Anna care about that specific topic, so she had mostly almost completely tuned out the blue-haired teacher in front of the class.
She turned towards her blonde companion only to see him huffing and puffing as they climbed the path.
“You okay there, Gabi? You look a bit winded there.”
Anna had met her blonde classmate at the school gates, just as he was aiming to head out towards the wilderness outside Road’s End. Since their paths were heading towards the same direction anyway, she had decided to tag along, at least part-way. Her reasons for heading into the Ghostwood were a bit different than his, but…
Fundamentally, Anna wanted to get a feel for the forest.
Now Anna would be the first to acknowledge that she didn’t know much about cities, technology, and a lot more besides. But she grew up amidst trees and that most assuredly did not change one bit as she got older. So she knew nature. Maybe not exactly like a tracker or a hunter would, but well enough in her own way.
If these woods were truly as sinister as Zane warned her about then she should be able to at least feel that “atmosphere” to some extent. Rumors rarely came from nowhere, after all. If folks were disappearing in the forest, then there usually was a cause. Anna for her part didn’t believe in “evil” forests. It just didn’t jive with her own past experiences. But she could for sure believe that folks get confused and lost in unfamiliar places. And she could definitely believe that something or someone might be using the Ghostwood as a cover to hide their own skeletons. And if so, then she couldn’t really leave Gabi wandering around in the woods alone.
A tingle of wry amusement shot through the raven-haired girl.
Pfft, look at me playing bodyguard. At my own volition, no less. If Gran saw me now, she’d never let me hear the end of it.
Anna took a deep breath, filling her lungs with cold evening air.
In the distance, the two of them could already make out the opening in the woods that led to the pair’s destination - the Ghostwood Outlook.