His bright blue shoes glinted in the light of the setting sun as he walked out into wilderness beyond. Behind him, the merriment of a party was heard. Siblings playing badmitton, parents imbibing a sip more than usual. The sultry air of summer began to waft away, as day began to cede to night, and dusk began to creep in.
A strange hybridity of determination, and unknown fear surrounded the child. As if his feet were being pulled forward, deeper and deeper into the dark canopy. And yet, something was holding him back, clenching him by the heart, warning him that this was not the path to take. Deeper he went into the abyss of trees and shadows.
Critters followed at a distance, as if beholden to the child. With each of his toddling steps, they scurried and darted behind him. A tan squirrel scuttled about in the front of the pack, its foolish inquisitive nature propelling it forward with the boy as the ventured further into the layers of obscurity. An aged blackbird looked on quizzically as the creature walked on. Indigenous to its high, lofty trees, it would not join in on the crusade through the pillars of wood and moss. An overcastting omen, flying above the trees, it watched.
They traveled.
Bit by bit, the light of the evening began to disappear behind him, leaving whispers of light behind it in the stars. As the trees became taller, and the stars drifted farther away, his following of docile birds and critters beginning to retreat back into their nooks, their rudimentary instincts yanking them out of their trance. Eventually, all but the gauche squirrel had deserted. Deeper and deeper still he foraged.
The darkness surrounded the boy.
The squirrel had disappeared.
Back in a suburban yard, at the edge of the forest, children dressed in argyle were carried off by their loving parents, and loaded into minivans. Driving off into the black horizon.
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