Fabled

Chapter 4 - The Strange Trail

Sam's POV

That was strange.

I could swear, there was a faint white glow coming from a path that shouldn't exist, that didn't exist, but it was there. 

I knew this exact spot- it was the spot Marc had marked a tree with an x, drawn with pink chalk that he happened to have on hand. (No one knew why.) 

And there. Wasn't. Supposed to be a trail there. Especially not with a mysterious white glow coming out of it. 

I knew this trail like the back of my hand. And I knew the trail didn't split off again. And I knew hadn't been here for a few weeks, but that was not enough time for this trail to become so defined. Something was up. Something that couldn't be explained. I didn't believe in magic or anything, but...

I raced down that trail like my life depended on it.

And what I found there, was, well...kind of unexciting. 

See, here's the trip in short version. Literally the trip.

I walked down the path, and... the further I went the more the glow lessened. And I could swear, the path was curving just barely slightly. I started to get discouraged, and then I tripped. See? The trip. And right in front of my nose was a clear orbee. I picked it up and pocketed it, standing and wiping my dirt stained hands on my nice, clean pants my mom had just bought for me. Hah, served her right. (Keep in mind, now my hands were stinging, and probably going to get infected.) I looked to see what, or whom, was my new enemy. A tree root it was. I stuck my tongue out and kicked it. There was no reason to hide my childishness from a tree, thankfully.

After that, I just went on my way. I was pretty annoyed by now- the glow was gone, I had gone a long way from the initial trail, I had found a trail that was completely and utterly nonexistent, and all I would have to show for it was an orbee full of water and some scratched up hands. Even if I did take a picture with my phone, it could be easily mistaken as literally any part of the forest, and-crap.

I felt my back pockets. My phone was gone. It must've fallen out when I tripped-I had left that spot behind, by the way. I ran back to to grab my phone, chasing my footprints facing the way I had been. My family's gonna kill me if that's broken. Even Lacey though she has absolutely nothing to do with paying for it, I thought.

When I made it back there, my phone was lying just where I suspected it to be with my luck. On a rock, that didn't look the smoothest. Crouching down I grabbed it, flipped it over. The screen was going crazy. There was a deep gouge in it, right on the middle of the screen. From there, cracks split off. I didn't know how in the heck with how far the rock jabbed itself in, but the phone was still on, and colors were zipping across it. I crouched there for long enough to witness as the phone decided to completely break and the screen went dark. Welp, I thought. There goes my connection to Marc and Jamie. At least now I'll have a broken phone to show for it too. Oops.

I looked up at the sky. One side of my vision was obscured by trees, and the other was mostly so, except for one spot.

Well, I thought. I'm going to at least see where this trail leads before I have to go back. Time to stall. 

As I walked, I did not happen to think why there were no leaves on that singular tree, or why the orbee happened to be full of water when there had been no rain and no one to come down this path before me. (It was dusty, and there was no wind, so there would have been footprints.)

The trail ended up making a very sharp turn, which also happened to be a full 180°. 

I walked all the way down this side, hoping it will lead me to something new even though I can see through the trees to the side of the path I just walked. Eventually, it did end up turning away from the first side of the path, but it ended up meeting the path that would lead to the tree house any way, just slightly further.

I sighed, and turned around to head back. 

It was about time I got back and faced my family anyway.

A/N

Never mind, apparently that wasn't that interesting either 😅 I promise it'll get better soon though!! Imma be updated everyday of Christmas break, so those of you that get Christmas break to, maybe you try to do the same or something similar? Idk, it's just a fun challenge, and I can't wait to see how far Fabled gets by doing that! (P.S. If you do end up taking on this challenge, days you're on vacation, like the kind of vacations where you'd be camping or sleeping in a hotel or a house that's not your own, those days don't count toward this and you therefore wouldn't have to complete your daily goal that day unless you want to! 😁)