Out of Depth // Phan AU

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He ran through the trees, following the trickle of a stream down the side of the hill. It ran almost silently, the sound of the wind covering the faint noise of the running water. The leaves beneath him crumpled and crackled as he ran down the slope, deeper into the forest.

The stream went on until it was almost a steady river. It was deep enough to soak through his shoes, through to his socks. He splashed through the water, loving the noise it made as he stumbled around in the stream.

He ran and ran, and as he got deeper and deeper, the forest became darker and soon the light only came through in thin rays between gaps in the leaves.

But he continued to follow the river, and eventually it was no longer a trickle but a rushing stream that cut a path through the foliage and made for something for Phil to follow.

The forest was weirdly quiet. There were no birdcalls and the trees had become awfully still, no ruffling of leaves beside the common crinkle under Phil's feet.

The sound of flowing water was now dominant over everything else.

As he continued along the side of the stream time started to slip away and he lost count of how long he had been in the forest. He didn't have the strongest concept of time, being a four year old and all, but was even harder to tell how long he had been following the water, and the fact that the trees were blocking out almost all of the natural lighting didn't help the situation.

Several times Phil considered turning back. His parents didn't know he had left, or where he was, and for all he knew he could have been gone for hours. But he had already gone so far and the urge to find the end of the river compelled him to continue.

His little legs were getting sore from all the walking and he was obtaining quite a few cuts and scratches of over-friendly bushes. Exhausted, he tried to sit down and rest, but his body wouldn't respond.

He thought maybe if he went into the river and let it pull him downstream he could give his legs a rest, so he paddled into the water. It wasn't deep near the bank, but as he got further out his feet could no longer find the bottom and he started to panic, remembering too late he didn't know how to swim.

Splashing around he tried to get back out but the river had hold of him and dragged him along the stream. He thrashed about in attempt to stay above the rushing water. His clothes were completely soaked through and he knew if he made it home his mother would kill him. His shoes and socks had been pulled from his feet by the river, and he legs were flailing around aimlessly, bit of logs and rocks cutting at his exposed skin.

All of a sudden the gushing stopped and he was thrown under the surface of the water. Panicked, he kicked about trying to get to air, but he just kept sinking deeper and deeper under the water.

He needed to breath. He needed air. He was going to drown and no one would ever find him all the way out in the middle of the forest. They didn't even know he had left. He should've told someone. Why didn't he tell anyone?

He just kept falling deeper and deeper and his lungs were burning and his eyes were stinging. He whole body was screaming for him to breathe. He was going to drown. He was going to die.

Out of the corner of his eye he swore he saw the flicker of a tail. His vision was blurred but whatever it was looked a lot bigger than a goldfish.

Oh great, not only was he going to drown but his body was going to be eaten by giant river shark or something.

Right before his lungs exploded something grabbed onto him and began to pull him up. He was obviously hallucinating. There was no one this deep into the forest besides him and maybe the river shark.

It was definitely hands that had hold of shoulders. Human-like hands. Maybe he had died. Maybe this was an angel carrying him to where ever you go when you die.

He felt his head break the surface and immediately inhaled the sweet air. He coughed and spluttered and thrashed around trying to find land. Crying from fear and relief. The thing helped him over to the shore and he gripped onto the dry land, still coughing out his lungs.

After lying on the edge, regaining his breath, he lifted his head, taking in his surroundings.

He was at the end of the river. He was by some sort of lake where all the water collected. The place was completely isolated, the trees creating a wall around the water and the braches stretched out to form a roof that blocked out the sunlight. It was so weird and creepy and strange, and Phil started to cry again.

He felt the hands on his back again and he jumped away. The hands were human...but the thing was not. Its face was sort of human. It had human eyes with dark brown irises and long black eyelashes. Its nose and mouth all appeared normal and human like until its lips parted slightly and revealed sharp monster-like teeth. But it didn't seem like it wanted to hurt Phil. It didn't even seem to know what Phil was, and was staring and him the same way Phil was staring at it.

Phil backed away from it, which seemed to startle it. It jumped down back under the water, disappearing beneath the murky lake.

He still wasn't sure if he was seeing straight because he swore he saw the tip of a fin connected to its body.