The Forest

Chapter 1: New Beginnings

Authors note: Hey everyone, my name is Cindaz (aka Jazz Jazzington) and I just wanted to say thanks for choosing to read my book or at least checking it out! This is my first ever wattpad book and I'm excited to start writing it. I hope you enjoy this book and if you want you can vote and that would be amazing, commenting would also be great. ;)

"Ah, we're finally here!" called my mother. I had been sleeping but thanks to my mother I am now wide awake. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and glanced out the window.

The sun was just under the horizon which made the sky turn from a navy blue into a dark purple. I was snapped back into reality as my mother pulled up in front of the small dirt driveway outside our new house.

The thing is... it was in the middle of a really large forest. I have no idea why my mother thought it was a good idea for us to move to such a remote place as this but hopefully there's a good reason. It doesn't even make sense to me really, like why would any sane person want to live out here in the middle of nowhere.

She did say something about her wanting to escape the hassle of the city and such which the explanation she gave me earlier but I still don't think it's good enough.

My name is Jacinda. As you already know, we moved from the busy city life to well... this. So just to explain a little about myself. I'm quite the lazy person. I really didn't want to have to travel all the way out here but hey, what can you do when your mother forces you into these things?

I enjoy spending my free time locked away in my room playing video games and watching anime, not being stuck in the middle of nowhere surrounded by a forest. Don't judge, that's just how I roll. Okay, I think that's enough about me for now.

I'll have to admit, I thought we were completely lost on the way to the house. Once we left the highway we turned onto a small dusty road that continued on through the forest which finally led to here. It took a few hours from the city... actually, more like half a day now that I think about it.

Apparently there is a town not far from here which is where we will go for supplies, and in a week or so, where I will go to school. This was a new beginning for both me and my mother which both excited and scared me.

I had to say goodbye to all the people I knew although I'm sure I could still keep in touch with them but it's just not the same. Besides, I doubt there's even any internet connection here... I really hope there is though otherwise I don't know what I'll do.

Hopping out of the car I helped my mother with all the luggage and wheeled it up to the house. I couldn't help but glance around me at the dark and mysterious forest that is now my home. It was difficult to see into the forest since the tree's leaves are so thick they block out the sun. The trees' trunks were massive, and their dark branches twisted high into the sky. They didn't look very familiar to me, maybe they're native to here. They gave me the goosebumps just looking at them.

The house was quite large, which was a nice change from the cramped apartment I grew up in. It was a two story house which had old dark wooden walls that looked like it needed a bit of a paint job and a balcony above the door on the second floor which I'm guessing is for one of the rooms.

Judging by the color of the wood used, I'm guessing the materials used to build it were from the trees here. All in all it seemed like a scary place that belongs in a horror movie but what can you do? I guess we can eventually give it a bit of a fix-up when we get the time to.

My mother lightly dropped one of the suite cases and fumbled around in her bag for the house keys and opened the door. She picked up her bags and entered the house, I followed after her silently wishing the inside of the house was nicer than the outside.

Well, to be honest it's not too bad. I did expect peeling walls and holes in the floorboards but instead was met with nice, white plastered walls and smooth dark-brown floorboards. We walked down the hallway and into a door on the left which led into a large area I'm guessing will be the lounge room.

The room was filled with our boxes and furniture placed about carelessly. There is so much work that needs to be done and it makes me want to curl up into a ball and cry. "Hey Jacinda, do you want to go fix your room up for tonight. It's getting dark and I'm guessing you won't want to be sleeping on boxes". Yeah, that would be very uncomfortable.

"Good idea, I'll go do that now then. You'll be fine with this?" I gestured to all the boxes in front of me. "Don't worry. We'll just do this bit by bit. It'll take way too long to clean this all up anyway". I nodded and then left the room. Entering the corridor again I wondered where my room would be. I'm guessing it's upstairs?

Down the end of the corridor was a set of stairs which I ran up excitedly. It led into another long corridor with a few doors down the sides. I opened the first door which ended up to be an empty old closet. I frowned and continued to the next door. It was a large bedroom with boxes scattered around and a bed at the center. There was an inbuilt wardrobe on one side. I could tell by the boxes that it was my mother's room.

Of course she claimed the big room. I scoffed at the thought and then left the room and went to the second last room in the hall. It was a smaller room than the last but decently sized and also had an inbuilt wardrobe but also a door on the other side of the room. I'm guessing it leads to the balcony. I walked up to it and opened the door.

A chilly blast of wind hit me in the face which gave me the shivers. The balcony had a pretty good view of the forest surrounding the house. Despite the fact that the sun was pretty much gone now and it was difficult to see anything I held onto the railings and peered into the forest.

It might have been my imagination but as I glanced around, something moving in the corner of my eye caught my attention. I strained my eyes and tried to catch whatever it was that I saw. I hope there aren't any wolves around. Then again, maybe it was just a deer. Weird.

Having enough of the balcony I headed back into the house and decided to unpack. I fixed up my bed and moved it in a position I thought was the best. I fixed up my shelves and put all my books and valuables on them. I opened up a box and laughed when I saw a couple of my old stuffed toys.

One of them was a white teddy bear around the size of my arm that had this cute little shirt with a heart on it. "Wow, I forgot I kept these," I mumbled to myself. I picked up and gave it a little hug before dropping it back into the box. "You'll have to stay there until I find somewhere to put you".

I even know how long I had spend unpacking several boxes but this sure was a lot of work, and glancing back at all the boxes, I was probably just under halfway. I decided to take a break and strolled down stairs to check on how my mother was, I was also feeling a little hungry.

Hey again, this is the end of the first chapter. Sorry if it's a little short, I have already written down the whole story but now that I'm putting it onto wattpad it looks really short. Maybe its to do with the font but I can't change that so it'll have to stay this size.  ;(