Bloodfang

Into the Woods

Ricky

When Ricky awoke he was immediately greeted by the sunlight that was shining through the huge window in front of him. He felt as if a mist was fogging his brain. At first he was confused as to where he was. It was obviously not his bedroom. As he searched his brain for any clues, the memories from yesterday emerged and the fog along with his confusion slowly dissipated, allowing the memories to rush back in.

He was no longer in his apartment.

He was no longer in New York with his mother.

He was in Colorado with his Uncle Steve.

He sat up as he looked around the room. That only took a second of his time since the room had nothing very interesting going for it except for the large window in front of his bed. Now that it was daytime Ricky could see that there was a huge tree directly in front of the window. The climbable kind of tree you see kids on television climbing out on when they are sneaking out of their house. It was a cool tree. About ten feet from the cool tree lay a dense forest in varying shades of green that just cried for exploration. Ricky had every intention of heeding that cry.

Ricky yawned out loud and raised his arms out from under the covers to raise them up over his head in a large satisfying stretch. He blinked several times trying to expel the gritty sensation from his eyes but when that didn't seem to work he lowered his hands to his face and rubbed at both eyes with his fingers, trying to rub the sleep away.

As he rubbed, he recalled bits and pieces of the weird dream... nightmare..? Or whatever he had had last night. The trouble was he didn't remember it clearly. Although he was quite certain that it first began with eating burgers with his Uncle Steve, but then there was the part where he somehow ended up in the dark woods. One thing he had not forgot were the bats. Those little guys spent the whole night flying through his dreams. It was understandable though, considering the talk of bats he had with his uncle, not to mention the bats he had heard flying around outside last night. The woods part of his dream came from when they had drove through them on the way to the house and the burgers... well... the burgers were obviously from eating his dinner last night. The dream was most likely the result of a combination of past events, emotions, his overactive imagination, and of course... his scary movies. Ricky sighed to himself before chuckling lightly. "Ricky Vera, you've been watching way too many scary movies," he chastised himself with a shake of his head, dispelling any lingering sleep and images of his dream at the same time.

Ricky tossed the covers off to the side and threw his legs over the side of the bed, hopped out, and walked towards the bedroom door. He silently opened the door.

He peered his head outside and saw the hallway was still a little dark, due to the lack of light. He stepped out into the hallway, closing the door shut behind him. He began walking to his uncle's room to see if he was there. He knocked on the door gently and softly spoke in a voice that was just above a whisper. He did not want to be rude and wake his uncle if he were still sleeping.

"Uncle Steve? Are you in there?"

When he received no answer, he opened the door and peeked inside. Nothing. The bed was made. Ricky closed the door back and continued walking down the hall, towards the stairs, and began slowly descending while holding tightly onto the rail.

As he reached the bottom step, he looked into the living room but he still did not see his Uncle. Ricky felt a touch of anxiety that he tried to suppress.

"Uncle Steve?" he called out again.

There was still no answer.

Ricky walked through the living room and towards the kitchen. As he entered, he gave the room a sweeping glance for his uncle but with no success. He wasn't in here either.