Two years ago, Mia had been living in a small city in the north of Japan. She'd been born there. And before she'd been bitten, she'd been a typical student, with a typical life. Of course, she wasn't technically a student at the time – it had been summer. But just because she didn't go to school every day didn't mean she didn't see the kids from school. Take today for example – she was going to be hanging out with around thirty kids from school.
Every year, during the middle of summer, the older kids would have a party in the woods. And this year, Mia and her friends were finally old enough to go. They were going to have to hike for about an hour, but Mia didn't mind too much. Besides, Hana, Keiko and Michi were going to be with her – she'd be perfectly fine.
Mia met up with her friends at the edge of the woods. Together, they followed the trail towards where Mia knew the older kids were already setting up. The trail was dark, and Mia had to duck a couple of times to avoid running into the low-hanging branches that draped across the path. As the branches became more and more frequent, Mia wondered how often this path was actually used. The narrow dirt lane started to become more bumpy, and it was getting harder and harder to find a place to put her foot that didn't have sharp rocks sticking out. Finally, the path faded away completely. The girls continued on, hiking through the woods on their own with nothing left to guide them but Keiko's self-proclaimed amazing sense of direction.
The going was slow, and more than once someone tripped, nearly dragging the girl in front of them to the ground. Going single file through the thick trees, Mia found herself at the back of the group. As the woods closed in around her, Mia couldn't help but think about all the animals they'd learned about in school over the past year; she really hoped she didn't see any.
It seemed like they'd been walking forever, and the path hadn't been smooth in a long time. The trees were so thick, not even the moon was able to penetrate the darkness, and Mia couldn't see where she was walking. Mia knew she'd just have to trust her friends – as long as they were in front of her, she knew she wouldn't get lost. She put one foot in front of the other, feeling the rocks crunch softly under her feet. Then suddenly, there were no rocks – there was no ground at all. Flailing her arms wildly, she tried to regain her balance, but it was too late. Mia tumbled headfirst off the narrow ridge and down a slope, landing even further into the woods.
Mia somersaulted noisily through the leaves, causing the group to stop. Someone asked what happened. And as Mia tried to right herself, she heard Hana speak up.
"Miaka fell." she said.
"Sorry." Mia mumbled. She could feel her ears burning.
"We're going to be late." Keiko sounded impatient, and Mia felt even worse.
"It's ok – you go ahead. I'll get her, and we'll catch up." Hana offered, sounding almost cheerful about it.
Keiko and Michi agreed and headed off. But before they did, Michi tossed Mia a small flashlight she'd had in her pocket.
"Why couldn't she have given me this before I fell?" Mia mumbled to herself.
She managed to stand up and get her bearings, and she could see that the slope had been a little steeper than she'd realized. She was still trying to figure out how to get back up when Hana called out to her.
"Are you ok?" she asked.
"Yeah." Mia responded.
"It looks like it flattens out a little if you keep walking about ten more feet. I'll meet you over there, ok?"
"Ok."
It seemed to take forever to go those ten feet. Mia could tell she'd managed to rip her jeans, and her knee had been skinned pretty badly. She tried not to let it bother her, but it did make it a little more difficult to walk over to where Hana was going to be.
"That looked painful." Hana said when Mia finally met up with her.
"I'm ok." Mia said, trying to look better than she felt.
Hana looked her up and down. When she got to Mia's knee, her eyes stayed there a little longer than Mia would have liked.
"You're bleeding." Hana said, sounding sort of funny.
"It's not that bad." Mia assured her.
Hana was still staring kind of wide-eyed at Mia's knee, making Mia feel even more guilty. Now, not only was she caught in a lie, but her friend was probably worried about her too.
Finally, the two girls set out. The going was a lot slower than it had been when they first started this trip. Every time Mia's knee brushed against the ripped edge of her jeans, she winced, and she actually starting to regret her decision to come. She wondered how much longer they were going to be walking before she could sit down and take a break.
"Are we almost there?" Mia asked. When Hana didn't answer, Mia looked around.
There was no sign of her. Mia realized with a wave of fear that she was now completely alone in middle of a pitch-black forest.
"Hana?" she asked, trying to keep her voice from shaking.
Still no answer.
Mia listened carefully. She tried squinting in the darkness, but it didn't help. She could see about two feet in front of her, and that was it. Mia stood there for a minute, trying to decide what to do. After tumbling down that hill, she was turned around enough that she wasn't completely sure how to get to the party or back home. She was starting to feel really sorry for herself when she heard a slight rustle behind her.
Mia whirled around to face the sound. She hadn't heard anything in the woods since they'd been out, but she'd had plenty of company before. Now, she was all alone, maybe with some huge beast that had decided to make a meal out of her. She heard the noise again. Maybe it was just her imagination, but she would have sworn it was closer. She remembered the flashlight Michi had given her – she barely even realized it was still in her hand. She'd never been so glad to have a flashlight in her whole life. She quickly began fumbling with it, trying to push the switch with shaking hands.
When she finally managed to turn the light on, Mia immediately wished she hadn't. The light caught something eye level, only a few inches away: a face. Somebody was standing less than a foot away with such a terrible expression that Mia almost dropped her flashlight.
In the light, the face seemed so pale it was almost white, and deep black shadows cut across it. Its eyes seemed to shine an unnatural gold, and its mouth had teeth that were way too sharp. She thought vaguely that she knew whoever this was, but the shadows caused by her flashlight mixed with Mia's panic, and she couldn't place whoever it was. And she didn't get much opportunity to try. Whoever it was lunged at Mia with all their might. Mia screamed as she fell back on to the ground. She felt a sharp, tearing pain in her neck before everything went black.