ATTENTION! Big chapter, lots of info! ➽ Chapter 2 (pt. 1*) ★ Tess POV ( *read the parts in whatever order you'd like, I'm just organizing them ) "Hi, Juniper!" I bark, seeing my best friend enter the forest. She had on her favorite silver fox mask, decorated by soft, frequently brushed gray and black fur, some spots tipped with light gray. "Heya!" Juniper barks back, running over to me. "Y'know, we haven't explored very much of the forest..." she remarks, and I raise my eyebrows, wondering where she's going with this, "Do you want to split up and see what we can find, then meet back here in an hour? Then maybe we can have about an hour and a half longer to hang out together." "Hmmm, alright!" I agree. We both pull up our phones' map app and remember to meet back up by Maple Street. "Good luck exploring!" I wave, dashing into the woods and scattering leaves in my wake. I have no idea where to go, so I just run, feeling the thrill of the chase billow through me, bright as lightning. I feel the wind in my ears, howling like a distant, breathy wolf howl. Finally, when my heart felt like it was about to beat out of my chest, I flopped down on a log, panting. "Where...am...I?" I mutter to myself between gulps of water from my water bottle I'm very happy to have packed. I was in a leafy clearing, with leaf covered logs in the center that looks like it could have been an old meeting place. I pull out my phone and save the location, hoping to come back later. I drop down to the ground and start quading around this seemingly man-made area. Lower to the ground, I was able to spot more details. That's when I see it - a trapdoor, made out of wooden planks, covered in moss, leaves and stones to make it look more natural. I can clearly tell this wasn't supposed to be discovered, but my overbearing curiosity gets the better of me, and my breath catches in my throat as I lift open the cover . . . (Ch. 2 pt. 2 and 3 are in the N + C)
➽ Chapter 2 (pt. 2) ★ Juniper POV I hear the quiet rustling of leaves as Tess bounds away into the forest, leaving me by myself. I stand there for a moment, trying to figure out where to go, when I see a weathered, dusty path, covered in crumbly brown dead leaves as well as sticks and branches. "Well, that's convenient," I smirk, pouncing onto the ground and quading down the path. After a bit of running, the trees fade away and reveal a lush, soft field that leads down to a lake and a small marshy area, that somehow seems to call to me. I slid down the hill that led to the water and plopped onto a sandbar by the water. I touched the water before I could think, triggering an unexpected, fleeting flash of images. A marshy, reedy brook, a sparkling blue lake, and a furry brown otter swimming in a stream - wait, no, a...weasel...no, a...a mink! I could nearly feel the water rushing around me... I jolt back to real life, instinctively and firmly planting my hands and knees onto the ground to steady myself. I groan as I realize I felt the water because I literally fell in. I'm on a couple dark, mossy stones, and I shake myself off, hopping out of the shallow water and back onto the sandbar. It would make sense, I reflect... foxes avoided water whenever they could, but I loved it. Sometimes, I ran with a loping gait, and I felt longer and lower to the ground. A mink. I'd done a school project on them, but I didn't know much. It made sense. I was not only a silver fox, but a mink. ➽ Chapter 2 (pt. 3) ★ Juno POV This was it. I had ENOUGH with school. As the teacher's voice droned on and on and on, I hop out of my seat and rush towards the door. Don't look back, I tell myself, skidding down the hallway and slamming my body into the Exit doors. I check my surroundings. Okay, a big field, with a big, tall chain-link fence at the end. My head pounds, I've never took such a big risk before, alone... At the other side of the fence, though, is a big, flowery circle of trees, blooming and glowing with golden sunlight. It leads to a deeper, thicker, beautiful forest behind it. Yes. Yes! It's perfect, I can hide here. My impulsive choices have never gotten me far in life, I reflect, but maybe they will this time. I dash across the field, the fresh spring grass crunching under my boots. Now I can be like the other schools, with spring break! I leap onto the fence. Siamese cat climbing skills: activated. I dig my fingers and small feet into the holes like claws, then slowly, repeatedly reach up higher and put my feet in the place where my fingers were. When I finally reach the top, I position myself in a sitting position, perched on the tips of my feet, preparing my muscles. In a cat-like leap that took much practice, I bound onto a flowering tree's branch, then onto an old, faded stone bench beneath it. This is it. I escaped. I'm...free. For now... First: Previous: same as above Next:
