"Visena..."

The darkness around the woman's bed of autumn leaves cradled her as she jolted awake, an eerie silence filling her ears. Suppressing the urge to call out into the unknown pitch-dark, she opted to sink deeper into the dry foliage crunching under her flesh.

Even without sight, her nakedness became apparent, the crispy leaves scratching along every crevice of her body. She swore softly, swiping at her buttocks and thighs as a tickling sensation stole her attention, praying she wouldn't become a feast for tiny insects. Or larger ones... She shivered at the thought.

For hours she lay still, letting her shaky breathing lull her into a state of meditation until the surrounding landscape turned greyscale from the tediously slow rising sun. Only then, as ancient tree trunks and shrubbery appeared around her, did she notice another absence: her memory. She did not know who she was or where she came from.

Taking a quick look over herself in the growing light, she found no obvious markings or injuries on her body besides a small spattering of bruises around her ankle. Standing, she swept her hands across herself, dislodging any debris and started walking, hoping something would become familiar.

She wandered feebly around the forest. Her stomach ached, and she limped as her feet received repetitive slices from hidden jagged objects. A few times, she dropped to her knees and crawled when the pain became too much, though it would quickly ebb, and when she looked at her feet, they appeared scabbed over. Her brow furrowed as she poked her soles, picking at the dried blood and dirt.

What am I?

Tall evergreens seemed to mock her, standing thickly upon moist soil, their tops disappearing into silver mist above. At first, the direction she walked appeared straight, but she sat defeated after seeing the same mossy boulder three times.

Her soft nails bent and tore as she picked at the grey-green rock, leaving a ruddy stain. Then, leaning her head against the cold stone, her eyes dropped to an old bendy twig on the ground, and she twisted it into a knot, throwing it into the brush with a grunt. She blinked as the branches and the finger painting markings suddenly gave her an ingenious idea.

Jumping up, she plucked a handful of scraggly branches from a nearby conifer, tied both ends, and made a loop. She lay it atop the boulder like a crown and marched away with a satisfied smile.

"I hope never to see you again, you bloody, mossy bastard!" she called behind her before threading another loop over a nearby tree, marking a path.

Nightfall came quickly, and she tucked herself against an old pine; its circumference, she counted, was eight arms wide.

"Goodnight, big guy," she said, sighing contentedly and keeping one hand pressed against the soft bark in an awkward embrace.

After hours of light and fitful dozing, she awoke at dawn with a start. The repeated whispering in her dreams finally made sense.

"My name!" she panted, squeezing herself tightly with a smile, relieved to have something of her own finally.

"Visena."

After a time of trudging and muttering happily about her name, Visena came across a large, folded blue tarpaulin. She stalked around the tightly wrapped bundle and poked at it with a rotting stick. When it didn't move or make a noise, she scooped it up and tugged the frayed twine bow string around it.

Meticulously tucked inside were a half-dozen energy bars, an old t-shirt, and oversized men's sweatpants. Turning one of the tiny rectangular morsels in her hands, she read the ingredients.

"Peanuts, dates, fruit. Blah, blah, blah. May contain hard pieces, and colour may vary. Keep out of direct sunlight..."

Visena contemplated the safety of eating the ancient-looking bar before shrugging and stuffing it in her mouth greedily. Despite its crumbling, moistureless texture, her eyes rolled back as the sweetness coated her tongue. She stopped after the second one realising it might be the only food for a while, and the lack of water made her tongue swell. Then, quickly dressing in the suspiciously soft clothes, she pressed on, dragging the tarp behind her.

After the last incident from the day before, Visena continued her expert trail marking. She only walked in a complete circle once before perfecting the distance between markers. Ten steps. Ten tiny steps!

"I must nearly be out of here. Wherever here is."

The sky darkened quickly that day, and Visena slept curled under her crinkling blue tarp, waking in a small clearing a few hours later. As she readied to sit up, orienting her position in the darkness, growls and hoots echoed from nearby. She froze, paralysed in the footlong dew-coated grass-the forest now clearly on the periphery of her location and too far to crawl undetected.

She lay on her back and stared at the starless, moonless sky, gulping painfully. Her eyes made out rough outlines around her but nothing that could own the sounds she heard. Branches snapped and crackled as the mysterious creatures stalked the treeline.

What the fuck is going on?

After a slight gurgle in her gut, Visena pressed a hand desperately to her abdomen, furious she hadn't finished the bloody energy bars. If she had, she wouldn't be at risk of alerting apparent monsters with her rumbling stomach. Dozens of low grunts and huffs sounded around her as she curled into a ball.

Please go away! The swishing of grass and crackling twigs grew louder, and her chest tightened. She was glad for the lack of water as her bladder would have happily released its contents across the ground.

However, within the second it took for Visena to squeeze her eyes shut in terror, the night turned to midday, and she was alone, back under the pine tree and tarp.

"What the fu-" Bile ejected from her cracking lips as she spoke, and her eyes adjusted to the burning daylight as dizziness made her head leaden.

Visena knew the phenomenon she experienced was impossible despite being unsure about her circumstances. Yet a familiar sensation rippled down her spine.

This place is not the Earth realm.

The sudden thought wasn't shocking, which only amplified her confusion. She rubbed her temples and sighed, folding her tarp and nestling it under her arms.

That day of dazed wandering brought loneliness. Visena ate two more bars, which she could hardly swallow, and sweated the last drops of water from her body. A wet patch of soil seduced her aching feet, and she sat, letting its coolness caress her cracked soles.

Reclining, Visena stared at the treetops, breaching wisps of silver mist into the sunshine, when a nagging pang in her chest distracted her. Ignoring it for a few minutes, she sprawled on the dirt like a starfish and blinked rapidly. Despite her stress, she couldn't make a single tear. Instead, her face contorted into a full pout, and she rubbed her eyes roughly.

Cry, damn you!

Her attempts to force emotion only stopped when she thought she could hear the faintest trickle of water nearby. With a gasp, Visena rolled onto her stomach and crawled across the hard ground towards some thick brush. Through the spiky leaves, she spotted a sheer drop. At the base of the tiny crag, a small crystalline creek called out to her.

"Holy shit."

She haphazardly swung bruised legs over the edge and lowered herself, caking her front in mud. Then, kneeling by the water's edge, she peered into the smooth surface. Visena's brows furrowed as she took in her unusual appearance. Her colourless- perhaps silver eyes searched her face for recognition, but she found nothing as she reached up and poked at her dirty cheeks. Again, nothing. The tangled nest of hair on her scalp appeared white from the root; the rest stained brown from the earth she slept on for days.

She groaned and smacked the water to distort her reflection, forming a cup with her hands. Then, scooping the crisp liquid, she drank as much as her stomach would allow. She took a few gasping breaths, vomited once and drank some more when suddenly, an ethereal, feminine voice spoke in her mind.

'Follow the river downstream.'

"Mother?" Visena smiled into her wet hands at the command. "My mother told me that."

The familiarity of the voice gave her hope, but after peering through the cracks of her fingers, she saw the water was still. Completely still.

"There is no downriver..." she moaned, swiping the cool creek water across her cheeks.

"Dammit."

Getting back to her feet, Visena walked along the edge of the water for a bit before kicking it in frustration.

"Will you just move?"

A surge of tingling energy rippled down her body, and the water started to flow rapidly in the direction she kicked. Her bushy brows shot into her hairline.

"Woah..."

Birdsong erupted around her, and she realised she hadn't heard any creatures in the forest for hours. After fumbling through their home for days, she was sure they couldn't still be bothered by her.

Maybe I'm being watched.

The thought sent ice down her spine. Confident it couldn't be the monsters from the night before, considering how noisy they were, Visena assumed people could be responsible. But even the threat of people nearby had her shivering.

The creek eventually opened into a large body of water, its border framed by millions of egg-shaped rocks. She skimmed a few before frowning at the clear waters, yet again noticing it wasn't flowing. Even the shoreline was still as if the water was a giant puddle.

"What the hell is this place?"

Visena watched as the sun tiredly drooped beneath the horizon while sitting along the pebbled shore. A continuous speck of light glimmered slightly to the right, and she stared as it winked from the trees rhythmically.

She waved at it, and the tempo of its flickering sped up. Her heart thumped along with it. She spent a few minutes making sure it didn't come any closer, and when it didn't, she let out a relieved breath.

"You stay right there, weird light," she commanded, carefully tucking herself beneath her tarp. It winked one last time before she let her eyelids flutter shut.

When she woke that night, she heard something from beneath her crinkling blue fabric in the undying dark. She could not be sure whether in her head or somewhere in the forest.

Her mother's voice. Harsh and ragged. Despairing.

"Visena..."

A/N

I've done a bit of a revamp of the chapter to make it more linear; if you're a rereader, let me know what you think xx.