The forest breathes heavily in the dark

The night sky is inky black

Gazing up at the tangled web of branches overhead, you see

There is no moonlight or starlight to help you find your way

The snow is deep – up to your knees

Like walking through wet cement

The canopy of leaves above sigh through the stifling air

Like a far-off ocean swell from the sunlit time when you were young and happy

And the woods creak agonizingly, just a little bit, under the stress of a muted breeze

And you know you are being hunted

By that which frightened you most when you were just a child

Lost in the deathly shadows of the forest

In the middle of the night

Snow relentlessly falling

Alone