Lost in the Darkness

Darkness… hides things from sight… and you never know what could be lurking… Walking home in the dark has always bothered Jade all her life because to her it always felt almost like the darkness would follow her and sometimes it felt like there was something just waiting to consume her whole. When it was well after midnight, she felt was one of the worst times to be walking home alone. You never know what or who could be waiting in the dark. However, walking home this late could not be helped today. Her shift working had been supposed to end at 6:00 pm, but Ashley, her co-waitress, had called in because her kid, Travis, was sick and he had to be taken to the doctor. When Darrel, her boss, asked Jade if she could stay, of course she said yes. If not, who would cover the tables at the diner while Darrel cooked all the food orders in the kitchen for the customers. Darrel was the owner of the Dino Diner with his lovely wife, Melonie, who was out of town for the week right now. Melonie and Darrel were a very sweet nerdy couple. Melonie was an archeologist and would sometimes travel all over. Melonie and Darrel met when they were in college and , they bonded over their love for dinosaurs. Darrel was studying to be a chef and Melonie an archeologist, they had kept In touch and had now been married for close to 7 years. Plus, she could always use the extra hours and extra pay from working overtime at the diner especially with the holidays coming up since many places might temporarily close for some of the time as well as the weather that could hit this time of year. Jade lived alone so everything was all on her. Jade liked to live alone with out having to worry about her disturbing someone or someone disturbing her. It made for a peaceful time when she wasn’t working and wasn’t going to school. Jade appreciates peace because it felt so much better than having to be in constant conflict or chaos especially sense most of her life had been a series of events that were complete chaos in so many ways basically all her life. Jade loved school it was a wonderful haven that brought her much joy. It was a nice outlet that let her learn whatever she wanted to and let her see others’ ideas and hear their opinions. As a bonus, socialize with other people since she did not want to live with roommates and did not socialize much otherwise compared to many others her age who were her peers. It helped that she was classified as a brilliant genius in the academic hierarchy because she had been able to get enough scholarships to cover all her school expenses with some left over to help with other costs. Jade was cautious walking home this late at night due to how dark it was especially since the forest surrounded about three quarters of the town of Trinity. There were not a ton of lights on the way to her place so she usually tried to work from early open until just a couple hours before sundown just to be on the safer side of things. Jade moved to the town of Trinity about six months ago when Westfieldington college had offered her a full scholarship after she applied. Not long after she was accepted, she had moved into her small little house in Trinity for her to go to school. She had gone looking for a bite to eat while in the process of unpacking and ended up at the Dino Diner with a help wanted sign in the window which was great luck for her since she needed a job anyhow. It seemed like Fate and felt great to have luck on her side since she was offered the job immediately. It was quiet as Jade walked home on the dimly lit road the led to her little house. She was glad she had left her outside lights on by accident when she had rushed out the door early in the morning In a crazy hurry. The lights helped act as a guided light home for her since it was so late. “ Ah,almost time to relax.” She thought in her head as she was almost to her house. Suddenly, Jade heard noise to her left almost like a whimpering sound . Jade thought it might be better to ignore it but her empathic heart made her feel otherwise. The path to her house was very close to the forest so it could be anything and that is what made her worried about checking it out. However, she was not far from her house so she thought it would probably be alright if she just checked quickly. Her body had already made to decision to go in the direction of the whimpering sound she had heard. Jade walked closer to the forest and realized the sound was coming from a few feet within the trees and bushes. Skeptically, Jade looked back at her house with the lights and then at the dark forest. Sighing deeply she worried if she was going to regret this decision to figure out what was making the sound, Jade slowly fished out a small flashlight from her bag and decided to check out what the noise was and where it was coming from. Jade pushed passed some overgrown blueberry bushes shining her flashlight around. Then cautiously walked deeper into the dark forest with her flashlight in hand. Jade walked about two or three more feet into the forest then heard the whimpering noise yet again. Carefully looking around , she noticed two little pink shoes covered in dirt tucked underneath a bush next to a tall draping tree . Jade walked closer and called out “ hello, my name is Jade, are you okay little one? Come here, Ill bring you out of the forest.” The little pink shoes shifted nervously. A beautiful little girl crawled out slowly from underneath the bush. The little girl didn’t look older than four years old who was dressed in a pink dress that matched her shoes. “ Come here little one. Did you get lost?” says Jade as she took a step towards the frightened and crying little girl. “What is your name?” asked Jade trying to comfort the little girl in pink. “ Daphne” says the little girl in pink with a whimpering sniffle. “Well Daphne, come on along with me. I will Take you out of the forest and to my house which is not far from here then help you call your family, Alright? I am sure they are very worried about you.” With a whimpering sniffle Daphne shakes her head yes and takes Jade’s offered hand. Jade and Daphne walked back out of the forest holding hands and go straight to Jade house.