I forced myself to breathe. In for four. Out for four.
Panic was a cold hand squeezing my throat, but I couldn't let it win.
I was barefoot. I was shivering in thin silk pajamas. And I was standing in the middle of a forest that felt completely alien.
The trees here were ancient—massive oaks and redwoods that blotted out the sky. There were no trails, no hiking markers, no signs of human life. Just endless, suffocating green.
It happened again, I thought, a surge of anger warring with the fear. I went to sleep in a bed and woke up in the wilderness.
I started walking, wincing as twigs and rocks dug into the soles of my feet. The silence was absolute. Unlike the Ripper Woods, where I had slaughtered the wildlife, there were no carcasses here. Just an emptiness that felt heavy, as if th
