I was walking home from my friend's house. Along this dirt road a farm was to the west and untamed woods to the east. Staring deep into the wood's mysterious recesses I noticed a green glow. Squinting stepped under the bows of the first trees. After about 30 feet I was becoming scared. The sun would be setting soon and I really didn't want to get lost. Not in these woods. I knew I should go back but now it was to late.

I was being drawn deeper into the forest. Unaware of the danger, I walked closer to the glowing green light. It moved further away. The sun was setting and I continued to follow the calling only I heard. Somewhere in the back of my head I heard a voice scream, "No! Stop! Get away from here! Turn around! STOP!" but my feet were no longer my own. The light beckoned to me again. "Come…come to me…closer…" The voice was unearthly, and, although I understood it, it was neither English nor sound. It was heard only by me, in my head. I was lost to myself. Nothing mattered now except going to It.

The sky was pitch black. Somewhere, far, far back in my head I wondered why my feet never faltered. It was almost like I knew this country, though I had never been here before. I was running, and the calling was stronger. "Yes…you must get there soon, very soon, Hurry!" The voice in my head hissed. My breath came in gasps and I wasn't sure when I would be allowed to stop.

The night wore on; running like the wind to the commands in my head, issued by some unseen force. I ran over hills, under logs, between trees, across a stream, through meadows, but always towards the green glow. When the moon set and the sun was about to rise, my legs gave out. I was not ordered to get up, so there I slept.

I awoke with a start! The stars were winking on and It was ready for me to get moving. I looked around. Each tree was silhouetted, a dark figure leering at me. The whole forest seemed to glow, but it was greenest to the east. At the first step I took in that direction the little girl in me quaked and threatened to break down from pure terror. The rest of me, unafraid and driven by a will not my own, took another step. With every step further east the little girl in me, the true me, withdrew further and relented to the uncontrollable force driving me east. Subconsciously I knew what was there but the part of me that could still think freely had not grasped the connection. I walked on, bewildered, through the trees that were lit by the green glow to the east. The terrain grew rougher and sloped upward. The soil beneath my feet was sandy now and no trees grew about me. I was alone under the crescent moon. Abruptly I stopped. I knew where I was. Up ahead was the cliff where Charlene and Monica had disappeared while camping at the foot of the cliff, only 180 feet below me. I was in a daze, trying to find the connection. It was still moving me closer to the edge against my will. I fought with all the will I had left, inches from the brink. This must have been how they disappeared. "Why us?" I wondered.

The green glow coming from the foot of the cliff was almost blinding. "Jump…" It urged me. "Join us…" It hissed in my head. "No! NO! I don't want to die!" wailed the little girl in me. But she no longer had control. She knew It was in control of my body. Everything was clear to the other part of me, the part It controlled. I blanched one last time at the edge of the cliff, wobbling at the brink. The little girl in me lost. I stepped forward, and knew no more.