Are we lost.

new nonsense. no promises.

Hetho? Hetho? Where art thou?

only when his voice was soft.

Hetho!

hetho didn’t like loud noises. they always frightened him.

Hethooo!

he yelled anyway. he didn’t understand. through thick foliage the sun peeked through and brought his light.
Her light? mother called the sun she and father called the sun he...

Hethooo!

Did it matter? hetho was still hiding. Hetho always hid. He didn’t trust him. Even when he was nice and brought him apples, he didn’t trust him.

Heth-

To his left. The snap of a fallen twig. Hetho. No. It could’ve  been a rabbit. Could’ve been anything. Hetho wouldn’t make that mistake. He was too smart.
He had to check it out. No stone unturned.
The trees were thicker this way. Quiet. He couldn’t hear the cicadas anymore. Couldn’t hear anything. The sound of dead leaves crumbling under his feet seemed muffled. Those footsteps slowed, slowed till he was inching. Inching towards something. Something. What?

H-H-Hetho?

Why was he there?
It was time to go home. He wrapped his arms around himself, shuddered breaths misting before his eyes. It was the middle of summer.
And when he turned he saw what he turned away from. He turned. Turned. Turned. Why was everything the same? He came from the left.Not that left. The left...his head pounded. Lost. They told him. Told him before he went to bed. Little boys who wandered off into the forest were lost forever. Boys who made their mother mad and ran away would be swallowed up by the trees. Turned into ugly goblins. No one loved goblins.
Everyone would forget about him. Hetho wouldn’t save him.

The prayer.

Didn’t think further. Dropped to his knees, bowed his head. Had to prostrate before god. ANd he spoke softly.
“Please help me. Please.”
Couldn’t remember the actual prayer. but god heard all things. every scream and whimper. surely he would show mercy. He knelt there, forehead pressed into the ground, whimpering, waiting. All he had to do was clean his room.
He heard something move in front of him.
Looked up into eyes black as obsidian.
“He...Hetho?”
Hetho stared his head cocked to the side. Look confused.
“Why are you here?” he asked.
“I’m...I’m scared.”
“This is no place for little boys.”
“Hetho....”
He wondered if this was his world. The black forest, devoid of warmth and light.
“Can you take me away from here?” He asked him.
“...I can’t. I can’t save little boys who have been bad.”
“...please help me...”
“you were bad to your momma. and now she is sad. she’ll be sad for a long time.”
“Why? Just take me out of this part of the forest! Please, Hetho!”
“No. No no no. I’m going to eat you.”
Seemed like moments ago he was under the aegis of his home. smelled the slow baking chocolate cake as it rounded into completion and smiled. Everything was perfect. Almost perfect. Now he stared into the maw of a beast. Its mouth opened along his stomach. Teemed with teeth long like his mother’s carving knife, turned brown from age. And saliva ran through the gaps of his teeth, over the flap of skin that mimicked the bottom lip. Hissed and steamed as it hit the forest floor.
“Hetho..”
And where was god?
“Begone, demon.”
The voice of a woman, songlike in her diction.
Hetho turned from him, and he turned from Hetho. Burried his head in the ground again. Too much to bear. Just let it pass. Death or salvation, let it pass.
Then he felt heat rush by him, a roar of flame, a scream garbled by pain. The fire was eating him. Reducing him to nothing.
The heat subsided all at once, and the forest was silent again.
“Hetho...”
“Raise your head.
Slowly he did as she commanded. His sight trailed up the hem of her white robe, up till he me  her green eyes.
“Why are you shaking?”
His mouth wouldn’t move.
“Oh..are you afraid of me?”
Even Hetho was a monster. Who was she?
“I suppose that makes sense. Do you think I want to eat you too?”
“...maybe.”
“Oooh..”
She knelt in front of him, held her hand out to him. He drew away, scurried backwards like a small animal.
“Don’t worry, little one. You’re far too skinny to be my dinner. Besides, I really don’t like the taste of men, anyway.”
“...you’ve eaten people before?”
She only smiled in response. That smile was guarding something.
“I won’t hurt you, I promise.”
“..o...”
Who else was there to trust?
“..ok. But..what are you?”
“I’m a witch.”