I walked home with my phone, ID card and keys in my hand. I took the normal route the same old dark winding gravel road. Twisting conspicuously up the forest of bare trees. My parents loved the idea of being somewhere no one else would go. They surely accomplished that.

I put my AirPods in and turned on my winter playlist. As I walked I could hear the crunch of snow and gravel under my dirty, worn out sneakers. I liked that they were dirty though, I can’t really explain why I just love it.

I noticed something odd as I was walking down the old road of loose rocks that I know so well. I’ve walked the same path for years and years, pretty much my whole life. But suddenly as of today there’s a fork. You can keep going straight or go to the right.

At this point I was deep in the woods and who would live out here right by us. I figured my parents just finally started building the storage shed they talked about for months now. So I curiously walked down the right path. I strayed away from the small lanterns that line the old path, the same old, rusty metal and glass lanterns that have always lit this path. The farther I got from the fork, the darker it got. I pulled out my phone and turned the flashlight on.

As I walked a small object came into view. It was pretty and shiny, but was an odd shaped box. It looked almost like some sort of.. coffin? But it was too small to be a coffin. It had a key hole on it. A familiar key hole. I’ve seen it before. But I can’t think of where. I pull out my key ring and flip through every key on it I found one that was an odd shape and I didn’t really recognize it. I knew it was mine I just.. forgot it.. somehow.

I was feeling nervous and my hand began to shake as I grabbed the key and directed it toward the lock. I tried to steady it but then I realized I wasn’t nervous, not really I was excited. I shoved the key into the lock and it made a screech like fingernails on a chalkboard. I turned the key and winced slightly at the loud click. I took a deep breath in and when I released my breath I could see a puff of air that looked a little like smoke. I could feel my heart thumping and my nose was freezing, I could tell it was a shade of pink I didn’t even know existed.

I slowly lifted the lid open and it creaked so loud I was worried that my parents would hear it from home and would come to see what I was doing. I held my phone up to aim the flashlight inside when my phone cut off. It couldn’t have been dead it was just at 76%.

I blinked about a thousand times to try and get my eyes adjusted to the dark. They did enough I could see but the shadows in the box made it impossible to see inside so I reached my hand in and pulled out a small wet necklace. It sparkled and was gorgeous. I put my thumb on the clasp to open it then put the necklace around my neck. I reached in to see what else was inside. I felt something slimy and squishy, it felt a little like half hardened slime.

I pulled out the oddly shaped slime ball and held it close to my face to see what it was. When I noticed my breath was stolen out of my lungs and I couldn’t think. I tried my hardest to scream but I couldn’t. No sound came out when I tried. I dropped the object on the ground and ran back home so fast that I couldn’t feel that my legs were a part of my body anymore I could’ve tripped at any moment.

I ran inside and flung the door open. My mom was cooking dinner in the kitchen to the left and my dad came out of his bedroom on the right looking concerned. I was panting so hard and looked down at my hands and saw the blood. Once I caught my breath all I could say was “new….path…heart.. box.. real heart!” I was shaking like a chihuahua. Tears were streaming down my face. And I screamed “THERE WAS A HEART! A HUMAN HEART!” My parents looked at each other like I was crazy. I held up my hands to show them the blood and said “see-“ but the blood was gone.

I ran back out the door and down the path. My lungs were burning from the cold air filling them. But I didn’t care I ran back to the spot that the fork was. But the path didn’t curve to the left. It just stayed straight. I patted my chest and neck area desperately searching for the necklace but I no longer had it. I fell to my knees and held my chest trying to catch my breath but the cold air was burning my lungs. I began sobbing trying to slow my breathing down but I was panicking. I finally slowed my breathing but I couldn’t stand so I laid on the hard gravel and prayed my parents would come to find me. But they never did.