Never There

It started with a crunch of leaves.

It always does. The girl with the long hair, wrapped warm against the coming winter, walking to clear her head, to get away from controlling parents or perhaps a disagreeable boyfriend, or simply on a long run in a new place; beautiful but unfamiliar. This girl is a stranger to her surroundings, unaware that she is about to be the start (and finish) of an arduous story with pleasant apprehension.