The Black Forest

The journey through the forest was always fairly pleasant. The weather was always fair and there were only mild obstacles along the path. There was plenty of pleasant scenes and small wonders as well as the occasional mishap or sad sight. Throughout it all everyone of the group stuck together, toughing out situations that arose. Laughter was had by all and not one person was not well taken care of by the rest of the group. It was pure happiness.

Sometime later….well into the journey a young girl of the group fell gravely ill. Everyone ignored the sickness at first, as it seemed to come and go. Eventually, the group member fell so ill that a rest was in order. Angered, the rest of the group failed to stop their journey for one person and they continued on with the needed medicine for the sickness, something they had never done before.

Brutally hurt by the lack of compassion, the lone group member, still very sick, got up and kept on, trying to find the rest of the group. Confused by the unprovoked abandonment, she searched and searched the now dark and muddy forest for any human contact. Crying, but blaming herself for the illness, the group member didn’t care that the group left her. Eventually the group was found very, very far ahead. The very ill group member ran on to the leader who happened to be the ill group member’s closest and longest friend. Latching on the the leader, the group member asked why they all left her behind.

“You aren’t worth having around.”

Startled, devastated and confused by the statement the very sick girl began to cry. The group’s leader looked on stone-faced, shaking the ill one’s loose grip off. The rest of the group picked up their belongings and moved on. It was very cold, dark and raining where they stood with the sickly former group member…and they were longing to get to the sunshine. They passed by the sick one without so much as a glance.

Extremely cold and brutally sick, she laid in the mud, crying until the physical tears would no longer come. Staggering up, the sick one, full of determination and belief that what the group said they did not mean, she pressed on once again for the group. Minutes became hours, hours became days. Lost, lonely and aching the very sick girl came, at long last, upon the group of her once friends. They were surrounded by sunshine and clear blue skies, and if the girl could just push herself to run a little faster and plead a little harder she knew shed be a part of that weather again.

As she gained ground, the group was crossing a long bridge over a very murky, dirty and deep river. Just as the last person stepped off the bridge, it crumpled into nothingness. The group looked back across the river at the sick girl who was shouting for them to help her. They laughed and turned their backs, and moved on. The sick girl watched as they left her behind. She cried as she stepped into the river. It was unbearably cold and polluted. She knew she couldn’t swim it or she’d drown if she didn’t die from the pollution first. She spent days finding a point shallow enough to cross, and by this time the group was far ahead once again.

By this time the girl was severely sick, cold, hungry, dirty and drenched in blood. The illness was encompassing her and the medicine was with the group. As she sat under a tall tree as the rain poured down, she cried and cried for an answer and an end to the suffering. Only one answer was evident. However, deep down she knew if she could just catch up to the group and let them see how much she was suffering, they’d remember how much they loved her and they‘d give her the medicine. She believed this deep down in her heart and she stood up and with all her courage, moved onward.

More days passed and the group was spotted once again. The sick girl wasted not one second. She ran on the sorest of feet to the group’s leader and latched onto her feet, begging and pleading for an end to the suffering. “Don’t you remember how I used to be before I fell ill?” she asked. “If you give me the medicine I shall return to my old self and we’d could all be a happy group again.” The group leader flinched not. The group trudged on, with the sick girl holding tightly to the leader’s legs. “Please!” she begged. It fell on deaf ears. The leader moved forward dragging the sick girl across the rocky earth. The jagged rocks dug deep cuts into the girl’s body, yet she held on, begging and sobbing with stories of the early days. All the girl wanted was a chance to get better. The group leader, filled with hate and rage, halted the group’s journey and reached inside her backpack. Using the sharpest knife she could find within, she severed the girl’s left hand from her left leg. The cry of pain was deafening. The girl lie on the ground screaming ad sobbing.

No one cared at all.

They moved along. Although she was in excruciating pain, the sick girl couldn’t let them get away or she would sure die without ever seeing them again. She used her other hand to latch onto another ex-friend moving past, thinking the sobbing would get them to listen and give her medicine. Laughing, the ex-friend took out her own knife and sliced the girl’s right hand off. Everything was moving so fast. No one was stopping. The girl knew she was moments from death. She moved to block another ex-friend’s path and he took out a double-edged sword and sliced open her chest. The blood drained out and the girl fell to her knees. Through tears she screamed and searched the passing group for someone to give her some medicine. After all this torture the girl STILL thought of hope. The group trampled her like a stampede. Her body was mangled, every bone was broken. Every person had passed by, every person that had before cared so much for her, passed by. She was too sick to be saved they said. Though they never gave her any medicine to try to save her even at the beginning. The dying girl yelled at them with feigned hate that lasted but a minute. The dying girl couldn’t hate what she truly loved.

As she lay dying on the cold, muddy, wet ground she saw the last group member approach. The dying girl knew this would be the final test. As the last group member slowed to a stop to examine the dying girl, the dying girl felt a wave of soothing kindness pass over her. It lasted but a moment as the she heard the group leader yell from far ahead:


“Don’t stop just kill it.”


The dying girl’s eyes opened wide as she look at the last passing group member with love. A love so deep it made the sick girl feel as though she was still 100% percent healthy. How could she love someone so much and have it mean nothing? Surely this last group member would ignore the rest of group and the group leader and help her. With suspense that would make the sane go crazy she watched the last group member with anticipation.

“If you can get up to walk, Ill stay and walk with you.”

The dying girl was confused. “All my bones are broken, how can I walk? Couldn’t you stay with me until I get better?” She looked up at the love of her life with nothing but hope.

The last group member looked toward the now-stopped and waiting group of her peers and down at the sick, dying, pathetic girl on the ground. There was the promise of sunshine and laughter with her peers and lots of work with the dying girl. Without so much as a word of warning the last group member took her knife out of her backpack and shoved it as hard as she could into the sick girl’s exposed heart, twisting and turning it, taking it out and stabbing again, until the dying girl was finally dead. She fell face down at the last group member’s feet. The group member looked up at the leader. They exchanged a smile. It was over. They killed that sick, ugly, disgusting monster of hope, love, and loyalty.