Exploration Comfort - (Anyone can add to the tale)

The air was crisp today. Not like any other day. The air made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I was making my way through the woods to the old house I used to go to as a small child. I knew the old house was still standing because I saw recent photos of it. I loved these dear woods. I'm glad I was moving back to the area after graduating college. I hated living in the drab city during my college years. I felt comfort in the change of seasons. The fallen leaves crunched beneath my feet as I climbed over fallen trees. I began thinking of all the good times I've had here as a child exploring these woods. The old house was left abandoned long before I was born. But when I was younger it was still in decent shape. Nothing out of place. I continued my way through the woods listening to the leaves crunch with each steps and a bird carry out it's tune in the distance. I climbed over another fallen tree and pushed the branches out of the way. The old house came into view. The driveway was long overgrown, I could see a snake slither through the tall grass. I walked up the driveway taking a good look at the house as it was now. The glass of the windows was long gone, and the front door was crooked on it's hinges. The grass was making it's way through the floorboards of the porch as nature was beginning to take hold of this old home. I stepped onto the porch hearing the floorboards creak with old age. I climbed into a window to see what used to be a living room. Bushes have now began to grow in through the windows. I looked at thold picture frames of the family. It was so odd how they seemed to disappear. No one ever found out what happened to this family in 1917. The house was still in good condition as the vandals haven't managed to find this place to destroy. My beautiful wooded sanctuary. Since the vandals haven't claimed this for their vandalizing pleasure, the furniture and belongings were still here. I walked into what looked like a study. The sun was shining through a hole in the roof. The books still stood in straight rows on the bookshelves. The scent of mold filled the room as the pages of the books were exposed to rain. Pictures were still preserved well in the bottom drawer of the desk. I flipped through them smiling at each picture. I went up to the bedrooms and saw the elegant clothing now filled with holes due to the mice needed materials for their bedding. I went out the back door to the barn. The barn had long since caved in. Which was a shame. When I was a small child I would go back there with my cousins and we'd play in the old loft. We probably could have died tons of times. But we didn't care. We were having fun. Swinging on the long rope down to the hay. It was fun times back then. I miss them dearly. The old garage was still in good condition. The glass was the only thing missing from the windows. Other than that the structure was in top-notch condition for being left to nature for so long. I made my way over to the garage to see what items I would find within it.

As i walked my dog passed the woods, she stopped. It had been a while since seeing this area. I had been gone to my college and all the friends i had made there thought i was crazy to go back to my "little town of nowhere" as the said. To be honest I'm not much for the city, I love the smell of woods and pine. My mother had even been kind enough to take care of Kiki my dog and keep my room clean and dust free for me. Kiki started barking and tugging on the leash trying to go into the woods. To be completely honest i had never gone to far back into them, for fear of getting lost, even though i had grown up here and knew some of my old friends had probably return from their colleges. So i let Kiki lead me into the woods. I saw a few birds who had made their nest in the old hollow tree that still stood. Some of the old trees that once stood here had fallen and moss had grown over them. I smiled as i thought back to when i was young. I used to come here and climb these trees, my mom would always scold me later but it was worth it seeing the forest in a different view. I had loved to be with nature from day one. I continued to let Kiki lead me farther as she sniffed the air and ground every now and then. Several times she even changed directions.