I stood alone in the darkened forest. Shimmering fog seemed to capture strands of moonlight, spinning it around me like a gossamer spider’s web. I was certain that this place was perfect- it was a place where stories could meet and grow. Yet no one else had arrived. Perhaps I had misconstrued the intent of the others. What I had thought were flashlights had vanished making me believe that they were will o’ the wisps or figments of a lonely imagination. I should have known that I would have gotten there first. Everyone else had something better to do.

A cold shiver ran through me. Perhaps no one was coming at all. It was very possible that the others were drawn entirely of my own dreams and that I was well and truly alone.

Pulling my coat tighter, I settled against a rock whose strange flat planes suggested that it had broken off of some larger boulder though there were no other fragments around. I fingered the frayed thread that had once held a white button. It wouldn’t hurt to wait a little bit longer yet.