I crawled through the woods on my hands and knees. My skin soaked up every drop of moisture it could from the dirt and moss, as I hadn’t ingested a drop of food or water in at least two days. It might have been longer, but time had no meaning to me. I knew that I was lost but I wasn’t trying to be found. I had come here to die.
I gave up crawling and lie on the dirt and waited for death to escort me out of this hell. The ground beneath me was cold and wet but my body didn’t shiver. It welcomed this form of torture.
My cheek smothered the dirt beneath it. I could sense the worms and bugs just below the surface, milling about without any knowledge of my impending release from humanity. I took a shallow breath and inhaled the woodsy, musky smells. I stretched my arms out one last time to hug the earth as it took me in. The last thing I saw was a deer staring at me, contemplating whether or not I was its predator. Not today, I mused. I smiled, closed my eyes and surrendered.