I clawed at the dirt behind the tree roots, half-expecting to find something, an opening, anything...but there was nothing. I whatever had caused the doorway to open was now closed. I hadn't expected it to close from this end, so I was at a loss for what to do.
A movement glimpsed in the corner of my eye made me freeze. Was it that thing again, or something worse? Instead, a fuzzy creature hopped out of the bushes and nodded at me. It looked like an extra-large rabbit, except for the rack of antlers on its head. "I didn't recognize you before," it said.
"What?" I said. That was the first thing that came to mind to say, so I said it and felt kind of stupid afterwards.
"I should have known that you knew what you were doing when I saw you going to the face-stealers," he said, "But it had been so long. Well, I'm sure you know what you're doing." And then it hopped off.
Once it was gone I thought of about six different things to say, but without the rabbit thing there it seemed kind of pointless to say them. I asked anyway. "How am I supposed to get back?"
My teacher once told me that saying something out loud sometimes helps you think of an answer. It seemed to work this time, because the thought came to me: what if I didn't have to go back to get home? The forest was the same, right down to the same trees. There was still the ridge over there and the marshland down here. There were new things living over there, but they were additions, not subtractions. Why couldn't I just walk home?
That thought was encouraging. Maybe I could figure this place out. Retracing my steps back to the cherry tree let me avoid the willows (and all the wet spots). When I got to my cherry tree I had another thought. I could climb it and get a view of what was over by my house. At the highest point I had ever dared climb, I could just barely see my house through the trees.
I thought it was worth trying, especially if it would let me avoid any more nasty surprises, like attacking trees or weird scavengers. Hopping up on the lowest branch, I started making my way towards the top. I had to be careful not to lose my balance, but at least in this tree I was used to dealing with that, and the branches were close enough together I was never in any real danger of falling.
About twenty or so feet off the ground was where I usually stopped. The branches started getting thinner and further apart above that point, and this particular branch had a gentle curve near the trunk that I used like a saddle to steady myself.
In the twilight darkness I wasn't sure how much I'd be able to make out, but I didn't need to worry. The moon was still overhead and as I looked through the trees I saw a light. A light near my house. I couldn't see it very well, but between the shadowed branches I could see the roof. My house was there!
