LOOKING DOWN to the most direct path, it immediately would not work. The incline or decline to the forest floor and to the Gertrude Manor was too steep, so I decided to wrap around my house and follow the path until I reached the bottom of the hill. Then I would leave the path and cut across the Black Forest. The easiest of my 'favor' would be done by then and I would somehow need to figure out the rest, but first things first. I had to get there.

The walk down the hill was quite easy, my legs ran down the spiraling road until they reached the bottom, though I didn't notice how tall the trees were until I reached their roots. Looking up at the Douglas firs around me I would say they were about a hundred feet tall, probably more. I couldn't see the tops of them anymore. This didn't worry me that much at the moment though, I had to get to the Peter manor.

Walking away from the path I walked in any direction I thought was towards Peter manor which was perpendicular to the road. I walked and I walked. There were many tree trunks and I liked looking at the sky. It's colors of red and orange decorate the sky.

As the minutes passed by I felt a little lost. The Douglas firs seemed to look the same and they were all looking at me in doubt. Maybe I should have taken the path... At Least I could still see Greturde manor. Turning around I looked into the evening sky. Night was almost here and I could see my house from down here. Fear settled in.

"Oh no," I said out loud. "Oh no, oh no, oh no! I'm lost."

I turned around again.

Was this where I was heading?

I don't remember.

It all looks the same.

Turning around in circles I instinctively look at the trees. They all look the same. A voice in my head logically told me that it's because they are all the same tree, but I didn't care. Fear had set in and logic was thrown out of my head.

I started moving, not really looking or caring where I was going. Tears had sprung up in my eyes and I think that was the first time I cried since I was a baby. Eventually I had found a stump to sit down on. It was a marker, different, and something that I could sit on that was roughly not too dirty.

I sat down and cried. I cried for what seemed hours. Maybe if I had stood up and continued walking I would have made it and completed my 'favor' that way, but instead my 'favor' was completed with a little help by a boy named Hänsel.