(And now; another creative writing project for class by yours truly)

    Emmalyn took a shaky breath. Although almost weightless, the watch felt heavy in her pocket, and even hidden within that ocean of fabric, she could still hear it tick softly, beating in rhythm with her heart. She took another breath in an attempt to calm her racing mind, but her hands continued to shake faintly. She shuffled to adjust her cloak while she stared into the dark void of trees and ivy. The deep purple cloth weighed on her shoulders as she debated heading back.
     No one had ever been found after entering that forest for more than ten minutes, and Sandra had been missing for two weeks. "She's probably not even in there, I mean, no one's ever lasted even ten minutes let alone 20,160 of them maybe I don't have to step place in that- no. No!" Emmalyn's anxious murmurs to herself turned into raucous shouts to cut off her doubtful thoughts, in the process startling the six crows perched along the rim of the forest's trees.
     They flapped their wings and cawed, startling Emmalyn in return. She let out a small gasp, noticing the birds, then let out a small nervous chuckle as three flew off. She was so lost in worry she hadn't even noticed the pitch black birds. Although creepy in nature, the birds did calm her. If a couple of birds could survive living in that dank old forest, so could she.
     Emmalyn dug the watch out of her cloak's pocket while still maintaining her eyes focused on the three birds that remained perched on the branches of the looming tree to her right. She only took her eyes off their beady, sad ones once she had the watch in her hand and out in the open. Emmalyn traced the small engravings and scratches along the watch with her finger, stalling for time while she fiddled with the buttons. Light bounced off the glass covering its hands while they spun, Emmalyn finally setting a timer for ten minutes, silently pushing it's buttons and spinning its cranks.
     Emmalyn raised her head and faced the endless path of trees and dark in front of her once again. The light previously bouncing off of her watch a moment ago was practically completely absent in the forest, unable to break through the bed of leaves above. She sighed and placed the watch back in her pocket, simultaneously grabbing the wand out of the other.
     The wand seemed so plain when not in use, just a rounded pale yellow star atop a smooth, straight, black stick. The whole thing was barely a foot in length. As she whispered and chanted under her breathe however, the boring aspect of it changed, and as she muttered, the little star started to glow brighter and brighter, until it was glowing a brilliant fire yellow-orange, with a fiery heat and small sparks flying off it to match.
     Emmalyn looked at the path ahead and, knowing she would in a moment lose the little confidence she had, quickly pressed the start button on her watch and ran a dead sprint into the forest. In the moment, she was going faster than she ever had, and ironically straight into the place she longed most to avoid.
     She continued to run, hoping maybe her false confidence would stick so long as she distracted her body with another task. Sprinting, she focused on nothing but her feet hitting the floor. She could hear the dirt being shifted and thrown behind herself as she bounded forward. Her breathing was uneven, but her feet continued a tap, tap, tap against the path. She only stopped running once she almost tripped over an overgrown root on the path, lurching forward and flinging her arms out in an attempt to balance herself.
     Emmalyn caught her balance after a couple seconds, then attempted to catch her breath. She panted, and observed her surroundings. With a jolt she noticed she could no longer see where she had entered, slouching in disappointment as she realized that there was no more heading back, and the trek onwards would only be lite by the wand still flickering in her hand. She took a deep breath and walked ahead, continuing to observe her surroundings. The light from her wand flickered against the ivy and towering trees around Emmalyn, the glow barely reaching anything beyond.
     "It's as if the atmosphere in this place absorbs light" Emmalyn thought aloud, adding in a frightened chuckle to fight off the panic setting in again. As if on cue, summoned by her anxiety, she heard a noise. The bushes next to her rustled, a few leaves hitting the ground with small crunches. Emmalyn refused to turn her head, afraid of what she might find, opting instead to throw her hood above her head and quicken her pace. It was probably just a rabbit anyway.
     She loved to be alone, in the quiet, but the silence here was deafening. The longer she spent in this place the more driven to madness she felt. She felt eyes drilled onto her, the burning feeling of being watched on her back, but anytime she turned, there was nothing. She decided these conditions were to negative, even the bare minutes of isolation was driving her insane, she had to speak to something, anything.
     "Sandra!" Emmalyn yelled into the dark. She waited for a response, only to be met with faint echoes of her own voice. "Sandra!" She screamed again, "Where are you?! You've been missing for two weeks! You need to come back!" Emmalyn quieted a bit "Hello?"
     Nothing. There was no response. Emmalyn sighed, defeated. As she was about to turn back, the bushes next to her rustled again. Her breath caught in her throat. Was something following her? She moved her eyes to meet the maker of these noises, but they only met the dark fabric of her hood. It blocked her view. Timidly she brought it down.
     A pair of eyes met hers, glinting in the light of Emmalyn's wand, set just behind the bush. Emmalyn's feet shifted in the dirt, ready to choose the flight part of "fight or flight" and sprint back to open sky, to safety, but something held her back. Something about the eye's presence felt, familiar. "S-Sandra?" Emmalyn stuttered.
     "Hello." Sandra's voice replied. Yes! It was her, Sandra! Emmalyn started to move towards her.
     "Sandra! Finally! Everyone's going to be ecstatic when I bring you back, you've been missing for so long!" Emmalyn exclaimed, continuing to move towards her friend, when suddenly she stopped herself. Within the high of her happy feelings, something in the back of her subconscious was nagging her. Sandra was never that formal when greeting someone, she always shouted something along the lines of 'sup, or hey yo, Emmalyn had never once heard her say a proper and simple hello. And never in such a monotone voice, there was almost always a hint of anger of over the topness in Sandra's voice, but the sound of the voice she just heard was so robotic and cold, it sent a slight shiver up Emmalyn's spine. Her rationalizing and better judgement to run was ignored however, as another wave of happiness over took her brain. In her mind's battle between moving closer or running as far as she could, Emmalyn stayed frozen in place.
     "You seem shocked." The voice said again.
     "Well, of course I am! Sandra you've been missing for two whole weeks, and I find you in here of all places?" Emmalyn responded, ever so slightly taken aback.
     "That is understandable" Sandra stated, seemingly shifting awkwardly just beyond the light's reach. Emmalyn ignored it.
     "You didn't answer my question," She noted, suspicion slowly sinking in, "why did you come here, probably well aware of the fact that one of us would have to come get you, since you always go farther in here than you should. You gave Jazz dang near a panic attack when you didn't return!" Sandra was silent for a moment.
     "My apologies. Sorry." Sandra replied, her continuously monotone voice only fueling the small growing bubble of anger in Emmalyn.
     "Yeah right you're sorry! What if something happened to you? Did you even think about how that would affect us? What if you got hurt, or worse, killed?! You know the rule, no one stays in here for longer than ten minutes!-" At the last revelation, Emmalyn completely stiffened. Slowly, she moved her eyes down, and stared in dread at the pocket containing her watch. Tick. Tick. And suddenly, a loud ringing sounded through the forest, echoing off the trees. Ten minutes was up.
     Mortified, Emmalyn looked up to meet Sandra's eyes in hopes of comfort, her terror only increasing as she watched Sandra's body fall lifeless in front of her. She gagged and teared up at the sight, and the smell that hit like a wave with it. Sandra had been dead for days, her skin was discolored, and her eyes stared blankly, the light still faintly glinting off of them. Emmalyn watched in horror at what her friend had become, unable to fully process everything, or anything.
     She was always aware of time, of every little tick, how did she let herself slip the one time it mattered most? How long had Sandra been dead? Could they have stopped her from entering the forest? Should she run? Was there even a point to running? Would the thing that caught Sandra catch he anyway? That voice, if Sandra was dead then, "..who?" Emmalyn whispered the end of the thought aloud.
     "Hello." The same emotionless voice spoke from behind her, it's breath hitting her neck. Emmalyn let out a mixture of a shrike and a sob in panic as she struggled to escape it's deadly grasp. Soon, only the watch could be heard, continuing to tick.

(A/N: Sorry that it's not the best)