Leaf Pass
I have been walking for some time, much longer than I originally expected to. I pause to think. A morning's stroll through a nearby meadow led to the discovery of a gate and a curious looking path behind it. As I explored this new route, mist began to fall, at which point I should have probably headed back. As I make this conclusion, I hear a striking sound. A bird is calling, from quite a distance away. What bird it is exactly I cannot tell, other than a member of the crow family. It continues to screech, and grows louder with every step I take until the sound seems almost deafening, at which point it stops. I continue to walk, unaware of just where I am heading. I finally reach a wall in front of me. The mist is thinner here and I can see an opening a few feet away from me. Through the opening I find a staircase. As I ascend, I wonder about the history of this strange building. Finally, reaching the top of the stairs, I feel fresh air blow onto my face, and realise I am on top of the building. Looking back, I the layer of mist resembles an ocean. All that remains of the world is a solitary tree, dead for many years, its branches reaching out above the fog like arms reaching for help. The bird begins to call again, its coarse voice reaching out far and wide over the space that separates us. The ocean remains calm. I turn around and head forward, over the rooftop. I finally reach the edge of the stone building, to find a long drop in front of me, the floor below in total darkness. I begin to look to my left and right, but the chasm seems infinite in width. As I look back, I see the mist is heading up over the building now. It is not safe. For reasons unknown to me, I take a hesitant step forward. I am stepping on what looks like thin air, and yet has texture. I bend down to touch this new found floor. It is hard, cold, smooth, and yet strangely comforting to touch. The concept puzzles me, and I decide it is best to move on. Shortly, I find a tunnel, which is lit with torches. I halt before entering, nervous, but notice the mist beginning to swirl around me, and, not knowing what could be lurking inside, step into the tunnel. I walk for some time, before eventually finding a door. As I open it, daylight floods in.

I find myself in a shop in what seems like a normal town. However, the shop is empty. My first inclination is to steal, or at least see if there is anything worth taking. As I look around, I notice a calendar and a clock. The time and date do not suggest a time a shop should be empty. I double check by looking at my digitial watch, and the shop is correct. I become very curious as to why the shop is so empty, and decide to take a look around outside. Unexpectedly, the entire street is empty. Every shop is fully stocked with its respective goods. The sun beats down on my face, reminding me of the mist I recently encountered. I should feel grateful for this given warmth, and yet the street seems unnervingly cold. I decide to check out another street. I look around for a junction and eventually find one. When I turn, there is immediate noise of traffic, people and animals. A bird sings from a rooftop, a dog tied up outside a shop barks wildly as people walk past. Cars drive by. I watch as they pass by me and turn into the deserted street. To my surprise, they carry on driving. To my further surprise, upon closer inspection, the deserted street has people walking along it. From where I am standing, it seems a perfectly normal, busy road. I walk back along and into the street, to find it as silent as before. Again I enter the crowded street, and again the empty one looks just as crowded. I repeatedly pass over this invisible line, expecting something differrent to happen, but each time I am the only one who seems to pass into an entirely differrent road. Some people begin to look at me: concerened, worried, some laughing, some discussing what I'm doing. I decide to take the quiet road, and walk further down it until I reach a small wood.

The wood is bursting with life, a strange contrast with my previous experience. Birds sing from the trees, squirrels scurry among branches, and there is a feeling of busyness all around. As I walk through the wood, I take the outer path. Even though it seems quite safe, I prefer the outside walk. I look into the field just beyond the trees. It is completely empty as far as I can see, except for a single scarecrow. I walk on, and when I look to my right again, I notice the scarecrow has moved. It is marginally closer to the wood. I shake my head and move on. However, the further I walk, the nearer the scarecrow gets. As I look at it closer, I see it has only thin stump of wood for a leg. There is also nowhere to hide in the field. I become increasingly disturbed by this as I go on, so I begin to walk a little faster. Soon, the scarecrow is half as close as it was when I originally looked. Suddenly, I hear a sound from the field. At first I am hesitant to look round, as I am afraid the scarecrow is making the noise, but my curiosity is quick to take over and I look back to see a murder of crows mobbing the straw man. The birds are increasing in number at an incredible rate. They seem to be almost raining in. The more that fly in, the wider the flock becomes, until there is a cloud of crows flying around the scarecrow, pecking away at it and making noise. The sound is painfully loud. Suddenly, every one of the birds flies off into the sky at once, and within seconds there is not a crow in sight. The scarecrow too has disappeared. I eventually reach the edge of the wood and a muddy track lies ahead of me.

Behind me is a wood, opposite me is another wood. I stand on a muddy track in between. From my right I hear a noise. At first it sounds like a tractor. The louder it gets, the more harsh the sound seems... not a tractor, possibly an old car. I look to the right in anticipation of what it is. There is a corner some way up the track, around which drives a fairly new looking car. It is obviously the worse for wear, but is driving at a fast speed. I have begun to walk to my left, travelling in the same direction as the car as. I realise the track is quite narrow, so look for an entrance to the wood. There seems to be no way in either side. I eventually hope the car will slow down as it passes me. As it drives closer, I realise it is not slowing down at all. I begin to run. There is still no way of getting into the wood. I am now panicking. Eventually, an entrance is in sight to my right. I lurch forward and jump into the gap. As the car drives past I see it is completely empty apart from a dog in the front passenger seat. It drives off round the corner leaving a cloud of dust which doesn't disperse for a minute or two. Eventually, I regain my breath and energy, and continue along the road. Just before I reach the corner, I hear the noise in front of me again, and I realise the car is driving back. I run back again and jump into the small gap at the side of the road. As the car passes again, I see the dog has no tail. Once again, undeterred, I continue along the road. Once more, I hear the car coming back along. This time I manage to make it to a small gap in the hedge that is now lining one side of the road. The vehicle drives past once more, this time there is no tailless dog inside. I decide it is now safer to walk through the fields than on the dusty track.

The field begins to get steeper and steeper as I walk along. Eventually, I reach a small hedge at the top, over which I climb. Below is a view of magnificance. Just in front of me the field begins to descend again, at a more shallow rate. To my right is the dark woodland from which I hear bird calls. To the left is an array of hedges, bushes and trees. There is a dip leading to an unknown place in front of me: fields, more green and lush than the ones I have encountered so far. A silver birch tree is directly in front of me, its silvery white branches and trunk stand out against the green fields. On top of the tree sit three small birds: sparrows or finches. At once all three begin to sing, and one flies into the air, continuing his melody. At the bottom of this valley lies the largest field of all: a lush, green meadow. A small brook runs by the meadow. Further behind this are more fields. On the horizon is a complex of buildings. I begin to walk towards it, and I find myself arriving at the entrance much sooner than I originally predicted.

I arrive at a gate. It is quite tall, and made of meshed wire. Once again, I am oblivious to the temperature of the sun, and a chill passes through me. Curiously, the gate is unlocked, and I find myself entering the complex. There are tall towers, and small office-like buildings. None have windows. I decide to take a look around some more. I walk inbetween buildings, around buildings and behind buildings. Eventually I find a door. Once more, my curiosity outwits my common sense, and I enter. The room is completely empty and the walls are painted in a dull colour. There is nothing inside. As I exit, the weather has changed. It is now even cooler, this time it is the temperature that chills me rather than my other senses. I look at my digital watch, to see that a whole day has passed since I last checked it. Surely it cannot have taken me a day to walk from the town, I have only been walking for a couple of hours. I walk out to the more open areas again, to look around. It all looks the same. There is more of a wind blowing, and the sky is cloudy. I walk back to look at the room, but cannot find the door. I am not quite sure where it was, but I check every passageway, and fail to find the room which seemed to take a day from me. I look around outside again, and find another gate. This seems to be leading out onto a moor. I step out, cautiously.

Rain begins to fall, at first lightly, but soon more heavily. If I had another direction to walk, I would not head to the moor, but I do not dare risk the dusty track again, and everything else is anonymous farmland. Fortunately, the rain quickly clears up, before my clothes are soaked and I risk becoming ill. As I walk on, the wind picks up. There is a sound behind me, like a footstep on stones. I turn, but do not see anything. Disturbed, I walk faster. Another footstep and a panting sound are heard. I begin to wonder whether the combination of the wind in my ears and the shock of my previous experiences is playing tricks on me. Suddenly I hear another sound: a helicopter. As the aircraft hovers overhead, I see a shape out of the corner of my eye. A black creature, about waist height, runs off, apparently scared by the noise from the flying vehicle. The helicopter flies off the in same direction as the creature. For the remainder of my journey over the moor, I do not hear any footsteps. Nevertheless, I feel relieved when I reach the edge of the moor and continue my journey over lighter grassland.

I find myself on unmarked land. It is not moorland, but it is obviously not farmed, with no sign of animals, crops or hedgerows. After walking for a few minutes, I hear a sound coming from in front of me. It sounds like a small but steady stream of traffic. I conclude that there must be an A road nearby, and look forward to encountering familiar signs of life again. However, as I get nearer, an additional sound is heard: a distant but intense humming. Intrigued, I quicken my pace and approach the top of the hill. To my surprise, below me stands not a road, but a runway. Cars are driving slowly along it. The stream of vehicles is awesome in length and continues almost out of sight. Even more astonishing is what I can see at the end of the runway. The cars are driving into what resembles a ferry in design, rather than a standard aircraft. I begin to edge along the hill to get a better look at the craft. However, people have begun to look at me from car windows. One person, upon spotting me, begins to talk into a phone. I feel that I might not be safe here, and decide to make a hasty retreat back along the hill. I continue in a direction avoiding the runway.

A railway line stands between me and a patch of land overgrown with gorse bushes and brambles. As I approach the track, the signal goes up, and almost immediately a diesel train rushes round the corner and shoots past me. A little shocked, I take a moment to regain my breath. Feeling more steady, I approach the track again, and once more the signal raises. Not wanting to be knocked off my feet again, I step back to watch the train pass. Moments after I step back, however, the signal returns to its down position. Suspecting a signalman error, I go to cross the line again. Again, seemingly triggered by my proximity, the signal goes up. I step back, and as predicted, the signal goes down. I pause briefly, to consider the situation, before heading forward again. The signal is raised once more. Undeterred, I begin to cross the tracks. As I am halfway across, I hear the familiar clattering of wheels over track couplings, and make an urgent dash to the other side of the line. As I reach safety, I turn to see three empty carriages rushing past without a locomotive. I sit for several minutes to settle my nerves, before heading on to explore the area of gorse ahead of me.

I walk between gorse bushes, taking care not to catch my skin or clothes on their spikey branches. There are gaps between the bushes that act as pathways. As I explore, I notice there are many of these pathways that interlock, resembling a sort of maze. I aim to reach the fields beyond the bushes, so take a right turn in the direction. However, after several corners, I now appear to be heading in completely the wrong direction. I soon reach a dead end, but before turning around, I spy a number of juicy blackberries growing in the brambles blocking my way. I grab a couple handfuls and make my way back to the open area near the railway line. Upon arriving, I sit on a relatively dry patch of ground. I take the bottle of water and two rolls from my backpack, placing them next to the blackberries in front of me. After the meal, I take a different turning at the gorse maze, and soon come to the entrance of a wood.

The temperature drops again as I walk through the wood, this time taking an inner route, hoping to reach the other side and find somewhere to get my bearings. A woodpecker drills into a tree somewhere above me. Soon the path I am on peters out to little more than some worn ground beneath the trees. I push branches aside, and contiually catch my feet on tree roots. As a little light shines through the branches, I begin to recognise the wood I am in, yet do not understand how I came to be in this location.

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