It had been over two weeks now, Maya reflected. A fortnight ago Alice confided in her that the blond was having haunting dreams in which piercing, red eyes stared at her from a shroud of darkness and followed her around. Maya tried her best to console her friend and classmate who was by now wearing prevalent dark circles beneath her eyes. It’s just a bad dream, she said. When the blond insisted that she had seen those same set of eyes peering at her from the forest one evening Maya chalked it up to exhaustion and paranoia and led the girl home where she insisted that sleep was the solution. That was the last time she saw Alice for her classmate not there the next morning or any of the mornings that followed. Parents, neighbours, friends and police had been consulted and a search had been undertaken but no trace of the sleep deprived student could be found.<br/><br/>But<i>he</i>knew something. Showed up her out of the blue and started inquiring about sleep and dreams without a word of explanation for his appearance or line of questioning. Having run out of options, the stranger was Maya’s best bet at seeing her friend once more. As dusk quickly descended onto their little mountain village and surrounding forest her lanky shape followed him silently from the cover of bushes and trees. Her long black strands were pulled back into a lazy ponytail and her piercing blue eyes, a startling combination given her pale complexion and jet-black hair, followed the monk’s every move intently. With the evening chill setting in Maya was glad that she was bundled up into stockings, knee high boots, her ruffled school skirt and a fall jacket. A large, woolen and pleated scarf was draped around her neck and shoulders and concealed the lower portion of her face. A suitable garb for stalking, she figured, although what a stalking outfit would entail even Maya could not say.<br/><br/>As the stranger left the relatively safety of the clearing and drew deeper into the forest she followed him uneasily. These woods were said to be a host to all manner of spirits both benign and spiteful. Most of the newer generation residents believed it to be naught but old superstition and paid it no heed, but the old people of the village would occasionally peer into the shadowy gloom of the forest with reluctant and bitter reverence.<br/><br/>The further she followed the monk into the forest the harder it was to move silently. Leaves carpeted the area and rustled beneath her boots despite her best attempts at being stealthy. Not wishing to be discovered this soon, Maya hung back and peered around tall tree trunks before hastily advancing and taking cover behind the next oak or ash. Blind and deaf to all that was around her, the girl had all her attention focused only on the monk.