Will is sitting on a train staring out the window. He is traveling from Boston to Denver and is currently passing through the countryside of southern Illinois. He is going to visit his mom and the rest of his family. His mom has been sick for a couple years now but Will hasn’t hany time to go visit. He got a call from his brother a couple days ago saying that these next few days might be her last. Will had never been super close with his mom, or the rest of his family, but he thought he should probably pay them a visit before his mom died.

Will had been staring out the window at the falling leaves for almost an hour and his eyes were slowly starting to close. He fell asleep after a few minutes.

He woke up suddenly and nearly jumped out of his chair. He looked around to see if anyone saw him, but no one was there. Will was really confused, there were the train was pretty full last he checked. Then he thought that maybe we had arrived at the station and everyone already got off. He looked out the window expecting to find a sea of people and giant concrete columns, but what he found was the edge of a forest that he could barely see 50 feet into.
Will came to the conclusion that the train had broken down and help was on the way. He got off the train and noticed all the luggage compartments were already opened and empty, His stuff was gone too. He looked down the track toward the front of the train but still couldn’t find anyone. He decided that maybe he should walk back down the track from the direction he came from.
He walked alongside the empty cars for a few minutes until he finally got to the caboose. He was starting to feel hungry so he broke into the back door of the last car to try and find some food. In there he found a bunch of crackers and chips. He found himself trying to be very quiet even though he knew no one was around. When he got back out of the train he continued to walk in the same direction down the tracks.
It was getting late in the day and he had been walking for a while now He turned around and he could no longer see the train. He reached for his pocket to check the time but he couldn’t find it. He remembered that he had accidentally left it on the train, thinking he was just going to be right back to get it. He decided not to go back thinking he was close enough to the last stop.  At this moment he started to feel very alone and the forest by the track was giving him an eerie feeling. He stopped looked at it for a moment and started to get lost in the trees. He quickly snapped out of it.
He continued to walk for a while longer until he saw a tower of smoke coming from the forest. He thought that he should probably walk to it considering he hadn’t seen anything yet so far. As he entered the forest he felt the air get colder. Something was off about this place but he couldn’t figure out what it was. He continued to walk to the smoke, he could still see a bit of it through the trees. He walked deeper into the forest to a point where he could no longer see the smoke. He continued to walk in the direction in which he shough the smoke was coming from. The forest scared him, it was dark and it seemed like it would never end.
He came to an opening in the forest. It was a strange clearing almost as if it was carved out. It wasn’t very big, maybe 25 feet in length. The re were a few trees in a like a few feet in. Past those there was a small triangle shape of trees. Then he saw two circles of threes the same size and equal distance from the triangle. This was really strange and he knew it did not form naturally. From this spot he was able to see the smoke again and at the top of the tower of black smoke was what looked like a heart shape forming.
Will got his direction set and began sprinting to the smoke. He hated being in this forest and he wanted to get through it as fast as possible. He was running past the trees and was getting scraped by some of the branches sticking out. He finally came to the source of the smoke. It was a small cabin sitting in the middle of a bunch of giant trees.
Will slowly walks up to the door and knocks slowly. It creaked open and Will stepped in. There was a fireplace in one of the back corners. There is a shelf above it with a picture. He walks over to see who lives here. The picture was covered in a thick layer of dust, he wiped that off and what he found scared him. The picture sent a chill down his spine and 100 thoughts to his head. The picture was one of him and his mom when he was a kid. It was the only picture he ever remembered taking with her. He looked around the room noticing little thing he hadn’t initially seen. There were toy cars on a table near the door, the same cars his mom had given him for his 8th birthday. All around the room were past gifts his mom had given him, and things that he remembers were there with some of his fondest memories with her. These memories had been in the back of his mind and he didn’t even know he still had them. He walks into the kitchen to find the same things, his mom’s apron that he had made for her. All of these memories coming back made will start to cry. The river of tears created a small puddle on the wooden floors. He looks up with the tears still filling his eyes to see a phone hanging on the wall. The same phone that was in his house growing up. He goes over to it and dials him mom's number. She answers with a questioning hello. “I’m sorry mom. I’m so sorry.” She didn’t know who it was and was afraid so she hung up.
There was a window in the kitchen facing out the back side of the house. Through the window there were some trees and past those was the train. He ran back out the front door and continued to run to the train without stopping. It was still empty. He climbed on the same car where he fell asleep. He ran down the aisles to find his phone. He came across the one where he was sitting to find himself, asleep facing the widow and the forest where the cabin had once been.