Aaron didn’t feel it at first. He felt nothing.

Then a tingling numbness spread. His knees buckled. The arm that held him close released him, and he fell to the ground with a choked gasp.

Why?

Why was his body reacting, when his brain knew nothing? As stars swam into his vision, he looked down.

The knife in his chest reminded him of a tree — a sapling, just beginning to bloom. Roots of blood soaked his shirt.

How ironic. He was running from a killer, unaware that the best friend he ran alongside was the one he was meant to be running from. He was forced to be in the trees. He was to die among them. He was to become one of thousands. To become forgotten.