You live in the isolated village of Sunbird Borough, a secluded community of kooky parents with kooky children. It’s a nice life. Warm summers, chilly winters, constant opportunities to satisfy your academic or practical curiosities. Although all of the children in the village are close, you have a childhood friend.

Fearless and quiet Callum. He loves to find places within the barriers of the forest-lined town that nobody occupies, spending most of his time alone or alone with you. He’s smaller than the other kids, so he can get into more places, even if that makes it easier for him to be teased. You know where he likes to go when he wants it be alone. He tends to distance himself from the other kids, but since you cover for him, you figure he can at least tolerate you following him around when his little eleven year old self sneaks out.

[~<3~]

It was a sunny morning. Callum was sitting on the ground beside some bushes. You wondered if he was hiding from someone for a moment. His eyes seemed to be watching the adults of the town walk through the border between your village and the forest.

“Kids aren’t allowed past the tree line,” he says quietly, without looking up. “They say there’s nothing to be afraid of, but then why do we need walls?”

You stare at the trees, and for a moment you entertain the thought of what horrors could reach beyond your home. The eleven year old broke you from your daydream with a whisper.

“I think there are monsters out there.”