An array of colors clutter the small frame of my desk: creams, pastels, and neons. Every hue that brushes against my blank paper serves a different purpose than the one before. The ballet pinks bring softness to the dull-toned brown of the trees. The golden leaves bring dimension to the midnight navy of the sky. The multicolored animals bring life to the sparse nooks and crannies.

During every quick glance at the picture, I notice something new that I hadn’t seen before. I notice the leaves peeking out from the base of the trees, the mushrooms hiding in the bottom left corner, and the little mouse crawling up the two-toned bark. The drawing quickly becomes puzzle pieces with parts of stories that I attempt to put together. 

In mid-morning, a deer is running through the valleys until it settles alongside a small creek for water. Exhausted, he lays down in an attempt to get sleep before he travels late into the night. However, right as he can feel his eyes rolling backward and the tension in his legs subside, a man on a horse points a bow and arrow right at him. The deer, now more awake than ever, scrambles up from the pillowy grass and sprints across the valley; the hunter slaps the side of his horse to sprint after him. The deer runs for miles and miles, hoping the hunter will give up and find another victim for his dinner, but nonetheless, he is too determined. 

After hours of running, the deer starts to lose energy and stamina. He wishes for the pillow-soft grass of the valley. Thoughts of quitting weave through his brain like venom as the view of the hunter becomes bigger and bigger. The deer slows as the hunter catches speed. He accepts defeat and takes in the valleys with wide eyes one last time. The grass has never looked yellower, the flowers duller, and the skies grayer. Everything appears somber; however, as the deer’s pupils quickly glance over the tall grass, he sees trees with vibrant leaves far in the distance. Curious, he looks back at the hunter and decides that he has time to make it to the whimsical forest. 

The deer leaps toward the forest at a faster rate than ever. He feels the strong winds pulling him backward, but he pushes through. As he approaches the forest, he remembers that he isn’t the only one fighting the wind. The hunter was closer than ever, too. The deer takes one last leap into the enchanting trees, but so does the last of the hunter’s arrows. Two orange arrows were propelled through the air and focused right on the deer’s chest. The deer jumps out of the line of fire and into the leaves, and the arrows hit a tree with such force that the pink leaves begin to flutter to the ground. 

As he takes a sigh of relief, he notices that the hunter has vanished. All that was left was him and a mysterious forest that was begging to be discovered.