"Damnit Mikey, I told you it was to the left back there!" 
"Relax, we'll come back onto the path soon enough. Look, it opens up here." Mike, walking ahead, entered a clearing as he replied. The thick trees opened to a wide space, with a few rocks and cleanly cut tree stumps arranged as though for a campfire. Light speckled the ground like dots on a ladybird and several other pathways led off in different directions. 
"This looks arranged. And there's multiple ways out from here, we can't be far off the main path." 
"Still lost though, aren't we? Let me have a drink." Jyn swung her daypack off her back sat on one of the tree stumps, and took a swing from her bottle. It was already half empty; they'd been walking for a while. 
Whilst Jyn caught her breath, Mike walked around the area, kicking at fallen twigs and small rocks. Circling behind Jyn, he stopped and knelt. 
"Jyn, come look at this." 
"No." 
"I'm serious. It's beautiful." She lifted herself off the seat and walked round to see what he was looking at. Then she stopped and crouched down carefully to inspect it. 
It shouldn't have been possible. Before them sat a tiny ring of sticks, with other, smaller sticks carefully balanced on top. They were resting so gently that they did not disturb the grass below them. And they cast no shadow. 
"How do they stay like that?" 
"Magic." 
"Hilarious Mike. No seriously, how'd you balance them like that." 
"They were there already. Impressive, isn't it?" 
"No. Not impressive, very bad." 
"Why is that bad?" 
"If you didn't make it Mikey, this is a fairy forest." 
"A fairy forest? What are you on about?" 
"Fairies. Fae. Tricksters Mikey, we can't be here." 
"Relax, they're just stories. Fairies ain't real." 
"They are, and saying will anger them. We need to go." 
Jyn stood up and started walking away, then she paused.
"Mike, where did we come from?" 
He stands up and spins. He spins again. 
"That one." he points. 
"Are you sure?" 
"No, but it's as good as any." And he starts to walk towards it. Jyn watches him for a moment, afraid, then rushes to keep up as he disappears. The wind whistles as it swirls around the clearing and follows them down the path. All they see are trees and more trees, suffocating the light around them. It was afternoon; soon it would be dark. Their path meandered and soon they no longer knew which way they were headed. Maps didn't work; trees too dense for the GPS. 
Jyn kept close to Mike, it made her feel safer. He wouldn't show it, but it made him feel safer too. The only thing worse than being lost is being lost and alone. They kept walking, hoping that soon they would come out of the trees, or that they would see something, anything to get out the darkness. 
And then they did. They came out into a small clearing with a collection of rocks and tree stumps, in what looked like a campfire circle. The trees weren't so dense, so the light made a spotted pattern on the ground though, looking at his watch, Mike saw it wouldn't make a pattern much longer. Soon it would just be black like the starless night sky. 
Since when has the sky been starless? 
"Do you remember stars Jyn?" 
"Stars? Like from children's books?" 
"No. Like in the sky. Spots of light, a bit like the moon, but smaller." 
"No. I don't think I've ever seen them." 
That didn't seem right. A week ago he and Jyn had gone up to the peak, where they'd watched the sun set and the stars appear. But had they? He wasn't sure now. 
"Have we been here before?" 
It seemed familiar, but Jyn couldn't place it. They'd been walking a while, perhaps she was just disorientated. 
"We have. This is where we stopped before. Look, here's that pile of sticks." 
He moved round the rocks as he said that, pointing to the small pile. Sure enough, it was still there; a knee-high collection of sticks arranged like Stonehenge. Leaning over to have a look, Jyn sat down. Her head was beginning to ache, the dull throbbing in her temples becoming the beating of a drum behind her forehead. She took a swig from her near-empty bottle. 
"Be careful with that. We don't have much water left." 
"Do you think I can't see that? Really?" 
"Sorry, just trying to be helpful." 
"Well, it's not."
Mike came over and sat next to Jyn. 
"I'm sorry. We're not far from the edge of the forest, it'll be okay." 
Jyn leaned her head against Mike's shoulder as he put an arm around her. They sat like that for a few minutes. 
"Come on. There's no point staying here. Not with those creepy sticks behind us. I swear they've gotten bigger anyway." Jyn just nodded as she stood up. Taking her hand, Mike led them off down one of the many paths. As they left, he said a silent prayer that they would make it back soon. 
But perhaps he should have been more careful. They kept walking, occasionally flipping a coin when faced with a crossroad. But they never came to the edge of the forest. 
Soon the sun set. Trying to save battery, only Mike turned on his phone's flashlight. Jyn put a hand on his shoulder as his light guided them. The summer air didn't cool much during the night, but the wind picked up. It whistled through the trees like a bad omen. 
Soon they came back out into a moon-touched clearing. Speckled light lit up the circle of rocks and tree stumps, arranged in a circle. Looking behind the circle, Mike saw the stick henge, this time as tall as his waist. 
"Damnit! Why do we always end up back here? And why does that keep getting bigger?" 
He took a step towards it. As he did his head began to pound mercilessly, someone was scraping a blade across his brain. He hissed in pain and turned to see Jyn grab her head. 
"My head hurts Mikey." She sat down on one of the rocks, dropping her bag. She massaged her temples, an old trick her grandmother had taught her. 
Mike stared at the waist-high tower of sticks. He'd been walking for hours. His feet hurt, his brain hurt, his water bottles were almost empty. And they kept coming back to these growing sticks. Why were they growing? 
He kicked out. The first stick fell, creating a domino effect, with each long thin stick slumping into the next. It was like they were falling in slow motion. You could set it to music, Mike thought, and it would be cinematic. 
They hit the floor. 
A tremor racked the earth like it was shaking off a thought. Steadying himself, Mike breathed a sigh of relief as his brain cleared. 
"Hey, you feeling -" 
He stopped. 
She wasn't there. 
He'd turned to check on Jyn, but she wasn't behind him. He could see the whole clearing and she wasn't there. 
"Jyn? Where'd you go?" 
He started moving around the clearing. Maybe she'd stumbled away when the world shook.  
"Jyn? You feeling okay? I remember the way, you wanna keep moving?" 
No reply. 
"Jyn? I'm sorry I got us lost, I didn't mean to." 
Still nothing. He was starting to forget her face. Jyn. What was her last name? He was sure he knew, they'd been together for years. 
He kept calling her name, but he had to remind himself who he was looking for. 
Then he forgot her.

He saw a bag that wasn't his.
Opening it, he found some bottles of water. He drank it. He couldn't quite remember how he'd gotten here. He'd probably walked. But to be honest, it was likely that he'd always been here. That seemed right. This was all he knew. A clearing, some rocks, some trees, this rucksack. 
And the Sticks. 
Which sticks? There were no sticks. 
The ground began to shake again. Again? Why again, had it before? 
A loud roaring sound begin to fill his ears, seeming to come from everywhere and nowhere.
He felt the rock he sat on shift below him and jumped up. There was a split on the surface that he was certain hadn't been there moments before. And it was growing bigger. 
A gaping wound soon split the rock. But it didn't stop, continuing to split the ground, snaking across the clearing and into the forest around it, dividing the area.
And then the crack began to widen, becoming a gorge. A gorge that swallowed things. Everything. Getting wider. 
Mike Ran.