The professor stopped. He had been following the path for awhile, and it had been a pleasant stroll, but a sudden feeling of unease had come over him just now. He gazed before him, but nothing seemed amiss. The colors of the autumn were engaging, the path dappled with leaves, the sounds of the...
... that's when it hit him. The sounds. At this time of year, there should be all kinds of noise. Birds, small mammals and insects gathering for the coming winter. Breezes rustling the leaves. Falling leaves and branches. However, there was none of that. A complete and utter silence had descended.
Again, he gazed ahead of himself on the pathway, trying to determine what this silence could mean, but he could not. As a small bit of fear threatened to rise up in his chest, the silence was broken. A, song, coming from further along the path. Softly at first, but then rising in volume and tempo. A sweet, melodic lament it seemed, and he could not help but listen to its call. Though the fear was there still, somewhere, it was quickly being buried beneath this siren song, and he found himself inexplicably drawn towards it. Step by step, inch by inch, further and further along the path.
He did not see, nor sense it, when the trees began to close in on him, surrounding him. The air became thick, and suffocating, but he did not feel it. The song was everything. It penetrated him, guided him.
In the end, the music became him, and he became the music. As the forest claimed his body, the music became his only, and final, thoughts. The music claimed his soul.
Brings back memories of my hikes through Shenandoah National Park - never quite timed them well enough to see colors like these - nice work. The vignette is a nice touch. 9
Like the perspective, though I might take it a wee bit further down or crop some so the composition isn't so close to exactly half trees and half path.
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