Into The Peaks

The car speeds up, heading through the tall pines that line the winding road. I feel the vibrations of the music rattling up the door. I turn to face him, and he smiles at me-

"-Izzy...where did you go this time?"

"I was in the woods again...In the Pines." I closed my eyes and mentally repeated the words I had been chanting for the last five years.

"What have we said about it? Use your words, Izzy. It's alright to say them out loud."

"I'm safe, I'm alive, I'm strong, I survived," I said in alm...