The forest

Snap, rustle, the sound of branches and bushes being pushed out of the way alongside the sound of heavy breathing and footsteps running could be heard in the forest. The man was running and getting hit by branches in the face and scratched up by the thorny bushes up and down his body, he didn’t care how much it hurt he just needed to run, just needed to get away. If he could just, Thud, a root caught his foot and made him stumble and fall, he was breathing heavily and tears started to run down his cheeks. He raised himself up on to his knees and then stood up on shakily legs, he took a step forward and felt a sharp pain shot up his foot he looked down and realized that he had sprained his ankle he took another step forward and the pain came crashing down again. No time to spare he gritted his teeth and began to move as fast as he could forward, the sound of something coming behind him made his heart beat faster and he realized that he could not out run it he looked around and saw a big tree stump. The stump was big enough to cover his body all he needed to do now was to hide behind it and stay quiet, he lowered himself down to the ground behind the stump and with one hand he covered his mouth to not let out a scream and the other tightly clenched he sat and waited for the sound to go away.

The rustling and snaping came closer until it stopped, he let out a small whimper behind his hand, two thuds could be heard and some rustling and snaping then silence. He waited what felt like forever but it was only a few minutes, he removed his hand from his mouth and let out a sigh carefully grabbing the stump pulling himself cautiously up to take a look. As his eyes looked over the stump and back to where the noise had just been he couldn’t see anything, he let his eyes wander from tree to tree looking for a shape but didn’t see any, he closed his eyes for just a moment to take a deep breath and then open them again. A pair of eyes stared back at him from the other side of the stump, their eyes meet and he fell backwards whit a scream. He tried to get up but he was to scared and all he could do was grab at dirt as he tried to crawl away on his stomach, he turned around only to see it jumping at him and as he let out a loud blood curling scream lights from a car could be seen in the distance. The last thing on his mind was that he was so close to the road and if only he could have made it and gotten in to that car this would not be happening, the sharp sting and the feeling of warm liquid flowing from his neck made him scream but all that came out was a gurgle.

The car was driving alongside a lonely back road that led through a forest, it had just passed by a sign saying, Welcome to Hills town, the car was a Jeep Wrangler and in the car was a young girl in her early 20is driving. The music was blasting from the stereo to keep herself awake she had stopped at a gas station 2h ago to buy some ice coffee to keep awake until she could take in to a hotel or something similar. The gas station was a bit run down but that was no surprise as she stepped in and an older grumpy looking man was sitting at the register, he had looked up from his newspaper and greeted her with a huff and went back to reading. She didn’t think much of it and went for the refrigerator with some coffee, she grabbed four cans of ice coffee and closed the refrigerator door and went up to the old man and placed her cans on the counter. Next to the counter was small shelfs with different types of candy, she quickly scanned them and picked out 2 chocolate bars and placed them next to the cans of ice coffee on the counter. The old man looked up at her and put down his paper and rang up her purchase, a beep from the registry sounded out in the silent store and 5£/$ appeared on a small screen in green letters. She took out her wallet and grabbed her credit card to pay, when she was done, she looked at the man and asked.

“Excuse me sir, but do you know of any hotels that is close?” the old man looked at her almost surprised that she spoke.

“Yes I do” he answered her in a drawn out voice “but I wouldn’t go there if I were you” she looked at him, she could se some fear in his eyes.

“Why not, it can’t be that bad…” she started to say but the old man cut her off.

“This forest isn’t safe it is hunted by evil anyone that go in there will end up dead, and when the police find them, they say the bodies have been mauled like nothing they ever seen. The only nearest hotel is in that town that lays in the center of that forest, I wouldn’t recommend you go there since you must drive through the forest.” The man sat down again in his chair and picked up his paper marking the end of their conversation. She picked up her items and headed for the exit.

“Have a good night” she opened the door and she heard him give a huff as she went outside. The car was parked just outside of the store leaving 4 more spots to park at, on the side of the building an old truck was parked that most likely belonged to the old man. She grabbed her keys and unlocked the car door, as she reached for the handle she stopped and turned around looking in to the forest that surrounded them the station was at the edge of that forest and on the other side was open grass fields with few trees. There wasn’t much to see and the light from the building wasn’t much help, it was too dark but one could make the outline off it.

She just stared thinking about what the old man had just told her, her mind started to grow distant and a chill went up her spine. She shrugged it off and opened the door and got in and drove off towards the direction of the town.

She was happy when she saw that sign as she was too tired to keep driving, but sleeping in the car was not an option as it was not safe. One of her pears at the university she had been studying at had done that and had been almost robbed by car thieves, but had been lucky to fend them off. So, it had now been 2h since she left the gas station all she had to do now was find that town and get herself a bed, as she was blasting the music and singing along to Katy perry I kissed a girl a loud sound cut through the music. She reached for the nob to lower the volume to hear more clearly as she looked out the passenger window it had sounded like a scream of some sort but as she listened while driving, she couldn’t hear the sound anymore, she thought to herself that it must have been a wolf howling or some other animal making a noise in the night. The only reason she heard the sound even though she was blasting music was that her car window was open a small inch letting in some fresh air to help keep her awake. The road was small and winding going through the forest, not once had she seen a car or a light until that sign.Turning back to look in front of her she cranked up the volume again but just enough so she could hear if what ever made that sound would do it again. 10 min later after the sound she saw the town she reached to lower her volume down so she wouldn’t disturb the neighborhood, it was after midnight as she hit the first building in town and in her rearview mirror, she saw the lights. Blue and read lights blinking and flashing in the darkness, she pulled over to the side and shut her engine off and rolled down her window. She looked in the mirror and saw a cop get out off the car and walk up to her, she took a deep breath and put on a smile and turned her head to great the cop.

“Good evening ms,” the cop greeted her “or maybe good morning would be more suitable” he chuckled which made her relax. He looked nice and friendly as she took a closer look at his badge and name tag she could see that he was a Captain, he looked to be in his mid-fifties with silver streaks in his hair some wrinkles around his eyes and a verry friendly smile he reminded her off her father.

“Good morning Captain Jermen, I’m sorry if I was doing anything illegal” she greeted him back with a smile.

“Oh no no don’t worry u haven’t done anything illegal, I just pulled you over to take a look. You see we don’t get all to many visitors around here so when we do we usually stop them before they get in to town to see if they are here to do anything they shouldn’t be doing. So if I can take a look in your car and at your drivers license it would be good.” Captain Jermen looked at her with a warm smile and kind eyes.

“Sure, no problem I understand” she reached for her purse that was in the passenger seat and pulled out the wallet and opened it. She gave him her license and took out her keys from the ignition and unbuckled her seatbelt, the Captain opened the door for her and she stepped out of the car putting her purse over her shoulder. Captain Jermen looked at her and then down at the little card in his hands and then back up.

“Well this looks good I will just take a look in your car now” he smiled at her and handed her license back, he then went over to the car and began inspecting it opening the trunk and car doors while asking her questions.

“So why are you here and so late at that? What are u gonna do here?” he took out his flashlight to see better.

“Im heading to …… and wanted to see some of the country so I took a small detour before heading there, Im a journalist you see. I have been driving for a few hours when I came to gas station a few hours back and he told me about this town, and I was thinking about taking a look around before I continue. But it became pretty late so now im looking for some place to sleep.” She finished with a nervous smile. The Captain looked at her and laughed the flashlight bobbing up and down.

“I see” he closed the trunk and walked over to her where she stood next to the cop car “ well everything looks fine so I’m going to let you go on your way” he put his hand on his car door while his other hand was resting on top of the car roof.

“Thank you sir, ummm, could u tell me where I could find a place to sleep for the night?” she fumbled with her keys as she looked at him hopping he would help her.

“Yes, get in your car I will show you to our lovely hotel” he opened his car door and jumped in, she went to her car and did the same. The street lights lit up the roads of the small town it looked cozy and friendly and a lot of the buildings looked old, it had a certain charm over it as they drove down the road and as they took a right she could see the hotel. It looked a bit more modern than the rest of the town, it was made out of brick stone and painted white and dark blue around the corners. In the yard there was some rose bushes in a deep red color and up to the entrance was a set of stairs, lights were put up on either side of the stairs. Infront of the building was parking spaces. She pulled up and parked in one of the spots and got out to thank the cop.

“Will u be fine from here young lady?” Captain Jerman had rolled down the passenger window to talk to her.

“Yes, thank you for your help” she looked through the rolled down window at him.

“Well I’m going to head of then have a good stay and if u end up in trouble let me know” he pushed the button to roll up his window and the car rolled away, she stood there giving a small wave of good bye.

She turned around and went to pick up her bags, she opened her trunk and grabbed her travel bag and got it out and put it down on the ground she turned back to get her other bags but stopped. She didn’t need her other bags and the town seemed safe enough to leave them in the car, she closed the trunk and grabbed her bag and walked up to the door of the hotel. Ding dong, the sound of the doorbell could be heard on the other side of the door, she stood there and waited and she could see a light turn on in the building.

“Coming!” a older woman’s voice came from inside. Few more seconds go by and a light Klick and the front door was opened. The friendly face of a woman in her 60ish opened the door and a gust of warm air hit her face.