Happenings

The leaves under my feet, dry and crisp crackled as I made my way through the dense foliage of the Northern woods. The isolation of the area was both something to be feared and appreciated simultaneously. These woods were not for the faint of heart. Many a person had come to these woods only to find themselves turned around and lost. Its reputation was something that led most of the children from town to actively avoid the place entirely, but not me. I felt at home in these woods often I would come here to escape from the regular happenings that plagued me and try to find some peace and serenity amongst the beauty of nature.

I don’t recall coming to the woods today, I felt that I had been drawn to the woods like a moth to the flame; by who and for what purpose I had no clue but, in truth I didn’t care. These woods had become something of a second home to me, a sanctuary, in which safety could be found behind any one of the innumerable trees, bushes and even caves within. I found myself thinking about a story that broke last summer, one that was a direct contradiction to my feelings on these so-called dark woods. The tale of poor Anne Marie Simmons, a girl only a few years older than me who I had known from around town. We weren’t friends or anything like that. Yet the particularly gruesome way in which she had met her end had left a huge impact upon my young mind as it had with most of the people in our small town. She had been murdered in a ‘most grizzly fashion’ I remembered the local newspaper state with such an emphatic font across the front page.

The article recounted how she had been enticed out into the woods one Friday night with the promise of alcohol and drugs, I was never totally convinced about the drugs part in truth. Anyway, when she arrived at the woods the story goes that three much older boys, Peter Wilson, Brain Macalady and, I think the last one was Ian-David Blatt, they had allegedly plied her with Vodka before performing some kind of ritualistic sacrifice, again the phrase ritualistic sacrifice I had gotten from the news articles. It was not long before the guilty parties had been identified, there’s not much that goes unseen in a small town like mine. They were all rounded up quickly and eventually received thirty years to life sentences a piece.

I had no idea why I was thinking about poor Ann Marie. Whatever the reason was it was a welcome relief from the happenings that had seemed to have become so much more frequent in the past weeks and, I felt that so long as thinking about the dead did not trigger a happening to occur here then that was fine by me. Suffering a happening in my sanctuary would be unforgivable. What I did find comforting however, is that even with my mind deep in thought I knew exactly where I was heading too and was able to navigate my way with little effort. There is a little clearing about two-hundred meters off the path that the hikers and the dog walkers frequent that was my own little slice of the woods I had claimed it long ago like some pioneer moving Westward staking a claim on some unoccupied land.

The clearing wasn’t spectacular by any means, and I certainly didn’t have the space to be grazing any cattle but, to me it was perfect in its solitude. The bushes and trees that surrounded the place provided the surreal feeling of being hugged. It felt secure, impregnable. Well, except for that one time when Billy Potts and his idiot cronies had stumbled upon me reading one day and decided to spend the next five minutes assailing me with various projectiles. For a short while it had felt spoiled almost desecrated by their actions although this feeling passed over time, but it did force me to be more cautious when entering my private sanctum in the future.

Usually just being in the woods would help my brain to slow down and focus. I had never experienced any happenings here which only strengthened my feelings of security. But today, I don’t know, something felt off there was a tension that caused the air to buzz and thrum as if the woods were alive and somehow trying to warn me. Of what though, I had no clue. A steadily growing sense of unease that I could not shake was building within me. I was on edge my head was spinning and whirring in every direction. A reaction to the almost electrified feeling in the air I was sure. It was as if the trees themselves were afraid of something within these woods today. Even the wildlife seemed to be vanishing the deeper in I got, I noticed less squirrels bustling about and the birds, usually high up in the canopy whistling away, even they seemed to have either vanished or gone into hiding; seemingly afraid to face whatever it was that was at the center of this feeling of unease. My feelings were completely at odds with my surroundings. The beauty and dare I say the majesty of this place was unrivaled, at least to my young untraveled eyes. The plants that bloomed stunning reds and yellows contrasted in the most poetic of ways against the lush greens of the trees and the bushes drawing butterfly’s and bees and countless other insects over to them to help spread the pollen that resided in their centers, or at least they usually did. Ordinarily my mind would marvel at all the natural beauty that was on display within this place but today I simply could not.

Once I had left the main trail I had the strangest feeling, like I was being watched. I had a gnawing sensation deep in the pit of my stomach and my skin was alive with the sensations of goose bumps. Both conditions generally preceded a happening and I prayed silently that this was not to be as I stepped over the fallen birch tree that told me I was not too far from my destination. I found myself shielding my eyes from the bright rays of the sun that had managed to penetrate the thick canopy above, my gaze was still instinctively darting from tree to tree, scanning my surroundings searching for my secret observer. Every bush and every shadow suddenly now held the potential for danger. I could feel eyes watching me, following my every move. I listened intently, the lack of animal activity working in my favour now. Not exactly sure of what it was I was listening for, footsteps maybe or possibly breathing. I felt almost violated, someone was here, in the woods that have always felt welcoming and safe to me, and they are watching me for what reason or purpose I could neither think of nor care about I quite simply wished that they would leave me alone.

The feeling of being watched grew in intensity the deeper I walked into the woods. And more importantly I knew that I was being warned. I would often get such premonitions; from what I had often imagined to be some kind of spirit guide or maybe even a guardian angel. I had never seen the source of these warnings, simply felt them like a strong urge in my gut. Even though I was being drawn deeper into the woods by some, well, I guess power is the only word that fits to explain it I also knew that there was some unknown spirit that was trying to guide me; trying to protect me. My father would often tell me that ‘it’s not the dead you need to worry about, it’s the living’ and for the most part he was right however, there are those rare occasions when something malevolent makes its presence known. And in my mind if I was being warned by this spirit then the likelihood is that whatever was out there was in no uncertain terms unfriendly. It was out amongst the shadows, waiting for me, pulling me deeper; for what purpose I could only dread. A couple of months back I was tucked away in my safe space, and a bear walked right by. I guessed at the time that I was either upwind of her, or she simply held no interest in me but she passed me by all the same literally feet away from me it was so cool, if not a little scary I briefly considered how she may have returned to claim her prize but I knew that the idea of a bear skulking behind the trees in order to ensnare me was little more than wishful thinking on my part. I knew in my heart that what was out there stalking me was something much more malicious.

I tried to push the feeling of being watched from my mind which believe me was not as easy as it sounds. As I pushed on through the brush, I tried to ease my worried mind by enjoying the feel of the leaves and thinner branches as they brushed against my legs and the warm summers sun caressing my face. Stupidly, I almost waded into a swampy patch of mud. Thankfully, I was able to avoid the potential disaster, albeit only just, my mother would have freaked if I’d have gotten my trainers all messed up with mud. After successfully navigating the swampy area, I hopped a fallen tree and a wave of relief washed over me when the secluded spot I called my own finally came into view. The relief, however, would be short lived. The hair on the back of my neck stood up and a tingling sensation danced up and down my spine, a sure sign of a happening.

This thought angered me and as sweat begun to form on my brow I was overcome with a powerful wave of sadness. It was a deep sadness that brought tears welling up in my eyes, before long, I found myself standing alone in the woods sobbing uncontrollably for no reason. I brought my hands up to my face covering my eyes as my shoulders heaved up and down. I had never known an emotion so pure, the rawness of what I was feeling was too much for me to bear. Time seemed to be moving at a much slower pace, and the more I fought against the tears now streaming down my face the more the intensity of the emotions took a hold of me. The word ‘help’ was suddenly reverberating around my brain, a female voice that I didn’t recognize. It was an adult’s voice, and it was filled with fear.

The fear felt like electricity firing deep within my consciousness, but it wasn’t mine and I knew it. Not that I wasn’t wracked with my own fear at this point. But this, this was a different kind of fear and just like the sadness, it didn’t belong to me it had been placed there by a spirit. The whole experience felt out of place, nothing at all like one of my usual episodes. This was much more intense than I had ever encountered before. The word ‘help’ was still scratching around my brain like a record on repeat and was sending chills through my entire body, causing my heartbeat to race. Whoever the spirit was had now forged a kind of a psychic link between us both and was beginning to plant emotions in my psyche, but to what purpose. I guess I was going to find out soon enough. God, I hated being me sometimes. I longed to be in my safe space I was aching for the sanctuary that it provided. I considered that maybe if I could make it there then I would be able to push all of this out of my brain and lock it out.

Yet, it was more than just a longing for some security, felt drawn to the safety of the alcove almost as if something was pulling me there. A power that I could not even begin to comprehend was positioning me like a pawn in a game of chess. But why me, what on earth was I being pulled into. My heart sank at the helplessness of the situation that I now found myself entangled. Suddenly and without any form of warning everything stopped. No more sadness, no more nerve crippling fear, no more voice screaming for help. It took a few more moments before the tears finally subsided and I returned to feeling something like normal again. I found a place to sit and gather myself choosing a moss-covered boulder, I plonked myself down, once again pulling my hands up to my face to cover my eyes. And I took a breath.

I have no real concept of how long I had sat on that boulder, maybe a half hour possibly a little less and all the while I felt those unseen eyes constantly on me watching my every move, feeding on my misery. Feeling exposed and terribly isolated I picked myself up, deciding that I had to get to the sanctuary knowing that I would be safer there. Even if I was being maneuvered into that very spot. The woods felt alive tonight, almost as if the earth itself was waiting with bated breath to see how things would play out. I began to scan the trees once more, looking beyond them into the shadows trying to catch a glimpse of whatever it was that was lurking within the darkness. The air had the most eerie quality about it, something new, that I could not quite put my finger on. Nor have I ever had the displeasure of feeling before now. And as I cautiously got back up to my feet I felt the sickening realization that the sun had gone down. Meaning that I was now alone in these woods at night ‘oh God, how long had I sat down for?’ I growled at myself; a sense of anger began to build up in the pit of my stomach. This was bad and I knew it. No one came to these woods at night, alone. Especially not a nine-year-old girl my parents are going to freak out big time when I get home, if I get home. I thought solemnly to myself.

Despite knowing that I should have turned around right then and there I didn’t, What I actually did, despite every cell in my body screaming out instinctively for survival, was I once again pushed forward making my way through the brush when the faint sound of a women sobbing reached my ears I couldn’t tell how close she was or what direction the crying was coming from, but it was there all the same, and this time it was not in my head. The idea that the sobbing women was the person who had been following and watching me had crossed my mind, but I had no real way of knowing. I was frozen in place consumed by the fear that was like ice running within my veins. Scouring the shadows I searched for the source of the crying but to little avail. I closed my eyes and silently counted down from ten whilst taking in deep breaths trying to regain my composure. Once I had managed to reassert control over my own body I again decided that the best course of action was to keep moving albeit with more caution, there was something going on in these woods today and I didn’t like it one bit. I was once again starting to be overcome with sadness once again yet, not quite to the same extent as I was before.

All the uneasy feelings I was having aside, my safe space was in sight, and I craved the security that it offered to me. The closer I got to my destination the more the air became thicker with anticipation, the atmosphere felt more oppressive now. I was torn between the need to get to where I was going and to turn and run home, I really shouldn’t be here and I knew it but, I felt that I had come too far to turn back now. The night had really set in fast, and I felt that my visibility was really compromised. I could see up to maybe ten feet ahead of me which really slowed my progress down considerably. The woods had become wrapped up in an unforgiven dark blanket that further concealed my stalkers actions. I knew I was still under observation I had heard several branch-like snaps in the last ten-to-fifteen minutes. Always close but never close enough to give the game away and always just over my right shoulder, it seems that my night stalker was getting more confident the deeper I got either that or the darkness was affecting their ability to navigate stealthily.

When I was only a few meters away a vulgar, and extremely pungent smell assaulted my senses, faint at first but growing stronger the closer I got to the clearing. It was a very distinctive sweet sickly aroma almost like rotten meat, that was the only way that I could describe what I was smelling. The air was polluted with it. Suffocating I had begun to wretch and had to fight the overwhelming urge to vomit. I slowed down now as instinct begun to take over acting as my default setting. caution and my own safety became my only priority. I had to stop several times to catch my breath; placing my hands on my knees I would lean forward and balk, but never once did I catch the pleasant release of vomiting. Instead, I remained in a gut-wrenching limbo that promised to send me over the edge of insanity before long.

As I glanced up after once again failing to unburden my poor stomach of its contents for what felt like the millionth time I noticed a peculiar sight. The air, around the tops of the bushes appeared to be almost swaying rhythmically from side to side. My safe space by now beginning to feel like anything but a safe place. I took in several deep breaths and noted a handful of sounds, again from over my right shoulder, and once I felt that I was steady enough I straightened myself back up and took in the full scene that waited patiently for me. It did not take long for me to realize that it was not that the air was moving rather it was something moving about. It was hundreds, and I mean literally hundreds of flies all buzzing away seemingly distorting the air about them.

The buzz they created whilst little more than a low humming sound filled the air almost matching the rhythm of my own raging heartbeat which by now felt like one long continuous thrum rather than a series of steady beats. I took two or possibly three steps forward apprehensive of facing so many flies but also gauging my bodies response in terms of would I or would I not pass out with all this sensory overload I was experiencing. After a few seconds and several larger gulps of putrid air I continued my slow approach. But I was soon stopped in my tracks, frozen in place by the partial sight I could see. Paralysis had taken control of my body brought about by the terrific fear that shook my body right to the core. My muscles became so tight I honestly felt that I might explode my eyes remained rooted to the macabre vision before me, the crying had by now become a pitiful sob‘I NEED YOUR HELP’ was suddenly screamed into my ear, someone had gotten so close to me that I could feel their icy cold breath on my ear lobe.

It was enough to snap me out of my paralysis; I spun around surveying the woods behind me. There was no one around and not a chance that someone had crept up on me, screamed down my ear then managed to run and hide without me either seeing or hearing them. Not a chance. My eyes were darting from tree to tree, from bush to bush but the only movement was that of the branches flowing gently in the breeze. Not that I would have seen much anyway with such an unrelenting darkness now having taken over the woods completely. ‘Please’ was once again whispered in my ear startling me I jumped back and my body began to shiver violently. I spun back towards the clearing and the sight that had befallen me only moments ago. Only this time I wasn’t alone. This time there was a women standing on the other side of the clearing staring directly at me, sobbing her shoulders moving up and down as her chest seemed to heave in and out rapidly. She was dressed in a blue and white dress that put me in mind of the wizard of OZs Dorothy. Her chestnut brown hair was disheveled but, it was her eyes that held my gaze she had two deep dark patches around her eyes creating a stark contrast with the whites of her eyes. Slowly she raised her hand up until it was held out in my direction, her pale deathly white skin seemed an agonizing scream by contrast to the lush greenery of the woods, she held her hand out, inviting, almost as if she wanted me to take hers in my own. Deliberately she manipulated her fingers, each joint creaked and cracked as they slowly twisted and turned until a solitary finger was pointing directly at me in a very accusing gesture.

The air around me appeared to grow thicker than it had ever been before, it had a suffocating feel to it. She was using whatever electrical charge she could take not only from me but from the dark cold void that had only a short while ago been the beautiful woods that I knew and loved. There was an overwhelming feeling of sadness once again sweeping over me, so strong that it completely overrode the fear brought about by the appearance of the women. As once again tears begun to flow down my cheeks, I submitted to the feelings allowing them to wash over me. Usually during a happening I would be exposed to various thoughts and feelings, occasionally I had received visions, it all depended really on what it was that the spirit wanted me to see. I had long since learnt that it was pointless to resist whatever the spirit was trying to impart upon me they were often far stronger than I. And believe me when I say that they weren’t always easy to handle.

I knew that something terrible had happened to this woman and that she wanted me to know exactly what it was. I stood alone in the woods staring at her, sobbing freely. I knew that I could not allow her to fully lean on me, that she was using my energy to manifest to me. But she was so strong, one of the strongest spirits that I have ever met good or evil, and I have met a few; more than I am happy to say in fact. I opened my mouth to speak to her, but the words caught in my throat, my mouth was so dry, and my tongue felt swollen, much too big to belong in my mouth. It was almost as if she sensed my discomfort. Her face softened a little. Her scowl making way for a look of complete and utter devastation, she begun to lower her arm towards the ground until she was pointing towards the clearing, towards my safe space. My eyes followed her gaze down; my view being largely obstructed by the bushes preventing me from seeing the full horror of what she was showing me. However, as soon as I looked down I once again saw the sight that had frozen my heart only moments before.

The sight of two feet, albeit only from the ankles down, confirmed everything that I needed to know. I began to walk forward; it was more of a voluntary process rather than a conscious decision. What I saw when I looked down horrified me in a way that I could never begin to comprehend. I was looking at the body of a young women, the body of the spirit who stood before me. Her skin was pale, with an almost yellow green tinge a telltale sign that she had been out here for some time. Her blue and white dress no longer reminded me of Dorothy; it was torn and filthy and it was blood stained. There was so much blood. I looked up at her, still standing in the same spot as before only this time her head was hung in her hands her shoulders still visibly trembling as she sobbed silently into her hands. ‘it’s you, your, I mean. What happened? Do you remember?’ I asked her. Beginning to regain a little of my composure whilst knowing full well that I was out of my depth I had never had to deal with a spirit that had this level of unfinished business before now. She nodded, her hands never leaving her face as she did. My eyes returned to the body that lay before me a testimony to the almost beautiful savagery that only another human can inflict upon one of their own. A violence so complete that it had brought about the end of this poor women’s life out here in these woods in such a cruel manner. Her face was covered in so many cuts and bruises, a victim of a savage assault.

I became overwhelmed by the relentless sadness she was broadcasting over me. I was beginning to tune her own out now which meant that I was beginning to take some form of control over the situation at least in terms of what I allowed her to make me feel or see. Feeling like I could finally breath properly as the air started to thin out and return to normal the oppressiveness dissipating, I couldn’t take my eyes away from the violence of her body laying prone in what I had once considered to be my safe space. It had always felt so impregnable but now it just felt violated. Feelings of guilt washed over me as the reality of my own selfish thoughts took hold of me. I vomited. A violent soul shuddering exorcism of the contents of my own stomach, a natural reaction to the sight that lay before me but also such a relief to have finally gotten past that hurdle.

I knew I would have to report this to the police. Once again, my own selfish thoughts began bubbling to the surface when I started to think about how my own private space would become infested with law enforcement officers and afterwards a media circus the place would become as synonymous as the spot where Anne Marie Simmons had been so brutally murdered. I tried to push those thoughts from my mind, remembering that the body of a young women lay brutalized on the ground and I had no choice but to report it. Some spirits will tell me their story whilst others had the ability to show me, but with all due respect to the woman, I had no desire to see that played out in my mind’s eye. I raised my head with the intention of asking her name, I figured it was the very least that I could do for her but as I did my heart skipped a beat she had moved closer to me, so much closer than I was comfortable with. My skin was literally tingling. It is my body’s reaction to a spirit being in such close proximity to me a kind of early warning system if you like. My hands were shaking as I stared eye to eye with the woman whose swollen, mutilated face was suddenly inches from my own. ’You should not be here’ She growled at me, I could hear her almost as if she had spoken the words, but she hadn’t. Shocked, I stood staring at her as my heart pulsated in my ears, and my breathing had once again become so labored that I struggled to regulate myself. The women in front of me started to blur in and out of focus and everything around her appeared fuzzy. At first I felt sure that she was trying to exert her control over me and that this was simply draining me of my own energy but, when I began to black out, I realized that what I was experiencing was a reaction to my poor breathing. The world around me was growing darker, I was beginning to pass out, and I knew it I just didn’t have the power to control what was happening to me. I could hear my breathing above all else now it was loud and raspy and that was the last thing that I heard before the darkness took me.

I woke to the sound of screaming. That, and the earthy scent of the woods. My eyes blinked into focus, and I succumbed to the dreaded realization that I was still in the woods meaning that I was not stuck in some awful dream. My heart once again picked up where it had left off; hammering away in my chest. And I lay still and listened to the sound of a women’s voice screaming, viciously repeating ‘stay back, she’s not one for you she’s innocent.’ Panic pushed me back to my feet. I first glanced over the battered and mutilated former beauty that lay in my former sanctuary and then turned to find her spirit facing into the darkness seemingly warning off my stalker I presumed.

Now I was terrified. Who or what could be so bad that the spirit of this deconstructed beauty would be more concerned with them then me; ‘This is bad’ I mumbled forcing her to turn and glare at me. ‘Do not move child. The thing has seen you. It may be too late already.’ I almost peed in my pants when she hissed that at me. What is this ‘thing’ as she referred to it and what the hell does it want with me I wondered. ‘Did it do this to you’ I fumbled out but got no response she had already turned back to whoever or whatever was lurking within the darkness of the shadows. Not once did I hear a reply come back out from the darkness and this was one of the more unsettling factors, my heart all but stopped at this realization.

Silence had suddenly taken over the woods and for several long, tense moments I stood rooted to the very spot. Eventually she turned back towards me and once again in the blink of an eye she was right on top of me, OK, I peed a little when she did it this time. ‘It is not safe for you here; you must go back’ she hurried at me; I must have given her my confused face because it didn’t take long for her to roar at me about how I was not listening and imploring me to go because it wasn’t safe here. My mind went blank as we stood facing each other her eyes, eyes that once would have been the windows to her very soul, eyes that would once have been beholders of all this women’s hopes and dreams now locked on to mine own as she waited for some sign that I understood. But, in truth I had no clue what has going on here. I don’t remember coming to the woods nor do I recall nighttime setting in then there was the feeling of being watched although she had practically confirmed that to me in the last few minutes. ‘Wh-what’s out there’ her eyes narrowed at my question but before she could answer I fired another one her way ‘did it do that to you?’ her eyes widened at this question causing her to glance over my shoulder at her decimated corpse.

‘It is not me that it wants, it never was. I was just a pawn in its game a part in its insidious machinery to get to you, it is and always has been you.’ She warned me solemnly the woods seemed to grow colder and more desolate with every passing minute. Her gaze returned to mine, and it sent further chills coursing through my body and in that solitary moment I begun to realize that my life was in danger here in these woods. A sudden rustling sound coming from behind me forced me to spin on my heels expecting a sudden attack. But no attack came, at least not physically. My eyes combed the tree line, encased in darkness as it was I was still able to make out shapes; trees whose branches gently flowed in the breeze and bushes that seemed as menacing as any crouched figure that I could ever conjure up in my mind.

But suddenly I saw something, not as a whole, not at first. What I saw was little more than a hazy outline. I watched as it slowly took on the form of a man. Morphing into a solid mass of black which stood out against the darkness of the shadows such was the intensity of the blackness that I was seeing take shape before me. I could only guess from my distance away, but I would put the thing at easily seven foot tall; a Goliath of a creature. My gaze never leaving the form that was materializing before me. As Its features begun to take shape first the eyes, such an intense red almost as intense as what I would have imagined the fires of hell to burn, and they were burning right through me. As the remainder of the things face presented I had to look away. Never could I in my life have imagined something so vile, it was such an unnatural looking grotesque abomination. My stomach tightened as I once again had to fight the urge to vomit. As the thing before me became clearer I could feel the evil emanating from it, it seeped out of every pore.

I have never once felt fear like I was feeling right now. During the many happenings that I have experienced not once have I ever met a single spirit that showed even the slightest sliver of evil. Sure, some of them have been angry over one thing or another but never evil. More importantly they had always been earth-bound spirits. This however, this was something different. I could feel the power from within him, I could sense the evil that lurked just beneath its sinister appearance, like a river pressing against a dam all that it would take is one wrong move, one misjudgement and an evil of which I could scarcely comprehend would let loose upon me. ‘It is not he’ a cautioning voice whispered in my ear ‘turn away from it, do it now’ a little more urgency this time but I struggled to take my eyes off the still forming presence of evil that was presenting itself to me.

Without any attempt at nicety she grabbed my shoulders, spinning me to face her. She looked distraught. Her eyes full of panic ‘hear me now’ she hissed ‘ you must go, go back. Go now before it is too late. This thing has seen you, but you are not yet marked’ Nodding slowly to show I understood despite not understanding at all ‘how?’ I asked her ‘I-I don’t know how’ She hung her head in dismay or perhaps it was pure frustration. She started to slowly shake her head, and I could hear her sobbing, deep, and guttural. Her blood matted hair made my stomach churn and at the same time it broke my heart for her all over again.

A deep throaty growl from behind me broke us both out of our joint reverie, reigniting the fear deep within me and removing all sense of sadness. She was dead and as sad as that fact was, the simple fact of the matter had now become crystal clear; that my life, even my soul was now in the balance. I had so many questions and no time at all to get my answers. I had to get out of here; I had to run. My fight or flight was now beginning to kick in as my mind begun the process of breaking the psychic link that I was sharing with her. A brief spell of shame washed over me as the full weight of the situation dawned on me ‘Mary’ she sung into my mind before again asserting that I leave this place, that I was not safe.

I reached out, tentatively at first. Growing more confident as my hands closed around Marys disfigured face. Pulling her head up so that our eyes once again met and with tears running down both of our faces I apologized to her then I thanked her. Then I took off running. I hoped that my sudden burst would be enough to give me enough of an edge over whatever that thing was yet, as I headed into the thick darkness ducking and dodging my way through the denseness of the woods I heard heavy thundering footfalls crashing through the woods behind me.

Pure unfiltered adrenaline coursed through every fiber of every muscle as I pushed on battling my way through, I felt that my heart was about to explode in my chest my lungs were being pushed far beyond any capability that I would ever have guessed possible and my legs felt as if they had become lead weights. But it was all in vain as every heavy thud behind me brought that thing closer to me. Before long I could hear it breathing no more than a few feet behind me, but I couldn’t risk glancing over my shoulder, or I would have risked wrapping myself around a tree and so I pushed on. My feet getting even heavier with every lunge forward my lungs ached and my heart broke. I was sobbing by now. Fear had turned to despair; I was done for and I knew it I would fail Mary and more importantly I would fail myself.

It was close enough now for me to smell it, like sulfur and it burnt my already straining nostrils. It tasted even worse like rusty copper. I was moving on absolute instinct now every jolt every strain hell, every breath was all pure survival. I had to keep moving. Thoughts of my parents grieving over me helped to spur me on, but the sad truth was that this thing was simply too fast for me and worse still it didn’t even sound like it was trying to catch me. It was a game, the thrill of the chase. I could hear its sinister laughter close behind me, a supremely insidious laugh that sent chills firing through my very core, I could also hear the thuds of his powerful feet hitting the ground, close enough now that I knew beyond all doubt that all hope was lost. I was about to become just another rotting, mutilated corpse lying exposed in the woods just like Mary, just like Anne Marie Simmons.

When it came. It came fast and powerful. It was a blow so vicious that it sent all ideas of survival clear out of my mind. The game was over, soon it would claim its prize, soon it would claim me. The thing struck me in my right rib cage lifting me up off my feet in one fell swoop and sent me crashing into a thick trunk that seemed to splinter upon my impact. I hit the ground hard and felt a squelching sensation as I did, initially I thought it had hit me so hard that my insides had become my outsides but as I lay at the foot of the mighty oak unable to breath with the wind knocked clean out of me I realized that I had landed on a bed of wet half decayed leaves. However, I knew that internal organs had been ruptured and bones had been shattered such was the intensity of the pain that I was suffering. My whole body had been broken in one fell swoop. I never stood a chance.

As I lay on the floor panting, gasping for air and settling for taking in short painful breaths and with tears flooding my vision I noticed the thing standing over me. Those eyes were burning deep into my soul Its head was cocked to the side, the being’s dirty hair hanging loosely over Its putrid face and it growled ‘No-no-no stay with me sweet thing’ and then it smiled at me sending chills racing across my nerve endings. I began to sob harder than I ever have before, but this time it was for myself this only served to amuse the creature further and it started to laugh that horse, malicious laugh and then the darkness took me completely.