Prologue
If he was being honest, Wayde was never a big fan of playing in the woods. His parents warned him often of the restricted area inside the Harbor Forest. But he would be lying if he said that he didn’t have a certain curiosity towards this place. It wasn’t like he wanted to break any rules, especially not the ones that his parents seemed to value a lot, but even the most innocent and childish curiosity is still a ruthless drive to the unknown. And the encouragement of his friends didn’t really help either. And so they went. Five of them. Five innocent kids, all of them below the age of ten. They marched through the bushes, hitting random objects that were in the way with their sticks, which in their minds were nothing less than legendary swords. Soon, they were stepping over the yellow tape, marking the restricted area. According to Wayde’s parents, no civilians had entered this area in the last decade. Why? Nobody knows. Wayde heard his parents talk about how the media are lying and using excuses, but he didn’t really understand anything that the grown-ups were talking about. He just hoped that some secret treasure lay behind this tape, just waiting to be uncovered.
As the kids entered the forbidden area, the sun was glaring above their heads, illuminating the thick forest. They ran deeper into the woods. Deeper. And deeper. Even when the sun was setting, they still haven’t stepped over that tape again. By the time the sky was pitch black, their families called the police. But even during the search for the children, nobody was allowed to pass the tape.
“But what if they entered the area?” The families cried. The question was met with mere excuses. As more time passed and no sign of the kids was found, the more severe the situation seemed, and soon the people came to a conclusion: The kids must have ignored the warnings. They have stepped over their boundaries, and nobody is allowed to get them back. Nobody knows what had happened to them.
Cursed Touch
As Wayde opened his eyes, a few sunrays filled his view with a bright light. He slowly sat up, noticing that his back was all stiff. He looked around. He was sitting in the middle of the woods, wearing torn apart clothes and sitting on some brown, dead Oak leaves. It was a pretty warm day and all the trees were blooming, so he was surrounded by a deep green color. He slowly stood up, making the soreness through his body become more apparent. Where is he even? It seems to be the Harbor Forest, but how did he get here? As he thought about it, memories returned. He was playing with his friends here! They went treasure hunting!
“Faye! Evan! Where are you?”
But there was no response. Did they already go home? But it was still about noon, why would they go home so early? And why would they leave him sleeping in the middle of the woods?
Either way, he should go home. He took his time to analyze his environment, quickly recognizing a lot of the places around him. Just after a few minutes, he managed to figure out the direction the village and his home was. The amount of time he spent in this forest is finally paying off!
Confident and proud, he ran through the bushes, occasionally having to push some of the bloomed branches to the side or snapping them off, leaving a trail of dead sticks behind him. Soon, he would reach the end of the forest, standing on a green hill bordering the Harbor village. He could even spot his own house! Excited, he ran towards his home, hoping his family would know where his friends had gone.
He ran through his front yard and finally reached the front door, pulling it open with all his energy.
“Mom! Dad! I’m home!” he shouted through the house, promptly taking off his shoes. Only then he noticed just how scuffed up his clothes really were. Hopefully his mom wouldn’t be too angry about it. As he was closing the door behind him, he could hear loud footsteps coming down the staircase. His mother and father stood there, looking at him with shock.
“S-Sorry mom, dad, I guess I was a little rough while playing. But it’s fine, these clothes weren’t my favorite anyway!”
Even though he tried to calm down his parents, his mother still fell on her knees, clearly tearing up.
“W-Where have you been these past days!? Are you alright? Where are the other kids? Where is your sister? Were you involved in that fire?” his dad bombarded him with questions, as he kneeled down in front of him and gave him a big hug. Wayde didn’t really understand what was going on. He could feel the loud heartbeat in his fathers chest.
“Past days”?
“Fire”?
“Other kids”... “sister”....?
“D-Do you not know where my friends are?” Wayde asked, still not sure how to act. But his dad did not answer. There was silence. Wayde couldn’t even hear his own fathers heartbeat anymore. Instead, his tall body lost all strength, falling to the floor.
“D-Dad…? Are you okay?” Wayde panicked.
Now his mother, who was still crying, noticed what was going on, and promptly tried to wake up her husband, who she thought just collapsed from relief.
“Honey? Are you okay?”
Wayde, scared from all this chaos, grabbed his mother’s hand. His mom was checking the pulse of the body, slowly tearing up even more, before starting to sob. Her eyes glistened because of the tears, before suddenly, without any warning, all the light in her eyes vanished. All that’s left was a dark, soulless dark blue. Then, she too, fell over. Two bodies and a 9 year old boy towering over them.
What?
What was going on?
He screamed, he tried to wake them up. But they wouldn’t. Fear and distress took over his body. He ran outside, trying to get help, but stumbled over his own shoes, landing face forward in the soft grass of the yard. As he quickly pulled himself up, something grabbed his attention. The green grass around his hand was slowly but surely rotting away - only leaving two depressing, brown spots. Even the place where his face had landed had traces of dark brown.
This is a nightmare. This isn’t real. What is this? Was he dreaming? Asleep? Why does this feel so real? Why could he feel the rush of despair in his veins? Stop! No! Stop this! Wake up! Go away!
He didn’t know why, but Wayde ran. And he kept running. He ran away. He wasn’t really sure what he was running away from, but running was all he could think of. Over the hill. Into the forest, And he ran. And he ran. And he ran. And he ran.
Away from this horror.
