The Forest

I hear a quiet whisper. Like it’s calling me in. Beckoning me in.

I let it.

It’s dark and damp where I am stepping. I cannot even see my feet because the trees shade my surroundings. It’s as though the moss is trying to hold me captive, to keep me here forever.

I trudge forward.

I step over thorn bushes, over vines circling the dirt floor, over bones a little too large to be that of a woodland animal. I’m going deeper and deeper, where it keeps getting darker.

The sun should be high in the sky, but with the trees it’s as though it’s midnight. I see fragments of light though, where the sun’s rays have broken through gaps in the leaves.

I still in my tracks.

I see two glowing orbs looking at me. Is it the sun reflecting off of two round objects, or is it a pair of eyes watching me?

I wait.

I wait and I wait and I wait. For something to happen. For something to jump out and drag me to the ground and take me away.

I stand still and close my eyes.

When I open them again the glowing orbs are gone. Was it my imagination? Maybe I’ll never know.

I hope I never will.

And there it is again. That whisper. Luring me deeper into the tree-covered land, begging me to come closer.

And I do.

I start walking-no. I start running. Faster and faster to catch this whisper. I’m breathing harder now, not caring who-or what- hears me. I’m stumbling over the thorn bushes, over the vines, over the bones that definitely aren't an animals.

I’m-

I don’t know what I’m doing. Why exactly am I trying to catch it?

But I don’t catch it.

It has caught me.