Call of the Forest

𝐁𝐨𝐲𝐬-𝐎𝐧𝐥𝐲

'Sleep tight, survived the shadow, but he knows you're here tomorrow. Think twice next time, happens to be over your bedtime. Demon in disguise, thinks it can compromise. Sleep tight, succeeds to see what's real tonight, ready for a deal or a fight?'

***

I had been woken up by the screams of my mom. The first thing she had seen when she was about to wake me for school, was her child in her bed while everything was covered in blood.

Since then I couldn't get the one explanation out of her head.

I had tried, and failed, to hurt myself.

I had given in eventually, because if I tried to convince her a mermaid did this... she would've put me in a mental asylum.

Good things came after weirdly enough. I had put it onto the stress of school, so I was now homeschooled.

It was a bit lonely, I admit, but I didn't have the stress to wake up and make myself ready, or didn't need to worry about judging faces when I didn't wear something to people's expectations.

However, the nights were horrible. I didn't sleep and you can imagine how bad that is for me. From sleeping every day and night to not daring to blink is a huge step.

I fell asleep while the hired teacher was doing his explanations and went over his lessons.

He was annoyed with it, but when my parents explained what they thought happened to me, he treated me carefully and was really soft and I hated it.

I felt a little safer when I fell asleep in other people's presence. I didn't exactly know what happened to my body, but if I disappeared randomly they'll believe my explanation of the mermaid. Or if my hand gets chopped off, they could see it right happen there and then without me moving an inch.

Keeping myself awake during the pitch-black nights and not getting distracted by any suspicious sounds and movements by my window was a big deal.

So now, every night, I sit in bed with my headphones on. They play the loudest music, I'm always still a bit deaf in the morning. I read books, although it doesn't go that well together, or sketch a bit. I once even looked at the pictures of my school books... then I knew I was getting desperate.

I'm sitting on my bed at the moment, doing the same exact thing which I described. Queen is playing close to my ears while I am mumbling the lyrics.

I'm drawing, and have drawn, one specific thing. The shadow in the jungle. One dark figure, so many memories attached to it, and I'm not sure if they're all mine.

It was getting too dark to see, and so I put away my drawing supplies and tried to think about something new to do.

Maybe I could watch another movie, or continue my series. Queen was still playing through my headphones when I saw my room darkening. I forgot my looking away policy and focused my attention on the window. The room was lit normally again, but my music stopped.

I looked at my phone and saw it was turned off due low battery. I sigh really loudly and wanted to cry. My breaths are restless and my head is exploding.

I heard a cracking noise coming from my left, and saw the window open in the corner of my eye. I wanted to scream and run away, and I'm not sure why I didn't do it. No, I stayed still, and couldn't even hope it was a dream.

I closed my eyes, no noise was hearable anymore. Did I just have a broken window? Was I just getting mad?

But then, boys were laughing down the streets. I get up without hesitation and look for them. There they were, running in their PJs. And then my next-door neighbor was climbing out his window. He was a few years younger than me, but was really mature for his age.

"Hey Steven, where are you going?"

He was ready to jump into the bushes but looked at me. "To the music of course! You must come too..." and he smiled joyfully. "What? Like a party?" I ask him.

A party for only boys then, I've seen no girls running towards the location.

"Yeah, a party... You should come too!" And he jumped.

I had two options; be a responsible daughter and stay home while hoping I wouldn't fall asleep and cry with every movement I see OR go to the party and enjoy that I'm still young.

I climbed out the window and slid off the roof tiles. Steven had already begun proceeding towards the so-called party. I ran after him and whispered-yelled for him to slow down, but he didn't hear me anymore.

I had lost him but could see a lot of smoke coming from the woods with a lot more noise. I followed the shouting and knew I was getting close. I should've put something over my shorts and shirt. It was really cold and weird to have a party so randomly on a Tuesday.

I saw from behind the tree a big campfire and all the boys dancing around it. They were wearing these weird masks and roaring random sounds. So it was a boys-only party, stupid Steven couldn't mention that.

I wanted to go back, I wanted to lay in my comfortable bed again and listen to my loud music. However, I realized I would not be able to get back onto the roof towards my window and would have to knock on the door. I should make the best of it now, they are probably enjoying themselves too much to recognize me.

I slowly walked towards the fire and flinched because of the sudden temperature change. I couldn't get too close because of the wild dance moves these boys had, but it was warm enough.

I was looking around, enjoying the fresh air and not having the constant struggle to stay awake. One specific thing that was taking my attention the most, this hooded person playing the flute. And the flute is cool, but out of his came no noise at all. Maybe he was playing really quiet and the boys' roaring was muting it.

He looked up and we made eye contact, I fastly looked away, not trying to offend with my staring. When I tried my best to look as subtle as possible if he was still looking, I noticed he wasn't there anymore. Had I made him insecure and did he leave the party?

I turned back to my right and jumped when I saw his tilted head really close to mine. His eyebrows frowned and his mouth formed one line. When I took a step away from him, he smiled warm-heartedly. I smiled back out of politeness.

"Why weren't you dancing to the music?" He asked rather rudely, and I didn't know it was meant that way or not because he kept smiling. "Music?" I questioned. He stares back, his eyes looking at every detail of me, and kept looking a little longer at the bandage on my arm. He then eventually makes an 'aha' sound. I look at him with confusion and embarrassment.

"You should go back home, the backdoor is open so you can go inside that way. Don't be scared of dreaming, the mermaid was punished."

We stood there for at least ten minutes in silence, I was utterly in shock. Without any second thought, my jaw clenched, my eyebrows frowned together and my hands turned into fists. "Has there been gossip about me? Are you really laughing at me, is this your way of kicking me out."

He lifted up his brows, "I'll explain everything soon. I'm happy I saw you again."

He turned his back on me and walked to the wild boys, including Steven. My only explanation for this was that I had crashed a cult conference. I ran backward, keeping my eyes focussed on the boys until I almost fell. I turned around and ran as fast as I could.

I ran and didn't even know where to. It was dark, only a few street lights once in a while gave me a clue where I was going. As I was running, I felt my legs tire and felt sweat appear behind my hair. My breath was uneven and my arms were in unison with my legs. And the worst thing of all, I loved it.

I loved that I could've gotten myself in danger and the way I was running like I was a prey. I liked the idea of not hearing no, of only my head yelling yes!

Then I saw my house again and my smile disappeared, although I always see it as my safe place, I see it as a prison too.

I sneaked towards the backdoor and it was indeed open, I didn't know if I should feel lucky or terrified. But one thing I did know, I wanted that creep to meet me again and put more of that excitement in my life.