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The night was cold, damp, and empty as it always is in the forest this time of the year. Autumn had just about ended, leading into the first days of winter. I looked over my shoulder towards my tent, my lonely tent thinking it may have been better had I asked my sister to tag along. After all, we did have a major argument the other day, so I've decided to come out camping all by myself. Did I regret it, you may ask? Perhaps, but it was needed considering all of the stress I had at work and with the family. Time for myself would do me good, I thought as I poured a bucket of water over the campfire, drowning the flames.
With every step I took, the crunching noises of the twigs breaking underneath my feet echoed into the empty spaces of the forest. It sounded somewhat peaceful, yet it frightened me. Was the forest supposed to be this quiet? It baffled me to think that I haven't heard a single bird, cricket, or anything. Only the sounds of the crunching beneath my feet.
The cold began biting my arms and legs when I decided to get into the tent, underneath the blankets, and just fall into a deep sleep, being one with nature.
It was then when I heard it...someone calling my name. I must have been imagining it, right? It wasn't as though someone had yelled out to me, but was rather a faint voice. I ignored it, wanting to believe that it was the whiskey and the forest playing tricks on me.
"Sasha." It called out to me again. I knew I wasn't tripping - this was real. I opened the flap of the tent ever so slightly, staring out into the darkness, trying to find any sort of movement in the shadows. Nothing. Was the forest playing tricks on my mind? Or was it just all of the stress and personal issues that I've been having? Either way, I was tired and needed my sleep. Just as I was about to seal the door, I saw it! Standing there in the distance, too far for me to make out who or what was standing there.
"Hello?" I called out more than once. It just stood there, appearing as though it had been hovering from the ground. "This isn't fucking funny. I'm calling the police." It was then when it rose higher from the ground and flung itself in my direction, and at such a speed I hardly had time to react before it knocked into the side of my tent.
I wish I could say I screamed. If only my lungs had the capacity for it. I sat there in silence, in shock, trying to comprehend what had happened...if it had happened. I froze, but not until I felt it moving next to me. Its breath was hot as fire, exhaling and sniffing in search of me. I tried to remain as still as my body allowed it, but it was no use. My heart had been pumping so loudly that anything would be able to hear it a mile away. I tried grabbing the knife out of my bag, trying my best not to move too much. Yes, found it, I thought to myself, but that little relief I had vanished as I turned around and my eyes met its. It stared at me with those black, lifeless eyes. Skin as pale and flaky as ash. Its nose was flat, nostrils as wide as bats and teeth which protruded from its mouth. "Sasha," it spoke my name with its scratchy voice as it drooled all over the tent. Within a few seconds, it began snapping its teeth out of desperate hunger. But before it could get a hold of me, I swung my knife in its direction, gashing it across its face. It let out a deafening scream, something so sinister to the ears. That bought me some time. Now is my chance!
I quickly unzipped the back of the tent and ran into the darkness, not looking back for one second. Don't look back, don't look back, don't look back, I silently repeated to myself. One thing I was grateful for as I ran through the trees and bushes, was the moon's light which illuminated my path. I ran and ran until I found myself lost in the vast amount of vegetation.
Finally, after reaching a river, I stopped for a moment to take a breather and recollect everything. I looked up towards the hill where I had come from, nothing.
Did I lose it...Lose him? It suddenly went quiet and so did my extensive loud breathing. Could that have been a vampire? It couldn't be! There was no way something like that could exist. It must have been a drunk or some pathetic drug addict trying to scare kids in the woods. Well, whatever it was, it had to be long gone by now. I tried climbing up the steep hill, needing to use my hands to get some sort of grip. It had to be past midnight by now, I thought; the last time I checked it was 11:25 pm. I managed to reach the top eventually, trying to relocate my tent. If I hadn't killed the fire, I would have been able to spot it easily. Being as it may, I continued to walk straight.
"Sasha." The whisper echoed all around me. The trees had seemed to rustle with aggression, as the whispers grew louder and fiercer. I stood still, lifting up my knife in the hopes I could catch it one last time and make a run for it. But the moon had suddenly disappeared, leaving me blind and unable to locate the thing.
Silence.
I stopped, suddenly feeling the warm breath on my neck. I felt its dark, gloomy presence behind me. It was much taller than me, stronger. There was no escaping this now - not even my little knife would help me.
"Candice, I love you," were my last thoughts to my sister before it wrapped its cold arms around me, and I felt the pressure on my neck. The woods had never looked as dark as they seemed now. Slowly, but surely I started feeling tired - I needed my sleep. And just like that, the world had become an empty, dark and hopeless space.
