You wake again as the sunlight is barely lightening the skies above the treetops. You're exhausted, your head still pounding. Maybe more than it had been last night. It takes a few minutes but eventually you push yourself into a sitting position, looking around the camp. The fire has long since died down, evident by the charcoal sitting in the makeshift fire pit.
Your breath rattles through your throat and chest as you continue looking around. You spot what appears to be a bloodied pelt nearby, likely whatever was dinner the previous night. You then look to the trees again and spot a figure donning yellow sitting in the branches on the other side of camp. You still don't know his name, but you know that while he may seem timid he's far more than capable of attack.
You watch him for a while longer, not moving even as the one with the white mask stirs and sits up. He doesn't have his mask on, but with him in the corner of your vision, you can't see his face. It doesn't matter much to you, even if you are curious about it. He likely has a reason to be hiding his face, and it's not your place to ask why.
You eventually get up, ignoring the fact that you feel as if you're going to collapse, and start walking around the perimeter of the camp with your bat. Something about this area is different than last night. Something that makes you feel on edge.
Your attention snaps to where Toby is now poking at where the fire once burned, hearing a slight pop. You were wrong, you muse. There's still heat, enough for the sap pockets within the wood to explode. White mask dude is watching you, you can feel his gaze on you when you draw your eyes away from Toby.
"Why are you stalking around like a wounded animal?" he asks, clearly exasperated. You don't look at him, instead looking out into the woods.
"It feels different than last night," you answer vaguely, going back to walking around. The one with the yellow sweatshirt looks at you from where he's picked up your backpack.
"What do you mean?"
You don't answer this time, because you can't. You can't explain it. You just have this feeling of something being off. You pause, hearing an almost whistling noise drifting through the woods, automatically tensing, ready to bolt. This puts the others on edge, seeing this teenager that managed to spar evenly with them during their first encounter.
"(Y/N)?" the masked one asks, voice quieter. You go to answer him but whip around, hand clenching on your bat as you hear leaves shift. You start walking forward slowly, ignoring the others as you turn around a tree. What you find makes you pause.
The ghost of a kid is staring at you, eye sockets empty and black. You relax. You could deal with spirits, that's easy. You motion with your head for them to follow you back to the others, turning around and doing just that. The child follows, you can tell by the soft whistling noise and rustle of leaves.
"Did you find anything?" Toby questions. You nod, gesturing to the spirit child beside you. The three look confused.
"There's nothing there," the frowny mask one says slowly, almost as if he's scared of offending you. You bite the inside of your cheek and look at the child.
"Could you laugh or do the whistling thing again?" you ask them. They concentrate for a moment before a whistling noise sounds, making the leaves rustle below where they stand. Frowny mask jumps in surprise as you grin.
"What was that?"
"Spirit child," you say in a way of explaining. There's silence so you decide to speak more, forcing away a coughing fit. It doesn't work completely, still, a few coughs escape your mouth. "I'm able to see and speak to the dead. Dunno why, but I've always been able to."
The three don't say anything, not sure if they should. Not knowing if you're actually able to see spirits, or if it's just hallucinations. You look at the one with a frowny mask, tilting your head as the ghost child vanishes from even your view.
"You have a strong aura of death around you. Not because of killing, that's easy to tell apart...you should be dead. Something happened that should have killed you. Right?" you ask, and you can see him tense. The white-masked one studies you, his gaze burning you despite being unable to see his eyes.
"We should get moving, we've wasted too much time because of you," he says. You scrunch your nose but nod, trying to not let on how dizzy that simple action made you feel.
You take your bag from the man with the yellow hoodie and fall into step behind the trio. Your breath crackles in your chest, similar to inhaling pop rocks, or listening to an unopened carbonated drink. You catch the obviously older two guys glancing back toward you every now and then, and you smile inwardly at the amusement you feel as you realize that it's because they can't hear your footsteps.
The group continues on, and every hour or so Toby drifts behind to speak with you or to check on how you're doing. Once or twice you need to pause for a coughing fit that brings up more blood and bile than it should, but you all seem to consciously ignore that fact.
At some point, it feels as if you step over an invisible threshold. The air seems staler, the light seems dimmer. The forest is silent. You still, furrowing your brows and closing your eyes, trying to figure out if it's just you, or if it's something external. The air seems heavy and damp as you inhale, but thinner, like there's less oxygen for your lungs to grab.
"...where are we?" you ask, voice flat. You hear the other three stop.
"What do you mean? We're in the forest," the man with a white mask answers, and you hear a catch to his voice - a small lilt. He's not telling the truth. You frown, still not opening your eyes as the headache starts to build once more.
"No. It's different. We crossed a barrier of some sort. This is different from the woods behind my town," you state surely. "It's a completely different feel. Like it's resting, or dead. It's not the summertime forest behind my town."
"...so you can feel it," Frowny mask says, and you finally open your eyes to look at him, more cautious. He starts to elaborate. "Most of us couldn't feel it until it was pointed out to us. But you can feel it, you stopped barely five feet past the border."
You let out a controlled breath and start backing up slowly. The three don't move to stop you, only watch you curiously. You cross...something, and suddenly your vision wavers. You didn't notice the first time - you probably blinked or were distracted. You look around and realize it's only the three that are wavering. Their color is desaturated, more greyscale, but not monochromatic. You step back over the threshold and hold back a shiver as the stillness of the woods returns.
"This isn't the same place." You phrase it like a question, but you all know it's a statement. You start walking forward, and you look to the man with the white mask. "Lead the way."
The group starts moving once more, and you can't help the giddiness rising in your gut. Something was finally happening. You sure as hell don't understand what it was, at least not yet. Or maybe you do, on some deep subconscious level that your mind refuses to acknowledge. Either way, whatever was on the cards for you was not visible yet. Not to you at least. But you know that wherever you're being taken will have answers. Perhaps not all of them. But enough to start to unravel the spool, reveal answers to questions that you might not know you even have.
No matter, for you can tell something interesting was about to begin.
YOU ARE READING
Lost | Creepypasta Gender-Neutral Reader Insert
Fanfiction(Y/N) doesn't have the best home life. Abusive mother, a father they only see every two weeks. Bullies at school, a hoarder home, and two younger siblings they need to take care of. What happens when they stumble into something they shouldn't hav...
