The Thing in The Forest

Chapter Three- 1983

 I am in my beloved forest. There is someone here in front of me. As I gain more awareness of myself, I look down and see a young man in front of me. He has his pants undone and they have fallen below his hips.

I realize that I am holding him against a tree using his face as an anchor. My gnarled hand, fingers elongated into pointed spikes, engulf his face. I don't feel him breathing anymore. I drop him and he flops onto The Forest's floor like a pile of wet clothes.

I look a bit to my left and I see a young woman, curled into herself, sobbing quietly and not looking at me. There are drag marks and I can see the dirt around her legs has been kicked from her legs flailing. She tried to fight. Her makeup is running down her cheeks and her hair, once fluffed and teased, is now matted in the back.

Her clothes look much different than what I remember from the last time I was here. She has a sweater of some kind on, with bright colors and geometric shapes, and is wearing pants, much like men do. But her pants, no longer on her and thrown to the side, look like a tight fit compared to what I've seen in men's fashion.

Her look is so much different from the short-haired woman that I saved last time I was summoned, with her short, straight dress that didn't reach her knees. It always takes me a moment to adjust to seeing the world around me and the feeling of jumping ahead in time.

The man isn't breathing anymore. I drag him a bit away from the woman, to ease her anxiety about me. She shouldn't fear me, but I know that I am not pleasing to the eyes. I am horrifying.

I can hear some music in the distance, an odd beat and mesmerizing tones, and can see some movement of more bright colors though the natural browns and greens of The Forest. Her friends call out to her. She lifts her head and gives me a slight glance, most likely wondering if I am going to attack her. I try to make my face as sympathetic as possible, but my lips and eyebrows aren't as fleshy as a human's. I am part of The Forest now.

Her friends start to move closer to us, so I drag the man further and further away. There is a creek with a steep dropoff and the far bank is nearly impassable to any creature, except me. I can leap and The Forest will catch me. She and I will consume him in peace.