L' appel du vide

Chapter 7

After half an hour or so, the tutors had guided everyone into groups. I was in one with Ollie, but sadly we've gotten separated from Milo and Finn. As one of the younger tutors, Andrew, explained what we were doing today, I couldn't help but glance around. For fucks sake I couldn't concentrate for even a minute. My eyes just randomly wandered around, when they caught a glimpse of someone's dirty blonde head of hair, sticking out taller than all the others. It was West, of course. Did he have to be in my group?
A few minutes passed and we ,the small group consisting of 5 kids, 2 tutors and the dog, started walking away from the camping ground. The sky had gotten really blue and the chirping of birds was heard all throughout the forest. The day seemed bright.
We walked and walked on a narrow path for quite a while, with my feet getting tired since I wasn't really outdoors that much before. I glanced at Ollie, who seemed to be deep in thought.
"Ollie?" I turned my head in his direction.
"Hm?"
"Where are we going again? I wasn't paying attention before."
Ollie scoffed.
"We're going to go look at a pond. You know, to experience and research wildlife." He answered in a honeyed voice. Was he in a bad mood? Had I said something bad? I didn't know. So I asked.
"Is everything okay Ollie? I feel like you're annoyed at something." I questioned looking at the floor to avoid any form of eye contact.
"Yeah I'm fine Alex." He hissed. It made me flinch a little. So I tried not to be annoying for the rest of the trip. Another 10 minutes had passed, and we were at our destination, which was actually much quicker than I expected. It was in fact a little pond. It had trees and tall grass all around it. But also two old benches with tables, that had moss growing on the edges of them. The gold light shining through the tall pine trees made the scene have an atmospheric feel. The others seated themselves at the benches, leaving room for others and packing out their breakfast. I however walked up to the ponds edge and looked down at the green water surface. It was cluttered with various sorts of plants, both underwater and swimming on top. I was pretty sure I could see some small animals swimming in the cloudy water. I was so focused, I didn't even hear Ollie coming up behind me.
"Watcha doin?" He asked. His mood seemed to have bettered itself.
"I'm just watching the pond! It's really interesting if you look close enough." Just as those words left my mouth, Ollie turned around and kneeled down to invite the big dog I had already met yesterday. His fur was shining brightly in the sun, and when I pet him I could feel how warm it was.
"This is Frankie, he's sort of the community pet." Ollie explained, scratching Frankie behind his ears, to which he stuck his tongue out.
"He's cute! I already met him yesterday." I responded, petting Frankie's back.
Suddenly his ears perked up and he seemed focused on one specific spot in the still deep and dark woods. I glanced at Ollie, who was already looking at me with a confused look.
"Should we go check it out?" I asked, turning my head to the others, who were focused on something else.
"Uh- okay sure." Ollie stuttered, shifting his eyes back to the woods. Frankie was shaking and drooling, practically begging to go run towards that oh so specific direction, so we did. We actually snuck away. Am I crazy? Doing something like this on my first day? Whatever. Who even cares?
As Ollie and I entered the shadows of the trees, a shiver got sent down my spine because it was still cold. But not just cold, something felt eerie, unsettling even. It was dead quiet except for the panting of the dog and an occasional stick cracking under someone's weight. After a few seconds of walking, I looked back. The sunny pond area still seemed close enough for me to run away if something happened. When I focused my gaze on the way in front of me, I stopped. Just as the dog did. He seemed stressed, his ears twitching and his body shaking excessively.
"Dude. Something is wrong." Ollie expressed, seeming to become very uncomfortable.
"It's fine. He probably just sensed a different animal around here." I whispered.
Ollie nodded, still looking a bit nervous. As we were about to turn around to walk back, a sound came from behind us, that easily could've let our ghosts slip out of our bodies for a moment:
A stick cracking.
We froze. It wasn't just an animal. It was something our size. My face froze in shock, but my body didn't. I slowly turned around, eyes widened and breath hitched, to witness a tall shadow slowly come towards us. I positioned myself in front of Ollie, shielding him from whatever was coming in our direction. Oh god, was I about to die? Get murdered? Kidnapped and killed? As my vision cleared up a bit, I could see that it was a person. And not just anyone.
It was West.
"What the hell are you doing here?" I yelled, to which Frankie turned his head.
"Whoa dude! Calm the fuck down. I was just taking a piss back here and then I see you two walking out here. So, I could ask you the same fucking thing. What the hell are you doing here?" I lowered my guard and signaled Ollie that it was safe to turn around. When he saw West, he groaned.
"Of course it fucking you. Who else would be taking a piss in the middle of the forest?!" Apparently he had listened to the conversation.
"Yeah well- where the hell was I supposed to go then? You wouldn't have liked it if I pissed in the pond, would you bitch?"
As they fought, I noticed:
Frankie was growling at something.
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"Uhm guys?" I muttered.
"That's why your mom- what?" Ollie responded mid comeback, leaving West standing confused.
"Yeah! What?!" He blurted.
"Frankie is freaking out. Let's leave right fucking now." I insisted, my voice shaking and my body starting to get cold. Ollie sensed that I was nervous and his face went from annoyed and angry to worried.
"Yeah I'm not getting a good feeling about this either." He nodded.
"You little pussies! It's literally just the forest, why the fuck are you freaking out?!" West yelled, I could see his face turn red even in the dim lighting. That shade of red vanished immediately though. He turned pale, his eyes widened and his body tensed up. He was glaring at something. The same something that Frankie was now barking at. The same something that made me scared to turn around.
"W-west?" I stuttered, my stomach dropping. Something was there behind me. Behind me and Ollie, who was shaking and not willing to turn around either.
After a moment of dead silence I clenched my fist. And I turned around.
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Only to see the mutilated carcass of a deer lying on the forest ground. Its stomach was torn open. Hovering over it was a creature I couldn't quite make out. It was lanky, at least seven foot tall. It has skin as pale as porcelain and long crooked fingers, with which it pulled out the guts of the deer. On its back there were lumps that were pulsating and growing as it devoured the insides of the rather unlucky animal. I looked away for just a second. The others were silent, as they knew, if they'd make a sound they'd be dead. Even Frankie was quiet, his body stiff.
The gross ripping and eating sounds that the creature made in combination with the suffocating silence made me want to puke. What had been seconds had felt like hours. I felt like I had no mouth, yet I had to scream.
After a cruel few moments, the unknown creature decided it had had enough and positioned itself upright. It was much, much taller than I could ever comprehend. The lumps on its back pulsated further, until eventually his skin bursted. Out of its back were now growing two wings. Yes, angel wings. White and covered in feathers that were splattered with dark red blood. The creature let out a horrific screech. It clearly seemed to be in agonizing pain. It turned around, and just as I thought I was just another distasteful meal, I saw its eyes. They were white,grey and glazed like a wet stone on a beach. The monster was blind.
I didn't move a muscle and my breath hitched. The angel-like creature passed by me,Ollie and West. It wandered off and vanished into the fog of the forest.
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