Caught in the Woods

The Storm

It was snowing again. The weather had gone straight to winter, skipping fall altogether. I drove slowly down the road, hemmed in on either side by the silent, black figures of trees. I was trying to be careful. I had recently moved to Wisconsin from California and had what they called "city slicker" tires on my car. I had wanted to replace them, but with the expenses of moving and not being able to find a job right away, my savings had been completely depleted. Roger, the man who had been my boyfriend up until yesterday, had promised to help with my financial needs, but he had always forgotten or been too busy to help me. Now that everything was over between the two of us and I was heading back home, it hadn't seemed to matter. That was, until now. I had packed everything in my little Ford Focus and was starting the four-day drive back to California where I belonged. I had decided to take the back road to cut off a half hour of drive time, but I forgot that this road would be less maintained. Snow from a previous storm was still piled a few inches deep on either side of the road, and in places, water from the melting snow ran across the road. The snow was only falling lightly now, and I was hoping to get further south before the snow picked up. Even as I drove, an alert came through on my phone. This was supposed to be a record setting storm. I shivered, thinking how much I looked forward to the beaches and sunshine of California, my home.

There was a slight hill, and as I crested it, I slowed down even more, but I still felt the slide. One of the places where snow melt ran across the road must have frozen, turning to ice. Instinctively, I hit the brakes, and as anyone would guess, this caused me to completely lose control. I was only going about 20 mph, but my car began to turn sideways as it slid down the hill. I attempted to turn the wheel and pull out of the slide, but instead, my car spun around and nosed into a ditch at the side of the road. I took a second to look around and assess the situation. This was bad. I put the car in reverse and very gently attempted to back up. For a brief second, I felt the car move. But just as quickly, the tires lost traction and started to spin. I tried again, this time turning the wheel a bit, to try to angle the car a bit. Again, after a brief moment of movement, the tires spun and this time the car moved farther into the ditch. I was obviously not making any progress. Turning off the engine, I opened the door and climbed out into the snow. Looking at the back tires, I could see where they had sent a spray of snow and dirt out underneath the car. I could see the deep groves where my tires had slid into the snow and mud. I looked at the trees, feeling the cold creeping into my clothes and through my boots. I could stay in my car, but how long would I be here? Even though I lived on the coast where snow was rare, I knew better than to sit in my car letting it ide to keep warm. I had heard about the people who ended up asphyxiating themselves doing that. I needed to get out. Perhaps if I broke some branches and put them around my tires, they would provide enough traction to get out of the ditch.

I struggled through the slippery snow up an embankment to the dark forest edge. From a distance, it had seemed like any other overgrown woods. But here, looking into the tangle of branches and leaves, I felt a shudder. It was as if I was being watched. I felt a strange urge to walk farther in and, at the same time, a horror at the darkness that clung to each gnarled limb.

I reached for a small pine and took a small step forward. The next thing I knew, my foot caught on something, and I was sprawling forward. I landed in a tangle of snow, twigs, pine needles, and branches all reaching for me like skeleton hands. I tried to quickly stand back up, but my ankles seemed to be caught with roots and dead branches. I sat up, fighting off the leaves, twigs and snow, but when I looked back towards where I had just come, I no longer saw the edge of the road. There was nothing but dark woods around me, rapidly growing darker. I felt my heart pound in fear. I quickly looked around, but everything looked exactly the same. What was this place? Was it some kind of dark magic?

Again, I attempted to stand, this time with success. My heart was pounding out of my chest, and I no longer felt the cold. I turned and ran back the way I just came, but there were just more trees. I must have gotten turned around when I fell. I again turned, searching for my tracks in the snow and tried to find the edge of the road. It was no use. It was as if the woods had swallowed me, and I was completely lost. My tracks were just scuffs in the snow, and looked no different than the rest of the snow, pitted with branches and twigs. And to make matters worse, it had somehow gotten quite dark. I scanned through the darkness for some sign of a break in the trees. It was then that I saw it, a faint light in the distance. I stumbled toward it, twigs scratching at my face and arms. It seemed as if the light might be coming from a house or cabin of some sort. As I made my way toward it, I still couldn't shake the first feeling of being watched. My panic was rising when suddenly I stumbled into an overgrown driveway. I practically ran down it toward the small cabin that appeared around the bend. I heard rustling in the woods beside me as I ran. As I reached the cabin, I began to scream,