Trapped

3.

I found myself in a gigantic dark forest, there was moss growing everywhere and the whole place was damp. The air was cold and with each breath I took I could feel my lungs burning from the icy air in the atmosphere. My feet were bare and wet from the sticky mud and moss below me. I felt like I was freezing little by little and my movements were stiff. I had goosebumps all over from the cold air on my bare legs arms and feet. I was wearing a denim short and a tank top, hence the reason why I felt like I was in Antarctica in a bikini. The damp air didn't help, I felt like I was turning into an ice sculpture.

I took a minute to observe my surroundings. From where I stood the door was behind me and two large moss covered boulders were on each side of the building. They were blocking my view of the forest to my right and left-hand sides. Between the two boulders was a gap under a branch that was leaning on the two boulders. The gap was big enough for two people of my size to fit through, beyond the gap there was a green forest. I stepped through the gap and started scanning the area of the door for any footprints, I had to find my friends soon. I was really worried about them, especially about Jeremy. Society seems to think men don't get scared of anything and that they are more independent than women, but Jeremy hated being alone and he got scared easily. Then again, I think any man would tremble in this situation because everyone is afraid of something.

I kept walking straight ahead, breaking twigs and small branches off as I walked and I made sure that my footsteps were visible. That way I knew that if I couldn't find my friends, they would be able to find me with the clues I left behind. The forest was kind of creepy and eerie. Every now and then an owl would hoot or I would hear a twig snapping in the distance. The trees were like a canopy and it didn't allow even the tiniest beam of sunlight through its thick leaf roof. 

However scary it may have seemed, it was still gorgeous and it was definitely more appealing than the dark room that I woke up in.  For a moment my thoughts travelled to Jason, I wondered what he would have done alone in these woods, a dark forest is one of his biggest fears, I giggled at the thought of him being scared of such a beautiful place.  He always told me that he was more afraid of what's inside the forest. The possibility that a wild animal would attack you is not an irrational idea, or at least that's what he always said.

My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of something howling in the distance. That's not good. My head snapped in the direction it was coming from. Shortly after I could hear many leaves rustling and it sounded like something was running a few feet away from where I was, but I couldn't see anything, it was too dark.  Another howl filled the air and echoed through the forest, this time it was closer than the first time. The birds that were happily chirping in the trees above me scattered and flew away, sensing the danger. I quickly scanned my surroundings for some place to hide because I had no idea what was lurking behind these tall trees. It could have been anything but I had a feeling that it wasn't going to be good. Whether it could hurt me or not, I wasn't taking any chances.  It wasn't just my life that depended on my survival, all my friends' lives were in danger too. 

I started jogging slightly but my muscles were stiff from the cold weather. My eyes landed on an empty tree trunk a few metres away from me and I ran for it. I didn't care to look inside before I crawled in and hid in the tree. When I had comfortably wriggled myself into the hollow log I listened around for any more sounds from outside.  I had been sitting there for about half a minute when I heard the howling again, this time it was really close to where I was. Whatever this thing was it was panting like a tired dog, probably from running after me. 

  As I was trying to adjust myself to be able to see what it was I spotted a hole in the side of the trunk and after a lot of inner conflict about whether or not I actually wanted to see what it was, curiosity finally won the ultimate battle. I slowly shifted myself closer to the hole careful not to make any sounds that would give away my position until I was close enough to peep through it. I looked around as far as the hole would let me. It took me a moment to figure out where the creature was because of the darkness but when I finally saw it my jaw dropped and a big lump formed in my throat.

There before me stood a creature as black as the night with big red eyes and a mouth about the size of my upper body, this thing could swallow me whole if it wanted to. It looked like a very, very big dog or a wolf of some sorts.  It was walking limply as if it had injured itself. The thing was looking around and it was searching for something or someone. A thought came to mind that it was looking for me, but I pushed the thought away just in case the creature could hear my heart beating at a faster pace. It came closer and closer to where I was, looking behind trees and rocks and sniffing around everywhere until eventually, it stood still right in front of the tree stump that I was in, I could hear it sniffing. Crap. What if it could smell me?