He's Always Been There

The fog has settled amongst the shadows circling you as you lay where you stood as a young child. Your blood, a sea of crimson glistening in the faint glow of your flashlight. Your eyes, darting back and forth, searching, only searching. Praying he won't return. Your vision begins to fade. Your ever increasing thoughts descend upon you like a heavy rain. Then, as if you were under a trance, you fade into a dream. But not just a dream, a reenactment of the hellish scene that you had taken part in. . .

Crunch, crack, snap. Leaves and twigs diminish at your weight passing over them. You are alone, bearing a flashlight, backpack, a large fixed blade knife, and camping supplies. You enter a forest near your childhood home.  

As a child you always thought you seen a tall man watching you. Unnaturally tall, he looked as if he wore a tuxedo and red tie. The occasional time you'd see a note pinned to a tree, you could never really make it out but you could tell it wasn't good.

You had entered at roughly 6:34 PM. Endless wandering it seemed untill you came along the perfect clearing to set up camp. You finish piecing together a fire pit and your tent. You leave your gear in your tent, take out your knife, flashlight, compass, and your cellphone. You begin to make your way around the forest. As it reaches about midnight you trech back to your camp and see a piece of notebook paper attached to the tree beside your tent. You rush over to it. The note reads: YOU CAN'T ESCAPE THIS TIME, HE WILL FIND YOU. In scratchy letters, barely legible. You step back in shock, you reach out and take it from the tree. You look around cautiously and pass into your tent, grab a lighter and emerge from your tent. Still suspicious, you cautiously approach your fire pit and ignite a flame, as usual it picks up overtime and eventually is a full on campfire.

Sitting on a log relaxing by your fire you hear a snap behind you and peer over your shoulder. A fox had stepped on a small twig and scurried away. For about an hour you sat and peered into the fire. You decide you're fairly tired, and as you stand, it's him. Maybe a quarter of a kilometre away. He stands in silence, his haunting featureless face gazes at you. You stare in shock. You begin to reach for your hatchet and knife, not daring to break eye contact. After acquiring your tools, you stood, you took the first step towards him. A quiet static like noise; faint but noticeable. Your eyes, constantly drying from not blinking for what seemed like about an hour. Slowly you begin to close your eyes. And as fast as possible you reopen them. he's gone.

You sit in shock; wondering if it was only a hallucination, hoping it was one. 

A cold sweat begins to beat down the side of your head. You stand before your campfire peering around you frantically grasping your hatchet in one hand and your hunting knife in the other. A feeling of terror, curiosity, and fright has washed over you like a tidal wave. The fire crackles and spits embers at the ground as if it were denying some sort of request. A gust of wind alters the flames but isn't nearly enough to cause a difference in the heat of the flames. After a time you have calmed your fearful self to a timid state. With a deep sigh you enter your tent and huddle into your sleeping bag. Your eyelids begin to lower as you fade into a dream; a blurry and barely notable.

You stand alone in a forest; erie and seemingly ancient. Fog is laid out over the ground like a thick carpet; trees stand tall and skinny standing over you like giants. You notice a note attached to a tree nearby you. In shock you take a step back. But from this distance you can't make out the frantically written words. You steadily approach the note. As you stand in front of it you see that the note reads "THIS IS YOUR FATE" with a sircle and a large X over it. You sense that something is watching you but as you turn around you begin to wake. The final thing you notice before arising from your sleep is the faintest sound of static that has been haunting your dream.

The suns light steadily peaking through the trees glistens of your blue and silver tent. The light reaches your sealed eyes and awakens you from the peculiar dream just had. Thoughts of curiosity run through your mind as you yawn and stretch. Then a strong hunger settles in. Knowing how hungry you tend to get you unzip your tent and emerge. The brisk morning air fills your lungs as you take a deep breath. You reach back into your tent to grab a few sandwiches from your cooler you'd made the day before. You sit on the same log you did last night and munch on the sandwiches still slightly groggy. As you finish your sandwiches you walk over to your backpack in your tent; reaching in and recovering your journal you open to a blank page just after your previous entry. You flick out a pen from your pocket and begin to write in what had happened the night before and the strange dream.

You pick up your hatchet and spin it around in thr palm of your hand. Deciding to grab some firewood you walk around your campsite till you find a fallen tree. It's dry, and definitely burnable. You begin to strike it to smaller pieces with your hatchet. You hit somewhere near the center of the tree and break into a hollowed out section. Curiously you reach in and pull out a peice of notebook paper. You turn it over to read: YOUR SOUL IS CONDEMNED TO BE HIS. Like the rest it was scratched in with pencil and barely legible. You quickly grab the wood, hatchet, and note as you sprint back to your camp in fear of what the note read.

The fearful speed you sprint at begins to wear you down as you reach your camp. You stumble over your wood chopping block and drop what you had carried at a blazing speed. Heaving breaths in and out you pull yourself together and rise to your feet. Pondering what to do you steadily set your gaze on a large boulder you had came here to play on as a child. Grasping your hatchet in your right hand you approach the boulder. Flashbacks of your childhood fill your mind as you study it. Even the slightest chips or scratches sent your mind racing. A large gust of wind passes by you. Startled at the weather's development, you remember that there hasn't been a single gust the whole morning. A seemingly louder sound than the previous times, a hollow static sound fills your ears. You peer above the rock to find a tendril slowly creep over towards you. Without hesitation you explode into a full on sprint back to your camp.

Diving into your tent you find another note laying beneath your pillow. Not knowing what it might have inscribed onto it you reach for it. This note was different. It was a plea, not a warning or a threat. The note read: HE HAS MY DAUGHTER HELP ME PLEASE!!! With a picture of a young brunette girl, glistening blue and white eyes, and perfect skin pinned to the note. You now know that there are no more coincidences or pranks. You are running from something angels wouldn't face. You know you have to help the girl. You know he won't stop untill you do something about it. You know there is no running from this...This thing. 

Without realizing it was already becoming dark. Your first thought was that of resting before investigating where this girl might be. Like the night before you huddle within your sleeping bag and watch as your eyelids fall like iron barred doors. But unlike last night this dream is vivid and more clear than ever...

This one begins where the other had left off. Except the note is gone this time.. The feeling of being watched remains though. The static sound is at it's peak, almost deafening. You turn around to find him. At least six meters away. The girl is at his side; she is crying, not in fear but sadness. She speaks brief but identifiable words. "You can't save me...This graveyard is my home now.." her words overthrew the static. But as she spoke a tendril from his back pushed her behind him. At this moment you realize you're in a cemetery, but it is surrounded by a forest. You then charge at him hoping to free the girl. Within the blink of an eye a tendril from his back lashes you into a tombstone. You are beginning to wake up but before you do the girl appears again, she runs towards you and hands you a sheet of paper with location coordinates.

TO BE CONTINUED..