The Stairs #TNTHorrorContest

The Stairs

There's a specific silence deep within the woods that outweighs any silence you've ever experienced. Just as the only places you can live in complete darkness are either under the earth or at the bottom of the ocean, the only places you'll experience detachment from noise is either hundreds of miles into the forest or millions of miles into space. And by silence, I don't particularly mean you hear nothing. It's a silence that rings, that fills your head with a deafening depravity of sound until you feel like you're either going to insane or deaf. You'd think that wildlife so pure and untouched would be vibrant with the sounds of birds and squirrels, maybe even a few planes flying overhead. But something happens when you travel far enough into the wilderness. There are grounds that no man nor beast (is there really a difference?) was ever meant to trespass on. They belong to a realm that exists beyond what we know, and to encounter what dwells there is to ensure your death or descent into insanity. The canopy of leaves drip over the never ending skeleton of trees like they're attempting to cage you in, suffocate you, and absorb your soul into their trunks. The forest itself has an energy that emanates from its floor, its plant life, its strange and undiscovered creatures. This energy is nothing mankind will ever even begin to understand, one built over the however millions of years this earth has existed by civilizations far more ancient than our own. The forest breathes and feels, feeds itself with the souls of the unfortunate. The forest taught me all of these things and more. Around 3 years ago, I became a part of a search and rescue team that was attempting to recover a 4 year old girl that had disappeared within the previous 48 hours. Now when I say disappear, I don't mean she wandered off when the parents weren't watching. I mean, she literally disappeared. Right in front of their very eyes. One minute they were laughing, playing, enjoying the scenic views around them, and the next, the parents found themselves lying on their backs with excruciating pain flooding their heads and their daughter nowhere to be found. They had phoned the police, desperately trying to explain their strange predicament. Of course, there were many accusing glances and whispers erupting from the crowd that said the parents did it for the insurance money. But something about the whole situation didn't sit well with me. So, I made an effort to help find her. I signed up for the first team that went looking for her, and spent days combing the forest in attempt to find her. What we found, however, was far more sinister.

"Chief Brand! You might want to come see this." Shouted one of the volunteers from a few meters off, and I snapped my head up to see if I could get a glance of what he found. The officers in charge hurried over to him and inspected what was in his hand. One of the men gave a weary, worried glance to another. For some reason my heart sank, and I knew whatever they had found could only mean something misfortunate for the poor girl. More people began to look up, and then at each other, all asking the question with their eyes: "What the hell did they find?" The officer that gave the glance pulled an evidence bag out of one of the pockets on his utility belt and slid something that was (red? orange?) inside. He bowed his head and hurriedly walked out of the forest, careful not to make eye contact so he didn't have to answer any questions. I wandered over closer to the remaining two, trying my best not to be noticeable. I finally got within earshot and could make out the words "official crime scene" and that was about it. A few minutes later, some more men in blue flooded in with caution tape and cameras. Whatever they had found, it had led them to believe that they more than likely now had a murder on their hands. I tried my best to rubberneck and eavesdrop but it was to no avail. They wanted to avoid mass panic and so they kept their secret discovery to themselves until they had more information. In order to avoid going insane with anticipation and dread, I began to continue combing the area, hoping maybe I could find something even more incriminating. "Local girl solves case of missing toddler, crowned town hero" the headline would read. But what I found was far more than just this case. Oh no, it was something that had been corrupting the beauty of this forest for far longer than this girl had been missing. Something ancient and dangerous in its mystery, something that will haunt my dreams until I can't dream any longer. I was about 2-3 yards away from the group when I reached a clearing, which was very strange because we had just checked this area and I could have sworn it was a mass of trees just like everywhere else we had looked. But the clearing wasn't the strange part. What was strange was the staircase sitting in the middle of it. Clear as day, clean and new like it had just been picked up out of a house and set down right in the middle of the field for me to find. I was speechless. It was the strangest thing I'd ever encountered, and I was completely convinced for a moment that I was actually at home asleep in my bed and this was just a dream. But I knew it wasn't, the smell of the pines and the feel of the breeze was far too real. And so was this staircase. I took a step into the field and yelped in shock. The ground was.. Electric. Humming and pulsing like it was alive, like some sort of intricate system was underway right beneath the surface. I slowly leaned forward again and knelt down, holding my hand just above the ground. I could feel the energy emanating from the grass, almost hot in its intensity. I could hear something behind me and whipped around, half expecting to see the boogeyman staring back at me. Instead I saw an officer, arms outstretched so as to show he meant no harm.