Suicide Forest

Chapter 8: Stranger

I wake suddenly, every thought and sound in high definition. My eyes take in every ray of light and without a doubt I know I've slept too long. I am laying on my side so the trees are standing horizontally and I stare out into the distance until a pair of shoes walk in front of me, causing me to quickly sit up and scream as my eyes meet with no other than the strange and possible murderer I caught earlier.

I quickly stand up to my feet, my vision blurring and everything getting much brighter as dizziness sweeps through me and the world rushes by in a blur and that's when I know the pain is coming. It goes by fast, yet slow, almost suspended. Then impact as I hit the ground, causing me to groan in pain.

"Relax," the stranger says, his tone sending chills through me and making me want to do anything but relax.

Panic radiated throughout my body as his rough hands grabbed mine and pulled me up. He released one hand and tightened his grip using the other, making sure I couldn't get away as he led me to nearby rocks. He sat down subsequently and pulled me down with him as a result.

We sat in silence as we both study each other intently and our eyes practically burning holes into each other. His lips were torn and looked like they had been bitten to the point they were red from dry blood and his expression remained blank which he seemed to be good at, indicating he wasn't one to openly show his emotions.

I tried to mimic his blank expression as I reminded myself to show no fear otherwise he would probably take advantage of that. I decided to break the silence by posing one question I knew wouldn't get me anywhere towards knowing his true intentions, but I asked anyways.

"So who are you really?"

"Well... my name is Adam and I'm kind of stuck here like you are," Adam said, avoiding eye contact and awkwardly staring into the distance.

"My name is Anna and how did you get stuck here?"

"Long story short, I was studying abroad and let's just say curiosity, does end up killing the cat," Adam explained, once again sending chills down my spine with how casually he could talk about death.

"What college do or well, in this case, did you go to?"

"Brown University," Adam replied, raising my suspicions even more.

Why would someone who goes to a school as good as that and throw it away over a simple forest?

I got the feeling something about him was off based on the vibe he is giving off, but I had no choice but to trust him or at least rely on him since he could be my only way of having a chance to escape this forest.

"So what was with the sniffing money incident?" I questioned, generally wondering if he had some sort of obsession with money.

"Don't worry about it," Adam said, insinuating once again, he wasn't really the open type of guy.

"You really are an open book," I murmured, getting irritated with the unsure feelings I had about him.

"Totally," Adam replied sarcastically, causing my irritation to intensify.

"Whatever," I said, getting up and walking away abruptly.

"I guess you're never going to escape this place," Adam said, causing me to stop and slowly turn around as his words sunk into my mind.

Was he implying that he knew a way to get out of here?

"You're bluffing... you just want me to stay so you can kill me and do sick things with my body," I said, fiercely, but uncertainty blossomed quickly inside of me.