Remember Me

Chapter 1

Blake Parker had a good life. He was getting married in 7 months to an attractive young lady called Sarah. They had met at work and instantly clicked. With her short auburn hair and skinny frame he had completely fallen in love with her. He worked as a journalist for a local newspaper, The Time Is Now. He loved his job, he loved writing and having a say in the world’s happenings. He earned a great salary, lived in a great house in San Francisco, he was fairly attractive; with his tall, muscular frame, smooth brown hair and warm green eyes he had captured the attention of many, and only a few had gotten his approval… so why was he feeling this way? Like he had missed some major aspect of his life? He had graduated Montana State University at the age of 23, moved to California at the age of 25 and he had made his dreams come true. But something inside of him was amiss. And it got worse when his sister called and told him their mother had been diagnosed with terminal cancer. She lived in the house he grew up in Montana. The only ones taking care of his mother were his two siblings, Marc and Amanda; their father had left them when they were little, and so their mother meant the world to them. He was thinking about all of this on the plane on his way to Montana, apparently his mother’s condition had worsened.  Sarah couldn’t go with him because she had work to do, or at least that’s what she said. He knew Sarah didn’t like Montana that much, even less Bozeman, his hometown; she said it was haunted. He didn’t believe in that, when she talked about it, he didn’t believe it one tiny bit. It was all bullshit to him.

He arrived in Bozeman Airport at 7:00 pm. It would take him at least 30 minutes to get to the hospital, that is, if there wasn’t any traffic. He picked up the car he rented and set off straight into the highway.

Blake was focused on avoiding as much traffic as possible, his mother could die at any minute and he would never forgive himself for not getting there on time. That meant going through Cold Creek Forest’s way, though, and that sort of scared him. He had said millions of times he didn’t believe in ghosts, gotten into a million arguments with Sarah over the existence of paranormal presences, but when he was in college the stories of that forest stayed with him forever, they still haunted him at night. He never wanted to believe them, never wanted to talk about them. And there was a reason. Although for years he had denied it to himself over and over again, he knew who the Emerald Girl was. He always knew all along. As he was brushing away those thoughts that had crept up in his mind for a long time now, his car broke down. Right in the middle of Cold Creek’s forest.