Remember

Chapter 5: Shadow Man

I run until the house disappears behind me.

The woods swallow everything.

Moonlight barely reaches through the branches, leaving patches of snow and dead leaves glowing between stretches of darkness. Every step sends twigs snapping beneath my shoes.

Way to be stealthy.

I slow down.

My breath comes out in thick white clouds.

"Hello?"

Nothing.

I immediately regret saying it.

If the figure is dangerous, announcing my location probably isn't the smartest decision I've made tonight.

Then again, climbing out a window and chasing a faceless stranger into the woods already set the bar pretty low.

I move deeper between the trees.

It was here.

I know it was.

Tall.

Human-shaped.

Watching me.

But now there's nothing.

I stop and listen.

Wind.

Branches.

Something rustling above me.

A bird suddenly shoots from one tree to another, and I nearly jump out of my skin.

"Great."

I press a hand against my chest.

My heart needs to calm down before it kills me before the mysterious shadow person gets the chance.

I continue forward.

"Where are you?"

Nothing answers.

But I can't shake the feeling that I'm not alone.

Every few steps, I turn.

Nothing.

I look between the trees.

Nothing.

And somehow that's worse.

It didn't move like an animal earlier.

It watched.

It waited.

Then when I followed it disappeared.

Almost like it wanted me to. That thought stops me. Maybe I'm the one being led somewhere.

I look around.

The trees stretch endlessly in every direction.

Nope.

Whatever answers might be hiding out here aren't worth getting completely lost.

Not tonight.

I turn back.

It takes me about ten minutes to find the house again, which is ten minutes longer than I'd like considering I never meant to go far.

By the time I reach the edge of the woods, the sky is beginning to lighten.

I stop in the backyard.

Pink and orange bleed slowly across the horizon behind the trees.

For a moment, I just sit in the damp grass.