THE THING IN THE WOODS

A WOUNDED HEART

He saunters around in bare feet, the grass tickling his soles, the spring pricks in his nose, the intense sunrays warm up his back and nape spreading from the top of his crown and dripping down his fingertips as bath of light while tiny butterflies friendly flutter all around him, there is no air, but his lungs aren’t burning or begging for it, but in other hand, the bodies…

The bodies are everywhere.

He should have listened, he just had to listen, if he only had never be born, all this could have been stopped, the streets wouldn’t be sticky with the blood of all the people he once loved, if he only could come back and change it all, put an end, if he just….

Hold your breath, everything, will be over soon.

He jolts on his bed letting out a loud cry…. What the hell was that? He looks around in the darkness, his hands are shaking, and his cheeks are soaked and sticky, has he been crying? His lungs are burning as if he spent a lot of time without breathing, he was asleep, it was just a dream, there is nothing to be afraid of…. Nothing… except for… he can’t remember his dream, there is only a lingering sensation stuck in his chest, he’s not sure if it is a memory or a feeling, it is yellow almost white, it is warm and sad, his eyes get teary with just the thought of it, he reaches a hand to his chest and feels the damp cotton of his pajama’s top, he’s sweating cold and there is an intense pain in his chest, whatever it is, feels almost alive, squirming in his heart, telling him it’s better to let go.

His hands are flailing, the dark room turns blurry and gauzy and then is when he realizes he’s not breathing again, he’s losing his conscious, he tries to get some air, to inspire but something is wrong with him it is almost as if his body is trying to kill him, his strength is fading and he can barely move his hands now, if he doesn’t do anything quickly… He balls his hand and with the last bit of energy bangs his chest. A nerve impulse jerks up his body and he coughs hauling heaps of fresh cold air in his lungs between coughs.

God! That has been the scariest thing that ever happened to him, including the countless times Seth tried to kill him, Oh Jesus! He’s so tired, he wants to sleep some more, he wants to be anywhere but here, wants another face and name, and not think about everything that happened lately or what is going to happen soon, or… that email, whose the email he just spied hours ago? Why that mail’s owner had a picture of Seth? How Mrs. C knew about it? How she knew what she was looking for and where? The only clue Matt has is the date, it is from the day after Matt got back in the town, it is stupid to think about it but, he feels somehow connected to it, after what the wolves said about him being a threat, and that thing they said about he getting them all killed, as if all this was his fault.

He turns on his computer, there is a way to know who this guy is and why he has a picture of Seth in his email, by the all the porn suggestions in his inbox he must be pervert of a teenager and if he is a teenager….He must a have a Facebook account , while the OS boots, Matt gets in the bathroom, it is still dark so it means there are still a couple of hours before the sunrise, he’s pretty tired but also too scared to get back to bed, so he takes out his clothes off and gets a hot shower. When he is done the water has washed away some of his dizziness so he brushes his teeth and gets back to bed where his laptop awaits.

He sits and types his facebook account in the bar, when his profile pops in the screen he looks in the history for the email address of this guy, he hopes it works. He copies the address in the facebook’s search engine and automatically a profile appears in the screen, the display picture is from a guy a couple of years older than him, with black hair and bold brows, has sharp eyes black as pits, his name is Patrick Evans, he’s not sure why but he feels like he heard that name before, which must make sense considering that this guy is probably a creep that jerks off with Seth’s picture, a shiver runs down his spine with the thought of it. His last post was… Actually there are not recent posts well at least not his, but from other people, dozens of them all teenagers saying…. Goodbye, oh hell, Matt types Patrick’s data on google and hits the news button, he opens the first page which is from the local newspaper, as he imagined, Patrick is dead according to the webpage his body was found in the adjacencies of an illegal teenage party that took place in the forest three months ago… So it means that Patrick is the first guy Seth murdered, and if Seth’s mom saw the picture and the date… OH SHIT!