Thirty One Days

Forest

Leaves and twigs dug into the bottom of my feet as ran through an unfamiliar forest, the large t-shirt that I wore clung to my skin and served as my only protection against the icy wind that blew. The landscape around me was a blur of shades of green, brown, and black with only the light of the moon to illuminate the path through the forest. It smelt wet and fresh with a clear sky above me.
Up ahead in the distance I could make out a clearing but then it disappeared, and I came face to face with a puddle. The water was hot and sickly thick, as I tried to stand up I realized it wasn't water. Looking down at myself I found my t-shirt and exposed skin covered in blood.
A burning sensation followed that caused a deep ache in my body but I knew I couldn't stand here much longer. Something was after me and I could almost feel it's breath on my neck.
Don't turn around.
Forcing myself to continue running, my lungs and legs began to ache, beyond the sound of twigs breaking and my labored breathing, I thought I could hear footsteps.
Keep looking ahead.
Mud clung to my feet as I tried to dodge the trees that have moved closer together, it wasn't until I bumped into one that I realize it wasn't a tree but rather a person. Stopping suddenly, I gazed upon the person- the mans face and couldn't hold back my gasp.
While his body was normal and clothed in a all black outfit, it was his face that stole the air from my lungs. It was plain. In every sense of the word. He was missing eyes, a nose, everything that you would expect to be on a face. Instead, it was smooth.
Regardless this misshaped man began to whisper to me, very softly. The wind picked up just enough to send goosebumps across my skin and blow the man's voice away with it. Trying to move my loose hair out of my face I leaned closer to the man.
"Run!" His scream was bloodcurdling and hoarse, stumbling away from him I tripped and fell into another puddle.
Without bothering to look down I pushed myself up and began to run once again. I was certain that I could hear footsteps in the distance, something was chasing me, and it was gaining. More and more people began appearing making it harder to stay on the path but for some reason I felt that the only safe place would be in the clearing.
My feet hurt from running in the uncivilized forest floor while I obtained scratches along my arms as I pin-balled between people and the tall, dark trees. The shadows of the trees taunted and played with my eyes, creating different creatures moving with me.
As the clearing came more into my line of sight a familiar smell came about me, a deep sickening smell that made my skin crawl. The smell of something rotten.
Don't look back
Fighting myself, I tried to keep running but the urge to look at where the smell was coming from was too strong. I quickly glanced back and was faced with a large mass of darkness rushing toward me. In the center was a skull that seemed to be bobbing along in the blackness that soaked everything into it.
The icy air left my lungs and hindered me from screaming, what was this thing? Why did it swallow everything in its path? Was there even an end to it?
"Run!" Another bloodcurdling and hoarse scream came from the closest misshapen person that broke me out of my trace.
I began to run again, struggling to breath and pleading for my legs to not give out under me. The tree line was so near I could almost feel the open breeze, what little air I had though was replaced by the horrid rotten scent from that creature. Gaging, I willed myself to get to the opening.
It's safe
Breaking through the tree line I fell into the grassy area that I soon realized was a cliff that held a single tree at the very edge. The snapping of a twig made me turn my head back toward the forest, another gasp escaped from me.
The darkness has arrived at the tree line, floating there like liquid frozen in air with the skull directed towards me. I was tense and tired but mostly confused, why had it followed me this far to not advance on me now? 
Backing away from the tree line the black liquid flinched, then a skeleton hand perturbed out of it. That was followed by a forearm, then a torso, the last piece that came from the darkness was the skull.
I stood and continued to walk away, facing the blood stained Skeleton so it couldn't sneak up on me. The liquid darkness dropped to the ground then swallowed the Skeleton, creating the cloaked person that Istvan and I had saw. The pressure seemed to drop as the temperature decrease, the rotten smell sulking towards me. The darkness of the cloak was unbearable, almost like a endless void and, for a second, I thought I could see the outline of faces etched into it. 
The sound of crashing waves broke me of that trance just in time to realize that I was at the edge of the cliff. To the left of me stood an old, dead tree. The Skeleton, eager to close the distance between us, hunched over toward me at an alarming rate. I could hear it's bones crunching together, the rotten smell almost becoming solid as it approached, and my heart beat increasing too fast.
Placing a hand on the tree, I felt something cold and smooth instead of the wood. Glancing at it I realized that a mirror was built into the tree, my blood soaked, messy haired self looking back at me. Before I could realize, my reflection grinned at me, then grabbed onto my hand, that had been touching the mirror, and yanked me inside of it.
As I fell into the cold emptiness, the last thing I could see was the cloaked Skeleton reaching for me.