Running

Dark clouds had gathered in the sky. Most of the moon had been out earlier lighting up the forest, but as he continued deeper he began to realize how dark it was becoming. A mosquito bit the back of his neck. It was late in the summer and stagnant water had pooled up as it always did after the river floods. He staggered through the dense foliage, reaching out with his hands, focused on staying upright, but not stopping.

Can't stop.

The night was black, but he could still see outlines of trees, bushes and trunks. Most of the floor, however, had become a mystery to him. He was moving slowly now, sliding his feet slightly above the ground. He had grown up here but he never was much for the outdoors, preferring to stay inside. He enjoyed leisure. When he wasn't working of course.

Work...

It was embarrassing to admit but he would have been lost even if it was the middle of the afternoon. The forest was a massive, mysterious place, and even experienced outdoors-people often lost their way,needing rescue, or being lost to the woods forever.

"Whatis that..." he whispered to himself as he noticed in the distance a flickering light. As he approached it the image of a candle became clear, soon followed by the image of a man holding that candle. The stranger stood there, stoic and still as a tree, the candle's flame dancing, casting it's bouncing light on the stranger's face. "Who are you?" he called out, he was only a couple of feet from the stranger now. In asking he attempted to sound bold although he felt certain his fear had betrayed him.

"I'm you" the stranger said, raising his candle to his face.

The man stood there for a moment, stunned by what he was hearing. He found the man's eyes in the darkness, the candle was throwing enough light for him to examine them. They were his eyes after all, although they were a little bit off, the color was lighter, and the pupils seemed blacker somehow, larger. The shape even was wrong, more oval than circular. "I just want to walk with you" The offman said, "maybe I can help, doesn't appear you have a light after all." His lips moved in the same way as the mans, but they were thinner, and longer. As he closed his mouth it was as if they weren't built correctly, with small little gaps where the lips should be touching.

"Are you going to hurt me?" the man asked, the false boldness in his voice long gone. The hairs on his arm stood as his neck tingled, his chest tightened.

"Let's walk" The offman replied, positioning his arm to signal the man to walk with him. "What are you doing out here?" the offman asked, holding the candle out enough to light the ground couple of feet ahead of them. Leaves and sticks crackled under their feet as the two began to walk, slowly at first.

"Wouldn't you already know that? Since you're me?" The man replied in earnest.

"Of course I know why you're out here." the offman twirled a leaf between his thumb and index finger, creating a dancing shadow that skittered along the forest floor with them "there is really only one reason people ever come out here, but I want to know if you know" the offman stopped in his tracks, turning to the man. The suddenness of it all startled the man.

The man stood still, he hung his head for a moment, unsure how to answer. While he knew why he was out here, a sense of shame emanated from him as he thought of how to respond. "I came out here to escape, toget away from everything I had done.." the man hesitated, images of blood, destruction came to his mind. He shook it out of his head,taking a deep breath before continuing "I came here to escape."

"Interesting"the offman replied. "But perhaps I can still help you." The offman took several steps forward before turning back to the man"come along now."

The man hurried to catch up. "Where are we going?" the fear had begun to fade from his voice, although it'd be wrong to say he felt good about the situation.

"Did you know where you were going before?" the offman replied,slowly walking forward as the man reached him.

"I mean, I didn't have a destination no..." the man trailed off.

"Then why does it matter?" The offman stared forward as he replied.The man felt strangely comfortable with his reply, despite his uncertainty about the entire situation. "Next question. What's most important to you?"

"What do you mean?"

"What do you value in this world?" The offman replied with a stern voice, his gaze fixed forward, towards their unknown destination.

The man wasn't sure, it wasn't a question he had ever been asked before."I guess I value survival" the man replied after a moment,he felt like it made sense given the circumstances.

The offman stopped again, turning to face the man who instinctively looked back at him. The offman scoured his face with his eyes,seemingly searching for something, his face turning sour for a moment before reverting back to a more blank,apathetic expression. "Your first answer was at least interesting, but I fear that one might have simply been wrong."The offman brought his index finger up to the man's chin, rotating his face slightly to the right, then the left, before centering it again. "Let's continue though, not much further now." the offman abruptly stated, walking forward again and beckoning for the man to follow.

His heart was pounding in his chest. Any comfort he had begun to find with this situation was quickly dissipating. "There are, wrong answers?" he managed to get out, the prospect clearly hadn't crossed his mind.

"Depending on who you're talking to, there are always wrong answers" theoffman replied matter of factly. "Who you're talking to right now definitely thinks that was a wrong answer" he continued looking forward.

"Aren't you me?" the man asked, his eyes narrowing in fearful uncertainty.

"Sure,I'm you. At least a little." a crooked smile broke across the offman's face as he turned again to the man before quickly turning back to face the road. "So, what's next?" the offman asked,continuing ahead.

"Next?I don't know..." he wasn't stalling, looking for the right answer. The truth was he hadn't thought that far ahead. Since he left work that night he had been running, it had been hours at this point.This was the first time he'd actually been able to think about what might come next. "I guess I want to disappear, start a new life somewhere..." the man again trailed off, he had a tendency to do that.

"WRONG!"The offman screamed, his expression turning to one of disgust as he turned back toward the man "WRONG!" he screamed again as he threw the candle to the ground, extinguishing it's flame.

As the light went of the candle disappeared the man realized he hadn't noticed how dark it had become around them. There was no light in the sky, and the man couldn't see his hands without pulling them toward his face. He stood there in the dark, uncertain of where the offman had gone. He couldn't hear anything in the forest. The breeze caused his coat to ripple a little. He hadn't felt this cold before, but now he felt chilled through to the core. He reached out, desperate for a tree, or even the offman to grab and orient himself, but as he grasped in the darkness he found nothing.

"You must atone" he heard, whispered in the wind around him.

Suddenly the man felt himself lifted off the ground. He was confused,uncertain what was happening to him. He reached out and flailed, but there was nothing to grab onto. "I'm sorry, I'll atone" he screamed, but there was no response. He continued higher into the air, watching the individual trees start to blur together, becoming amass of greens and browns. "I'm begging you please, I'll do anything I'll be better" the man cried out, desperate for an opportunity to convince whoever had him. He could see the entire forest now, his terror mixed with awe. He continued to feel the grasp around him hold, squeezing him firmly as the forest started to lose any distinguishing features.

"You must atone" the man heard as he felt the grip around him release.