A Night in the Woods

     It was such an obvious cliché. Girl decides to take a short cut home through the woods and ends up getting lost instead with the nightfall fast approaching. And of course, her phone can't pick up a signal, calling for help would have been way too easy. This was Katie's current situation and she was pissed. She had always imagined herself as a smart and rationale person, never taking any unnecessary risks, but today had been different. Today had been Katie's 16th birthday, the day where she left childhood behind and embraced her new life as a woman. Well, it would have been had she not made one stupid colossal mistake. At the time it had seemed so clever, why follow the path around the long way when you could go through the forest and cut your time in half? In her haste to get home and open presents she had completely forgotten just how convoluted an unfamiliar forest could be. Now, here she was hours later; cold, hungry and probably nowhere near her house. The situation would almost be laughable, if she could summon up the energy to laugh that is. She remembered reading somewhere that the best thing to do in a situation like hers was to stay in the same spot and wait for help, as moving around would decrease her chances of being found, but it had been hours now and Katie was growing more uneasy by the second. She figured her parents must be looking for her, but they wouldn't even know where to look and Katie was positive no one had seen her enter the woods. This meant there was a chance she'd have to spend the night here and she was painfully unprepared for that outcome. Dressed in a light sundress and sandals, carrying a tote bag, the only items she really had on her were her school books and a useless phone. Shivering slightly from the cool chill of the dusk, Katie cursed herself for not thinking to bring a jacket along. It had been a deceptively warm spring day and her stroll through the woods had been pleasant with the birds chirping and the warm sunlight filtering in through the trees, but with the sun almost down the woods had grown cold and the birds silent.Ordinarily she wasn't afraid of the dark, but something about the woods was setting her on edge. Lord only knew what was lurking around out there, setting its sights on her helpless form. Shaking her head to clear her dark thoughts Katie stood up and began to pace, partly to warm herself up and partly to shake off her nervous energy. Logically she knew that crying wouldn't solve anything but by this point she didn't even care about logic, it was what had gotten her into this stupid situation in the first place. So, there she was, bawling her eyes out in the middle of the forest at night, having what was probably the worst birthday ever. Unexpectedly, a flicker of light in the distance interrupted Katie's pity party. Bolting upright Katie rapidly blinked the moisture out of her eyes so she could properly see into the surrounding darkness. Had she just been imagining things? No, there it was again! Definitely a flicker of light out by her left. Not even hesitating Katie shot off into the dark, leaving her tote bag behind on the ground and not even giving a second thought as to what the mysterious light source could be.

She figured the light was from a search party out combing the woods searching for the missing birthday girl. Still hurtling in the direction of where the light had been Katie managed to find enough breath to scream out, hoping to gain the attention of anyone listening. But after a few more moments of running and screaming Katie began to slow back down, becoming aware of the fact that she hadn't seen the flicker of light in a while and she was now just stumbling around. Coming to a complete halt, Katie stared mournfully out into the woods, willing the flicker of light to flash again to no avail. Numbly deciding that she really had nothing left to lose, Katie continued on her little trek through the forest. She walked for what felt like hours, until her legs ached, and her flimsy sandals were practically hanging on by a thread. Only being brought to a stop through sheer exhaustion, Katie collapsed onto her back and wished she would just pass out so she could escape this living nightmare, or at least long enough for the sun to come back up. But just as her eyes grew heavy enough to finally slide shut, Katie caught sight of something so bone chillingly familiar she almost passed out from fright right then and there. Hanging on the tree just above her was her tote bag. The very same tote bag she had left sitting on the ground miles away from her current position. Yet there it was, swinging slightly in the breeze, mocking her in its unassuming nature. All Katie could do was stare, her mind couldn't even come up with a plausible explanation as to what it was doing there. Slowly coming to a stand on unsteady legs, she reached out with trembling hands to grasp the coarse material of her tote and gave it a rough tug, bringing it to the ground with a rough thump. Repressing the urge to just throw the bag into the nearest ditch, Katie rifled through her meager belongings searching for anything that seemed out of place but couldn't find anything that was amiss. Still not completely trusting the item, but also unwilling to part with the curiosity, Katie picked up the bag and distractedly clutched it to her chest beginning to question her own sanity. Maybe the return of her bag was a birthday miracle disguised in an inadvertent nightmarish scenario and she should be thankful to whoever or whatever brought it back to her. Slinging the tote bag back over her shoulder Katie pondered what to do next. At this point she was way too shaken up to try and go back to sleep but the thought of taking another step in her mangled sandals made her internally wince. She briefly entertained the idea of reading one of her musty old text books, but it was way too dark out and she didn't think she was that desperate just yet. This really only left her with the option of just sitting around and being miserable, which Katie resigned herself to with a long-suffering sigh. Plopping herself down onto the damp soil, she absentmindedly twiddled with a leaf while contemplating her current situation with a detached sort of reflection. Putting aside the frightening flickers of mysterious light and reappearance of her tote bag, Katie was still royally screwed over. Why couldn't she just have sucked it up and taken the long way to her house, why did she think walking through the by woods by herself as a good idea and why, oh why didn't she have enough sense to bring a jacket. She could just imagine the smug look on her mom's face now, telling her that she told her so. The thought of her mom sent a sudden pang of sadness through her and another desperate wave of longing to get home. She didn't even care about her birthday anymore, she'd gladly trade all her presents and cake if it meant she could be safely tucked into her warm bed. By this point she'd be willing to give up her left arm if it meant she would get to see her snotty brothers face again, that's how painstakingly desperate she was. A slight rustle nearby brought Katie back out of her reverie and she turned her resigned stare out into the underbrush.

Honestly, she wasn't surprised to hear something prowling about in the dark, in fact she was surprised that she hadn't heard something sooner. It was the cherry on top of her proverbial slice of nightmare pie. Now that she really thought about it the woods had been strangely silent all night, not a hoot, crunch or even a slight rustle of leaves had disturbed the calm stillness up until this moment. She had just been so caught up in other things that she hadn't even noticed, but now that she had she couldn't get it out of her mind. Where were all the nocturnal creatures that were supposed to be out hunting and gallivanting through the night, or even the whisper of leaves as the wind weaved through the branches of the trees? Yet again climbing unsteadily to her knees, she was painfully aware of just how loud every movement she made sounded in the suffocating silence. Weren't animals able to sense dangerous changes in their environment and often fled from the destined location? So, what had caused all the animals to flee from the forest? Another rustle in the underbrush had Katie seizing up in fright, holding in her breath and desperately trying to still her trembling limbs. Squeezing her eyes shut, Katie listened as whatever it was slowly circled around her. Being very careful not to make any sudden movements, she brought an unsteady hand up to cover her mouth to try and mask her fearful pants. Every rotation around her brought the creature closer and closer until finally it was standing right behind her, its hot putrid breath warming the top of her head. Practically hyperventilating now, Katie struggled to maintain her composure as she felt the creature lean in and take a deep whiff of her hair, releasing a raspy moan of pleasure while doing so. After what felt like eternity the creature finally took a step back, but Katie's relief was short lived as she felt long spindly fingers begin to caress her hair. They moved almost gently up and down, before continuing on a path over her bare shoulders and coming to a final rest firmly around her neck. A panicked "NO" was all Katie was able to sputter out before the fingers began to squeeze her delicate neck. Clawing and struggling with all her might, Katie was unable to dislodge the fingers from around her neck. Black spots appearing in her vision, the last thing Katie heard before losing consciousness was a hot rasping "Happy Birthday Katie..." close to her ear.

The first thing that the young girl noticed while slowly coming back into herself was the steady beep beep beep of a machine, reassuring in its unfaltering repetition. The next was that she appeared to by lying on something soft and warm, and almost gave back into unconsciousness due to the intoxicating comfort of it all but willed herself to stay awake out of curiosity. Cracking her eyes open, Katie took in the stark white of the walls, along with the heavy machinery and deduced that she was in a hospital. How had she ended up in the hospital? And more importantly, what was she doing there? Opening her parched mouth with the intention of calling out and gaining somebodies attention, hopefully a nurse, Katie unexpectedly felt a raw pain emanating from her throat and reached out to graze the tender skin around her neck. The momentary flash of pain was all it took for the dreaded memories to come rushing back to her; walking home, taking a shortcut, getting lost in the woods, running aimlessly and worst of all the creature... Taking a deep breath Katie stood up and peeked out the small window in the door to see her mother solemnly speaking with a nurse. Turning back to her bed, Katie couldn't resist the opportunity to look out the window, despite knowing the location of the hospital. Shuffling slowly over, she cautiously peeked out from beneath the curtain and took in the sight of the sprawling forest. From up in her safe little room the forest looked so scenic and serene, like gazing into a familiar painting, but Katie knew better. She was aware of what lurked in the distant shadows of the woods and a tingle down her spine told her that it was aware of her presence too. Getting the unnerving sense that something was gazing back up at her Katie began to back away from the window, but not before catching a fleeting flash of unnatural light. Hastily climbing back into bed, Katie tried to forget what she had seen and been through but closing her eyes and attempting to sleep was a futile effort, as all she could think about was her night spent in the woods.