PROLOGUE
"....9....10....Ready or not, here I come!"
The crunch of leaves on the virgin forest floor under the footfall of my worn our sneakers echoed through the trees. We'd been playing hide-and-seek all day in the forest just beyond our backyard. Father always warned us to stop playing when the sun began to set. It was easy to convince ourselves, with his presence gone for the night while I babysat my brother, that the darkening sky still shed enough light to play one more game. One game soon turned into three, and now the dull stars shone through the canopy of leaves. A most ghostly fog was rising far off in the distance. But it was just like my brother to complain about a game left unfinished; it was a pet peeve of his. So with that, we'd continued. It was his turn to hide, primarily because he was better at it than me. I shuddered at the screech of a barn owl, noisily taking flight from a branch above my head. The musty smell of the forest irritated my nose. I was never the type to be fearful of anything, but there was something about the forest at night that put me on edge. I continued, looking for my brother. It was unusual for him to be hidden for such a length of time. The crisp autumn wind blew into me as I huddled deeper into my sweater. The events that happened next are those of which will forever be engraved in my mind.
I halted abruptly, hand lightly pressed against the sweet smelling bark of an oak tree. Pieces broke off onto the damp grass at my touch. An almost sickening feeling came over me. The sensation of being watched from afar by a being that was hardly human.
Just my brother pulling a prank, I told myself.
Even to think of it to this day still sends shivers down my spine. The wind fell still. That's when I should have ran back home. Although all my thoughts of finding my brother had disappeared by that point, I pressed on. I needed to find him. My father would kill me if he found I'd left him by himself in the forest. I waited again, listening. The snap of a twig caused me to dart down, back firmly against the trunk of tree, trying to cover my head with my arms. My heart thud against my ribcage, as I clutched my knees harder to chest. I could hear the slow murmur of my brother's voice nearby. He was talking to someone.
"Ryan, this isn't funny." I squeaked.
No response. I'd failed to realize he hadn't been talking to me. Whoever he was talking to, he sounded uncomfortable. His voice was shaky and scarce. I looked cautiously around the trunk to see nothing but the fog, which gave the illusion of creeping closer. Gradually, a dark shadow emerged. The shadow took the form of a man, who I instantly thought to be my father. Foolish. The body of the man was too thin to be my father. Although only a silhouette, i could see his arms drape lazily at his sides. The fog made it hard to see where they ended. I refused to try and search his face. There was just something that made it impossible. His arms made a deafening crack as they outstretched, his skeletal fingers twisting slightly. I flinched backward. He produced a lonely drone, which was hard to hear over the footsteps sounding from the scene in front of me. My brother was now face to face with the man. The height difference portrayed the man's head grazing among the leaves as he stood ever so still. My brother, with no hesitation, walked towards the man. The stranger wrapped his fingers around Ryan's hand as they turned their backs to me. I was terrified to breathe. The man leaned down and whispered something to my brother. Ryan pointed to the direction of my hiding place. I darted back, hoping it was too dark to see. Silence.
"Robyn!"
It was the loudest I'd ever heard my brother scream, and yet he sounded extremely out of breath. I jumped to my feet, panicking, fighting the urge to scream. In the place where they had once been, now stood nothing but the fog. I stared into it, and jerked back at once. My first instinct was to run, and that's what I did. Weaving in and out of the trees until the back porch light was visible. The last thing I remembered was looking back out at the forest, peering closely. The man stood, watching. And then, darkness.
I woke up hours later to my parent's faces creased with worry, asking questions that I didn't know the answers to. And that was the last time I ever saw my brother.
