short stories

All it takes is a drop of your blood and she can read your future.

I should be in my house right now... All cuddled up in bed under a nice, big, cozy blanket with my warm laptop in my lap. But instead, I'm out here in the forest, trying to find this so called fortune-teller who–allegedly–lives in a cabin in these woods.

Let's get one thing straight: I never believed in magic or any sort of ridiculous fortune telling in my entire life. However, my friend was someone who believed in this junk. She'd always spin these silly tales of how she "found this fairy who had an attitude in her backyard" or a "gnome colony who lived under the school", so it didn't surprise me when she pulled me aside one day, gushing about some other magical thing. This time, it was about a fortune-teller she had gone to, saying that everything the lady had told her came true. She urged me to go see her, shoving a crumpled piece of paper in my hand.

I brushed it off and said I was busy, shoving the paper in my pocket and pushing it into the back of my mind. That night, though, I couldn't get it out of my head. My curiosity, per usual, began to gnaw on me. As much as I was skeptical, I was also somewhat gullible. I had even gone far enough to go to the school and dig up that supposed gnome colony in the middle of the night. I kept thinking about it for weeks, before finally caving into my curiosity.

And now, here I am, trying to follow the smudged directions on the sheet of old paper. The woods were thick, and the fallen trees and heavy vines that hung off them were difficult to maneuver around. I squinted at the paper, trying to see in the dim light from the moon, before looking up hopelessly at my surroundings.

... I think I'm lost...

I checked it again, reading the useless instructions. "Go north until you fined a burned oak tree..."

My heart practically leaped out of my chest as a crow cawed, announcing his presence.

"Damn you and your mother, you scared the shit out of me." I muttered, putting a hand to my chest to calm my nerves. The forest was beyond creepy. Especially at night. Once again, I squinted at the paper before continuing on my way, trying to ignore the crow's watchful eyes drilling into my back. My shoes crunching the dried leaves and twigs under my feet was all that could be heard in the night. There was no animal to be heard, as if they were too scared to say anything. That is... If any animals were around. My palms began to sweat, soaking the paper that was in my fist.

As I walked deeper into the depths of the woods, the air around me grew colder and colder until I could see puffs of my own breath. The thin, summery clothes I was wearing did nothing to protect me from the weather. My breath hitched as I spotted a massive flock of crows staring down at me from their perch with their piercing, beady eyes. They all stood on an old, scraggly oak tree, which looked like it had caught on fire long ago. One of the birds cawed, flapping its wings, before diving down towards me. The others answered its call by screeching and swooping down with it, aiming their sharp beaks and claws at my neck.

I yelped in terror, before covering my head and running as fast as I could away from their beating wings. Some successfully scratched my arms and pulled my hair, while others tried pecking my shoulders and back. I cursed my curiosity.

Leaves began to crunch all around me, as if creatures were chasing me. My eyes started to play tricks on me, forming the trees into snarling monsters that reached out to grab me, and making shadows form into wandering devils. The caws grew louder the faster I ran, and the leaves above rustled while the trees moved back and forth. There wasn't even any wind.

A thick fog covered my feet as tears threatened to fall down my eyes, both elements making it difficult for me to see. This gave the thorns on the forest floor an opportunity to scratch at my dark skin, leaving streaks of blood on my legs. I begged quietly for this to be over; to go back home and pretend this never happened, for the sun to bathe my body in its glow, or even for my crazy friend who sent me on this journey in the first place.