A wet, painful cough violently erupted from my throat, and I doubled over in pain while putting my hand to my mouth. When I removed it, I saw a red liquid dripping off of my pale palm. I cringed before picking up my flashlight that I hadn’t realized that I had dropped until now. I tried to roll up my enormous and ornate sleeves so that they weren’t in the way, but they kept falling back down, so I gave up on them. Where was I, anyway?


All I could see were trees, and there were no signs of light between the cracks. Darkness was everywhere. The only light that I had was from the moon and the flashlight that I held in my hand. I swallowed. This was creepy…Last I had known, I was drifting off to sleep in my bed, but now I’m waking up in a forest. I shivered. What was going on? I pulled my digital camera out of my back pocket. It had a lot in it that was a lot stronger than the flashlight, so I decided to put the latter away and use the camera. I had to get out of this stupid forest.


I started off slowly. Had someone brought me here? If so, then the act was obviously done for a reason, but the real answer would be one that I’d have to find out. Was whoever brought me here watching me? I couldn’t be sure, but the thought had chills crawling down my spine. The ground crunched with each step, and it only made the silence even more eerie. I held my breath after approaching what looked like a brick building. Could there be someone inside? Or was it a trap?


Before entering, I found myself coughing up blood again. I hadn’t remembered to pull up my sleeve, so now it was covered in the dark liquid. I silently thanked that it was black. I entered the building with shaking hands. There were absolutely no lights to brightened the very dark and tiled halls. This place was creepy, and I wanted out. I kept taking turns to meet only dead ends and dark stains. Finally, I entered a room with a piece of paper taped to the wall. I shivered when I saw the scribbles on it. “Always watches. No eyes,” I said aloud. Between the two lines was a crude picture of a circle with two X’s for eyes. Hadn’t I seen something like that before? No, it was only one X, remember? Looking back, I could see the symbol in countless of places. It had been featured in wall graffiti, advertisements, and art I had been seeing here or there. It was following me. I bit down on my tongue as my whole body began to shake. My glasses were sliding down my nose, so I pressed on them with my fingers.


The building was like a maze. It took me a long enough time to find a door out, but when I did, a scream erupted from my sore throat. Static noises were coming from my camera as the creature stood before me. Strangely, it was wearing a black suit, but its skin was pure white, and it had…no face. The expression that I felt forming on my face was most likely beyond description. It was so tall, and its arms were so long…Quickly, I turned and headed back inside, running for my life. What…What was that? Once I found another door out, I carefully looked behind me with wide eyes.


I could feel myself panting and my heart racing, but the thing was no longer behind me. This situation was getting less and less appealing, not that it was in the first place. I narrowed my eyes before turning around. It wasn’t until now that I realized that I still had the scrap of paper in my hand. I didn’t want to look at it, so I just stuffed it into the pocket of my blue and black shorts that were plaid on one said and just black on the other. Before continuing, I spotted some rusted containers before me. What’s going on? I thought wildly. This didn’t make any sense, but I had no choice to go on. That thing was still out there.


My camera seemed to be fine now, but I still couldn’t help looking around like a madman. My head kept spinning from side to side looking out for sings of whatever that creature was. I had to keep going.


The containers seemed just as much of a maze as the building behind me had been. There was another piece of paper attached to one of them. The metal structure was oozing the threat of tetanus, but that wasn’t my main worry. The scribbled letters on the note read leave me alone in big capital letters. Leave who alone? I thought to myself. I was the one who wanted to be left alone! I didn’t even know where I was! Tears stung my eyes. This wasn’t fair! Why did it have to happen to me of all people? Holding my breath, I pulled the note down and stuffed it into my pocket.


I pulled a strand of my short white hair behind my ear and let out a breath. Alright, it was time to get moving. I stepped away from the container that I was standing in front of and took a right. As fast as I could, I turned back around the corner. It was there! It had been standing just on the edge of the clearing that the containers were in. Hesitantly, I turned back to see if I had been imaging things, and I whimpered when I saw that it was closer. Before my fear could paralyze me, I broke out into a complete sprint back towards the building. I wasn’t going back inside. There was no way I was going back inside. While I was running, my mind drifted to the two pieces of paper in my pocket.


What were they there for? How many were there? Was I supposed to be taking them all? Were they meant for me or someone else? If they hadn’t been for me, then why had I just magically woken up in the woods? This was giving me a migraine. I collapsed in front of a big iron structure, panting. Leaning against it, I tried to get my thinking straight. What was going on?


I pulled my legs up to my chest and tried my best to catch my breath. That thing…What…There were so many questions, and I knew that I would never have enough time to answer them. Was that thing just toying with me? Did it want to kill me? I decided that sticking around to find out wasn’t the best idea. My eyes lingered up to the starry sky, and I caught sight of another piece of lined paper stuck to the structure that I was leaning on. Oh great, I thought to myself. It always seemed to show up when I found one of these. I reached up, and my sleeve slipped down my arm before I snatched it.


“Don’t look or it takes you.” It? The white thing? So I wasn’t supposed to look at it, apparently. That was…easy enough. I didn’t want to look at it anyway. I willed myself to stand. Moving seemed to be my only option, and these pages were giving me little tips and hints, or rather, they almost were. If I could find more, or even all of them, I might be able to escape or even…Who knew. I stuffed the page into my pocket with the other two, and I looked up. Just the same, I looked back down and shut my eyes. Don’t look or it takes you. Don’t look or it takes you. Don’t look or it takes you. I felt my way around the cylindrical structure until I determined that my back was towards the creature. I opened my eyes again to greet the dark woods. I just had to keep calm and keep walking. Panic was the last thing that I wanted to do. I had to just keep walking forward.


After a while, I saw a truck, a Volvo at that. I smiled at the slight comfort that the sight gave me. Volvos were my favorite. I didn’t matter if it was a sixteen-wheeler or an XC-60. They were just my favorite type of vehicle. Personally, I was in love with the XC-90. I then felt like slapping myself. Automobile equaled keys. Keys equaled ignition. Ignition equaled working vehicle. Transportation meant a way out. At this little smidge of hope, I ran over toward the truck and looked in through the window. From what I saw, there weren’t any keys in the vehicle. My frail hope had diminished a little, but that didn’t mean anything about the glove compartment. I couldn’t get over there from where I was, so I decided to go around. While I walked, I let my fingers trail across the silver tank on the back of the truck. It was cold, and I wondered what was inside. Was it water? Oil? It could’ve been either or something else, as well. An audible rip interrupted my thoughts, and my eyes widened in fear. I grabbed the paper that my hand was still touching.


“Follows…” I read aloud with a shaking voice. I tried to hold back my tears. “Follows,” I repeated.


When I slowly turned, my soul itself seemed to be exiting my body. It was right in front of me…It was… I coughed up blood once more while my camera screamed violently. It fell from my loosened fingers and bounced off of the ground. The creature…the man…? What was he? “Pl-please,” came from my lips. Its long arms wrapped around me. Was I going to die? I couldn’t! I still had things to do! This wasn’t my fault! I didn’t come here! I didn’t even know where I was! Someone, anyone, help me! Someone please help me! Help me… An echoed noise rang off as my back hit against the tank of the vehicle. I wondered if death was going to hurt as much I thought it would…

I closed my eyes.

When I opened them, I realized that I was back in my bed in my room, and in response to this, I glared angrily at my ceiling. That was such a lame dream. Vexed, I tried closing my eyes and going back to sleep, but my mind couldn't get off of the taste of blood that I still had in my mouth.