An Old Short Story
Dear Dr. Waren,
You told me if I couldn’t say something out loud, I could write it out, right? Well, I’m going to tell you what happened in the woods, what happened that brain-trembling night.
I was in the forest, searching for my two younger brothers, Jess and Boone. My stomach was quivering. It does that quite often, actually. It’s the feeling of almost falling off a cliff, like you’re going to die but you’re not. Anyway, I guess I should tell you why I was looking for them in the woods, Doc. You see, my brothers liked to look for things, dead things per se. And while I was napping on a bench in the park, they decided to take a little trip to the forest. Me being their older sister, I couldn’t let them flash a dead rat in my mom’s face. So, I went into the woods despite the fact I had a horrific episode of the shakes just a week before that day. But I figured it would take only a few minutes to find Jess and Boone and drag them by the ear home.
I was wrong. It didn’t take long for the sky to turn a dark blue, so dark that the glowing full moon above became my only source of light. I was trembling through the woods. The trees that crowded around me had branches that looked like long fingers, fingers that could grab you from behind and take you to God knows where. Next, I saw a lock carrot-colored hair in the grass. Boone’s hair was that color. I picked it up and noticed it was wet at the end with something red. My fingers went numb and dropped the lock of hair.
My vision blurred as I quickly walked through the trees. I can’t remember what exactly I saw next, but I think it was a note. It read “Always watches but has no eyes.” At least I think the paper did. I was paying attention to something else, white and black static was dissolving the sky and ground around me. Cold sweat rolled down my back and I had the feeling that someone or something was watching me. I didn’t want to find out, so I quickened my pace.
I ran until the static disappeared. Then, I saw some strange object glowing green in the grass. Jess’s glow-in-the-dark watch. As I picked it up, I noticed something was strange about the ends of the watch. It was sort ripped on the ends, as if someone pulled the watch off his tiny little wrist. My stomach was shaking and it shook throughout my whole body.
Suddenly, I noticed another page attached to a tree. My eyes could not see it, because a sea of black and white static ruined my vision. I turned my head for a quick glance behind me and then I saw him or it. I’m not sure what it was. The creature was tall, almost as tall the trees around it, and it had a eyeless, noseless, and mouthless face as pale as the moon above it, along with a black suit as if it needed to disguise itself.
I sprinted to the right and went straight until I reached the park. I’m surprised I made it out alive. I had lost the feeling in my toes; it happens when I get really frightened. Everything went black after that. I can’t remember anything else, Dr. Warren. All I remember is waking up in a hospital bed and my parents hugging me as soon as I opened my eyes. But, the funny thing is when I asked my mom and dad where is Jess and Boone, they said they didn’t know my brothers.
Days passed and goed, but Jess and Boone never seemed to show up. Not in the house. Not in the park. Not anywhere. It seems like they disappeared, but everything night I see them in my dreams and the monster standing not too far away from them. My parents think I’m going insane for believing that what I saw was real which is probably why they hired you to analyze me. And to be honest, I wish they’re right. . .But it doesn’t explain why I found a glow-in-the-dark wrist watch in my pocket. The ends are all torn. . .
From,
Marina