June 14, 2004
“Tuesday was the first day I saw it.”
“Saw what exactly?”
“The hanging man.”
I was on my way to school. Riding my vibrant blue bike. I had been riding this bike since I was 9, it was my favorite. But that’s not important. Everyday on my way to school, I would pass an evergreen forest. You can usually hear birds chirping inside of the dark green forest, mating and meeting their bird mates. When I was younger I actually had a parrot. He was green with a blue gradient tail, but then one day he died of poison. I was passing the forest, like I did every day. But today was different, the forest felt more.. empty. Like all the animals in the forest were gone.
Suddenly I hear a soft whistle. I stopped my bike and listened intensely. Then it happened again but this time it was louder and slower. Like it was calling to me.
“Did you enter the forest?”
“It’s not like I wanted to!”
I locked the wheels of my bike with a loud click. Looking into the forest it felt darker. Like the world had suddenly been covered in darkness.
It was like my brain had gone on autopilot, because suddenly I started walking into the forest. I don’t know if it was curiosity or my own idiocy. I felt compelled to be in the forest, like it was where I belong.Once I snapped back to reality, I noticed I was standing in front of a dark evergreen tree. The leaves of the tree were covered in some dark red liquid. Paint maybe? But who would bring paint all the way out here? I looked down and noticed in the grass was that same liquid. Dark red paint. That was so much paint, it couldn’t be good for the environment.
That’s when I noticed it. I looked up and saw a man with grayish skin wearing a matted up and dirty suit. He was hanging by a rope around his neck. The rope was so tight his neck was turning purple. I screamed and using all my force to hold in my vomit, I ran. I ran as fast as my legs would allow me to go. My legs were being whipped and scratched by twigs and thorns. But I didn’t care. I was filled with so much fear that I wouldn’t stop running. The more I ran the longer the forest felt, I could’ve sworn it took like 3 minutes to get into the forest.
Finally, after what felt like hours. I made it back to my bike. I unlocked the bike and sped to my school.
“Did you tell anyone about what you saw?”
“I did but.. they sure as hell didn’t believe me.”
Once I made it to school, I threw open the door. Ignoring the teachers yelling at me from the office, I found one of the schools security guards and explained what happened. But I was so out of breath and scared that I wasn’t making sense. “Slow down little man! I can’t understand you!” he yelled. I took a deep breath and responded with, “There’s a dead body in the forest!”.
Passersby sure as hell thought I was crazy. I could see the color from his face drain. He grabbed me by my wrist and practically dragged me into the office. Everyone was staring at us the whole way and whispering to each other.
In the office he sat me down in a soft green chair. He grabbed the principal and walked behind a corner out of sight. I didn’t know what was going on. But I heard tons of gasping and talking.
“Then what?”
When the police arrived, the officers evacuated the school. An officer by the name of Feren pulled me aside. “Which forest was this kid?” Feren asked me in a firm voice. “Talisman forest,” my memory wasn’t the best so I wasn’t 100% sure that was the forest. Feren repeated what I just said into his black walkie talkie.
“Did they ever find the body?”
Not too long after they went looking, they returned. “Look kid, we searched that whole forest, we didn’t find anything,” then Feren chuckled. Was I just a joke to this guy? I swear I had se-
A little bell rung loudly, piercing my ears
“Time’s up Clart.”
“I wasn’t even done!”
“I’ve heard plenty today. Tomorrow we’ll speak more about this.”
Then he grabbed his notebook and stood up. He swiped off dust on his suit, then walked out the door.
June 15, 2004
“Good evening, Clart.”
“What do you want today?”
“Tell me about your second experience with them.”
It was the same day. After, Feren brought me to the forest and made me look around. The forest was darker and felt emptier than the last time I was in here. I don’t know what was wrong with this forest. It could have been the lack of animals or just the silence of it. The only noise made was the sound of my feet stomping around on the leaves and twigs.
When I brought myself back to the tree, at least one that looked like the one from earlier. Nothing was there. I don’t understand how though. It’s not like the guy just up and walked away. There’s no way he could’ve done that. He was too high up for someone to grab him down from there as well.
I retreated back to Feren and told him I didn’t see anything. “Of course, you kids have a wild imagination. Lay off the alcohol alright?” he said with a chuckle. Alcohol? Did he seriously fucking think I was drunk? “Come on kid, I’ll bring you home,” he directed me to the backseat of his car. I honestly didn’t want to be in this bastards car but I had no other choice at this point. I can’t say no to an officer, it feels disrespectful.
I got in the back of his dirty car and sat in a brown leather seat. His car smelt heavy of whiskey and cigarettes. I didn’t think cops were allowed to smoke on duty. Much less drink.
As he drove, he played some very loud and annoying country music. I’ve never found an interest in country music, considering the fact it’s just a farmer singing about trucks and sex. The roads were very foggy and empty. There was like no one on the streets, it was very unusual considering we live in a very busy neighborhood. If it weren’t people driving on the roads, then it was people walking or biking on the side of the road.
When we got to my small and blue house, he told me, “Stay out of trouble, okay kid?”. What did he know? He didn’t even believe me. “Yes sir!” I yelled as I stepped out his car and slammed the door, causing his license plate to rattle.
He watched as I walked up the wooden and dirty stairs to my house. I knocked on the door and waited to hear the little chain slide. After a few minutes, which felt like hours, my mom opened the door. She smiled and opened it, gesturing me to come inside.
I walked in and watched as she closed the door. But in the last glance I got of Feren, he looked animalistic. He looked, inhuman. His eyes were bloodshot and his skin was a very dark gray. I don’t know if it was my tired brain playing tricks on me or just the lighting. But it sure as hell made me uncomfortable.
I ran upstairs, not saying a word to my mom, and ran into my room. I slammed the door and flung myself onto my bed. I curled up in my soft blue blanket and tried my hardest to sleep. Every time I’d close my eyes, I could see him. The man. Hanging from the tree. What I couldn’t wrap my brain around was, why there was blood. If he hung himself then, whose blood was that?
After about an hour of restless tossing and turning, I finally passed out.
01:10
I was awoken to a very loud scratching next to me. I opened my groggy eyes and rubbed them a little. But as soon as I put my finger to my eye, it started burning. It was like I had soap in my eyes. Ignoring it, I looked next to me. In the gleam of the moonlight, I could see the silhouette of a man. His body was lengthy and he appeared to be very tall. I could hear him scratching and sounding like he was struggling to breathe.
I fumbled around in the dark for a while, until I finally found my flashlight. It was a red flashlight with a little cat chain hanging off the bottom of it. I flicked on the flashlight with a loud, click. I shined the light upon the silhouette. It was the man, the hanging man. The one from earlier. I couldn’t believe what I was looking at.
His mouth was stretched painfully wide, and he had some black liquid pouring out very quickly from his mouth. His suit was ripped and cut. And his eyes. Fuck.. his eyes, they were just sockets of and endless void. That’s when I noticed what the scratching was. It was his nails scratching and pulling at the rope around his neck.
I screamed and threw the flashlight at him. I ran out the room as fast as fucking possible and opened my moms door. “Mom! Mom, there’s someone in my room!” I shouted. She flung herself up as fast as she could and grabbed a little pink shiny tube of pepper spray from her nightstand. My mom never was the type to keep weapons around, mainly because she didn’t want me hurting myself with them. She started to walk to my room very slowly and cautiously, with me following far behind her. I watched as she peaked her head around the corner of my room. I was certain he would freak her out or she would react to it. But she didn’t, her arms dropped in defeat and she turned to look at me. “You just had a nightmare. Don’t wake me up over this again Clart!” she complained. I was sure he was real. I don’t understand how she didn’t see him or even the black liquid coming from his mouth.
Suddenly the same loud ass bell from yesterday rang. Piercing my ears.
“Times up Clart. We’ll talk more tomorrow. Get some rest tonight to keep your brain active”
He grabbed his things again and headed out the door.