Before i tell you anything, there’s something you should know: I am a very, very dumb teenager. And i just did something terribly stupid.
But i wasn’t alone.
My name is Kevin, and for my entire life i’ve been living in a small, almost secluded rural town in the outskirts of a valley. It’s not like we’re isolated from the world outside or anything, but i guess it’s easy to forget this place even exists, if you’re not living here. But it’s not a bad place, there’s plenty of hills, meadows and even waterfalls if you know where to look for. I don’t. And i never cared much, even as a child, because i am what you could call an ‘‘introvert’’.
According to my parents, me being born was what motivated them to move away from the big, urban cities into a more peaceful and bucolic environment, where i could grow up with healthier habits, and stay in touch with nature and yadda yadda. I guess i was a bit of a disappointment in that regard, because i stay most of the time in my room, online, playing videogames or trying my luck with some programming languages.
But i have a good relationship with my parents nonetheless. And i am not a bad student either. That’s why they always gave me some liberties, and when i get tired of staying in my room all day, i get to fool around the city with my friends. There’s not much to see or to do, but just hanging around each other is fun enough. And we could go anywhere we wanted.
Well, with one exception.
Like i said before, my parents gave me plenty of liberties on where i could go, and even incentivated me to go outside. But they were always very strict about the woods. I could never, and should never, go to the woods.
And i know this may sound a bit vague, so let me phrase it better: Close to town there’s a large hill, followed by a pure-green meadow. If you stand on top of the hill, you could see beyond the tall grass and spy a distant grove of sparse trees, through the corner of your eye. Almost hidden from sight. What lies beyond that, is what my parents called ‘‘the woods’’.
This was my only rule, and i had to obey. In fact, i had no reason to disobey, since i had no interest in that area at all, and no curiosity to find out what lies beyond it. But they never explained what was there, and why it was so dangerous, and believe me i asked. But you know how parents are.
I wasn’t the only one who had to stay distant from the woods, though. Every kid in town knew about it, every parent taught their children the same thing, from a very young age. They told us to stay away from it, never even get close to it. And now i understand why.
But the friends i mentioned before, let’s call them ‘‘Thomas’’ and ‘‘Jessica’’. We’re kind of a trio. Some nerdy kids who been together ever since they were young, play the same online games and spend plenty of their time together talking about how much our town sucks, and how we wish we could see more of the world. We’ve been bored, and i don’t think you can blame us for that.
So we were in the final days of our summer vacation, and had done nothing of substantial the whole summer. That’s when Thomas, after finishing a can of the beer he was always offering us - and we were always rejecting it, cause i still think it tastes awful - proposed we should go to the woods.
Me and Jessica both looked at him, and i let out a nervous laugh.
'’What do you mean?’’ - I asked.
'’I’m talking about the woods, man. Beyond the hill.’’
'’The only place our parents specifically told us to never go to?’’ - Jessica raised an eyebrow.
'’Yeah. I mean, you’re not curious? Not in the slightest? I mean, we’re not kids anymore. And it’s not like there’s bigfoot out there or something.’’
'’Maybe there are wild animals.’’ - I suggested.
'’If there were animals, they would say it’s animals.’’ - He threw the can at the garbage bin. - ‘‘It’s not. Maybe it’s weed. I bet it’s weed.’’
'’You really trying to get us in trouble this late in the game? Maybe you should stop drinking that shit.’’
'’Hey, i’m just saying we should go have a look. We don’t have to go in there if you guys don’t want to, we can just spy from a safe distance.’’
I stayed quiet for a while, not really knowing what to say. Jessica followed my gaze as i stared at the pavement. I was a bit nervous with the idea, mostly because i felt i didn’t have to disobey my parents, but i wasn’t totally against it either. At the time, it just didn’t feel like there was any real danger.
'’C’mon guys, i’m bored. We’ve done everything we could. There’s nowhere fun to hang out, it’s obvious why people are leaving this place. Even that dude at the pharmacy, remember?’’
'’Whatever.’’ - Jessica said, standing up. - ‘‘You coming, Kevin?’’
I hesitated a bit, before answering yes.
We made our way towards the hill, walking at our own pace and trying to stay away from any onlookers. We crossed over the meadow, as the tall grass covered us below the hips and the gaze of the sun followed us from above. It was so hot i felt i was melting, and the mosquitoes buzzing around only tested our patience.
We started talking about random stuff as we made our way, almost as if it was just a normal day and we weren’t doing anything wrong. Looking back now, i think we were all a bit tense. The distant trees grew closer by the minute, almost as if they were making their way towards us, and not the opposite.
We finally stopped, being so close to them i felt a throb in my neck. But there wasn’t anything, just some sparse, tall trees and bushes everywhere.
'’That’s it?’’ - Jessica asked.
'’Not much to see here.’’ - I said, wiping the sweat of my forehead. - ‘‘Don’t get why it’s so dangerous, though.’’
But Thomas was uncharacteristically quiet. We followed his gaze, as he frowned and spied something on the other side of those trees. Something behind them.
'’There’s something over there.’’ - He said, and immediately, started walking in that direction.
'’Thomas, wait!’’ - I said, but he didn’t listen.
He made his way through the grove and didn’t stop as we called him back. For a moment he escaped my sight, and i lost track of him. Both me and Jessica looked at each other, unsure if we should follow him or not. And then we heard his voice.
'’Holy shit.’’
'’Thomas!’’ - I shouted.
'’Guys, you have to come here. You have to see this.’’
Jessica looked at me with a tense expression, and worry in her eyes. And i felt the same, but at that moment curiosity was taking the best of us. So we went in, together, making our way through the trees until Thomas re-appeared in our sight. At the edge of the grove, where the trees abruptly end.
And i couldn’t believe my eyes.
There were houses. Hundreds of wooden houses, scattered across another large meadow, as far as the eye could see. And that vision took my breath away, it didn’t feel real. Because it wasn’t like a village, or another town, there weren’t any streets or sidewalks, and the space in between the houses was so bare that some of them seemed to be built on top of each other, or at least merging with each other. They were also tilted in strange angles, or partially buried in the grass, almost as if they were never built and had simply sprouted from the ground itself.
Like trees.
'’What the fuck?’’ - Said Jessica. - ‘‘What is this place?’’
We all walked forward, too hypnotized by the strangeness of it to even consider the possible danger. All the houses looked exactly the same, with very minor differences in size or details. All had wooden doors and empty window frames, and we couldn’t see what was inside of them, but there wasn’t a living soul in that place other than us. Not even birds chirping. Just complete silence and our utter fascination.
The ground also felt irregular, as if there were hundreds of other houses buried under our feet. I felt like i was walking through an impressionist painting. Everything was extremely unnatural.
'’Did someone built this place?!’’ - Thomas asked.
'’Certainly doesn’t feel like it, but gotta be. I mean, what other explanation is there?’’ - Said Jessica.
'’There’s no one here.’’ - He responded. And then shouted: ‘‘HELLO!’’
His voice echoed through the field.
'’Stop it, you jerk.’’ - Said Jessica. - ‘‘We shouldn’t even be here. We gotta go back. Right, Kevin?’’
I nodded.
'’No, wait. We’re alredy here. Let’s at least see a bit more, there’s something i gotta… well, there’s something i want to see.’’ - Said Thomas.
'’What do you mean?’’ - She asked.
He bit his lip and refused to look at us face to face. - ‘‘I just… didn’t want to come here alone. I’m sorry guys, but please.’’
'’You’re telling me you’ve been here before? And you didn’t tell us?’’ - Jessica growled.
'’A bit. Yesterday. I just wanted to have a peek. Then i saw this shit and, how could i not get curious? Please guys, let’s just have a look around and then we can go back.
'’No. No way. We’re going home. Stay here alone if you’d like.’’
'’If you go i’ll probably do that, yeah.’’ - He responded, and knowing Thomas, i knew he wasn’t lying.
'’I don’t care. C’mon, Kevin.’’ - She called me, and started walking towards the grove.
Jessica stopped in her way when she noticed i wasn’t following her.
'’Kevin?’’
'’I’m sorry. I just don’t want to leave him here, alone.’’ - I explained. - ‘‘And if we stick together, then we’ll be okay. This place does look empty.’’
Thomas put his arm around my shoulder. - ‘‘Yeah. Seeing this, Jessica? True camaraderie here.’’
She let out a deep sigh. - ‘‘You two are idiots. Fine, then. We’ll go together. But only for a bit, and then we go home. This shit’s starting to look a lot like a horror movie to me.’’
The three of us made our way through the houses, exploring that strange field. We couldn’t enter them, all the doors semeed to be locked and frankly we didn’t have the courage to try harder. But we looked through the open window frames, and all i saw was darkness. Unnatural darkness. As if the night had hidden itself inside those houses. They were also empty, at least for all i could see, with the exception of a wooden table and chairs that semeed to be stuck to the floor.
There wasn’t much to see besides that, though. No trees, no vehicles or yards, only the houses. But somehow we kept walking, absorbing that strange atmosphere and not saying much. With the exception of Thomas, that insisted on telling us about his theories:
'’I think the people that used to live here are the real danger. Maybe it was like a Resident Evil type of thing, and our parents warned us because of them. But somehow, they all vanished.’’
'’I don’t think anyone ever lived here, though. There would be more indicatives of that. Feels more like this place was abandoned after being built, or…’’ - I swallowed. - ‘‘Was never even built in the first place.’’
'’What do you mean?’’
'’Like, it just exists. That’s the feeling i get.’’
'’Not sure if i get it.’’ - He responded. - ‘‘What do you think, Jessica? … Jessica?’’
She had stopped in her way. Jessica was standing still, and her eyes were fixated in the distance - a couple of houses not far away.
'’What is it?’’ - I asked.
'’I saw something.’’
'’What? What did you see?’’ - Said Thomas.
'’I don’t know… it was fast. Like a fleeting shadow. Must have been my imagination.’’
'’Might be an animal, but i guess your mind’s just playing tricks in ya.’’ - Thomas explained. - ‘‘I mean, look at this place. It would be weird if we didn’t feel like we’re being watched, right?’’
'’I don’t know. But it’s getting dark. Can we go home now?’’ - She said, mantaining her gaze in the distance.
'’Yeah. I think we should go home.’’ - I said, feeling a bit nervous. - ‘‘There’s nothing here anyway.’’
Thomas seemed hesitant, and let out a sigh. - ‘‘Yeah, okay.’’ - And then he looked around, and got nervous. - ‘‘… but how do we make our way back?’’
We all gazed around. We were surrounded by houses.
But we couldn’t see from which way we came from.
'’You gotta be kidding me.’’ - Said Jessica.
'’It all looks the same here, like a labyrinth.’’ - I said, nervously. - ‘‘But hey, check your phones. Maybe if we look into Google Maps or something.’’
So we all took our cellphones and tried to access the Internet, only to find out there was no signal. The screen also wasn’t responding correctly, nothing semeed to work properly. We were entirely by ourselves.
'’Fuck this. Fuck, fuck. I can’t believe it. I told you guys we shouldn’t be here!’’ - Jessica shouted, on the verge of tears.
'’Hey, hey, calm down. I’m not an idiot, okay? I was paying attention, and i know where we came from.’’ - Thomas frowned. - ‘‘I’m just a bit confused. It’s strange, like the houses shuffled or something.’’
'’Now it’s not the time for jokes, Thomas.’’ - I said.
'’I’m not kidding. But hey, i think i know the way. Follow me.’’
Reluctantly, but without alternatives, we followed him. But we walked, and walked, and semeed to be walking for hours as the sun slowly hid from us behind the horizon and the sky turned orange. But there was no end in sight. Only the green field and the same wooden houses, everywhere, extending as far as could possibly be imagined. It felt like we were walking in circles and there was no way out.
We were lost.
As we continued, we discussed what we could do. Thomas suggested we climbed on top of one of the houses, to get a better view and determine which way we should go. But none of us wanted to do that, because as it had gotten dark, our own perception about the houses semeed to change. I didn’t want to touch them. They semeed to provoke an unnatural reaction, a profound type of repulse and fear. So we just kept walking.
And i kept thinking about what was happening. This terrible nightmare. That meadow, those houses - it barely felt like an actual place now. It was more like we were traversing the bowels of a creature, something that was mimicking a town, or a place where humans lived, only to attract us to it. But it couldn’t replicate it 100% right, so now we were trapped in it. Those houses felt alive.
We walked for so long none of us had the strenght to say anything, so it just got silent. I was walking and looking at the ground when i suddenly trumped on Thomas, who stopped in his way. He was looking at something, on the other direction.
'’Thomas?’’
His eyes were big, and fixated on a wooden house, not very far. And he was smiling, he had a strange grin across his face. So he turned around and moved that way.
'’Thomas, were are you going?’’ - I asked.
'’That house. It’s my house.’’ - He responded.
I looked back at Jessica, who was as confused as i was. Then i looked at Thomas, as he distanced himself from us.
'’Thomas, come back! We have to go, we have to find a way out of here!’’
'’I found my way. This is what i came here for.’’ - He said, not even turning around to look at me.
I ran in his direction as the shadows drove near. Thomas walked, slowly, towards the house. It didn’t look any different from the other ones, but he couldn’t take his eyes off of it. He climbed some steps towards the entrance, and when i saw it i completly froze in place.
The door was opened.
'’Thomas, please! Get away from that!’’ - I shouted, and looked around. - ‘‘Jessica? JESSICA?!’’
She was nowhere to be found.
'’Thomas, Jessica isn’t here! Please, we gotta find her! We need to leave this place!’’ - I asked, desperate.
He turned his head to look at me for the last time. And with that same terrible smile, he said:
'’Why? I’m home.’’
And as he entered the house, the door slowly closed with a creaking sound. And after that, i didn’t hear anything.
I felt my heart sink to the ground. I was alone. Completly alone. I trembled, and looked around for Jessica, called her name, but all i heard was the echo of my own voice. The sky was dark and without stars.
And not knowing what to do, i panicked. And just ran.
I ran, across the meadow, through the houses, making my way without knowing where i was going to. If i were to die in that place, then whatever was hiding in the shadows would have to catch me first. And i kept running until i stumbled onto something and fell on the ground.
In fact, we both fell to the ground.
'’Kevin?’’ - I heard her voice. It was Jessica.
We hugged, and i held her as firmly as i could. Oh God, i thought i had lost her. I thought i had lost myself, and that i was alone. She hugged me back, and we stayed like that for a while.
'’Where were you?!’’ - I said.
'’You should be the one to say, you just left me there and ran!’’
'’I was following Thomas! What happened to you? Didn’t you hear me call you?’’
'’I went… to another direction. What i mentioned earlier, remember? There was something…’’ - She said, and her eyes semeed a bit empty, cloudy. - ‘‘There was something i had to see. But i found a way out of here.’’
'’You did?!’’ - I smiled. - ‘‘Oh, thank God! But Jessica, we can’t leave, not now. It’s Thomas, he entered a house. I couldn’t stop him, i tried but i couldn’t get close to it!’’
'’Kevin, you’re not thinking straight. If we leave this place, if we get to town and warn our parents, warn everyone, then Thomas might have a chance. But we can’t do anything by ourselves, we have to get out of here!’’
I stumbled on my words, and ended up just nodding. She was right. I didn’t want to leave him behind, but it was too late for us to take anymore risks. We had to leave.
And so we did. Jessica guided me towards the way out - and surprisingly, she semeed to know exactly where to go. I still have no idea how she knew, and i don’t think she wants to tell me. But as we were leaving, i noticed something and stopped in my way.
'’What is it, Kevin? We don’t have time.’’
'’This place, i recognize it. That’s where Thomas entered the house. It’s gone.’’
She followed my gaze. A big, empty space between two wooden houses, where another house should be. There was never an empty space that large, none that i had seen. And the ground beneath it - the grass, it semeed uneven, as if the house itself had sunk under the surface.
I gazed at Jessica. She didn’t say anything, and we left.
As we kept walking, the houses got more and more sparse. You can’t imagine the happiness i felt when i finally saw a tree. Followed by the grove that i recognized. Oh God, i almost cried. Jessica didn’t exhibit any reaction, though.
We left that nightmare behind and walked through the tall grass, and i felt the wind in my face and gazed at the hill and the lights of my town so near, shining in the dark. But i still felt tense. Something heavy in my chest. And i looked at Jessica, and we both somehow felt it. We had been in ‘‘the woods’’. The place our parents warned us to stay away from.
'’What was that place?’’ - I asked, almost involuntarily. My voice shaking.
Jessica responded, without looking directly at me. And i still don’t understand what she meant:
'’The last of the true.’’
We arrived at our town, and parted ways with a hug. But we didn’t say anything before or after that. I assumed we were just too tired, weak and terrified to even try to discuss it. But something was different about Jessica. And i don’t know what.
I should have gone to the police, that would be the right thing to do. But i didn’t, i was a coward. I just went home - my parents haven’t arrived from work yet. I sat at my bed, in my room, and cried. Everything came down at once. Oh God, i lost Thomas. I lost my friend. I saw something i shouldn’t have.
After i stopped crying, i started writing this. I’m posting it online to help put order to my thoughts, and also to prepare myself for when i talk to my parents. They knew about that place, buy why? Had they been there? Why didn’t they explain? My head is spinning. But also, i’m posting this here because i want advice. I know i fucked up. And i am so, so sorry. We should never have gone there. But what do i do now? What can i do?