“Fourty, forty one, forty two, forty three,” I shouted out faster each time, I couldn’t wait another second. “forty four, five, six, ready or not here I come!
I opened my eyes and took in the surrounding forest. I thought ‘Where could my friend be? I hoped they didn’t go deeper into the forest. It would be getting dark very soon, and I didnt feel like going into the middle of the woods, especially considering I already disliked being this deep. Even if my house wasn’t too far away. I started looking around for my friend, Hailey. I looked behind trees and I even went back to my house and searched for her but I couldn’t find a trace. Sadly I realized what I had to do before it got too dark out, I headed into the woods.
At that moment all I felt was fear, and well. The cold. It was fall. All I had on was a light long sleeve shirt, and a pair of beat up jeans. It was dark, so dark I couldn’t see 5 feet in front of me. As heavy fog rolled in, I pulled out my phone flashlight hoping it would help me see better, but no. I ended up turning it off because it was at low battery. At that moment I felt a pang of anxiety, and worry for Hailey. What if she had gotten lost? What if she tripped on a branch? Did she run away? It had been about an hour. Why was she still hiding? It felt like forever since I last saw her. Since I last heard her voice. She has to be here somewhere, right? I’d keep telling myself. At that moment I heard a thud from somewhere on my left. It sounded like someone or something falling. “HAILEY?!” My voice cracked as I screamed her name. What was happening? My head was reeling, I had gone dizzy with worry. My heart pounded so hard against my chest, I felt like my rib cage would explode. My breathing got harder, but I kept running not knowing where. My gut wouldn’t let me stop. Suddenly, I tripped. Not sure on what. I got up, and rubbed my head. I turned my phone back on, and shone it upon what had tripped me. I flashed it around, when it illuminated a mound. As I got closer, I could just make out the shape.
It was Hailey. I couldn’t believe my eyes, Hailey was dead. There was hole in her throat. Blood was all over her clothes, and all over my shoes. Her eyes rolled back in her head. I could see her scared expression. I’m positive my face was paler than a ghost. I was about to scream, when I realized that whoever or whatever did this may still be out here. I ran back home, choking back sobs, but also the barf that I felt in the back of my throat. When I barged through the door, I saw my mom, and Hailey’s Moms. They were having a nice conversation, but went quiet when they saw me. My new Converse, soaked in blood, my face covered in snot and tears. I didn’t say anything, I just ran back out. They followed behind me, but I lost them after a bit. As soon as I slowed down, and caught my breath. I let myself breakdown.
I felt myself slowly lose consciousness. As I felt so much fear and was utterly disgusted with whoever did this to poor Hailey, my best friend since we were 5 and 4. I woke up in the middle of the night after having a horrible nightmare about Hailey. It was her body and a creature, something that looked like a dear but was not a dear. Not Dear, I called it. The Not Dear had a neck that looked like it had been snapped on a noose. Its limbs were backwards almost and it seemed to stand on two legs. Its fangs were bloody. The top fangs went through the jaw. It just stood over Halley’s lifeless body looking for its next victim.
I snapped back to reality, I thought to myself why the hell did I sleep in the forest. I looked around and to my horror I realized that I wasn’t where I was when I fell asleep. I tried to get up but I couldn’t move. I tried to move my hands to push myself up but I couldn’t, sleep paralysis I thought. I heard about it before but I had no clue why it would be happening to me. At that moment I saw her, Hailey. She was hiding behind a tree in front of me, she couldn’t see me. Then I saw the creature, the Not Dear behind her. It was slowly creeping up on poor unaware Hailey. The Not Dear breathed heavily onto Haileys shoulder, she turned around to see it right behind her. It leaped onto her, fangs sinking into her throat, talons clawing at her throat, Hailey tried to scream, but it came out as a wet gurgling sound. The life faded from Hailey’s eyes but the look of shock still remained on her face. The Not dear vanished. I still couldn’t move. Time felt like it sped up, about 30 minutes felt like it passed in seconds. Then I was over Hailey’s body, but it couldn’t be me as I was here? I realized this must have been a replay of the events that happened after and during Haley’s death. I wanted to scream and shout and cry, but I couldn’t.
I woke up in a panic, finally I could move, it must have been sleep paralysis. I felt the tears leave my eyes and I let out a sob, I was so tired of crying. I almost felt numb. I took a deep breath, got up and took in my surroundings. I was in the same place I was in my dream, but it was different? Everything had a gray tint and everything felt so dead. Maybe life was always like this and maybe I never noticed? I thought, I tried to make myself believe that but deep down I knew that that was not true. Something was very horribly wrong. I was about to start walking home but then I remembered That I lived I lived West of the forest.Where was West again? I looked up at the sun, It just came up. So I would have the opposite direction of the sun. I started walking, and there was an unpleasant eerie silence. No birds chirped, no rustle of leaves, and no wind. It felt like a walk that lasted forever. After ages of silent walking I came to my house. Luckily I still had my key in my pocket. My parents must have been sleeping, at that moment the gravity of the situation hit me, my bff was dead, and my mom and dad had no idea where I was all night. But there was nothing I could do so I went to my bed and slept.
I woke up sweating as I had a nightmare again. I went to my parents room expecting them to be on their phone or something but when I opened the door they were not there. I looked out the window to see if they went out but the car was still there. I searched the house for them but I couldn’t find a trace of them, but they couldn’t have left because the front door was still locked with a little chain. I went back upstairs to their bedroom to search for them, there in my parents bedroom, on the wall written with blood,there were the words. ”Start hiding” At that moment I felt a breath on my shoulder.