I work at a pub about fifteen miles from my home.
I often get off work late, like 1, or sometimes even 2 am, and then have to make an exhausted, lonely drive back to the house in the dark.
It’s been taking me a little longer than usual these past couple of weeks, as works on the main road have forced me to use a long and winding alternative route through the forest, and I hate it.
A dark, creepy forest in the middle of the night. All alone in my car. I had a nightmare not along ago about the car breaking down between the shadows of the pines, and I’m embarrassed to say that it really knocked my confidence.
…But whatever. It’s not like I have a choice.
Almost every night I make this drive back.
I leave the main road behind and I wind my way through the hills, and then, the forest.
The branches overhang the road. Like ancient, twisted arms they reach out for me as I pass beneath and between. Reaching out for me in the dark.
There’s this one corner in particular that just sends my heart racing, every single damned time.
It’s steep as fuck, and I have to slow the car right down to prevent myself from driving directly into the bushes at the roadside. Around it winds in a quick, brutal curve, and then there’s a long, sinister straight, one in which you cannot see exactly where it ends, even with the vehicle’s lights on full-beam. It takes a while, but at the end of this straight is another winding turn, somewhat similar to the first… and it’s only then that I can actually start breathing normally again, as it’s here that the forest begins to thin out and the hills recede, before the road joins up with a more widely-used section of road.
At that first steep turning there’s a very small clearing; a section of long grass where the bushes don’t quite meet, and on one terrible night as I rounded the corner, the lights of my car were reflected back at me from the glowing eyes of a hare, sat patiently and seemingly waiting for my arrival.
I just about jumped out of my skin. I remember this gasp of dismay rising up from my throat as I slammed the brakes… Not sure why I did that. Instinctive, I guess, but the hare didn’t even move. Didn’t even twitch. Once I’d calmed myself and started moving again, the hare just sat and watched. Perfectly still…
…Except for its head, that is.
Its head turned with the movement of the vehicle, following the car with its eyes til the creature disappeared from view.
“What the fuck was that?” I’d muttered to myself as the road straightened out. “Animals sure are weird at this time of night”. I’d laughed awkwardly, the sound hollow and forced in the isolation of the car.
The air-con crackled, and I cleared my throat. The engine rumbling softly in the night.
*
I’m driving home now, actually. Listening to that same soft rumbling.
Entering into the forest with my jaw set. Frustrated at the repetitive nature of this fear.
“When are they gonna fix the fucking main road, already?” I murmured to myself as I left the lamp-lit road behind me, turning off and passing my way between the hills, the ferns and the trees rising gradually up and all around.
It’s a windy one tonight, and the branches sigh in quiet expectation as I pass beneath them, entering deeper into this forest. As a trespasser, almost. That’s how it feels.
I swallow, my throat dry.
You can do this. You do this every night. Every night. And tonight is no different.
I reach for the radio and turn it on.
It takes a second to start working, but when it does it begins to play a tune I do not recognise.
Still. The music is comforting. The radio crackles and fades in and out, but the sound is still miles better than that of the wind whispering through the trees outside.
One of the trees has lost a branch, and the thing lays dangerously at the edge of the road.
I slow the car down and bring it across the road to pass the branch by, my headlights illuminating the waiting, watchful, endless army of trees, all stood silently in their positions in the darkness. Stretching out to infinity.
…I always mean to check Google Maps upon my return home. To see for sure how deep the forest actually goes. To see how wide it stretches. But you know how it is. By the time I actually make it back to my house, all I want to do is sleep, so I just never get around to it.
Something moves in the shadows off to the left.
My train of thought is derailed. I suck some air in through my teeth, the hairs on my forearms all standing on end as I stare out into the darkness…
…
…But, there is nothing.
Just the constant flow of the rustling grass in the midnight breeze.
Get it together, for fuck’s sake. It’s just a forest. It’s just a forest.
I am approaching the sharp bend, now. I have a right turn to make, and then the steep curve in the cracked, pot-hole-ridden road will be right there.
I slow down the car in preparation, shifting into a lower gear.
…And to my sick surprise, I notice that something has been drawn on the road ahead. A picture in white chalk.
It is illuminated in the glare of my headlights:
An enormous, open eye. Crude, but quite obvious in its intention. It passes beneath the car as I drive over it, and a second chalk eye appears. Like the first it stretches from one side of the road to the other, but this one has been drawn to be closed.
It too passes underneath the car.
I feel sweat budding on my skin.
It’s just some kids. Some dumb kids drew some graffiti on the road during the day. For fun. They were probably on a walk or a hike or something.
A part of me considers turning round. Driving back to the pub. Finding an alternative route home. Maybe going all the way down to the nearest town… But no, that would add an extra hour onto my journey time, at least. And besides, the road is narrow here in the forest. The thought of coming to a stop and attempting a slow, painful, vulnerable turn-around between these trees and these shadows… The mere thought of it makes me squirm in discomfort.
I approach the turn.
Surrounded by darkness.
I slow the car down and bring around the steering wheel. There’s a huge, twisted tree here covered in moss. Once I pass this corner I’ll be at the sharp bend. The place with the clearing, where I saw that creepy hare.
…Well, I pass around the tree.
And there’s the clearing.
…
…But there’s no hare this time.
To my dismay, I find that the clearing is occupied by something else.
My heart stops in my chest. My eyes widen in fright and a sharp, icy shard of terror strikes down my spine and turns my stomach.
There is a figure stood alone in the clearing.
Dressed entirely in black. A hood covering their face. Hands in black gloves, kept coldly at their sides.
FUCK. FUCK.
I do not stop the car, but my foot twitches on the accelerator, and the engine revs as I bring the vehicle round the turn.
Who the hell is that? What sort of person stands alone in a place like this at 2am?
These are not questions I particularly want answers to.
As I drive around this sharp section of road, the figure remains perfectly still. Motionless. I bring the car around and as the glow of my lights passes them by, they vanish quickly into the shadows.
“Jesus Christ”, I mutter to myself, heart pounding as I step on the gas. “What the FUCK?” the car accelerates down the long straight section of road, passing beneath the boughs of the trees, though every second that passes I am half-expecting that hooded figure to suddenly appear in the centre of the road. To be caught in the glare of my headlights and to rush towards the hood of the car.
A mad, high-pitched laugh escapes my throat.
“No”, I say out loud. “Nope, no, no… He was camping. Camping with friends. Left the group for a piss and went to that little roadside clearing to look at the stars”.
…It didn’t look like he was looking up at the stars.
…
Don’t think about it. Just don’t think about it.
Besides, I’m nearly out now anyway. One more winding turn at the end of this section of straight, and then I can breathe. The trees will start thinning and the hills will pull back, and then there’s another road. An actual, used road, one that’s well-maintained, and well-illuminated with street-lamps.
Just a little further. Just a little further.
The radio crackles. The song jumps.
I reach, after what feels like forever, the end of the long straight. I ease off the accelerator as I bring the car around.
Fuck… Looks like more of those disturbing chalk eyes. Drawn onto the weed-ridden road.
I pass first over an eye that has been drawn open, and then, an eye drawn closed.
Who the hell is making these things? What is HAPPENING tonight?
I don’t like this. I don’t like any of this. I just want to get home.
I pass by the huge, twisted tree, covered in moss…
…
Wait… I’ve already passed that tree. Haven’t I?
…
Every single night I pass that same tree, and I could have sworn I’d already driven right past it tonight…
I round the corner, expecting the trees to thin out, and to see the dim, distant lights of the street-lamps through the branches…
…But to my complete and utter horror, I do not.
There is only more forest.
Thick, dark forest.
And that steep, sharp bend,
The same bend as before.
There’s the clearing.
And my blood runs cold as I see that hooded figure. Still standing exactly where I left him. The figure at the side of the road.
No. No, no, no no no. Not possible. Please, this isn’t possible.
My breathing becomes incredibly shallow. I do not blink as I pass the figure by, decelerating rapidly to prevent myself from knocking into the roadside bushes.
Something is wrong here. Very, very wrong.
Am I having a stroke?
This already happened. I swear this already happened. Did I loop around on myself?
…No, that’s not possible either. There are no turn-offs on the forest route. No other roads join onto this one, there’s no way to circle back without stopping and physically turning the vehicle around.
As with before, the figure does not move or react to the lights or sounds of my car in any way. They just stand there stock still, a silent, menacing presence in the shadows, gradually disappearing into the darkness as I pass around the steep bend, and the long straight of the forest road stretches out before me.
…But I’ve already DRIVEN this… What the fuck is happening?
I try not to panic, but I’m struggling. It’s just like my nightmare. The one in which I broke down in the middle of the forest. I don’t remember how it ended… But it didn’t end well. That much I’m sure of.
The engine growls as I drive through the darkness. The sensation of being watched… watched by a myriad of invisible eyes from the shadows makes my skin crawl with terrible discomfort.
Just a little further. Just a little further.
The radio crackles. The song jumps.
I ease off the accelerator as I bring the car around the turn at the end of the straight…
…But it’s there again. That twisted, moss-covered tree.
The eyes of chalk scrawled onto the road…
“No… please…”
The car passes over the eye drawn open.
…It passes over the eye drawn closed.
…I daren’t bring the car to a total stop, but I lower the speed right down to the point that I am trundling between the trees, terrified of what I am going to see around this corner.
I’m going to see the figure. The figure is going to be standing in the clearing.
Shit. What do I do? What the hell do I do?
I round the corner.
And sure enough, there he is.
Just as I left him.
Standing stock still, his arms at his sides. Face obscured in the shadows of that dark hood.
I step on the gas.
The car lurches into life and the engine revs loudly as I bring the vehicle around the turn, the tyres screeching on the road and knocking into the bushes and branches at the roadside, their wooden claws scraping and scratching at the glass.
I curse loudly, and the engine roars as I tear away and down the straight. It bumps up and down on the potholes as I try my hardest to leave this terrible loop behind.
…But I am unable.
Again, it happens
Again, and again.
Over and over.
The long straight of forest. The turn at its far end.
The twisted tree, The chalk eyes.
And then that steep, sharp bend. The little clearing. And the dark figure stood waiting.
My skin is hot with stress and slick with sweat, but my insides are death-cold. Pumped full of icy adrenaline and surges of sickening fear.
I even try turning back. With my heart hammering I perform a chaotic and jarring turn in the road, racing back the opposite way down the long straight of forest.
…But at its end, I find nothing but a turn at the far end. The twisted, moss-covered tree. The chalk eyes…and the figure at the roadside.
I try to hold back a sob as I bring the speed right down.
Easing the vehicle round the bend, glancing over to the figure in his stock-still position in the shadows of this forest.
I pass him by.
I begin to round the corner.
…And I decide to try the brake.
I tap it lightly, just enough to slow the speed of the car, and the forest and road behind me are illuminated in the red glow of the brake lights.
…I glance up to the rear-view mirror, and in this terrible, deep-red glow… I see the figure start to move from his position.
His arms remain at his sides. His legs and his feet do not move.
And yet, he drifts from his position on the clearing and into the centre of the road.
He turns, his legs remaining perfectly still, and he begins to move towards me.
Through the red glow, and towards the back of the car.
I scream in cold terror and slam my foot down on the accelerator.
The figure vanishes into the pitch darkness as the red of the brake light disappears, and I tear away through the forest, faster than ever before.
He’s following the car. He’s following me.
The car lurches and crunches over the potholes and the gaps in the surface of the road, and I slam the brake as I prepare to bring the car around the corner. My eyes shoot up to the rear-view mirror, looking out into the expanse of red-lit forest behind…
…And from the darkness, the rough silhouette of the figure appears. Drifting across the road’s surface as a living shadow.
He’s coming for me.
Blood rushes and pounds in my ears. I hit a particularly deep bump and the radio starts hissing as pure static, then it cuts out completely.
I pass by the twisted old tree. I drive over the two chalk eyes, and around the corner I go.
And I’m just right back here. Right back at that same fucking sharp turn, and that clearing. I slam my hands against the steering wheel in frustration.
…The clearing is empty though, this time. And why wouldn’t it be? The figure is not there. The figure follows on behind. Drifting like a nightmare up the road.
I dread to think what would happen if he were to reach me.
…What was it that happened at the end of your nightmare? I think to myself, but the answer, as before, eludes me.
I just bring the car around. Slowly around the turn. Occasionally tapping the brake with a violently shaking foot… and every time I do the black silhouette of the figure appears in the rear-view mirror, in the centre of the red road. Inching closer. Closer, and closer.
I consider switching the car into reverse. As suddenly as possible. I imagine the engine roaring as the car is hauled backwards, slamming into the figure…
…But would that be so wise? The figure is trying to reach the car. Would such a tactic give it exactly what it wants?
I don’t know what to do.
And so my panic simply cycles around and around. Around and around as I repeat this little loop of road in the depths of the forest.
The stretch of straight.
The twisted tree.
The two chalk eyes.
The sharp bend, and the empty little clearing…
…I drive my car through the forest, and the figure follows on behind.
“THINK, GODAMNIT!” I shout out loud, knuckles white on the wheel. “There has to be a way out! There is always a way out”.
I glance around the car, looking for an idea. I consider driving off-road and trying to navigate through the trees. A part of me even considers stopping the car. A morbid curiosity as to what might happen.
But no…
…It’s the eyes.
The chalk eyes on the road.
The first eye, open.
And the second… CLOSED.
I shake my head with a weak laugh.
Surely not. Is that how I escape? How I break the loop?
The loop is the same. I see the twisted tree emerge through the darkness, its branches caught in the glare of the headlights, and then around the corner I go. Back past the eyes and the steep clearing.
…But what if I don’t see it.
It’s a stupid plan, and yet, it somehow makes some unfortunate sense.
I press down on the accelerator. The engine whirrs as I drive us down the length of the long straight, and it’s here that I press the brake. As I sense the end approaching.
I slow the car right down. I do my best not to look in the rear-view mirror. I just close my eyes. I slam them tight shut as the chalk commands, and like a lunatic, I drive my car completely blind.
…
I see nothing. I hear only the rumble of the engine, and the wind in the trees outside.
I try to remember how the end of the road is supposed to go.
A little further… a little further…
My cars proximity sensors start to beep, and with a cold grimace I carefully bring the wheel around to the right, and I feel the car turn with me.
The end of the straight is supposed to turn into a winding bind. One not quite as steep as the one before it.
How does it go..?
I edge the car through the darkness. The engine growls softly and the car bumps as I drive over a pothole. I can’t be going more than ten or so miles per hour at this point. My hands shake and sweat dangerously as I try to force the image of the figure out of my mind. I try not to think about his gradual, terrifying approach.
The car’s proximity sensors go off again. Little warning beeps from the dashboard tell me to bring the wheel back over to the left.
A little further…
…A little further, around this next turn…
It’s difficult to tell, but I think I’m making progress. My heart soars.
There’s no way that I’m driving across the sharp bend right now. There’s no way…
…A little further… a little further…
…
…And at last…
…At last, I dare to open my eyes.
The headlights of the car reveal, all around me…
…Thinning trees.
The road up ahead winds around the way it is supposed to, through the hills.
“YES!” I shout out loud, “YES! I DID IT!”
I have broken the loop.
I tap the brake and glance feverishly up to the rear-view mirror.
The dim red glare reveals the hooded figure, standing directly behind the car. Inches from the glass.
My elation evaporates at once as I slam the pedal and the car begins to tear away, screeching and squealing against the road as the figure disappears into the darkness of the void.
I tear chaotically around the remaining corners and past the final trees, an almost literal weight released off my chest as I see the glow of the streetlights up ahead. I bring the car around in a frantic turn and join the main road with the sound of skidding rubber on tarmac.
As I drive away I shoot one final look up into the rear-view mirror.
…And I see him.
The hooded figure, stood completely still at the edge of the forest.
He grows smaller and smaller in the distance behind me, but I do catch sight of him turning around on the spot, and drifting back between the shadows of the trees. His body rigid, all the while.
*
I don’t drive back that way ever again. I take the extra-hour detour for the next couple of weeks, until the roadworks have cleared up and I can finally take my regular route home from work.
…I didn’t sleep well those first few nights after my encounter with the figure in the forest.
I didn’t sleep well at all.
And I’ll tell you what else, I had that nightmare again. The one in which I broke down in the middle of the woods.
You know how dreams are. It’s difficult to follow a plot, or a thread or a flow…
…But in my dream I remember being alone. Totally, completely alone.
And I remember a little more, too….
In my dream I left the vehicle to check the hood.
I became distracted.
I became lost.
One minute the car was there, and the next it was gone.
I remember the terror. The fear of being watched from the shadows between the trees.
I remember drawing the chalk eyes on the road. I’m not sure why.
And I remember waiting. Waiting, knowing that eventually I would come by. That I would drive this route and I would be rescued.
Wait… no… that doesn’t make sense…
And I remember the hooded figure. Figures. Shifting and shimmering in the darkness. Drawing towards me as one…
I awoke drenched in sweat each and every time.
And it haunts me
Knowing. Knowing that whatever it is, is still out there. Watching. Waiting for me, from the darkness of the trees.