We live in an age of information. An age where it is hard to keep something hidden. Naturally, this would lead most people to believe that there’s virtually nothing that we don’t know about our Earth, I’m writing this because I want to prove those people wrong. What happened to me cannot be explained by science and has not been written about through history. I think that I am the only survivor, the only one he let slip away.
This happened to me last month. I like taking walks in the forest near my house. I do it almost daily, so naturally im quite familiar with the environment. I’m also an amateur photographer, so I enjoy taking pictures of areas I see during my near-daily walks. I’m telling you this because I want you to understand that I knew this forest, I knew it better than anyone else in the area—If someone overturned a stone, I’d be able to tell. So there’s no way I could have gotten lost.
One day during my walk I decided that I wanted to take the scenic route on my way back home. It was nearing sunset and there was a spot there where you could watch the sun go down, you can hardly blame me for deciding on that route. While walking I don’t usually listen to music, I like to listen to the birds, the crickets and the rustling of the trees. Today was unusual though. I couldn’t hear anything. No birds, no rustling, no crickets, nothing. I’ve always known that if the local wildlife went silent it usually meant there was a predator around. “Probably a coyote or something” I thought to myself. But regardless, I picked up the pace slightly. I walked for about 5-10 minutes before I realized that I hadn’t reached the spot yet, which was odd since that spot is near the beginning of the route. Furthermore, it had gotten dark really fast. I knew I didn’t take a wrong turn, hell, it was impossible to take a wrong turn, it was just a straight path. Nevertheless, I decided it would be a better idea to turn back around and come out of the other side of the forest. There was a town there and I thought I could get a taxi to take me back to my house. Upon turning around, I was met with the sound of rustling coming from the bushes nearby. I tried not to make much of it, thinking it might be a mountain lion or something and looking scared would only bring more attention to me, so I began walking. A few minutes had passed when I realized that I hadn’t made any progress. As in, I was back where I started. Obviously, this freaked me out a little and the oppressive atmosphere of the silent forest was not helping. Feeling freaked out, I pulled out my phone and dialed one of my friends. It rang for a while, after which the line connected.
“Hey, uh, this is going to sound weird but can you stay on the line with me for a bit?”
He didn’t respond.
“You there?”
Immediately upon asking I heard a sound from his side. It was sort of like white noise, but… More human. I don’t know how exactly to explain except to say that it sounded like someone was shushing me from the other end of the line. I was thoroughly freaked out now. I didn’t really know what to do so I just began running. I know, it was a very stupid idea but I just couldn’t think of anything else to do. I ran until I physically couldn’t and collapsed on my knees. After catching my breath I looked around to see that I was now deep in the forest somewhere. I was completely lost. I nervously scanned the treeline to see if I could see any landmarks that I could use to hopefully find out where I am. That’s when I saw what looked like the silhouette of a person standing between two trees. At first my brain didn’t register that it was a silhouette, then all of a sudden, as if he wanted to reveal himself to me, the moon rose in the distance, directly behind the figure. I could clearly see him now. Once my eyes adjusted, I could make out the details. He was about my height, wearing a white shirt and had dark skin. He wore a relaxed expression on his face, with a slight smile and his right pointer finger up against his lips, as if he was shushing me. The moon stood still behind him. As I stared at him, thousands of words filled my mind. They were words, but… They weren’t our words. They weren’t human words. I remember each and every one of them, but I can’t utter a single one.
He didn’t move, nor did I. I wanted to run but I couldn’t. I didn’t know if it was out of fear or if he didn’t allow me to run. After what felt like an eternity, I was able to turn around, in preparation to run as fast as I could, only to be met face-to-face with him. Not a single sound could be heard. Not even my own breath, not even my pounding heart. His eyes were full of a mocking certainty, like he was trying to say “I know a secret that you will never know”.
“Shhhhhhhh…”
The blood in my body ran cold, up to this point It didn’t occur to me that he could produce noises, as he seemingly silenced everything around him. I was able to take a single step back only to realize that something behind him was moving towards me, as it moved closer I could hear sounds of slithering. Eventually I could see them clearly, they were two arms, two impossibly long arms extending out from the darkness. They extended past him and stopped right in front of me. One was pale as the moon, the other was jet black. They both opened their palms and just stood still. I looked up at the figure, who remained unmoving, with his finger in the exact same position. I felt as if he wanted me to choose a hand. I stood there, thinking, wondering what would happen if I chose the wrong hand, or if there was a wrong hand at all. Eventually I decided to choose the black hand. I pointed at it, but he didn’t react. So I lightly tapped it. Both hands instantly recoiled into the dark.
“Shhhhhhhhhh…”
All of a sudden everything became incredibly loud. I could hear everything at once, even things I shouldn’t possibly be able to hear, across every frequency. It was the most overwhelming sensation I had ever felt. As I was desperately trying to cover my ears he leaned in, he never moved his mouth but I could hear him in my head, using my voice:
“Don’t Forget, never forget.”
It was sunset, I was at the spot. I was out of his forest, back in my forest.
I don’t know why he chose to let me live. I don’t know how I walked into his forest. I don’t know what would have happened if I chose the other hand. All I know is that I don’t take walks in the forest anymore.