Monday, August 4, 2014

The Forest's Secret

I was seven , maybe eight the night my childhood ended . I was playing with my friends in my backyard and one boy , named Jared , dared me to go into the forest. I was but a child at the time and was still too innocent to think of the dangers that venturing alone in a forest presented. I walked and walked my friends cheering for me , encouraging me to go further and further . As i advanced , their voices got lower and lower till they eventually disappeared .

Fear made it's way to my heart , i  tried going back , but i was lost .


As that fact sank in to my little head , the fact that i had no idea where i was or how to go back ,  everything gained a scary aura .

 The trees that i once saw as lovely umbrellas protecting me from the blazing sun were now giant fangs growing out of the ground . The animal sounds that were at first welcoming music was now proof that i was far away from home .

I felt worse as i heard the cooing of owls . Even as a toddler i knew that owls only came out at night . And since it was only four in the afternoon and the sun was still bright and alive , their chants made me  all the more uneasy .
Soon enough , night came .
I was tired and stumbled over small rocks and twigs , every time , i felt the cold damp dirt catch me and every time , i  wanted to cry but didn't .

Suddenly a loud noise came out of nowhere . It sounded like an explosion .

Fear was now chocking me , practically throwing my legs into a run .


I ran and ran for i don't know how long till i stumbled again . Just like every other time i expected the cold dirt to catch me but this time , it didn't. Instead i fell on something soft that felt like fabric .

I quickly stood up to get a better look at it. I tried to yell but my voice wouldn't make it to my throat .
In front of me was the still-bleeding corpse of a man who has been shot between the eyes .

The last thing i wanted to do was more running , i was already weary , but i couldn't stay next to the body so i walked silently away , found shelter in a hollow tree , fell asleep  ,  was returned home the next morning by policed officers , and even though  the dead man's terrified  face haunted my nightmares and made me wake up screaming countless times , i told no one about what i saw . I told no one about the Forest's Secret .



by Mada El-Horr

No comments:

Post a Comment