In the Trees

Her eyes were playing tricks on her, seeing things that weren’t there. Her ears were hearing things that didn’t make a sound. Her skin prickled, picking up watchful eyes that didn’t exist. Her mind raced, imagining things that wouldn’t happen.

It was all in her head.

She pulled her jacket around her body tighter, trying and failing to block out the air that continued to decrease in temperature. The tips of her ears and nose had turned slightly pink, as well as her fingers, which throbbed from the biting cold. Her ankles felt wet, and when she glanced down she realized with disdain that the bottom of her pants were caked with mud. Her face scrunched into a scowl and she huffed in annoyance. Another gust of wind crashed into her small frame. She shivered and pulled up her hood, continuing forward in search of an exit in the woods.

The tall trees creaked high above her, their bony limbs looming over her and resembling the bars of a cage, trapping her inside. And she did feel trapped, unable to find her way through these God-awful woods. She trudged on, walking in a random direction, hoping to find an end to the maze of trees surrounding her. The sound of her feet sinking into the mud filled her ears, forming a familiar rhythm that kept her mind in a sane place. The sickening sloshing sounds brought comfort to her as she wandered through the thick foliage.

The soft snap of a twig exploded in her ears, being unbelievably loud in the quiet she had grown accustom to. She nearly jumped out of her skin at the sound. An embarrassed chuckle passed her lips as she realized that she had simply stepped on a stick, and she glanced down to prove her silliness. Her eyes searched the ground beneath her for the broken twig, an amused smile playing on her lips. It fell, however, when said stick failed to appear in her line of vision. She spun in a full circle, trying to find any sticks around her, but found none, her eyes surveying only fallen leaves, dead grass, and mud. A frown fell over her face, wondering if she had imagined the noise. No, it echoed in the silence. She shook her head and glanced around again, reasoning that it had to have been an animal of some sort that had caused the noise. But once again she found nothing, no birds, no squirrels, no raccoons, nothing. She pursed her lips as she thought about that. It was awfully quiet in the woods. She couldn’t even recall hearing the song of a bird or the hoot of an owl. She tilted her head back and stared up into the tangled mass of tree limbs, trying to find a bird perched on a branch or a squirrel clinging to the trunk of a tree. There was nothing, the trees were bare of any leaves or animals.

“Huh,” she clicked her tongue, examining each tree once more. It was odd being in the woods and not seeing a single animal. She shrugged it off; it was cold, of course they were all hiding in their warm dens. Something she wished she could do right now.

She sighed and continued walking. She could feel her skin tighten as goosebumps rose on its surface. Her jacket did nothing to shield her from the cold, acting more as a thin shirt rather than an article of clothing meant to warm her. Bringing her hands up to her mouth, she breathed on them, trying to regain feeling in them. It worked for all of two seconds until the cold reached them and claimed their heat once more. Her jeans seemed to pull in the chilled air, leaving her legs in the same state as her hands. She stopped and bent down, rubbing her thighs in an attempt to warm them up.

Another twig snapped.

She froze, knowing for sure that it wasn't her imagination. Her body grew cold, and it wasn't from the wind. She felt the cold in her core, the kind of cold which comes from fear. The sound had come from behind her. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end, a chill running up her spine. Was someone following her? The possibility terrified her. Had they made that other twig snap? How long were they following her? Was it an animal? Her mind raced, running through all the different things that could be behind her: a rapist, a serial killer, a kidnapper, a bear, a wolf, that creature from The Village.

Slowly she stood back up, her heart speeding up in her chest. Or maybe it was what she was searching for. A new sense of dread gripped her accelerating heart. She took in a shaky breath before turning around to face her pursuer.

Her eyes landed on the tallest, most unnatural nothingness amongst the trees. Her brow furrowed, her eyes darting back and forth, finding absolutely nothing that wasn't there the first time she surveyed the area. Despite the perplexing find, a relieved sigh rolled out of her lungs.

“Calm down, Piper,” she reassured herself. “You're just imagining things.”

She turned back around and drew in a deep breath in an attempt to calm her shaking body. It caught in her throat when her eyes landed on a flash of white a few feet in front of her. She stood still, watching in confusion as a little girl, no older than six, knelt in the mud, staining her brilliant white dress. She held a stick in her hand, carving something in the mud. Piper stared at her, wondering if she was lost. Wasn't she cold?

“Are you okay?” she called out to the girl, feeling slightly relieved that she wasn't alone in the woods.

The girl didn't respond, she didn't even turn around. It seemed as though she didn't even notice her, continuing with her sketching. Uneasy, Piper slowly made her way over to the girl. Her hand worked tirelessly, the stick in her hand vigorously scribbling in the soft mud beneath her dress. As Piper drew near, she peeked around the huddled form of the little girl to catch a glimpse of what she was drawing. Several trees were sketched out in the mud, all resembling pine trees. In the midst of the maze of trees stood a man, drawn as a stick figure, however he stood just as tall as the trees around him. Something about the sketch made Piper nervous.

“He’s just a tad too tall, don’t you think?” she asked lightly, trying to get something out of the strange girl.

The stick abruptly ceased moving, and the girl sat still for a long while. Piper could feel her heart accelerate in her chest, scared of what she might do. After what felt like a lifetime, the girl dropped the muddy stick and took off, ignoring the calls from Piper. Her brilliant white dress, stained brown at the hem, disappeared behind some trees, and Piper lost sight of her. She stood there motionlessly, gazing into the abyss of trees where the girl had run off to. Silently, she turned and glanced down at the drawing, a nervous chill running up her spine. The faceless stick figure stared back at her blankly, standing as tall as the trees. Piper drew in a shaky breath and stepped over the drawing.

It seemed awfully dark in the woods, although Piper knew it was no later than one. The sky was gray and dreary, and the twisted limbs of the trees seemed to block out what little light the sky had to offer. The cold was relentless, ambushing her from all directions. She shivered as she walked, both from the cold and from what followed her. She couldn’t see it, but she felt someone – something – watching her from beyond the barrier of trees. She tried to rationalize that it was simply a curious animal, like a raccoon or an owl, but her frightened mind kept returning to the image of the unnaturally tall stick figure in the mud. She couldn’t figure out why it bothered her so much, it was only an innocent drawing. But the way the girl acted, that was strange. Piper shook her head, telling herself to just forget it, and continued her hopeless search for an exit.

It was around two when she saw the girl again. She was standing about ten yards ahead of her, just standing there, watching her. Piper froze midstep, her eyes wide as they landed on that stained white dress. The girl seemed to be waiting for her, unmoving. Relief didn’t come this time, and Piper swallowed the lump in her throat, hesitantly taking a step toward her. The girl remained still, unfazed by the approaching girl. No emotion showed on her face, and Piper felt wary with each step forward. When she was just a few feet away from her, Piper stopped and stood still, waiting for what the little girl intended to do. She took in her appearance, surveying her long golden hair, which parted down the middle of her scalp, and gazing into her dull hazel eyes. A splatter of freckles danced across the bridge of her nose, and her feet were dirty, caked in mud and dead leaves.

Silently the girl lifted her arm, pointing behind Piper. She didn’t say a word, her eyes never leaving Piper’s. Piper turned to glance behind her, searching for what the girl was pointing to. Her eyes didn’t catch anything, just trees and leaves and mud. She frowned, more confused than scared, and turned to ask what the girl was pointing at. She jumped when the little girl was now standing directly in front of her. Her arm was still outstretched, her index finger pointing persistently behind her. Piper gave the girl a sympathetic look, explaining that she couldn’t see what she was trying to point out. The girl stared at her for a long minute before trailing her eyes slowly to where her finger was pointing. Her chapped lips parted and she breathed out two words: “Always watches.”

With a furrowed brow, Piper turned again and searched the mass of trees. She stared hard into the dark abyss between the limbs and trunks, desperately searching for what the girl wanted her to see. Behind her, she could hear the girl whisper again, “Always watches,” and as she squinted to see better into the cracks between the trees, her eyes caught sight of something not quite there, but there nonetheless. A tall shadow looming in the trees, as tall as the branches. Piper’s heart skipped a beat, feeling paralyzed with nothing to do but stare into the thin shadow. What looked like two incredibly long arms swung on its sides, swaying slightly in the wind. Piper drew in a gasp, covering her mouth with both hands. Behind her, the girl continued her two-word phrase, desperate to get her point across. “Always watches,” she whispered fervently, and then added, “no eyes.”

Piper continued to stare into the dark mass, rolling the phrase over in her head. No eyes? Piper turned around to ask the girl what that meant, but the girl had disappeared again. She whirled around to catch another glimpse of the tall shadow, but it was gone as well. Fear washed over her body, running through her veins. Where had it gone? Did she really see it? Was it the thing she felt watching her? Was it following her earlier? Was it still following her? Piper bit her quivering lip and fought back tears. She was scared, but she was also pissed. Why was she stupid enough to come out here without telling anyone where she was going? Why did she have to forget her phone on her nightstand back home? Why would she even come out here looking for that damned thing? To prove that it was real? Who would believe her? A frustrated growl ripped through her throat and she spun around, pulling her hair in aggravation. How could she be so fucking unbelievably stupid?

The wind stopped, leaving the deafening silence behind. Piper stood still, her skin crawling with the feeling of eyes on her back. The most important question hung suspended in her head: Why was she still standing there? Without a single glance behind her, she took off in the opposite direction, running as fast as she could away from those trees, away from the secret they kept hidden inside them.

She wasn’t sure how long she had been running, but her legs were screaming for her to stop, her chest tightening painfully with each wheezing breath she took. As she approached a tree, she collapsed on its trunk, gripping it with what little strength she had left. She tried to catch her breath, clinging to the tree desperately, trying to suck in all the oxygen it was made to create. She huffed and puffed and wheezed, trying to regain a normal breathing pattern and to calm her wildly beating heart. Her eyes were tightly shut as she began breathing in through her nose and out with her mouth, something she remembered being taught by a gym teacher way back in elementary school. Her hands readjusted themselves around the trunk of the tree, searching for a better hold to keep her on her shaking legs. The tips of her fingers brushed across a smooth surface, and a slight crinkling of paper echoed in her ears. Her eyes opened, her fingers grazing across the paper’s smooth texture. She pealed herself off the tree trunk and circled the tree, stopping when her eyes landed on the piece of notebook paper. Her stomach dropped as she examined the sketch. A single pine tree stood in a sketchy mess to the left of the paper, the stick figure she had previously seen in the mud standing in the center of the page. Scribbled down the right side of the paper was the word ‘FOLLOWS’. A scream was building in the back of her throat, and in a furious rage, she ripped the paper off the tree and tore it to shreds, throwing the pieces in every direction, not caring where the wind took them. Her hands gripped the sides of her head and she screamed, loud and desperate. She screamed until it hurt, until her throat felt raw, until she could hear it echo throughout these cursed woods. She screamed until she ran out of breath.

Her knees buckled and failed her, sending her crumpling down in the cold mud beneath her. Her hands covered her face and she sobbed helplessly in them, hopelessness slowly sinking in. She wanted to go home, to crawl in her bed, to cocoon herself beneath her covers. She wanted to be out of these woods. Her hands slid down her face until they covered only her mouth, which then muffled the squeal that came from her. Her eyes, wide and still leaking tears, stared horrified at the drawing she had watched the girl carve into the mud earlier that day. The trees littered around the dirt floor, the unnaturally tall figure standing as high as their branches. The shaking began deep in her core, reverberating throughout each limb and appendage on her body.

“No,” she whispered in her cupped hands.

Her skin crawled, feeling eyes on her back. She swiveled around, taking in a sharp intake of breath as her eyes landed on the thin shadow looming behind the trees, its long arms still swaying slowly by its sides. What appeared to be a head seemed to be cocked to the side, as if it were scrutinizing her inquisitively. Her heart lurched, jumping into acceleration.

“No,” she mumbled again, and the figure appeared to perk up at the sound of her voice. “No no no no no no no no no no no no. No!” she shouted at the thing, hoping that it would leave her be. It remained still, continuing to peer at her through its cloak of trees. She trembled, standing up and facing whatever it was that followed her. She waited, bracing herself for whatever it may do next. But it just stood there, unmoving, silently, calculating. When she realized it wasn’t going to do anything, she threw her arms out on either side of her, stretching them as far as she could in either direction, and she called out to it, “What do you want? Huh? What do you fucking want?”

Nothing. No movement, no sounds, no revelation, nothing. And that was the most terrifying part of it all. It just stood behind the trees, staring at her, mocking her, terrorizing her. She wanted all of it to just end.

“Leave me alone!” she screeched, and she took off again, running through the maze of foliage and wilderness, unsure and uncaring of which direction she was headed. Piper knew that she was running in circles; what seemed like every five minutes she would pass the horrid drawing in the mud. She spotted the sketch on the paper she had torn to shreds, now intact and hanging on the tree she had collapsed on earlier. And every single time she glanced over her shoulder, that damn thing was lurking in the trees. Trees and bushes and hills grew familiar to her, as she had passed by them eight times already. The sky dimmed as time ticked by, darkening as the hours drifted into the evening. Everything seemed to be a blur in her state of panic, fear making it hard to focus on anything other than her escape. The woods stretched on, caging her in like a wild animal. She felt wild, running about in a frenzied panic, eyes wide, hair frizzed out, face flushed. Her ragged breathing sounded in her ears, silencing any other noise the woods had to offer, which wasn’t much save for the constant slosh of her feet and the beat of her heart in her chest. As time flew by, it became more and more apparent that she wasn’t making any progress, and a disheartening realization was slowly sinking in: She wasn’t going to find a way out. She was trapped, stuck, lost, too far in the woods for anyone to hear her pleas or calls for help. It didn’t matter, she didn’t care anymore. She just wanted out.

Whispering. Piper could hear whispering. She had long since stopped running, walking forward now with heavy steps. She came to a stop, listening to the soft, breathy sounds drifting through the wind. Was it the wind? No, there are words. But what words? Piper couldn’t make them out, no matter how hard she strained her ears to listen to them. She turned her head from side to side, trying to catch which direction the whispering was coming from. Behind her, she realized with dread, and slowly, reluctantly, hesitantly, she turned around.

The girl stood behind her a few feet away. Her lips were moving at a fast rate, the whispering growing louder and more urgent. Her dull eyes stared straight into Piper’s, holding her frozen where she stood. Piper continued to stare at the girl, trying to decipher what she was whispering. The girl’s lips stopped, as did the incoherent whispering. They stood in silence, the two of them, staring at each other. The girl opened her mouth and repeated her phrase once more, but the words didn’t reach Piper’s ears. She sniffed and asked, “W-what?”

The wind danced through her hair, caressing her cold cheeks and gifting her skin with goosebumps. A single shiver ran up her spine as she realized that the girl’s hair and dress remained still, not affected by the wind wrapping around her. The child’s lips parted, and her whisper echoed in Piper’s ears.

“Can’t run.”

Fresh tears rolled down her face, and somberly she turned around and walked away. “Can’t run,” she chuckled humorlessly, “guess that’s right. Got nowhere to even run to.” She continued forward, eyes cast downward, head lowered, arms wrapped around her shivering body. Two sets of footsteps echoed in the woods, the second set several paces behind the first. She heard them, of course she heard them, but she didn’t dare turn around. She didn’t want to see, despite how badly she wanted to look. Maybe if she kept walking forward, if she never glanced over her shoulder, she’d find a road and leave the woods behind her, and that thing with it. It couldn’t follow her out into the road, it can’t leave the woods…can it? Another wave of sobs wracked her frame, and she just let the tears fall freely down her face. She didn’t care, she didn’t care. “Help…” she cried softly, her tiny voice carried off in the wind. “Help me…” whimpered the lost girl, staggering on in the frigid cold. “Somebody…help me…” squeaked the girl whose luck had just run out. She shrugged off a branch that had latched on to her sleeve.

She didn’t know what time it was. She wasn’t sure how long she had walked, or even how far. But she reached a point where her knees buckled and she collapsed to the muddy floor, her legs giving out and failing her. She crumpled to the ground, falling into the mud with a sharp splat. There was no attempt to stand back up, no movement whatsoever, save for the slight quivering her body was succumbed to. And it was there that she broke down. She cried, screamed, pulled at her hair. She dug her fingers into the soft earth, stuffing mud deep underneath her fingernails. She called out to anyone nearby, crying desperately for aid. “HELP!” she pleaded. “SOMEBODY HELP ME!”

But no one answered.

Piper fell to her side, curling herself into a ball, hugging her knees tightly to her chest. The tears were relentless, blurring her vision and stinging her eyes. They fell into the mud beneath her face, wetting it more and causing it to smear across her cheek. And still, nobody came.

Piper lay in the mud until her eyes ran dry, until she could feel the tears dry and tighten the skin on her face. She mourned, wallowed in her grief. She stared out into nothing, looking but not seeing. She hummed softly to herself, keeping her mind at ease.

“I went up to the mountain because you asked me to
Up over the clouds to where the sky was blue
I could see all around me everywhere”

The trees creaked and groaned high above her, and the unmistakable sound of a twig snapping sounded in the distance. Her eyes turned to the noise, but she continued singing.

“I could see all around me everywhere

Sometimes I feel like I’ve never been nothing but tired
And I’ll be walking till the day I expire
So sometimes I just lay me down, no more can I do
But then I go on again because you ask me to”

The whispering started up again, quiet, but there nonetheless. She thought she could hear light footsteps coming her way.

“Some days I look down afraid, afraid I will fall
And though the sun shines I see nothing, nothing at all”

She listened to the wind whistling along, and she closed her eyes.

“Then I hear your, your sweet voice
Come and then go, come and then go
Lord, telling me softly you love me so”

Piper continued to hum the soothing melody to herself, focusing on the tune rather than the sounds behind her. Her eyes opened and she glanced down at the mud, dragging her finger across the surface and leaving behind an odd trail of random designs. Her finger reached a jagged, rough line she hadn’t remembered carving into the earth, and she lifted her head off the ground to get a better look at it. A rough sketch of choppy lines which created trees sat etched into the soft mud. And she stared at the tall stick figure in the midst of those trees.

Rage, that’s what overcame her. She gritted her teeth and slashed at the cursed drawing with her hands, digging her fingers in the dirt and dragging them through the middle of the picture, distorting it and rendering it unrecognizable. A choked sob hiccupped out of her and she grabbed a nearby stick, carving into the scene to further distort it. When she was done, she threw the stick down, glaring at the mess of muddy lines. Piper shoved herself off of the ground and towered over the mess. To further the damage she had wrecked upon it, she stomped on it with her foot and dug deep, smearing the mud back into place. A low growl vibrated her throat and she backed up, stepping away from the abomination.

She bumped into something, her brain dully registering it as a tree. She was about to turn around and walk away when she stopped, recognizing the faint rustling of clothes. Her body went cold, and she had a hollow realization that whatever she had just backed in to was definitely not a tree. Reluctantly, regretfully, she turned around and faced her stalker, taking in a sharp intake of breath at the sight.

The stories were right, she thought numbly, as she gazed upon the being. It was tall, taller than she expected, and so incredibly thin. Its arms dangled at its sides, the long, bony fingers twitching down at its knees. As the rumors had it, it very well did wear a black suit, tailored to fit its measurements. And the tie, brilliantly red and vibrant, tied tightly around its collar. But that’s where her eyes stopped, all the horror stories she had read keeping her from trailing her line of vision any higher.

Piper shut her eyes tightly, her hands curling into fists, and she clenched her jaw, waiting for the worst to happen. But it didn’t happen, nothing happened. She peeked up at the thing, watching in confusion as it simply stood there, its arms still dangling at its sides. It didn’t make sense, every story she had read claimed that once you see it, once it sees you, it’s over, the end. She had seen it, both from a distance and up close, and she was damn sure it had seen her. And yet, it did nothing.

A glimpse of white caught her eye, and she peered around the beast. The little girl, dressed in her white dress with its brown, muddy stains at the bottom, stood a few feet behind the being. She gazed up at it, her face emotionless, her hand clutching a piece of paper tightly. Piper gulped, frightened by her presence. The child closed her eyes for a moment, and then turned her gaze on Piper. She was taken by surprise by the amount of sadness in the small girl’s eyes.

“What is it?” Piper asked softly, referring to the thing standing only inches away from her.

The girl seemed to think about this, contemplating whether that question was worthy of an answer. She decided that is was not, it seemed, for she gave no reply. After a moment of staring at the poor, foolish girl, she sighed, as if what she was about to say was pointless. Her dry lips parted, and in a small voice, she warned the girl, “Don’t look…”

Piper frowned, and just as the child suspected, tilted her head back to stare up into the face of the being that had followed her through these woods. Another truth, she concluded, as her eyes scrutinized the featureless face of it. She took note of how it was slightly hunched forward, its head bent downward to stare down at her, although it had no eyes to even stare at her with, just as it had no other facial feature whatsoever. Its head was a white blob, blank, but held the shape of a man’s head. There was a forehead, and a small bump where Piper assumed a nose would reside, and there was a definite jaw line, but that’s where the details stopped. It literally was a blank canvas, as if waiting for a painter to add in the rest of its face.

Piper continued to gaze up at it, more intrigued than frightened. She thought back to the girl’s disregarded advice. Don’t look… “Or what?” she questioned the girl, but no response was given. She tore her eyes away from the featureless mask of the creature and looked at the little girl behind it. “Or what?” she asked again, louder this time in case she hadn’t heard when she had first asked.

The child stared back at her with an immense amount of sorrow, her eyes sympathetic. There was a moment’s pause before she answered grimly, “…or it takes you.”

Piper didn’t have much time to react before the arm in front of her swung forward.