You feel dizzy, slowly looking around, only seeing the night sky and woods. You slowly start to get up, realizing the gashes in your legs. You groan in pain as you finally rise.

You begin to walk towards the abyss of the woods looking for some kind of clue of what had happened. Hearing twigs crack and crinkle, you suddenly feel a breath behind you, almost like uttered words. You get freaked out and start feeling your heart pound while you gasp for air.

Seeing a glitter of light, you realize you are standing at the gates of a bear’s nest; it growls slowly. You back up slowly, trying not to make any noise. You step on a twig, and all you hear is a snap.

The sound of muffled growling approaches, closer and closer by the second. Your instinct is to sprint back into the wild abyss of trees and night sky. You trip on a rock which causes you to tumble down, descending the hilltop, slamming into trees, hurting your foot in the process.

You get knocked out and dream about a family and their dog which is abnormally big, almost bigger than the kids. You are the photographer and as you are about to take the picture you hear sounds behind the family. You look behind and drop your camera. All you can see is a colossal monster of some sort covering the sun in front of you, but as it grabs you, you gasp for air and become conscious again. Suffering from a headache and aching muscles, you are throbbing all over. With your cut up and torn legs you get up, groaning in pain.

All you see is a group of villagers staring at you with glowing eyes. You try talking to them, but you can’t open your mouth, almost as if it were sewn shut. With your hands, you try using sign language, and maybe they’ll understand, but they just stand there like statues. Walking towards them, you proceed with caution as you don’t know what is going on. As you get closer and closer with each step, they start to disappear into thin air. When all of them are gone into the air around you, you end up stumbling across a village that seems deserted.

Every house is similar in shape and size but with different designs. At every house, there is a mythical beast carved onto the doorway, making it very ominous. Picking up a spear, you slowly open each door, making creaky sounds. All you hear is silence … eerie silence.

Every time you open a door, the tables are filled with bowls of food, almost as if people had been living here only a few hours ago.

You get suspicious, but you’re craving food and your stomach is grumbling as if you hadn’t eaten for years. After diving into the food, you realize something… You walk outside looking at the ground. Blood everywhere. You finally examine yourself, and you’re wearing an army suit with a pistol strapped to your waist. Blood stains cover your hands as you shake in fear, wondering what you have done.

–WP–

(Published November 2019)