The Forest's Eyes

Started working on this idea during a late cab ride home and never thought about it again until about two or three years later, and decided to give it some heart. I'm pretty proud of it, and I hope you guys like it. I completely changed the ending last second, so if you want to see the old ending let me know. :)

Trigger warning for abuse and gore.

The Forest’s Eyes

Elijah Ganske

The soft ground underneath Charlie’s feet was still wet from the previous night's storm, squishing lightly as her boots landed. The sky was slightly clouded, with stars still peeking out over the clouds. She hated the cold, but it was better than what waited for her back at home. She could still hear Ali’s last words ringing through her head, just before she slammed the door. “You’ll come back. You always do.” 

Charlie grit her teeth. How did it come to this? Why here? She thought to herself. The image of Ali’s smile slipped into her head, that first loving smile she had flashed Charlie at the café making her heartache. Charlie even remembered putting her number on the decorated cup with a little winking face. Her stomach churned at the thought.  Even after all these months, she longed to see that smile again. She shook her head as if the memory was an Etch-a-Sketch that she could just undo by shaking it. Tears welled in her eyes as the wind flew by, nipping at the exposed skin on her hands and forearms, making her fresh scars ache. She pulled down her sleeve, beat away the tears and took a shaky breath. She tried to let the soft smell of petrichor soothe her, along with the sound of the trees brushing against each other. It was as if they were whispering gossip. She listened to the chirps of the nearby squirrels racing through the trees, the cries of the birds, and in the distance the shrill laughter of the coyotes. There was something else though. Similar to a bird whistle, but distorted in a sense. Whether it was curiosity and the thrill of adventure, or an attempt to prolong the inevitable, she trudged towards the sound. 

As she got closer to the sound, she realized something was off. The trees grew denser, and their shapes were unnatural, twisted like clay moulded by a child. The forest seemed to defy her persistence. Her boots sunk deeper into the ground, making it harder to walk and the branches she tried to push away would slap back in retaliation, cutting the flesh they connected with. Nothing new. Charlie thought to herself. Barely even feel it. She remembered Ali’s favourite box cutter, with its sleek black body hidden under the darkness, letting the blade shine in the moonlight. She remembered the comfort of her arms and the warmth of her lips on the night that she first used it. 

“I promise it won’t be that bad,” Ali had told her, making her breath roll its way up Charlie's neck. “You trust me, don’t you?”

Charlie nodded apprehensively, and looked up at Ali, expecting that loving gaze of her beautiful grey eyes. Instead, she only saw sadistic glee. Charlie remembered the way her heart dropped, and that sleek knife along with it. It tore through her skin like paper.

The heartache the thought brought fueled her steps. While she made her way through the twisted trees and sharp branches, the whistling seemed to get louder. Eventually, it was nearly deafening. Then it stopped for a moment before being replaced with strange squishing. Charlie’s heart stopped as she peered through the trees.

 Blood pooled on the ground, and her eyes naturally followed it back to its source. It was coming from a man whose face was splattered with blood and soot. His chest was open like he was in the middle of surgery. The thing that cut into it could only be described as a nightmare. It was facing away from her and had a strangely human body, but its skin looked like dead tree bark. Frozen in fear, she glanced down at the man who had spotted her. Charlie watched as a glimmer of hope shined in his dying eyes.

‘Help me.’ he mouthed.

 Then the creature stabbed into the deer’s sockets, blood staining its wooden claws and splaying onto the ground. Despite its willowy appearance, the monster lifted what was left of the man like he was nothing and stuck his body onto a particularly sharp branch, the same way a butcher would do with a slab of fresh meat. Charlie gasped, then quickly covered her mouth after realizing her mistake, but it was too late. The monster whipped around and screeched, tossing the corpse to the side. It was on her in an instant, knocking her down. Before Charlie’s head even hit the forest floor, its teeth were already sunk deep into her shoulder. She screamed and flailed around, grabbing at anything she could. She felt powerless. Its weight on top of her was crushing, but familiar. Her hand wrapped around a particularly hard stick, and she stabbed it into the monster’s side with as much strength as she could muster. Surprisingly, it punctured the creature's ashen skin. The beast made a gurgling sound and jumped off Charlie’s chest to pull the branch out of her side. 

When she got up it was nowhere to be seen. She ran for her life, shouting, screaming out into the empty woods to anyone who would be able to hear. However, the only things listening were the open night sky and the creature with her blood on its teeth. 

That strange whistling she had heard earlier pierced her ears once again. She ran as fast as she could, but she knew full well that it could have caught up with her by now if it wanted to. I’m toying with you, Charlie imagined it saying. She wasn’t surprised when it had Ali’s voice. Charlie pushed past all the trees, hearing the monsters grumbles from behind her, getting whipped with branches and tripped by exposed roots, as though the forest wanted it to catch her.

 The amount of brush in front of her was blinding, making her hide her eyes behind her arms. A thick branch seemed to jut out of nowhere, stopping her in her tracks and knocking the breath from her chest. She layed on the ground as tears rolled down her eyes. Why me? Charlie asked out to the leaves. Is this where I die? Haven’t I been through enough?”

The only response was the whistling from behind her. Charlie thought about the night before, and everything that had led up to that moment. Ali’s persistence, her shouting, her knife. The creature dropped from the trees, landing silently. It stared at Charlie for a moment as if it recognized her. Charlie was able to make out the creature's strangely familiar feminine shape. A sudden rage overcame her. She stood up and kept running. She could hear the creature from behind her, its piercing whistle getting louder as it bounced from the perches of the trees. It was close now, but Charlie's heart soared when she saw an opening into a clearing. Branches sprouted out and started to block out the light. She sprinted faster, the whistling so close she could feel it on her neck. The creature reached out and cut deep into Charlie’s shoulder. She screamed in pain, but just as the last glimmer of the rising sun was enveloped by the brush, she used her shoulder to break through a wall of branches and burst out into a clearing. She ran out into the rising sun’s light and slowly came to a stop. Her body was screaming at her to keep going, but Charlie turned and gazed at the forest. She saw the beast's shadow first, jumping from tree to tree, faster than the eye could perceive. 

It stopped and stood, its silhouette at least two meters tall. It cocked its head to the side and made that familiar whistle as if asking why she stopped. It stepped out of the shade of the trees and into the light, the branches bending to get out of its way. Its skin glistened in the moonlight the same way damp bark would. Its strangely human grey eyes glared at her, waiting for sudden movements. 

Then it screamed. It was a piercing sound as if every animal in the forest was howling out in agony. She could feel the pitch sharp in her bones, and once again her body itched to turn and run. What the hell am I doing?  Tears were streaming down her face, and the fear dug so deep into her soul that it would never fade. Yet, she stayed and stared into those dead eyes. 

As it screamed into the night sky she took a step forward. It stopped. She could see the confusion clearly now. She took another step, and another until eventually, she was sprinting at the beast. It let out another scream, but so did she.

“Fuck you!” She howled. Then she punched the creature. She heard a crack and felt the jolt of sharp pain in her hand. She fell back onto the ground, nearly choking on her despair, the tears still streaming down her cold and scratched face. She looked up into the sky and cried. It was a quiet morning. The soft grass was cold underneath Charlie’s back. The sky was slightly clouded, with shades of orange and purple peering out on the horizon. The air nipped at her exposed skin and cooled the blood as tears slowly ran down her cheek. The wind breathed, and from the corner of her eyes, Charlie saw the trees sway, hearing the soft rustling as they brushed against each other. 

Then, she watched helplessly as two grey eyes attached to a pale almost featureless face blocked her view. 

They stared at her with something she almost mistook for understanding. It whistled a soft tune that was reminiscent of a song. It whistled this tune for only a moment before Charlie suddenly felt an anguishing pain in her stomach. It had stabbed her, digging its claws deep into her stomach. It was agonizing, but she didn’t scream. She stared at those grey eyes and almost mistook them for Ali’s. She used all her remaining strength to reach up and touch the monster's face. But just before she could, it was gone.  Charlie heard panicked voices in the background but didn’t pay any mind. Instead, she looked up at the sky, feeling the stare of the creature with its claws tinted red with her blood, swaying from a tree in the corner of her eye. 

* * *  

Charlie jumped when someone slammed the other end of her table. She had been taking the time in her half-hour break to watch her shows in the darkest corner of the café. At first, she thought it was her boss, but after letting her eyes adjust for a moment the blur of long ginger hair made her heart flutter. 

“Hey hottie,” Ali sat down across from her and passed her a coffee. 

“Aw, hey babe,” Charlie exclaimed. “What’s this?”

“It’s a mocha,” Ali revealed with a smile. “Your favourite right?”

“Not really,” Charlie smiled as she unruffled her apron.

Ali raised her eyebrow. “What? No fucking way, I could’ve sworn you said something about loving these.” 

“Sorry, they’re just a bit too sweet for me.” Charlie took a sip. The syrup of the chocolate made her almost made her gag, but she swallowed. She flashed Ali a smile. “This one’s just right though!”

“Whatever,” Ali sulked for a moment. Then she glanced at Charlie. “Hey, you’re off your shift right?” 

“I mean my break finishes in five–” Ali cut her off with a groan.

“Just ditch with me. I wanna show you something” she said.

“Ali, I really can't, just wait like an hour and I’ll…” Charlie knew she fucked up before she even finished.

“Really?” Ali rolled her eyes and threw her hands in the air. “I’ve been waiting all day, it's just an hour. Am I really not worth an hour?” 

“No no, of course, you are it’s just–” Charlie looked around at the café and felt the judging eyes of the patrons weighing down on the couple. 

“Just what?” Ali spat. Charlie hung her head.

“Fine,” Charlie said softly “Sure, let's go. Just let me get my stuff.”

Ali’s scowl disappeared like lightning, replaced by a big toothy smile. “Perfect!”

They left the store and started walking back to Ali’s house. Charlie had made this trip so many times she swore she knew every turn, but Ali deviated from the path. Charlie looked at her with a cocked eyebrow.

“It’s a shortcut,” she said slyly. “I think you’ll like it.”

This shortcut took them through an open field with trees surrounding it. The sun was setting on the horizon, basking the blades of grass in a blissful orange. The path they were on led them to a forest that felt oddly familiar to Charlie. They walked into the shade of the leaves and Charlie felt a chill rake up each vertebra of her spine. After a couple of steps, the sun’s already dwindling light was completely blocked out.

“Whatdya think? Pretty, right?” Ali gestured widely at the woods.

“S-sure, I guess it is,” Charlie murmured. “It’s a bit creepy.”

“Quit being such a bitch,” Ali groaned.

“Seriously Ali, I feel like the forest itself is watching me.” 

“Trust me, nothing is watching you.” she glanced back at Charlie with a sly smile. “At least, not anything besides me.”   

“What makes you so sure?” 

“Well, that's easy,” Ali responded gleefully. She spread her arms out wide. As if on cue,  an opening in the trees became clear, and light from the rising moon silhouetted Ali’s strong figure, making her hair look like gold. “This is my forest!”

Charlie laughed, “Whatever you say, love.”

 She was oddly unnerved by the fact that Ali’s declaration felt closer to a confession than a joke.

“Now come on,” Ali smiled as she outstretched her hand. “I can’t wait to show you my new knife.”

Charlie took her hand and was led out into the moonlight's comforting presence, but she could still feel the forest’s eyes following her out.