This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.
The original was posted on /r/nosleep by /u/EmmaWatsonButDumber on 2024-09-28 14:23:45+00:00.
It didn’t make any sense. I stared at the floor, phone in hand, speechless.
“What do you mean? Where exactly are you?”
“Kev, don’t come after me.”
“I can’t do that. I can’t just leave you there.”
I could make out heavy breathing on the other side of the phone. “Dad, just tell me where you are. I won’t come after you. I promise. I’ll be… safe. At the checkpoint. I’ll send Martin.”
His voice was trembling. “I don’t know where I am. I’ve never been on this side of the forest… I think it’s somewhere east.”
“Do you see any markings on the trees?”
“Yeah… but none of the good ones. These markings aren’t ours.”
These markings aren’t ours.
I paused, and so did he. I had my phone to my right ear, and suddenly, someone whistled right next to my left, startling me. I took a deep breath. Relax. It means they’re far.
“There’s something else.” my dad said.
The cabin felt cold, and yet I was sweating, suffering from an unexplainable fever. I could barely hold the phone anymore. “Kev, I’m not alone here. Something else is with me. I can’t get out, either. It feels like I’m walking in a circle, back and forth, and I’m afraid to go too far. It’s as if… it’s guarding me. It doesn’t want me to get out.”
I heard another whistle to my left, only this time it didn’t feel like it was directly into my ear anymore. They’re getting closer.
“Right. I have to go.”
I wanted to hang up, but my hand wasn’t listening to me. I just let the phone fall to the ground. In the reflection of the window, I saw myself - pale, dark veins under my eyes, and dry lips. What was going on?
I felt like puking. I kneeled, then started rocking back and forth, unsure what to do, how to play this out. I knew that was surely my dad, because the creatures can’t talk on the phone, but I didn’t know where he was, and something inside me told me they wouldn’t let him go unless I personally went out to look for him. I didn’t know whether Martin would help me again and, judging by how fast he’d left me alone there, it didn’t seem like he was too eager to reach out.
My stomach turned, and my chest tightened as I puked on the floor of the cabin. The next minutes were a blur - I remember my hands, and my knees crawling to the trap, then basically falling down the ladder and breaking my ankles on the ground, then trying to stand up, and failing. I remained laying on the leaves, staring at the sky. I could just fall asleep here. Forever.
Another whistle to my left, this time, further away.
I didn’t have much time until they found me again.
“Hey! Kid!”
Fuck no. So soon?
I lifted myself from the ground enough to look at whoever was coming. It was the lady from the checkpoint. The one who said her shift was about to start.
I mean, that’s how it looked. I didn’t know whether it was really her.
I didn’t answer. Just blankly stared at her grey leather boots and ginger ponytail.
“Are you okay?”
I stood up. She tried to help me, but I yelled at her not to touch me. “Stay away. Now.”
A look of confusion swept over her face.
“Where’d you come from?”
“I wanna ask you the same thing.”
“What?” she smiled, a bit amused.
“My dad is missing. You find that funny?”
She scratched her head. “Who’s your dad?”
“We had this exact same conversation back at the checkpoint, with Martin. You should’ve remembered.”
“I know he’s missing, but I don’t know his name. I don’t know everyone around here.” she replied annoyed.
After I’d told her, she shook her head. “Never heard of him.”
“Why isn’t anyone talking about this? Your park rangers just go missing, hell, I’ve been here for two days now, and you don’t seem to even care! What about my mother? Did you talk to her? Did you talk to Martin, since his egoistical ass left me here-”
“M-Martin didn’t come back to the checkpoint.” she answered, stoically. “After that night, we didn’t see him again.”
I stared at her in disbelief. “Take me there. If it’s really you. I need to talk to more people. I can’t be alone here, with you…”
“I understand your dad is missing, but it’s not exactly like it’s so uncommon around here, and please be polite. Don’t let frustration cloud your judgement and make you unnecessarily irritable…”
“Unnecessarily? I have every right to be angry. What do you mean, it’s not so uncommon? Martin said no one went missing here?”
She frowned, tilting her head, then looked away.
I was still feeling sick, but at least I could stand on my own legs. Another whistle echoed, this time deep into the woods. Tall trees surrounded us, and the familiar cabin seemed now desolate and rotten. Nothing made sense anymore.
“Your dad is not the first to go missing. Many went before him, and many will follow. It’s not something you can negotiate. It just happens.”
“Martin said…”
She slowly shook her head. “It’s not something well-known. We don’t want to scare our rangers.”
When I spoke, I sounded choked out. “Who else went missing?”
She hesitated. Silence filled the space between us, and I could tell she was uncomfortable.
“I did.”
I didn’t give her time to finish.
I’d been running for so long, that my legs had gone numb. Hitting my shoulders on tree trunks and struggling not to trip and roll on the ground, I felt like running was the only thing that could save me. Deep into the forest, I wondered how long someone could go without water or food.
At some point, I stopped to sit down. I couldn’t take it anymore – my heart was literally telling me that if I didn’t stop soon, it would.
The moment I sat on the moss, I realized I wasn’t alone. I swallowed. I swear to God.
In front of me sat the ginger lady.
“Go away, please. Leave me alone.”
“I just want to help.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“I went missing a long time ago. I don’t remember what I was doing, patrolling around, I think. Anyway, post 62 is notorious for… interesting stuff happening around. 62, 24, 46… they’re not haunted, generally speaking, but energy points. And them… as far as I know, they come from the earth. They’re corpses. Forests used to be humanity’s cemeteries and ritual dumpsters in general – I don’t know what went on around here, but these woods have swallowed so much blood. It’s like mass, this blood. This death. The more it gathers, it creates this gravity, and asks for even more. More blood. More death.”
She was softly murmuring, as if telling a bedtime story.
“I saw those markings, and even if I didn’t recognize them, I was ashamed to call and ask. I thought they’d been part of my training and not recognizing them would have made me look bad. Back then, no rules were written down.” She sighed. “Anyway, I came to this clearing in the woods, and, well… I don’t remember how I died. All I know is that I was following my mom’s voice. I don’t remember how it sounds like now.”
“How long have you been there for?”
She ignored my question.
“You are still alive. You could leave. I want to, well, tell you it’s not that bad here.” She smiled, but her eyes didn’t. “There’s always something to do here. They’re always looking for another.”
I shook my head, as she nodded. “Okay. Well, you’re looking for your dad. I think you already know what you need to do. Look behind you.”
I did. Behind me, a blue triangle. Almost fluorescent. When I turned back to her, she was gone.
I walked and walked, each step muffled by the damp earth and fallen leaves. You know, I’d never been in such woods before. They didn’t feel alive in the usual way – millions of little lives roaming around, but they felt like a being of their own, and the earth rose and fell under my feet, almost mocking my breaths.
I passed a bridge, then a tunnel in one of these god-forsaken mountains. When I got out, I could hear whispers and whistles.
How are you?
Why, I’m fine. Just a little ravished.
Well, well, wait. It’s soon, I believe.
I believe, too. Do you believe?
Yes, yes. Soon.
Soon.
Soon.
Soon.
Soon.
Soon.
What was about to happen soon?
I tried calling out for my dad, since my phone and flashlight had died, but someone else answered, and it wasn’t him, so I decided to keep my mouth shut. I passed through this garden of roses, clinging onto my clothes. Roses, our most popular and loved flowers, who never miss a chance to draw blood.
In the distance, more trees. One of them looked broken. Coming closer, I realized something was hanging from it. Or someone. I didn’t recognize their face. I kept walking, and saw more. Hanging from the trees, their bare feet floating above my head, looming over me. I stopped looking at their faces, afraid I’d see my dad.
Eventually, I reached this hill and smelled something burning. Coming closer, I saw this fire, and…
“Martin!”
The minute I said that, pain pierced my shoulder. My back hit the tree. I smelled something metallic.
“Go away.” Said Martin.
“No, it’s me… believe me. I cannot do this now.”
“I already saw you five times. I don’t believe you anymore.”
“No. I’m telling the truth.”
Another razor flew to me, but I dodged it. I started crying and fell to my knees. I told him about the ginger lady, and my dad, and the stars, and my life, in a way that no doppelgänger could. They could try to take my life, but they didn’t know anything about it. Martin’s gaze softened. He sighed.
“I saw over 12 sunsets here. I had to kill them to eat. The mimics…
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