The Thing In The Forest

    October 26th 2022

    I'm sitting in class as I'm writing this. I don't know why I am but I am. It's an English class. We are reading a book called, “The Book Of Enoch”. I have no idea why or what it is but it seems boring. So I'm starting a digital diary. The base of what i'm going to write in here is random shit that happens.
   
    “Alright class settle down settle down! We are going to start off with attendance! Joseph Noel! Joseph Noel!” Mrs. Barns screams, her voice is old and crooked. Like a witch cackling.
“I'm right in front of you goddamned Witch.” Calling Mrs. Barns a Witch is a class joke. Nobody knows where it came from but everyone thinks it's hilarious. “Alex Tricks! Alex Tricks!” Mrs. Barnes screams again. Alex isn't here today. “Alright Thanks Alex, present.” Mrs Barns has memory issues so she always marks him present. He disappeared last month. Noone knows where or how. He just got up and left.
    Mrs. Barns take attendance for the next 30 minutes.
“Okay class, today we will be reading, “The Book Of Enoch. It's a good book so we will be reading it! So- uhm uh. AH YES. THE WAR OF 1812!” Another thing she does. Only talks about the war of 1812 in an english class.
   
    Mrs. Barnes sucks. It's always a boring class with nothing to do. Wait? Can anyone else see that?

    Jacks looks outside the class window and standing 6 feet into the forest is a strange figure, tall and lanky, with brass-like limbs, dark sunken aqua eyes with tree branches sticking up in odd places. Long chin with no teeth. It doesn't move. It just stands still as a statue. It makes him uneasy just looking at it. He looks away to stand up and when he looks again it's gone.
    Jack spends the rest of his day writing in his diary and thinking about the creature. He can't get it off his mind. “Is this creature related to the kid's disappearance?” he thinks to himself. He starts drawing it to try and get it off his mind but it only makes things worse. He starts to go kind of crazy. It's all he can think about.

    The next day the same thing happened. It happened the next and the next and the next. Until October 30th, 2022. Jack sees the creature again, almost crazy at this point. Skin missing around his hands and fingernails. Covered in bandages from anxiety. He can't take it anymore. He breaks the window of the classroom with his desk and leaps out the window. For once the creature moved. Unnaturally smooth, turns on an invisible axi and strides effortlessly into the forest. Jack runs after bleeding from the neck and mouth. He cut his whole body on broken glass. Glass embedded into his skin and bones. Blind in one eye. Broken leg from the 2 story fall. He slows down as he runs into the forest. Until eventually 20 meters in, he collapses. Jack lays there, motionless. Wheezing. Coughing up blood.
Students and teachers chase after him only to find a pool of blood with no body. Teachers and students were shocked at the sight. No body, just blood everywhere. No trail. It just stops cold. They all panic at the scene and scatter. Some get lost in the forest. Some never come back, the police get involved. To no avail, He's gone.
Jack can't see anything out of his left eye, his throat is throbbing. Coughing up blood
The teachers scream Jack's name. To no avail they can't find him. 3 weeks later missing posters are put up. People are still worried but have given up. The search partys comfort eachother, people start leaving. People are packing boxes. Cars leaving the town in dust.
    3 months later, missing posters blow in the wind of the silent ghost town. Everybody moved because of the rumors of what happened. The school shut down a year earlier.
The rumor was that the parents killed him. Dosed him with meds. Everyone left since it was a small town where everyone knew everyone.
    Jack is crawling up a hill coughing up blood and can't move an arm. Every time he blinks he's in a new area. A forest at one point, plains at another, school parking lot, back yard, everytime he sees someone. He tries to cry for help but his vocal cords are torn. Everytime the person turns around, the face morphs into the head of this creature, smiling.
    The town lies empty. Jack's parents are depressed because of losing their boy. Their baby boy as they told the news outlet that shut down yesterday. They sit and weep at an empty grave site. Wishing they could have done better.
    19 years later Jack is still crawling. Mud and leaves and maggots squirming inside his body. Dry coughs from losing all his blood. He's still alive. But not knowing how.
    One year later 18 year old Erin Quinn is sitting in the same very class Jack once sat. He looks out the window and sees the creature. But this time, it's not alone.
    Erin starts to go crazy. Every. Single. Day. again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again.

    Erin is crawling on the forest floor. Bleeding.
    A missing poster, blows in the wind and reads:

                MISSING!
            ERIN QUINN, 16       

            LAST SEEN AT EAST SECONDARY SCHOOL
            PLEASE CALL [redacted] WITH ANY INFO!