THE CURSED FORESTS OF TAMASKAVILLE

Chapter I - Falling Prey

It had been close to 3 months since Tara and her father moved to Estran. Estran, a small town on the not so popular side of the state, surrounded by dense forests on the western side and Never ending barren lands of nothingness on the other. The only way to get in and out of the town was a winding road which ran through these lands and looked like it vanished deep into the horizon.

Estran was moderately populated with people who almost looked identical to each other, In concordance to their small houses covered in all shades of grey and white.Like any other small town, it had places where people can work, some places where people can hang out while not on work and a school that last year got promoted to being a college.

Everything looked normal, the people, the neighborhood but there was one thing strange which nobody talked about. The Forests. The Forests that lay silently on the backyard of Estran. As any place with hidden secrets, it had its own fair share of stories & Rumors. Stories of people not coming back once they step into the woods. Stories of strange noises and much stranger sightings of creatures defying the laws of nature.

People fear what they don't know and are terrorized by what they do not understand. Talking about the forests and its stories was completely prohibited. As everyone were afraid that would rise a demon that is contagious than any other. The demon, 'Curiosity'. Once it creeps in, it won't let anyone stop till they find the answers.

Tara like any 18 year old girl had fallen to that demon. It was tamed further by Brad. Brad, with his charm and well sculpted attire, could make any girl go weak in her knees. Tara on the other hand with a charming face covered in all innocence and a sense of purity, felt like somebody had a lot of patience to perfectly carve it to look so.

Tara had fallen for Brad right at the second she first saw him but the diffidence due to the reason that she is new to the college weighed little heavy on her. Brad usually flaunting himself, acted too modest when Tara was around and slowly Tara couldn't help but get enslaved by the chains of her infatuation. Tara, the poor girl who had seemingly less knowledge about the thinned out line between love and self sacrifice got deeply involved into him in no time.

It was evening 4 pm. Tara was packing her bags with all the things that are needed for camping. She looked at her phone countless times waiting for the call from Brad, who had ignited her curiosity and invited her for a camping in the forest. Tara was not afraid, all she could feel was her excitement about the first time Brad had asked her out and the place where they were headed would also satisfy all her curiosity that had been building up since the last few days. 'It can't get any better' she kept rejoicing.

An hour had passed then she heard the sound. Not of her phone calling to her but the honk of her dad's car. Tara's dad, Mason, a middle aged man, skinny, with a whole lot of face lost in the long growing beard and hair. He started walking towards the house and Tara got anxious. She was scared of all the infinite questions her dad would ask, scared of his over protectiveness as if the whole world was trying to take Tara away from him, most of all scared she would miss the date.

She took the backpack and made a quick run to the back door and quietly sneaked out of the house. There she was tip toeing in her own back yard and then suddenly she heard it. The phone ringing. Luckily she threw it into backpack before making the run. She hid herself behind the tree to pick up the call. It was Brad.

"Ready?" he asked.

"Yes" she replied with entangled emotions of panic and excitement.

They reached the western end of the town, made sure nobody was watching them and slowly vanished into the wastelands that divided the town and the forests. They reached the entrance of the forests. There was no Danger sign or Barbed fences as usually expected. It was like a giant hallway covered with trees with no gates or doors. A gaze into the depths of the forest would give anyone a brief hint about the visual form for the phrase 'into the infinity'. The sight of the forest got chills running through their spines.

"What if we get lost?" asked Tara doubtfully.

"Brad always has a plan" he boasted in a pretentious heroic voice as he took out a rope. He tied it to a Huge Rock before entering the forest.

"Hows that! We can just follow it back! It is not like we would be going too deep, you know" he said trying to hide his fear.

As they were walking slowly into the forest it started getting darker and darker. They both took out their torches. It got as dark as midnight just after 5 minutes of walk.

"That's enough I guess, we can camp here." said Brad restlessly

With the feeling of growing fear inside her, Tara couldn't agree less.

Tara placed the torches on a rock nearby and started unloading their camping goods while Brad was trying to seduce her. His true intentions of the whole plan of a forest camp was now taking shape. Tara got the bags empty and gave a sigh of relief. Brad grabbed her from behind and Tara couldn't stop blushing. He turned her around and was slowly bending forward to kiss her. Then suddenly they could feel a tremor running beneath them.

"What was that?" Tara asked.

"That was nothing, Don't worry I'm here" said Brad getting restless and grabbed her tight.

The Tremors started to grow in intensity. One of the torch that was on the Rock fell onto the ground. In the blink of an eye the ground engulfed the torch. Half blinded, Tara screamed in shock, Brad was startled too. She ran and grabbed the second torch and focused it on the ground to notice that all the camping goods were gone.

" NO, NO, NO! " Tara started screaming in fear struck by uncertainty. Brad still trying to get his senses together said " I have to go" "I mean we have to go" he corrected himself.

"The Rope" Tara yelled and threw light towards the way they came. Luckily the tuft of Rope was still there. Brad ran to it. He tried to lift and to their horror the Rope was not lying on the ground indicating the path they came, instead it was going deep into the ground. Brad tried to pull it hard but there was no use at all. It was deeply rooted like a 100 year old tree.

Panic crept into both of them. Brad grabbed her hand, pulled her hard but she fell to the ground.

"My leg is stuck! " she screamed in pain pointing the torch towards her leg. Something was grabbing her tight. Brad moved swiftly to free her. He was left in shock when he reached out to her feet. It was a Hand that had its grip on Tara's leg. A hand covered in black soil. Brad without a second thought snatched the torch from Tara's hand and started running.

Tara begged "Brad! Brad! Please don't leave me here.!"

Tara's screams were silenced by her own agony at the sight of Brad running away from her. She started suffocating. Her breathing got heavier and heavier. She was choking. Her eyes were blurring out. It was the last blink she was making and something caught her eye. A blue light in the ground just a feet away from her. She reached out to it with all the energy she had been left with. It was her phone. In big bold letters she could hardly make out what was on the screen. Like a lightning it struck in her head.

It was " DAD, Calling" She put the phone to her ears and was at the brink of passing out when she heard her dad's voice.

"Tara, where are you, It's late"

Never was Tara so happy to hear her dad's voice. It gave her strength that lay dormant in her. She gathered all of it, freed herself from that monstrous grip and managed to climb onto a Rock. Her Dad speaking words of worry on the phone motivated her through it. She laid herself on the rock and she whispered with a gasping voice.

"Dad please come get me"

"Tara! Where are you?" he panicked.

Before she answered it, her grip went loose and the phone fell to the ground. The sight of her phone being engulfed by the ground was steadily blurring  as She passed out.

~~~TO BE CONTINUED~~~

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