Discomfort and uncertainty have become a norm for me I think. I've been trudging through the snow in this pitch darkness for well over an hour. I'm sure of it. I'm sure I've been walking in a circle and to top it off I think it's my third time completing this circle. I shake my head and adjust my glasses once more hoping to see something, anything! Maybe even a glimpse of light but the only things I can make out are the bare outlines of various trees and the gray colored snow covering my shins.
There aren't any animals nearby either from what I can see and the forest is dead silent. Eerily silent. I rub my forehead and think about possible solutions. As of right now leaving is just not possible, I tried that already. As I breathe out I can feel the shakiness of my breath and I realize the trembling of my body. I feel sort of stupid because I forgot that it's winter, I'm in Maine, and it's probably below 0 degrees especially since the tree branches are completely blocking any light. "I need to find a place to stay," I conclude aloud. Adjusting my body to a different position I begin looking around the mess of shadow covered trees making it difficult to navigate.
At this point, I honestly just don't want to go in another random circle. I'm right handed so I feel like if I start straight I'm just going to eventually turn right without realizing it. I think I'll take a left and try zigzagging. I need to find a place to stay. A way to make a fire. I begin putting my futile plan to action with an attempt to not be pessimistic but I honestly have to wonder, am I even going to make it through the night? I'm glad I didn't take off my sweatshirt when I was driving because I honestly probably wouldn't have thought to put it on before I got out of the car. A quick pee, that's all I wanted! Man, how did this happen? How is this even possible? My mind must be playing tricks on me.
Maybe I got hypothermia without realizing it and now I'm just hallucinating. Or I'm dead and in some kind of purgatory. Perhaps I'm even in a hospital bed in a coma dreaming that I got a new job and that I moved to the middle of nowhere and now I'm stuck in these woods. Whatever it is it doesn't make sense, any of this. I walk in a clumsy zigzag passing through the various trees when one catches my eye. I turn my head and look it up and down examining it over. It's tall, thick, and has a sort of wigwam looking entrance to it. I look around to view the possibility of options when I remind myself that options are limited here. Extremely limited. With a sigh, I duck my head and crawl inside.
I have to give this old tree some credit it had a pretty wide trunk and there isn't much snow inside here either. Unfortunately, the ground is hard and cold. Rubbing my cold hands together I breath out low and slow to warm them which works very little. There aren't any sticks or twigs laying around and there isn't any small rocks or stones so I highly doubt a fire is going to be made tonight. I shake my head and chuckle to myself, "like I could get it to work anyway." Man, what am I going to do? Is this really how I'm going to die? In the middle of the woods due to hypothermia all by myself in the darkness?
I don't have anything. I don't have any equipment or tools. I have no survival gear, no tents no tent rope, no lighters or charcoal. No food! I realize with an internal shriek, my stomach growling. I slide my arms inside my sweatshirt and underneath my T-shirt wrapping them around my stomach. I'm going to die of starvation and hypothermia all alone in the middle of this dark shady forest. How did this happen, man? I ask myself once more leaning against the wall of the tree. I don't even bother to remove my glasses, paranoid of losing or breaking them. If I'm going to die tonight I guess I should think a little positively. At least I didn't get attacked by a wild moose or eaten by a bear. At least I'll get to die peacefully in my sleep. At least I'll get to die in some form of... I look up at the tree sheltering me, sanctuary?
Closing my eyes I keep my arms crossed over my stomach underneath my shirts, my knees bent. With a low sigh, I lower my head. It doesn't matter how it happened. It just doesn't. It happened. It happened and that's all there is to it.
YOU ARE READING
Dream Catcher (ON TEMPORARY HOLD)
HorrorA young man, about 21, moves from Canada to the state of Maine in America to start his new life after getting a job in the area. Moving away from his family and Ojibwe tribe, Mikom finds himself feeling excited but nervous. Unfortunately for him, wh...
