What Happens In The Forest At Night, Stays In The Forest At Night

Short story

Something was lying on the forest floor. The pale glow of the whatever-it-was stood out in sharp contrast against the dark shadows of the forest. Quickly, I swept the beam of my flashlight over the object. My eyes saw a glimpse, but my mind was slower to process. I brought the light back over whatever was lying on the ground in front of me. My breath hitched in my chest and I stumbled backward. My shaky hand trained the weak beam of light on the forest floor. Nononononono.

A pale girl, about sixteen, was sprawled on the ground. I was breathing hard as I stared in shock at her unnaturally still body. Her pale limbs were bent at impossible angles and crusted blood made her plain white t-shirt stiff. I slowly moved my light over her body. Blood bloomed from multiple stab wounds in her chest, starkly in contrast against her white shirt. I blinked hard, trying to erase the image from my mind but I knew it would be seared there forever. Just like hers. Just like last time. The girl's glazed over eyes stared at me, unblinking and dead. Dead eyes. Deadeyesdeadeyesdeadeyesdeadeyes.

I sat down hard at the base of a tree trunk and reached in my pocket for my phone before remembering I had left it at home. I was so stupid. I hauled myself up off the cold forest floor and took a deep, rattling breath. I took a final look back at the girl and her dead body, dead eyes. Then, I turned tail and ran. My sneakers crunched against every branch and leaf decorating the ground. I was careless, stumbling and tripping over every root and log. I ran blindly, desperate to get as far as possible from the murder scene. I knew this feeling. The feeling of wanting to help but when you know she's dead, there's nothing you can do.

Unless she's not dead. Like last time. Unless shes barely alive and I left her there. To die. On a bed of leaves that would become her death bed. Like last time. I began to have flashbacks. The icy lake, her burbling scream as she sunk further into the depths, beyond reach. But I could have reached her. While she was still alive. But I didn't. I remember my heavy breathing as I slipped and slid on the ice, running away again. The newspaper headlines weeks later. And her dead eyes staring up at me from below the thin layer of ice moments before I had ran. Dead eyes. Deadeyesdeadeyesdeadeyes.