Short horror stories

The forest of fire

   I thought it was just my imagination. I was just going hiking in the woods. It was creepy during the night, but after time it became peaceful. It helped clear my head. All of the stress and worries cleared.
  I would hear the sounds of leaves crackling now and then, but I figured it was just the sound of a deer. They weren't heavy sounding steps, so I didn't think it could be anything dangerous. The peacefulness just cleared my head too much. I was at the point where I was letting myself feel too safe. I was letting myself became too comfortable.
I began to hear another quiet crackling sound, but this one was different. It sounded like the crackling of a fire. Of course, many people make fires in the woods, especially at night so I gave it little thought. As I continued to walk, a thought came to my mind. I could clearly hear the crackling of the fire very close by, but there was no sign of smoke or any light at all.
  I turned my head around, but all I saw was darkness. I didn't smell a fire, but I definitely heard it. I made many fires before, so I couldn't be mistaken. I knew it was close by.
  The cold night began to grow warmer. I went from shivering to sweating within only a few minutes. I thought I was going crazy. There was no reason for me to be so warm within such a short amount of time. It was just too unrealistic. I spend many years hiking in the woods and something like this had never happened. Never.
  As I continued to walk, the heat only got worse. I began taking off my hat and jacket as I wiped the sweat off of my forehead. I could still hear the sound of fire crackling. I thought about turning back, but my sense of adventure and curiosity took control over me. I just wanted to keep going even if it wasn't settling right with me.
  Only a few steps later, I began to feel a burning sensation on my feet. I was wearing boots so I didn't know if it was just because of the boots. It was the middle of the night yet I was sweating. The burning sensation was easy to withstand at first, but then it began to get worse. It grew more painful and felt unnatural. I knew it couldn't just be my feet getting hot. It felt more like my feet were on fire.
  I walked only a few more steps before sitting on a nearby rock. My feet were in so much pain. I had no choice but to look at them. I began untying my boots and taking them off. I took off my boot on my left foot and realized that my sock was covered in blood. It a panic, I quickly pulled the sock of my foot. The skin stuck to the sock as I slowly peeled it off. I could see parts of my skin sticking to the sock as it was removed. More and more skin was torn off my foot. My foot was covered in blisters. My foot was swelled up and was bleeding an awful lot. The bottom of my foot was drenched with my blood.
  At that moment, I didn't know what to do. I was alone in the woods with no cell phone. There was no way I could walk anymore. It was just be too painful. I didn't even bother taking off my other boot. I knew it would look the same. I also didn't want to go through the pain of pealing off my skin as it stuck to my sock again.
  I just sat there for a moment and thought about the situation I was in. The heat grew worse and the crackling grew louder. My legs began to grow painful. I was sweating so much I felt like I was going to pass out. I slowly turned my head to see a skeleton laying next to a tree. I quickly stood on my feet, shooting a rush of pain up my body. I didn't even focus on that. I just ran. I just discovered a dead body, there was no way I was staying around that no matter how much pain I was in.
  I felt tears run down my face as the pain built up with every single step I took as I ran out of that forest. I finally found a clearing, and jumped out. I lied in the middle of the road as all of the heat went away. The night was once again cold. I later there only for a moment, before I heard a car nearing me. I quickly rose to my feet and began waving my hands around desperately.
  My eyes grew wide as the car slammed on its breaks right in front of me. I ran up to the driver of the car and begged them to take me to a hospital. I could tell they were scared of me, but luckily they were kind enough to let me get in. It took about twenty agonizing minutes before we arrived at the hospital. The driver helped me inside as the pain once again shot up my body.
  Once I had gotten someone to take care of me, it turned out I had several burns throughout my body, especially on the bottom of my feet. I can't explain exactly what happened, but there was definitely something wrong with that forest.