The+Forest

The Forest by Alexandra León M y tears fell down my cheeks as I caressed my tummy. The pain was unbearable, but what did I care? I’d just lost the most important thing I had, besides my husband. I just kept on walking without any direction. I couldn’t think of what to tell him. We had tried so hard, so many times, and had lost hope. He would be so sad… I didn’t want him to be depressed yet again. The first one almost killed us both. I looked at my feet; they were bloody because the street was filled with broken beer bottles. I kept on going, aimless, with my head down and my hands in the pockets of my yellow and white polka-dotted dress, the sight of which filled me with disgust. The sun was crawling out of the picture and the cold wind made my breath condense in front of my eyes. A weird shadow crept out of my own. It sprouted wings and rose high above me. I looked up, following it with my eyes, but I saw nothing as it was swallowed by the night. I looked at the floor again and my own shadow had disappeared. “Great! So now I lose my shadow! WHAT ELSE?” As if the clouds had heard me, they started to cry and scream. The shadow reappeared luring me into “Forbidden Forest”. In school we were told to never go inside for fear of a horrible madness. I can remember my crazy teacher telling us that she had gone inside. After going in she saw things no one could see. She told us unexplainable things happened. “Just the other night my mom came to visit me.” Her voice cracked. In my class we all knew her mother had passed away some days ago. She always told us to never go inside the Forbidden Forest. A few months passed and she disappeared. I always made fun of her. There is no such thing as that. Anyway, now it didn’t matter. I went in… The air was thick and the fog barely let me see. I grabbed my golden hair softly and just observed it. “Well you are one of the only things I can see.” Comforting. Slowly, the trunks of the trees took shape. They rose so high I could not make out the top. The ground was sticky and humid. The smell of rotting was all over. I walked carefully and sometimes encountered what I thought were roots, but they were too smooth to be roots. I bent down and pulled one out. Soon I realized these “roots” were actually bones. I screamed and threw the bone as fast as I could. I walked faster. My breathing accelerated. Beads of sweat formed on my forehead. From the ground, a series of things came to view. Sharp spikes popped out from everywhere. The ground grumbled. The skeletons jumped from their hiding place, ready to charge, others stayed low waiting to grab. The twigs slapped my face violently, the roots punched my legs, the skeletons grabbed my ankles, and others ran after me, but I knew if I stopped I would die. The forest was against me. The twigs were powerful and it burned my face. My face was being continually hit. The roots were thick and heavy. The skeletons were creepy. Some had hair which was rotten. Others had tiny bits of skin. Either way, the smell was worse that their appearance. I saw her. Her skin was peeling off and her eyes were white. “Ms. Anzona?” Those were the only words I could choke out. She listened carefully to her name. Then, she cut my arm with her finger. I pushed her to the ground. I looked quickly back, and sprinted. I tried screaming but my voice had disappeared. My tears didn’t let me see. I could barely see without them but now I can’t see. Just hear, smell, taste, and feel. My hands were everywhere feeling for trees. My ears were filled with screeching noises and evil laughs. I heard my dress ripping; my beautiful yellow, white spotted dress that once I had loved so much. Yet I felt it and it was fine. I turned around suddenly and saw a shadow. A person? An animal? Something else? I went a little closer to it to see what it was. The fog had disappeared, and I now saw that thing clearly. It was curled up but seemed to be levitating. Somehow, inexplicably, I felt attracted. I came closer to see if it was alright. The body was humongous and had some scars. The creature was black. I placed my hand on his and it opened its bright bloody eyes. He crushed my hand and brought me closer to him. His breath smelled of putrid flesh. It stared at me for a while and whispered into my ear something in a language I couldn’t understand. “Si quaerisvenistisadrestaurationiselit.Primum autemoportetcognosceremalamihivispuero hoc.” <span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 12pt;">As it spoke, the corners of its mouth curved upwards. Its sharp teeth emerged. He looked at me with curiosity. <span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 12pt;">I tried to free myself from its strong grip around my wrist. It only tightened. Blood spurted out of my wrist. I looked slowly up. It was laughing. Its body was huge and was surrounded by a black fog. I was paralyzed. <span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 12pt;">I felt an intensity of feelings that I had never experienced before. It was as if fear and attraction were battling each other and I didn’t know which would win. My face approached his and then it was too late. I was being drawn to him, and could no longer turn back. <span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 12pt;">The shadow called out my name. I opened my eyes slowly with great fear of what he would do next. I fell into a hole. <span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 12pt;">The hole had to be very deep because I just continued to fall, and it felt like I would never reach the bottom. I woke up at the bottom of a well. The crawling creatures were disgusting. The bricks were green with mold, and slippery. My head ached and my body was bruised all over. I stood up slowly. I cleaned my mouth that was dripping blood. I was sure that I didn’t want to see another bush or tree or root for a while. Then the floor pushed me upwards with an abnormal strength. I blanked out and then I felt a knife in my stomach. It slowly penetrated through my skin. I tried opening my eyes. The light blinded me. “Everything turned out ok. The baby is fine.” I could barely see the doctor. I could not hear him well. But I was sure happy. <span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 12pt;">As my eyes began to focus I saw that I was in a room filled with balloons, gifts and flowers. The balloons were pink and some said “It’s a girl”. My husband looked down on me. The gifts were colorful and all had names from the people I love. I sat and looked at the flowers; they repulsed me, I didn’t want to look at them. They looked back at me and grinned. The name tag was written in a language I couldn’t understand.