I stood at the edge of the bridge, looking down at the water below. I see my car slowly start to sink, the water filling it up through the widows and the open car door. I stand, frozen, trying to process what had just happened. “That was really strange…” I think to myself, as I rub my arms. The chilling wind blows, threatening to push me over the edge. I take a step back, and start to head back down the road to find help. Yet, the second I turn around, I find myself on the ground. “Ice…? That must have been what spun my car out of control…” Slowly realizing what had happened, I start walking back the way I came. I had just exited a town a few miles down the road, so my walk shouldn’t take too long. As I walk, I think about my wife and what she’ll say. She’s been trying to pay off college for a while, and this won’t help at all. What’s worse… we didn’t have insurance on that car. As I thought about all these things, I didn’t notice that I had started walking into the woods. I look around, to see that I’m in a clearing surrounded by trees. “Oh great, now I’m lost.” I think, and decide to head back the way I came, but after about fifteen minutes of walking, I find myself back in that same clearing. “I must have gone in a circle…” With that as my thought, I head out again, this time determined to stay straight. Yet, after about fifteen minutes, I’m still back in that clearing. “That’s odd… I could’ve sworn I stayed straight… unless there’s more than one clearing. Yes, that’s probably what it is.” I think. I look around to try and find something sharp. After searching under every log and behind every tree, I see a screwdriver. Guessing there must have been some kind of workers here, I pick it up and go over to the nearest tree to me. I carve a zigzag line, something that couldn’t be mistaken for something in nature. With that, I keep walking.
It’s been about twenty minutes since I was in the clearing. The sky is slowly getting darker, and it’s getting colder outside. I wrap my jacket around my arms tighter, when I see a light in the distance. “Thank goodness!! A town, finally!” I start to run towards it, when I realize it was just a reflection of something. I reach a clearing, and see a screwdriver beside a tree with the light from the sun reflecting off it. I walk around to the other side, to see the zigzag line I carved onto the tree. I slowly back up, officially creeped out. “What’s going on?? Why do I keep going in circles??” I trip over a log, and fall into the thin layer of snow. I jump up, and brush the snow off my clothes. Then, suddenly, a chill runs up my spine, as if someone were breathing on my neck. To frightened to turn around and see, I stand still. The hair on my arms raises, but then goes back down. Slowly, I turn around to see… nothing. All that’s there is my footprints in the snow, and the tree that I carved the zigzag into. Panicked, I frantically look around. “There was someone there… I know there was.” I start to run off into the woods, dodging the trees, and quickly jumping over the logs. Yet, I still end up in that clearing. Over and over, I do this, until I collapse into the snow in the middle of the clearing. I lay on the cold ground, and try to calm down and breathe, when I hear a twig snap behind me. I jump up, and look around. The sky has gone dark, and it’s hard to see. Frantically, I look around, but it’s no use. I can’t see anything. I shut my eyes, and await my fate, whatever it is. Yet… nothing happens. Nothing comes out to grab me, or to hurt me. Deciding that it must be safe, I open my eyes.
I’m back at the bridge.
“What is going on??” I think, slowly starting to panic. My breath shortens, and it feels as if I can’t breathe. I count to ten, and try to calm down, but after each number, I only became more frightened. I feel something behind me, and I slowly start to turn around. Suddenly, I’m pushed before I can get a good look at the figure. As I fall, I look back up to the bridge, to see whatever pushed me turn and walk away. I’m falling… faster and faster, waiting for the impact
with the water. It never comes, I just keep falling. Opening my eyes, I find myself in some sort of cabin. I take a second to gather my thoughts, and walk out. The first thing I see is the color red… and then a deer in a clearing. It’s dead… it’s body laying on the ground, and an arrow sticking out of it’s body. I look up to see a tree with a zigzag carving, and a screwdriver. Quicker than I can even blink, a sharp pain shoots through my back. Looking down, I see an arrow, sticking out of my chest. I can’t make a sound, I can’t move. I look back up to the carving, and then my world goes black.
I wake up screaming. My wife runs into the room, and grabs my hand. “It’s okay, it was just a dream. I know it must have been frightening, seeing that deer, but it’s okay now,” she tells me. “If it was just a dream, how did she know about the deer..?” I try to speak up to confront her, but my mouth won’t open. I jump out of bed and run to the mirror, to see a zigzag line where my mouth used to be. The same pattern of the carving on the tree. I collapse to the floor, and break down. “What is happening?? Why is this happening??” I look up, to see my wife standing above me. She lifts me up, and guides me back to the bed. She stabs a needle into my arm, and my eyelids begin to get heavy. The shut, but I can still hear her putting away whatever it was. The lasting I hear before I’m completely out, is her say “Don’t worry, everything will be fine…"