I wake up, taking a bit to regain my consciousness and look around to gain a sense of my surroundings. It’s dark, really dark, like that of an endless void. I try to remember what my situation is or what I was doing yesterday but my head is incredibly foggy clouding my thoughts and mind.

I put my hand to the ground and am surprised when instead of my bed at home the ground is made of hard, packed dirt. I realize I must be out camping and probably wandered out of my tent.

I stand up and try to find my tent so that I can once more drift off to sleep but it is nowhere to be found in this dark forest. This is bad, really bad, I must have walked incredibly far from my tent in my sleep and am now unable to get back.

I despair over my situation thinking that I will never make it back and will be torn up by a pack of coyotes. In fact I even see one now, glowing in the darkness with it’s multitude of eyes and arms, wait, coyotes don’t have arms or many eyes, they only have four legs and two eyes so what is that? I think of walking up to the creature to inspect it more thoroughly but decide against it when I remember that it is built like a horror only encountered in nightmares.

It starts looking towards me and silently walks towards me at an ever increasing pace. I remember that wild animals are dangerous and this one will probably tear me into pieces so I start running, breaking out in a sprint through the dark forest.

I cannot hear it behind me but I know that it is chasing me and is most definitely right behind me. I start running faster, faster, as fast as I can breaking through intense exhaustion with every beat of my legs on the ground and pounding of my heart.

I think I might outrun it, survive this horrific experience when I hit a tree straight on with full force. I am launched to the ground at full force my head ringing like a bell, my heart beating like a hammer barely able to breathe. I look behind myself and see it a bit away closing in on the distance I ran. I try to get myself up and get out of here but I just can’t with the condition of myself after being hit so hard.

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

I look in horror as I catches up to me and plunges its teeth into me killing me painfully… wait actually I don’t feel anything, isn’t being killed supposed to be painful? I look around and realize that I am now on the ground in the forest next to a long extinguished fire, light shining through the forest ceiling onto the floor. I realize that what I just experienced was just a horrible dream and that I am safe.

I wonder what I am doing in this forest when it hits me, all the things that have happened over the past day and decade. I just stare at the forest ceiling for a while and try to calm my body that is covered in cold sweat, heart racing. I take a deep breath and stand up, stretching my aching muscles and yawning my tired jaw.

I review my current condition and find that it is not good but still better than how I was yesterday. I contemplate on what to do next because what I have done before was fueled by the need for food and water. I eventually come to the conclusion that I should probably go searching for other people or a village so that I can get help and maybe, just maybe have a normal life again.

I try to pack up my things but then remember that I have nothing so I get to walking through the woods. Fifteen minutes have gone by with nothing in sight and nothing of interest in the woods. Thirty minutes passed with nothing of interest except a small pond I walked by. One hour has gone by with no end in sight.

Finally after five entire hours of walking I something of interest in my path, a beautiful lake with a cliff face and waterfall with it. I walk up to the lake and think of taking a swim for I have literally nothing better to do so I set my clothes to the side and jump in.

A huge splash of water goes out from where I jumped in soaking the nearby dirt. I relax in the cool, fresh water and it alleviates the stress that I have had for the past while. I see a huge opening under the waterfall so I swim over there to take a look inside.

After a little bit I make it to my destination and swim up to a low edge of the rocks. I pull myself up with some difficulty and heave my legs onto the ledge. I stand myself up and take a look inside. Inside of the place is a cavernous structure with holes of various sizes in the walls leading to who knows where.

I think about going inside of the holes to explore but decide to save that for tomorrow when I see how dark the sky is getting. I lay down on the rocky floor and with some difficulty drift off to sleep.