I was ten when I started my career as a volunteer dog walker at the local shelter. By the time I was fourteen I was an expert at recognizing dog behaviour and I was able to deal with some of the most difficult classes. So when I took a very active dog with small dog aggression issues on a long walk next to the forest no one was questioning my decision. Bradley was an amazing dog and I would adopt him in a heartbeat if we didn't have an older dog at home. I knew that he had a family meeting tomorrow so I was making sure that if this was our last walk together, I'd make it as special as I can.

Walking besides the forest always reminded me of the town legend. I heard from a reliable source of course, that many many years ago a group of people came here and settled down. They made friends with the natives and asked them about the forest. The Natives said that the forest was special and sacred and they should not venture inside unless it is absolutely necessary. All was well until a young family went missing. A man of the settlers, his native wife and their young daughter went to the forest and disappeared. The settlers were enraged, especially when natives told them there was nothing to do, that the young family was claimed by the forest and its inhabitants. But the inhabitants had a secret of their own. It is said they summoned their God, an old creature who was forgotten by all except one family. The settlers sacrificed their own blood and walked the trails in the forest to bind their old God into the land itself, to make sure the forest would be safe for them and their descendants. They failed. Legend has it that their God never showed up but something else did and it took the entire settlement with it.

It was supposed to be an old story about a boogeyman in the forest and how Jesus Christ is the only god we should pray to. Yet, every year at the equinox a bunch of people gather and walk the trails around the forest. They talk and gossip and occasionally lose a drop of blood in some places. The entire town gathers to escort them to their path and the entire town throws a party when they come back. It is one of the most cherished town traditions and it is always a huge party. Other than that, the forest is woefully boring. We have an occasional missing person, an occasional corpse, we had some drowned college kids in the lake, but nothing that would say sacrifice to the old God or nothing in a certain time period. I myself walked the trails several times with my parents or my sister. It was simply a nice tradition to remember all the people who lived here before and will live here after us. Of course when I asked what happened to the natives after the settlers disappeared I was met with a very generic answer. They moved somewhere south and met their end during one of the massacres. I continued to question how we know the legend then, of the summoning of the old God? My own mother shushed me and simply said that maybe someone survived and that I need to stop asking stupid questions. And so I did.

I loved the forest, especially when walking next to it. It had the most amazing walking path, wide and well taken care of. I could even take rollerblades and run the dogs on the path if I wanted to. I was thinking about just that when Bradley started barking. That's when I noticed that someone with dogs was walking straight to us. Bradley was especially bad, so instead of making things hard, I decided to make a turn right and walk into the forest. Bradley was so surprised that he didn't complain and simply followed.

It was a beautiful autumn afternoon, sunny with a slight wind and the trees were making their swooshing noises. I stopped to pet Bradley telling him what a good dog he was, when I heard singing. I stopped breathing for a second. It was probably some other walker, singing on the walking path. But it was coming from the other direction, deep into the forest. I turned around and the path was actually quite far already. But one of the trails was right there, so I decided to take the trail and follow the voice. For the life of me I could not understand what it was singing. It must not have been in English, because the further I walked down the trail, the louder the singing became.

The trail led me all the way to the lake. It was not a very big lake, more of a pond if I'm honest, but people love to call it “The Lake”. There were a bunch of picnic tables, an old grill, some children's toys and a rock, where you could jump into the lake from. Everyone goes to the lake once in their life, but it was especially known as a teenage make out spot. Of course being only 14 I knew fairly little about that.

I sat on the bench under a tree, still not very close to the lake, just barely off trail, when I noticed a man walking down a different trail. He was looking very ragged and not dressed for a hike in the forest at all. He also seemed to be following the same song as me. When he came closer to the lake that's when I noticed her.

She was the most beautiful woman I have ever seen in my life. She was also made out of water, see through and I'm pretty sure she was the source of the singing. She appeared in the middle of the lake, slowly ascending from the depths, her hands outstretched and inviting. As soon as I saw her I knew she was singing. I also knew she was not here for me. The song enveloped me as a blanket, poking and prodding until it finally left me as a wind that was blowing one second and then just died out the next. I could not move a muscle or scream or do anything. Bradley cowered under the bench and he was the only thing I felt after the song left me cold and shivering.

The song was becoming quieter for me, but seemingly not for the man. The woman, now fully erect, walked above the lake to the man, who was walking toward her. They both had their arms stretched out until they finally met on the beach. He was on land and she was on lake, touching each other. She leaned over for a kiss and for that she stopped singing. That's when the man woke up and screamed. But it was far too late. His hands disappeared into hers, and she slowly dragged him onto the lake. She was still floating above the lake, enveloping the man with her own body. She seemed to have grown enough to fully devour the man who seemed to have been drowning inside her.

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I was speechless. And absolutely terrified. The whole forest went quiet and I saw the woman turn toward me. At that moment I knew I would die. She would call me. She has called that man and I would drown in her body just as she did. And I couldn't do anything. My body was not moving and I felt tears streaming down my face. I was terrified and Bradley was whimpering under the bench. She came as close as she could while staying on the lake and smiled at me. Her face was absolutely angelic while her body was drowning the poor guy… she put her fingers on her lips, implying me to be quiet, and slowly descended back underwater.

I don't know how long I sat on that bench. When I looked up it was dark and the full moon was reflecting over the lake. My tears were drying on my cheek and I just realized I could move. I ran. I forgot about Bradley and his leash, I just ran. I missed the wandering trail and just ran to what felt like the right direction of home. I could hear Bradley running with me for a while until he ran ahead of me and just disappeared into the darkness. I stopped to catch my breath when I heard talk. I turned around so fast that my neck hurt. I walked toward the chatter and saw a soft glow.

It could have been a search party. I had been gone for a while and my parents would be worried. But as soon as I saw them I put my hands on my mouth in order to stop myself from screaming.

Three women dressed in black, a pyre on the side and a fire circle in the middle, they were chanting and dancing. I stood there with my mouth covered, unable to move for the second time today.

They were absolutely mesmerizing. I have no idea what they were saying but the fire was dancing with them and the land shook when they stopped. They laughed and pointed in the middle of the circle when it started to crack. Steam was rising from the crack and it got bigger and bigger. These women were ecstatic and jumping up and down. I took a step back and hit a tree, but I could not avert my gaze. A long hand appeared from the crack. Long black skinny hand grabbing the earth to pull itself up.

I had had enough so I turned around to quietly run away but even that was blocked. By yet another sight. Flames were bright enough to illuminate a big monster standing in my way. Eight feet tall, humanoid but wrong looking, like his features were too long to be right. His arms were like ape arms reaching all the way to his knees. It didn't notice me as it was entranced with the women in front of him. I prayed to the old God, the new God, to the moon and the stars that it wouldn't notice me. It was entranced by the witches. But as the creature from the crack clawed its way out, steam was pouring out more and more. The monster in front of me got jittery. It turned its head and noticed me. I stayed still. It took a long look at me and then looked at the witches. It turned toward me again as if it was thinking about who was easier prey. It opened its mouth and I saw row after row of sharp teeth. That's when it uttered a word.

Hungry…

It jumped. It was so quick it was like it just disappeared. One second it was in front of me and then it was just gone. Screaming was what finally got me looking at the flaming circle again. I only saw two women now screaming and pointing at something in a tree, but it was too far and too dark for me to see exactly what they were pointing at! But the creature in the flame circle did not care. Several hands were out and a circle was half gone, clearly expecting something bigger to appear. But it was also closing fast and hands were disappearing one after the other, until just one very long one remained. The remaining two women weren't watching, but I was. The long black arm shot out as fast as a snake and grabbed one of the women. It started to pull her through what little of the hole remained and it was pulling her fast. As soon as the last woman noticed she screamed and ran to her rescue. She tried to grab her hands, trying to stop her from being pulled down and I guess it helped a bit. Maybe, just maybe she could be fast enough to stop her friend from going through fully, so only the black hand would be trapped in what was left of the hole. But the black hand grew claws and pierced through the flesh of the first woman's chest. The screams that followed were horrendous, more of a gurgle than a scream. The second woman fell on her stomach and was now dragged on the forest floor, following the first into the hole. Laughter filled the air. Laughter of creatures that should never walk the Earth, laughter that sounded like a thousand tiny screams, laughter that makes your ears bleed and makes you think of Hell. The second woman finally let go when only the arms of the first were visible. She let go and the first woman disappeared. The hole filled up and nothing but a clear circle remained. The last woman standing was hitting the earth with both hands, crying and pleading half in English, half in a language I did not understand.

I'd had enough. I turned away from it all and ran away. I had to be careful, half running and half walking in the dead of the night and only the full moon as a light. Though, I was determined to move away from the craziness of that forest.

It was Bradley's bark that saved me. It must have been at least a few hours since I last saw him but I heard his bark as clear as the bell and I followed it. Bradley was waiting for me on a clearly marked trail and my math teacher was holding his leash. I cried as I ran into his arms knowing I was finally safe. He picked me up as if I was a child, as emotional as I was. He laughed as I cried and demanded to know if I was okay. I couldn't answer.

We walked outside of the forest where the whole town was waiting for us. I was gone the entire afternoon and most of the night. We watched the sunrise together, praising God that I was safe.

It was several days later before I told my story to my math teacher. He visited me at home to check how I was doing. He was very insistent that I tell him the true story and not what I told everyone else, that I simply got lost. He knew about what I saw. He had names for the creatures. Rusalka, witches, demons and wendigo. He made a joke about how some people never even meet one and that I must truly be special to have seen each of them. I sat there, in silence, wishing that I just had a vivid dream and that my teacher was making an elaborate joke.

I planned to never step foot in that forest to forget that I was ever in it. It worked for a few months. But just yesterday I got the invitation to participate in the oldest town tradition and to play the role of the bride of the forest during the traditional trail walk.

I'm scared. I want to run away. But forest surrounds the town and there is no way out.