I turned my head to see what was making the rustling sound in the bushes.

"Oh God." I said out loud.

What stood before me was a towering figure, casting a shadow over me. It was a bear. But it couldn't be, It was way too big. I'm not small either. The last time I checked my height was a year ago at a doctor's office, and I measured 6 feet and 2 inches tall. But even then, it was at least twice my height.

I could hear it's heart beating despite me standing a few meters away from it. It's staring right at me. I couldn't do anything. Tried as I might, not a single thing I tried worked, It's like my body was frozen, and all I could do was keep my place in this deadly staring contest.

After it seemingly looked me over, It pounced towards me.

At this moment I was finally able to move, but anything I could've done wouldn't have made a difference.

I instinctively raise my arm up to block the beasts charge. But, with a single swipe it nearly disemboweled me and threw me to the ground.

Somehow, whether by a cruel act of God, or my adrenaline fueled state, I remained conscious. The arm I put up for defense did indeed save my life, as the bear was now on top of me, ripping his way into my arm. The indescribable pain was fuel to the fire that was my brain at this moment in time.

I began to swing wildly at the bear, punching its head and mouth. The bear couldn't care less. Other than the occasional blink it just kept gnawing away at me. Feeling my strength wane, I blindly had my hand search the forest floor, looking for something to use.

After a second or two, my hand grabbed onto something, my phone. It was harder than my hand and would add extra weight.

Using everything I had left. I slammed the corner of the phone into the raving beast's jaw.

This was just enough, not only did it stun the bear and completely destroy my phone, It knocked a tooth loose. Thinking fast I grabbed it, and swiftly jammed it into the eye of the bear. Causing it to retract back a few steps. Just enough for me to slip out from under it. But not before it took one last swing at my head.

When it's paw hit me, I thought I had died, right then and there. Half my vision was black and the other half was blurred, I couldn't think straight in the slightest. I'd never been hit by a truck before, but I'd imagine this is worse.

With my ears ringing and my lungs struggling to catch a breath, I steeled my nerves and used the opportunity to it's fullest.

I rose to my feet and took off into the forest. Looking back briefly I saw the bear was not only still reeling from my attack, but was vomiting up whatever it had in it's stomach.

"HA!" I yelled out defiantly. "DO I REALLY TASTE THAT BAD!?" This was the last thing that came out of my mouth before I picked up speed and began to run for as long as I could.

After a while I had to stop, my body couldn't handle it anymore. I leaned up against a tree to catch my breath.

That's when the adrenaline that was keeping me alive had finally run dry. When it did, the pain hit me all at once. I couldn't tell what hurt worse, my head, my arm, or my torso. Actually, scratch that, it's definitely my arm.

"GHh!-" I grunted in pain, but my fear that other animals like that bear were around helped to stifle my cries. I quickly took off my shirt and wrapped it around my arm to try and put pressure on the wound.

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As I did, I noticed something unusual about where the bear first gashed me in the gut. It wasn't bleeding. Or rather, it wasn't bleeding ANYMORE. It had already scabbed over. The pain was still there, but it wasn't nearly the amount you'd expect to have from something this size.

I took the shirt off of my arm and noticed something similar happening. It was still wet, but it wasn't leaking like it had been a few minutes earlier during my mad dash through the forest brush.

Skeptical, I hesitantly touched the side of my head that the bear had used as a punching bag earlier. Yep, still bleeding, but as I thought that, I saw the liquid blood on my hand quickly harden and scab into a thin film. I checked my head again and noticed no more blood was on my hand.

"God I must be seriously losing it." I said quietly to myself. Looking around afterwards to ensure nothing had heard my grumbling.

Although the ambient pain isn't too unbearable, moving around still shifts the scabbing on my torso and causes it to jolt me with pain. But, I push through regardless.

Slowly I inspect my surroundings and notice there is a small stream next to a large, seemingly hallowed out tree. I pushed myself towards the edge of the stream and mentally took a gamble. I could go without food for a bit, but water is something I need, even more so after the marathon I just ran.

Either it's safe to drink, and I'll be fine, or it's not safe to drink, and I get sick. After these thoughts, I looked back at the stream, it was sparkling due to the sun reflecting in the water and bouncing off the smooth, glassy stones settled at the bottom.

It looked too good not to try. So I did, I dunked my entire head in the stream and began to drink the water. After ten or so giant gulps, I only lifted my head out because I couldn't breathe. I then sat still for a moment to see if the water really was safe.

It tasted good, and I felt fine after drinking it. "So that must mean..." I barely let the words leave my mouth before I dunked my head in again and take a few more gulps. Afterwards I yank my head out of the water and lay flat on my back, staring up at the leafy canopy that covers most of the forest.

"That... Was so... Good..." I have to take breaths in between my words. After lying like that for a few minutes, I begin to stumble my way into the hollowed out tree. Figuring it must be better than to be out in the open like that.

It was a big tree, now, I say big, and it was, by my metric. But this tree was actually smaller than the others surrounding me. In fact, this forest was filled with giant trees, almost exclusively. I'd say they're about the size of a redwood tree, or slightly larger.

When I settled into the cavity at the base of the tree, I couldn't help but feel relaxed. Relaxed... and itchy... Wait what? I was really itchy for some reason. I looked down and nothing was on me, so at least it's not bugs.

I looked closer, and to my shock, the itching was coming from my cuts. They were healing, not only that, they were almost completely closed. I watched in amazement as the cuts on my arm and body closed before my very eyes, leaving only lightly colored scars in their absence.

I felt the side of my head and realized that wound was also sealed. I couldn't feel as big of a scar, so if anything, my face managed to get out mostly unharmed. Because of this unusual blessing, I began to relax further.

Once I was finally relaxed, the weight of the situation I was in finally started to bear down on me. With bated breath I tried to rationalize what was happening to me and why. But, alas, nothing came to mind, and I was still completely lost.

"I hate this place... Dad... I want to go home..." Wait, oh right. I... I don't have a home, not anymore. I guess this is what I get for trying to leave everything behind. Dammit, when I said *everything*...

"...THIS ISN'T WHAT I MEANT!!" I screamed out in frustration, my words carried on for a few moments as they echoed out through the tree. Just long enough for me to realize what a foolish mistake I had made.

I quickly made my way out to see if anything had heard my yells. To my relief, it had seemed as if I was alone. "Phew..." I sighed in relief, and put my hands on my knees to compose myself. When I raised my head again, I was frozen in shock.

About 50 feet in front of me, was a group of people, as I was counting in my head how many there were, I raised my hand to get their attention and yelled out.

"Hey! Over He-" My words were cut short.

As my hand raised I heard something cut through the air, and to my dismay, lodge itself in my shoulder. It was an arrow. Probably poisoned as I was now on my knees and falling to the ground.

"Fuck... I... Really... Hate this place..." As these words weakly left my mouth, my vision faded to black.