I’ve walked these woods a thousand times. Since I was young, I’ve walked through these same 15 acres of woods with friends and sometimes alone if I just want to clear my mind. I know every part, every broken limb, every fallen tree, every crack and pop of twigs beneath my feet as I walk. Some nights, I just go for a walk through the woods. Sometimes I just need to clear my mind. I will sit by the river and listen to the wind blow through the leaves of the tall trees, the water slowly moving downstream, and look to the sky to see the moon and the stars. It’s peaceful, it makes me feel like I’m one with nature, like I am just another animal in the woods. Oftentimes I will come across other animals. Living in rural Colorado, it’s mostly small animals but sometimes you will see elk in the night.

It’s a little later than usual, but it is quiet, peaceful, just me and the wild. I heard a single twig snap behind me while I sat at the river, followed by another shortly after. Leaves started crunching, and then it stopped. You get used to the different sounds that you hear in the woods at night. Common animals, wind, crickets. But this was different. This didn’t sound like any animal I have ever heard moving. This sounded human. I snapped my head around to see behind me and I couldn’t see anything, just blackness. My eyes hadn’t adjusted from staring up at the moon. I stayed quiet, and patiently waited for something to move again. I heard a small dried autumn leaf be crushed under a foot, and then they ran. You could hear it crashing through the trees and shrubs, the branches breaking, and the feet hitting the dry dirt. Is it coming towards me or away from me! The steps slowly faded away, and I sat there ready to run at any given moment. I slowly reach for the flashlight by my bag, and turn it on in the direction that I heard the steps. Nothing. I didn’t see anything, so I crept forward, with my heart pounding through my chest. A few steps later, I see a boot imprint in the dirt beneath me. I look around the area and see some broken sticks and rustled leaves. Somebody was right here, and now they could be anywhere. 

They ran off in the direction I had to go to get back home. I want to go back home, but I am terrified to go into the woods. It’s dark, cold, and now I know somebody is here with me. I hold the flashlight in my left hand and start to slowly walk deeper into the woods, trying not to make a single sound. I had a knife in my bag, which made me feel the slightest bit safer. I stop, reach into the bag and grab the knife. I hold the knife in my right hand, and continue along. The silence was almost loud, I was waiting for any noise at all. The night is getting colder by the hour as I make my way home. 

A branch snaps, and I dart behind a tree. I turn the flashlight off and look over to where I heard the noise, and I see a rabbit running off. I sigh in relief, and then turn to continue walking, but I see a dim light in the distance.There was a small clearing in the woods in that area that I remember seeing when I was walking.  I can see a shadow moving in the light, and I start to walk around to the side to get a better look. I know I should just go around the area and run home, but a part of me is curious. I want to know who or what it is. Who would be in these woods? I move carefully and quietly, as to not be seen or heard. As I get closer I can hear the faint crackling sound of a fire. The shrubs are thick and I can’t see through them so I keep creeping closer. I get to where I see a space between a shrub and a tree, I kneel down and peek through…

The light was gone, and it was dark. I stand up and slowly walk into the open area. I see sticks on the ground with embers still glowing hot. The potent smell of burning wood in the air, dark smoke rising from where a fire was. Leaves and brush had been moved to make a clear spot to sit or lay. Someone was just here. How could someone have possibly left that quickly! I just saw the light of the fire, and now it’s gone! The same panicky feeling from before set back in. I turn my flashlight back on and continue through the trees. I just want to go home! 

I feel cold drops of water hitting my skin. It’s starting to rain. You can hear the droplets of rain hitting the leaves above. I need to hurry up but I am scared of whatever is here with me in these woods. The rain is getting louder, and the air is getting colder. My shoes are getting soaked as I walk through puddles of muddy water. The light is shaking in my hands as I am shivering in the cold night air. The same path I’ve walked a thousand times before is now so foreign to me. 

A bright light blinds me from my right side. I snap my head away from the light and scramble to turn my flashlight off. I drop the light on the ground and it falls down the hill I just went up. I reach down to catch it, and my feet leave the ground. I slip and fall, and begin to roll down a steep hill. I’m reaching out to grab whatever I can. I can feel my hands being ripped to shreds by roots, rocks, and brush. My flashlight is flipping in the air everytime it crashes into the dirt. The beam of light shines through the woods, in every direction as it pinballs down the side of the hill. My foot catches a large rock and I flip before landing on my back in the mud. Every bit of air in my lungs left my body on impact. It knocked the wind out of me. I layed on the ground staring up into the night sky, with cold raindrops hitting my face.

 I tried to catch my breath as I got back onto my feet. I felt a sharp pain shooting down my back, It was almost unbearable. The flashlight is nowhere to be found. I search forever looking for it, but with no luck. I don’t see light anywhere and It is completely dark other than the hint of moonlight cutting through the trees. My hands are sweeping through the wet muddied dirt waiting to feel the cold handle of the flashlight. My hand grazed a cold piece of metal. I pick it up and click the power button, but nothing. It was dead. I tried switching the batteries, hitting it a few times, nothing was working. I just put it in my jeans pocket, and started to climb back up the hill. The mud was slick but I made it over the top.

A boom of thunder crashed over my head and echoed through the sky. I was cold, soaked head to toe, scared, and now I have no light. I was moving quicker as I didn’t want to be out in the storm any longer. Every few seconds, A streak of lightning would pierce through the sky, followed by booming thunder. Every time, sounding closer and closer. I was starting to jog, and then run. I ran through the woods, pushing low hanging limbs out of the way, jumping logs, I was rushing to get home as soon as possible. I was running and the only sound I heard other than the pouring rain and occasional thunder was the rhythm of my feet in the mud. 

My feet sounded like they were hitting twice. I looked down to my shoes as I ran and the sound didn’t match. I hear a sudden breath, and I snap my head around to see a dark figure, barely visible just behind me. My heart sank, I gasp just before I feel my foot catch something, and I slam to the ground. I feel the cold coarse rock slam against my head. I feel the dull ache ringing through my ears as I lay on the ground, raindrops falling onto my face. I slowly climb to my feet and l lean against a nearby tree. I can feel the warmness of the blood streaking down the side of my head. 

I stand there, staring into the darkness for a moment. And for just a moment, it was silent. No birds, or crickets, no thunder, no wind, nothing. Just my own breath. I felt an uneasy feeling set in. I felt tension in the air. 

A yell in the distance caught my ears. The hair on my neck stood tall, and the goosebumps rose on my skin. I heard a person shouting. A light catches my eye and then another. More voices echoing through the tall trees. I stand here paralyzed. Then voices from behind me. All of them are getting closer. I can’t move. I need to run but I can’t seem to tell my body to start moving. A streak of lightning illuminates the night sky just enough for me to see figures in the distance. Three, four, five figures looking right at me! I feel my heart drop to the floor, my soul leaves my body. My feet dig into the mud and I take off. Sprinting as fast as I could. “Don’t look back!” I kept repeating in my head. My head was hitting low hanging branches, my feet were catching sticks on the ground, I felt my arms being cut each time I ran through tall brush. Thorns sticking to my skin, I don’t care. “Just Run”!

“Hello?... Are you there?” A voice fades into my thoughts. I snap out of it. 

“Yea… yea, I’m fine.” I replied to her.

“Are you sure?” She asks me with a look of concern.

“Yea, no I’m fine, I was just thinking about something from a while ago.”

She looks down to my phone, still open to the news channel. “BREAKING NEWS. Two people are missing after going for a hike in local woods.