David's Terror

“Hey! Look over here! I think this is by far the most beautiful sight I’ve ever seen.” A dense forest stretched out before Jade. The ferns were a luscious green, the trees tall and grand, with the sunlight filtering through their branches, leaving tiny motes of light for the woodland insects to play in. Matrim struggled up behind her to top the steep hill, his boyish face red from exertion.
“Hooey! Wow, will ya look at that!” he exclaimed running his hands through his short curly brown hair. “Let’s go in and check it out!” A mischievous gleam sprang into his emerald green eyes and a devilish grin spread across his face. “C’mon.” He grabbed Jade’s wrist and pulled her along behind. She stumbled a bit, tripping over her green Converse All Stars but soon regained her balance and caught up with Matrim.
The two teens were supposed to be with their assigned group with their classmates looking for different types of soils but the two, being quite the mischief makers and of the adventurous type, went off on their own to do a little “research” of their own. That research being anything they weren’t supposed to be doing and wandering any where but where they were supposed to be. They had met only at the beginning of that year and had three classes together. They had hit it off famously immediately and often shared detention time for the practical jokes they played on their frumpy old teachers that were less than liked.
“Matrim! Slow down!” Jade gasped but Matrim only continued on faster until they reached the border of the intriguing forest. “Matrim, I don’t think we should go in there” Jade said.
Oh, sure she liked to be wild and adventurous but only to a certain extent. After that she became extremely cautious. Especially when it came to forests, then she became almost paranoid. She loved looking at them and admiring their immense and vast beauty from afar but ever since that horribly terrifying day seven years ago she refused to set foot into a forest ever again.
“Oh, c’mon, we won’t go far. I just want to check it out. Jade, you have to come with me.” Again he grabbed her wrist and pulled her behind him. She tried to dig in her heels but he was too strong and she ended up almost falling on her face. There was nothing she could do but follow him. Deeper and deeper they went into the forest. Jade had to admit that the beauty inside was breath taking, but the fear that had spread through her body the instant she crossed the border tainted her view. Squirrels chattered playfully and scurried up and down the trunks, while birds chirruped gaily in the branches above. Yet all that Jade could see were monsters creeping in the shadows, gnashing their rows of razor sharp teeth, and snapping viciously at her ankles. She tried to block out the frightening images and push away the ever present fear, but time and time again they returned with more and more force.
Stop it! She told herself. There is nothing here. They killed it remember. You saw the body yourself. … But what if there are more? What if I end up like David? What if… STOP IT! Don’t think of David. But she couldn’t block the images. The memories that flooded into her mind are those that you only imagine in your worst nightmares. His mangled body torn, ripped, ravaged beyond recognition floated before her eyes.
She had found him. She was only 10 years old then, and he was 18. He had been missing for weeks. He had often gone into the woods that surrounded their house for a little alone time and would walk for miles and sometimes spend a couple nights out in the midst of the towering trees and dense underbrush. But he always, always told someone what he was doing and how long he planned to stay even if it was a rough estimate. Yet one night he didn’t come back at all nor the next day. David had gotten in fight with his father and had stormed out into the night. Her parents, for she was David’s younger sister, called neighbors and friends to see if he was staying with them or if they had seen him but no one knew anything. They even checked the garage to make sure he hadn’t gone off camping without telling anyone only to find all his gear hung neatly on their designated hooks. Dread and worry filled everyone’s minds and the next night they gathered some friends and neighbors, flashlights, warm jackets to ward off the autumn chill, and set off in search of David. They spread out all along his favorite paths, Jade taking his most favorite. All through the night their voices rang throughout the woods, with no answer but the lonely chirp of the night insects and the mournful hoots of the owls. They returned to their homes the next morning well after dawn, tired and in despair. Yet they all hoped that he had just lost track of time and distance and had wandered far beyond their voices.
Several more days went by with no sign of David. Jade’s parents contacted the authorities and search parties with trail sniffing dogs were sent deep within the forest’s depths. They looked and looked and looked for two weeks without turning up a single clue or trail. The search parties looked for one week more then stopped saying they could do no more. If they hadn’t found him by now they weren’t ever going to find him. But Jade never stopped. She looked even after parents gave up hope at the end of the next week. For two weeks more, making it a total of six weeks, she looked hoping that he might come out if it was just her.
She and David were close. They told each other everything and constantly covered for one another. When she was little and wanted someone to play Barbies with David would sacrifice his time and play with her. He would even play dress up and house if she asked him nicely enough and in return she would play video games with him even though she constantly messed up his records and didn’t know what she was doing. When they got in fights they were always solved quickly and with a hug. When the boys at school would tease Jade, David always scared them off. If she needed help in school work, David would sit down with her and patiently explain how to do the problem. When David disappeared Jade was in a frantic state of mind. She searched the hardest and the longest. Her parents often would have to follow her to make sure she came in early enough to go to bed for school. They had to force her to stay inside and finish her homework before going out to look some more, and follow her to the bus stop to make sure she didn’t skip school. This tore at Jade. Not having David around was killing her.
Finally on the Friday of the sixth week she found him. Jade had wondered down his most favorite of paths and had turned off to search deeper into the forest. She had come up upon a wall of blackberries that had barred her way before and had dissuaded the searchers to look further beyond that point but she was desperate now. She tore at the spiky brambles with her bear hands, the sharp thorns breaking off in her skin and tearing it to shreds. They cut her face and her legs but she bore through the pain. Angry tears welled up in her eyes and before she knew it she was sobbing uncontrollably tearing like a maniac at the impenetrable wall before her.
It seemed like ages before she finally broke through to an opening. Inside was a small clearing with a cool mountain spring and cave opening in the mountain’s face. There, laying in a bloodied mess upon the sweet green grass, were the remains of her beloved brother. His face wasn’t there, for it had been completely torn off. His arms were ripped off and tossed to the side and his bowls looked as if some animal had made a feast of them.
She couldn’t take it. Her mind overloaded with horror and broke almost driving her to the brink of insanity. She covered her mouth in horror only to vomit all over her hand. She retched and puked until all that came up was stomach bile then dry heaved. She shook uncontrollably and sobbed violently. She probably would have stayed there until the end of her days had she not heard something move in the cave, a shuffle of monstrous feet and a snort from a ghastly mouth. She didn’t even look to see what it was and an even greater terror and panic filled her entire being and she took off at a dead sprint. She ran recklessly through the forest, tearing her clothes and skin even further.
Occasionally she looked back as her human instinct called for her to do. What she saw was terrifying and yet fascinating in the way that one is fascinated with mutated, horrifying things. Through the branches that thrashed back to their original positions as she sped through them she could see bits of the monster that chased her. His hot breath on her neck smelled of rancid meat and he was monstrous too. While she passed through the forest, only small things were destroyed, the occasional small branch and such, yet when the beast went through the ground shuddered and branches from far above came crashing down. But he not only pursued on the ground. On one of Jade’s backwards glances she couldn’t see anything. She had thought she had lost him, but she was dead wrong. For out of the sky the beast came crashing down in front of her making her skid to a stop and turn a sharp ninety degree angle and dash away once more. She hadn’t caught more than a glimpse of him even though she was close enough to kiss the hideous beast. Patches of a silver gray fur remain in her mind’s eye and that is all.
By the time she reached home she was a bloody, insane mess. Her parents called an ambulance and she was rushed to the nearest hospital, which was two hours away. She babbled and cried and it was hours before her parents, or anyone for that matter, could get a clear word out of her. She told of finding her brother’s body but she couldn’t bear to describe him. She told of the beastly sounds she had heard but no one believed her, blaming it on the state of mind she had been in.
State officials and forest troopers were sent to the scene only to have to call in forensic scientists. They had found even less of David than Jade had originally found. They had set up “camp” which consisted of a science lab in a trailer and a mobile home, so that those who needed to stay overnight would have a place to sleep.
On the second day of their investigation they decided to search the cave. They hadn’t gone very far into it’s depths when they found piles of human and animal bones alike. Some even still had clothes clinging to the remains. They went even further to find enormous droppings still hot. They called in trained hunters to stand guard, for what ever it was it was still living there but not present at the moment. Then on the fifth day it appeared. It took two rounds from a highly powered rifle and one severely injured man to bring it down. But they succeeded.
They told no one but David’s family to keep down worry and suspicion and soon all was returned to normal. Jade and her family, not being able to keep their ever growing fear at bay moved into the city. It was a rural town, more hick-like than anything, but everyone loved everyone and there was minimal forestation. Jade still had frightening nightmares and needed some therapy but she soon mastered some of her fears and filled her time with reading and learning to keep from thinking of that terrible day.
Matrim helped with that. They were inseparable and did almost everything together but she hadn’t told him David’s story yet and didn’t plan on doing so.
“Jade? Jade what’s wrong?” Matrim had let go of her wrist and had ran on up ahead but Jade stood still in her tracks.
“Matrim, please can we just get out of here?” She said in a shaky voice.
“Aw, jeez Jade, really, I’ve never seen you this scared before. It’s just a forest. Nothing’s going to hurt you. C’mon.” Once again he grabbed her wrist to pull her along but this time she pulled away.
“No, please,” her eyes were wide with unseen terrors and she was trembling uncontrollably. She sat down and huddled into a tight protective ball and started crying, silently mumbling to herself.
“Jade?” Matrim asked gentleness in his voice. “Oh, Jade I’m sorry. I had no idea that this would scare you so bad. Come here.” He sat down beside her and wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly. She let him hold her as she cried the tears of a thousand sorrows. They sat there for sometime and when they finally looked to the sky they realized how much time had passed. The smaller shadows had elongated to form giants and the sky had gone from soft blue to a blazing red.
“Jade, um… I think we might have to walk home. Mrs. Smith will probably have forgotten us again.” Normally any high school teacher would notice if two of their trouble makers had gone missing but their teacher was a flighty creature prone to forget anything. She was a truly brilliant person but not the most organized, and the class didn’t really like Jade or Matrim themselves ands so no one noticed nor said a word as the bus drove away from the field trip sight. This was not the first time Jade and Matrim had had to walk home from a field trip.