Watchers

I felt uneasy. It feels like someone is watching me even though I'm inside this tent. It's hard to rest having this kind of feeling; so I unzipped a small opening from my tent to investigate my surroundings and find the source of this unnerving feeling. Everything seemed normal; no unusual activities or whatsoever. Catherine's tent looks okay; even the forest looks peaceful.

But the feeling that I'm experiencing is getting worse each minute that passes. I anxiously observed for a bit, there I noticed something lurking behind the trees. It looked like blinking lights that weren't emitting a bright glow, but rather just plain white that slowly vanishes in the dark and reappears.

After thorough observation, it struck me. If it doesn't emit light, it vanishes and reappears again. Then there is only one explanation for this; those are not lights but eyes. I remembered that jockeys have pure white eyes.

"Did the jockeys come back here to check?" I thought to myself.

I picked up the nearest weapon inside my tent and sneakily went to Catherine's tent; both of them were still asleep. I slowly patted her shoulder. Her eyes slowly opened, and she seemed puzzled as to why I was in their tent. I signaled to her to be quiet and that we were being surrounded; she went to wake up her brother and grabbed a bow and arrow near her.

I peeked at a small opening at the tent's entrance; the jockeys seemed to have left.

The white figures in the dark were nowhere to be seen. I told Catherine and her brother to continue resting while I kept on guard as long as I could. The feeling of unease left me already, but I'm still confused why there were white figures surrounding us. I'm not entirely sure if they were jockeys in the first place. I grabbed the dagger beside me and went outside to breathe some fresh air.

"Its gonna be a long night." I sighed.

I checked my surroundings to confirm that the white figures were gone. While investigating I found the tracks left by the creature; it was larger than the jockey's foot; rather it didn't even look like footprints at all; it was more similar to snake tracks. I decided to return to camp, and at the tent's entrance, Catherine was waiting for me.

"Where have you been? I was worried that you had already left us." I could see the worry from her face.

"I was just scouting the area making sure there were no threats."

"If you're done scouting, then you should also rest. Navigating through this forest would be challenging without proper sleep." She has a point. So I took her offer and went inside the tent to rest.

While I was lying in bed, many thoughts had filled my head. This was a common thing for me. I don't know why, but the thoughts of how we're going to survive tomorrow help me fall asleep faster than other methods.

The feeling of peace once again visited me tonight. It was warm; like the rays of the sun touching my skin. I was at the beach with my sister; this scene was when she passed her college entrance exams and I promised to bring her to the beach and watch as the sun sets.

I could see the joy she had in her eyes; as she was running towards me. She always loved the ocean, especially sunsets. Every time she would talk about how it represents life, on how we experience the painful dark moments that life throws at us, there would always be a time when we would shine and overcome these problems.

I was enjoying this moment of warmth and peace.

My life wasn't always the best. My family hated me because I'm not as talented and competent as others. They would always say that I only bring them shame and that I should just rot in the streets. But there was only one person who always believed in me, and that was my sister. She would encourage me to do better, improve myself, and she's the only one who understood me. Being with her kept all of my worries away.

I closed my eyes as she was caressing her hands through my hair. She knows that this makes me calm every time that I'm stressed. The cool breeze and the smell of the sea is what reminds me of her. While I enjoyed this peaceful scenery, a familiar voice was calling out for me. It was getting louder and louder; the peace and warmth was replaced by an ice-cold atmosphere and the smell of moss and rain.

I slowly opened my eyes to see Catherine waking me up.

"Mal! It's already afternoon. Wake up!" She said while shaking me.

I got up and noticed that all of the remaining supplies at the camp were packed.

"Well you see... I didn't have much to do so I organized everything, so that once you wake up we can leave already."

"Thank you." I replied with a slight smile.

Her face turned bright red as she turned away from me.

"I'm not really sure what that means." I thought to myself.

I grabbed my backpack and several bags as I went outside. Catherine and her brother were waiting for me, ready to depart from camp.