A Demon in the Forest

"A rail track..."

We see a rail track beginning in the middle of nowhere. We slowly walked towards it, and not far away in the mist, we see an abandoned shed silently standing beside the rail tracks covered in foilage, with its windows shattered, giving off an eerie chill.

"Woah, let's check it out, Elea." said Marie in excitement.

"Yeah."

This is the first time we are seeing a man-made thing. We steadily walked towards it while observing our surrounding area carefully, where the illuminated fireflies were dancing beautifully in this gloomy forest.

We ascended the creaking stairs and reached the weathered shed made up of wood; each step echoed its ancient life line.

"You think someone might be living here?" Marie asked, casually gazing around its surroundings, searching for any sign of life.

"I doubt," I replied.

Marie peeked through one of the broken windows.

"Yep, this thing looks dead as fuck."

I approached the door and found no handle or knob, so I slowly pushed the door open. It made a loud creaking noise and poured dust over me, telling us that it's not been opened for ages.

Marie and I stepped into the dim interior of the weathered shed and walked around to see what's in it, but sadly, there's hardly anything to see. There are two sofas by the wall that are torn inside out. Then there was one office desk and a chair. One broken fish tank with neither fish nor water in it. There is one painting hanging by the wall behind the chair of some people exploring through the darkness of the sea. and to our notice.

"There's spiders and bugs here." said Marie, oogling on one spider web.

"It seems like we'll finally be having our real jungle adventure." I said it sarcastically.

"Hell Yeah!! Time for hunting." said Marie in excitement.

"Come, let's move ahead."

We walked out of the shed. Marie descended two steps ahead of me. With a soft pull, I closed the door behind us, the sound echoing in the stillness of nature. But before I could take another step forward, a sudden, sharp sound pierced the silence.

*SHATTER*

We froze in place, our senses on high alert. Marie instantly turned back, and I was looking at her with my eyes wide open. She looked over my shoulders towards the door behind me.

I removed my witchcraft and steadily turned back towards the door. Marie also removed the knife she had from her bag just in case something unpredictable came in front of us. With witchcraft in my right hand, I slowly push the door with my left to see who's inside, and—

*Meow* 

I pushed the door fast and found the fish tank completely shattered on the ground and a cat sitting on the table, innocently staring at us.

"A cat? Really?" I said, letting out a heavy breath.

"Oh, my sweet. It's so white." Marie said, patting it. I looked around and saw the broken windows.

"It must've come from the windows."

"Yeah"

We walked out of the shed, leaving the cat behind.

"That scared the shit out of us." Marie said, laughingly.

"I know, right. *Sigh," I replied.

After living for more than a month in solitude, we are suddenly witnessing other living creatures. So it's taking us by surprise.

"Let's trace the tracks and see where they'll lead us." I said.

"I hope this time it won't be another dead end." Marie replied

"Don't curse it."

"I am not. Just saying based on how things end here."

"Yes Yes."

We traced the rail tracks through the dense undergrowth. After a mere 20 minutes of brisk walking, we stumbled upon the remains of an old, rusted engine. Three of the rear cars lay strewn haphazardly beside the tracks, overturned and battered beyond recognition, just like the shed. And yet again, there is no sign of human presence or anything of value. Completely empty.

"What must've happened here?" I said, glancing through the cars that had fallen sideways.

"Who knows? A freaking train inside a forest is already weird enough." Marie replied.

"Hehe" I smiled and continued. "There's nothing here that can tell us if people were here."

"Maybe because it's been too many years."

"Maybe."

"But don't you find it strange, Elea?" Marie asked.

"What?"

"Our Locomotives got recently developed, right?"

"Yes."

"Then how come we are seeing one here so deep inside the Murk? It's been closed for around 1000 years, right?" Marie said.

She said it so casually, looking around, but it filled me with unnatural anxiety and heaviness in the chest over the thought of it.

"Yeah, you are right." I said.

We continued walking, and soon, within a few minutes, just like Marie had assumed earlier, the tracks leading us abruptly halted at a dead end. Rail tracks that started nowhere and ended nowhere.

"Oh, come on..." Marie said, with a crying face, after witnessing a dead end in the tracks. "See, I told you, Elea."

"But we've come a long way, though." I said, patting her back. "Let's not lose hope."

"Yaaii."

Yes. We've come a long way because, as we ventured deeper into the mist-laden forest, filled with fireflies, many other lives unfolded before our eyes. Birds with their melodic chirps, deer gracefully darted through the underbrush, and tranquil ponds shimmered with the presence of darting fish. It felt as though we had stepped into a realm untouched by time. The misty dryness of the forest now also had light rain showers with it.

Upon witnessing Rabbit in the corner, Marie looked at me, grinning with the most creepy smile.

"We won't be eating just fruits from now on."

"Haha, yes," I replied.

Marie glided two steps forward, then gracefully bowed before me, placing one hand over her heart, and with a heavy mimicking voice, she said.

"My dear Eleanor, What would you like to have for dinner tonight?

She is trying to act like a chef or something.

"If my chef is such a cutie, then anything will go in my stomach."

"Ho Ho, I am flattered." 

"You should be."

Then she let go of the acting, raised her head, and said.

"But seriously, what should we hunt first?"

"Let's see. It's still late afternoon, I guess; there's a lot of time." I said, walking past her.

"Yes, let's search aroun-"

—Marie didn't complete her sentence, and I didn't notice it either, as my back was facing her.

"Yes, Yes. Let's search around and find something." I said, gazing around. "I think Rabbit will be good enough."

Marie didn't reply, and the silence caught on to me. So I turned around.

"Marie?"

She was looking down at the water puddle. Her eyes were widening as if she saw a ghost.

"Marie, what happened? you okay?"

She raised her head, looked me in the eye, and placed her hand over her ears.

"Did you hear that?" Marie said.

"Hear what?" I replied casually, as I really didn't hear anything.

She didn't reply; she just kept her focus on the hearing.

—The fireflies that were dancing around us suddenly stopped their lights, as if a blackout had happened instantly. The birds that were singing melodic harmony went mute. The rabbit and dears that were having their free walks disappeared from sight. It was a complete silence.

Marie, letting go of the hand from her ear, pointed her finger towards the water puddle in between us.

"What is it?" I looked at her, then at the water puddle, trying to understand her gesture.

Upon the slight vibration, which must be like 80 Hz or less, I felt it as, with its rhythm, the water in the puddle jiggled. It was negligible to catch on if not focused on it properly.

I kept the stare, as it filled me with curiosity. But within the next second, that curiosity turned into fear. The vibration was increasing, the sound started faintly echoing, and the heavy rhythms started making water jump.

*DUM*

I and Marie both raised our heads, and our gazes met each other.

*DUM* 

We didn't need to look at the water puddle to understand it anymore.

...*DUM*.....

It was already a gloomy atmosphere, with the combination of mist and light rain showers, but it felt as if a deeper shadow descended upon the surroundings. A weird sensation tingled in my hand, prompting me to glance down. I gulped as I saw my hair rising unprecedently.

....*DUM*.....

And with that loud footstep, we jolted and turned left as I and Marie both figured out from which direction it was coming. Our eyes were completely locked into that position, facing the trees in the mist, waiting to see what's approaching.

*DUM*!!!!

And we witnessed it—a large footprint five times the size of ours, imprinted on the ground, its five fingers showing ominous finality. The thing that terrified us more than that was that there's no one to inspect. The presence of that creature can't be seen. Complete invisibility. A chill gripped us tighter as we had nothing to look at except footsteps in front of us.

—Fear the Unknown.