Waking up with pain all over your body is an extremely nasty feeling. It was as if you had worked a shift at a construction site, and then on the way home you had been beaten with everything you could think of. The pain was everywhere, even in my head, which made it hard to think straight. My ears were ringing, my mouth tasted of iron, and I was breathing with wheezing and straining because of the sharp pain in my lungs.
Slowly consciousness came, and with it the rest of my senses. My nose was stuffed up, but even so I could smell blood, machine flavoring, and gasoline that melded together to form a mixture of pungent, stinky, and unpleasant odors that only woke my already weakened body faster.
My eyes snapped open, everything was blurry, making it hard to make sense of what was happening now. No, I knew I was in the car because of the smells, but I didn't fully understand the situation I was in. The smell of blood only made it clear that things were bad, but how bad? That's what I needed to know, and then I needed to go from there. It hurt so bad, it was hard to move my eyelids, let alone my head, causing more flashes of pain. I don't want to get on a fucking train again. I'd rather order a cab and get home safely than this!
And while I was mentally cursing the one-way train, my vision finally normalized, revealing the wrecked interior of the car. A crumpled, warped, upside down car, still ticking and with working headlights. It was dark, I couldn't see how bad it was. Just the outlines of two breathless bodies in the front seats, smelling of blood and flesh and excrement. It's a very nasty combination, with a combination of car odor.
There had been an accident, and a serious one at that, taking two lives. Whoa. What the hell am I doing in a car? Who are these people? Why is everything so big?!
I'm a calm person who's seen some shit both on the internet and in the real world. Yes, watching through video and seeing with your own eyes are not the same thing. But when it's not staged and filmed in the real world, even that can make you shiver. Hell yeah! Even a calm boa constrictor like me can start freaking out on occasion. Especially when you first get thrown out alone on a train, in the middle of fucking nowhere, and then run away from the all-consuming darkness to end up here!
All right, calm down. It's not gonna help this case, just try to get out of the trap. Then we'll figure out what to do next. Maybe it's just an all too real dream that makes you want to get out. Just inhale and exhale, inhale, exhale.
After taking a couple of heavy inhales and exhales, I was able to come to my senses and calm down. I slowly looked around and found my way out of the car. I looked behind the front seat and saw that the car was in the middle of a huge cluster of trees and bushes. A forest? What was she doing in the woods? No, that's not it. Maybe off the highway? That's more likely if the car collided with another car. Okay, the pain seems to subside, but I feel something clenching my torso. I look down and I see the seat belt that saved my body from being killed. I try to pull it out, but I can't. Damn it! Let's do it another way. I grabbed the belt and pulled it away from me. My hand immediately reverberated with dull pain, making me moan.
After waiting a bit, he tried again, but ignoring the pain in his arm. I pulled the belt out with all the strength I could muster. Only a little further, for I didn't have enough strength, but I could get out. In a moment, I got out from under the belt, with difficulty, but I managed. Having once again looked around the cabin, I tried to open the door next to it. It failed, it wouldn't budge, so I moved to the other one. I pull the handle again. Click! It's open! Well, at least I didn't have to go through any more doors. I step outside, and a chill immediately hits me, giving me goosebumps. It was night, the leaves rustling in the cold wind. It wasn't the same darkness as the one on the train, it was typical, normal darkness that you could see through.
A normal nighttime forest. Nothing too bad, unless of course you noticed the wrecked car with the dead bodies in it. Bushes, trees, grass, eyes....
Stop.
I stopped. Looked where I'd seen someone's eyes, but there was nothing else there.
A hallucination? Unlikely. Just a vision? No. Then what was it?!
Fuck it! We gotta get out of here. I don't want to know what it was or who it was. I can't help those two, especially when I need help myself.
Not intending to stay here any longer, I headed across the dented grass from the car wheels. It was only thanks to them that I could get to the highway, and thanks to the moonlight I could see it. But I had a feeling of uneasiness, as if someone was following me. It didn't come closer, but it didn't lag behind for a moment.
Not intending to stay here any longer, I headed across the dented grass from the wheels of the car. It was only because of them that I could get on the track, and the moonlight too, showing them. But I had a feeling of unease, as if someone was following me. It didn't get any closer, but it didn't lag behind for a minute.
When is this going to end? I had a normal life without all this adventure on my ass. But no! Shove me somewhere I don't know where to end up here! Now I have to run away from some strange creature that's targeting my body anyway.
But it was all right. Ahead I could already see the cherished highway - a place where at least a little bit, but you can feel safe. There might be a chance to meet a car and get out of here. Where to? Any town, as long as it was far away from here. But just as I was about to run, I heard a branch snap behind me. I stood in a stupor, my heart pounding hard, making it audible even from the outside. My back was covered in sweat, a herd of goosebumps went all over my body, and my breathing quickened. Slowly turning around, my eyes saw "It."
A tall, three meter tall creature. Thin, lean and long body, parodying a warped tree. Long, spiky orange-colored hair that fell all the way to the ground. Her hands were unnatural, black and huge, with clawed fingers. And in place of legs protruding as thin as her body were curved needles the same color as her arms. This something was dressed in a black t-shirt as well as wrapped jeans. Her shins were wrapped in bandages, and then some. The creature didn't move, just watched with a single eye. It made no move, but I could feel that if I moved, I was dead. Before I could do anything, it would blow my head off.
I didn't move, I just kept my head down. I was bound by fear, fear of the monster. The only thing I could do was try to find a solution to the problem. But what could it be, if I was wounded and helpless against such a creature? My gut tells me I won't get out of here alive, even if I try to fight back. Just a last bit of fun before they kill me and eat me. Or what's she gonna do to me? God, come on. Think!
While I was thinking, I could hear her moving towards me. Calmly, slowly, not tense, confident that her victim wouldn't run anywhere. Step by step, rustling leaves and crunching branches, she made my brain tense up more and more.
Wait... Wait a minute.
Three meters tall, orange colored hair, lacking a neck as a link between head and body, black arms and legs. Out of all of this, there was one thought floating around in my head. The answer to all my questions, which still didn't want to be caught. The monster was already standing in front of me, feeling her gaze.
And suddenly! A realization comes into my head! A realization of everything that was happening, as well as who was standing in front of me. I slowly raise my head, watching as her hand reached for me. In a detached voice, I say the name in a childish, husky but quiet voice.
- Fen...
The hand stopped. The pressure that had built up since finding the monster felt as if it had fallen off me. She took her hand away from my side, looking at me in surprise. But before we could do anything, there was a whistling sound in the distance. In a flash, and her right shoulder is thrown back. Fen - that's the creature's name - screamed, holding onto her wounded shoulder. Whatever it was, but I wasn't going to lose the chance. So I rushed as fast as I could toward the road without turning around.
Unfortunately, I did not know the outcome of the fight. When I ran out on the highway, I saw a light fast approaching. Then I felt the impact of my body against something, but I did not feel the pain. My consciousness was already drifting into the realm of Morpheus.
∆∆∆∆∆∆
How long I was in darkness was unknown. There was no concept of time as such in this place. There was only darkness, emptiness, and a feeling of detachment, as if you were far beyond the physical plane, but connected to it, not letting the emptiness swallow the consciousness completely. Emotions were perceived sluggishly, with great reluctance or with a strain. I wasn't angry, happy, surprised, or much else. Emotionlessness, or, as my peers might call it, a stiff-necked pofigist. But this was not the case, for I was surrounded by curiosity. Not the usual curiosity, but like an observer.
An observer who watches from the sidelines, without interfering in any way in the affairs of the actors. That's what I was now, watching the memories. Not mine, the alien ones that belonged to the body of the boy I was in. But it wasn't whole, rather cut, crumpled and made up of holes and black dots. But it was enough to already put my chain of events together.
I saw his life. It had not been easy, one might even say hard. At least before all this, everything was fine. But there was a rift in the family, where there were frequent and loud scandals between his father and mother. None of them ended with a good ending, only frayed nerves of all family members, as well as destroyed furniture and other household items, such as dishes. This was weighing on the boy's psyche, who did not understand why they constantly quarreled and argued with each other. After all, they lived so well together, had fun, worked as one! So why did everything happen like that?
He did not understand, and how would he understand if he was only 6 years old? Of all the words that came to his ears, nothing was said to him. But to me, as an already established person with the age of 23 years, everything became clear. It turned out to be banally simple - cheating on his father's part. How the wife found out is not specified. But already from that moment began a black streak not only for the child, but also for both parents. I don't know the background of why the husband cheated on the family. But he wouldn't have done it just like that - there was always a reason for the father's actions. Is that what happened? Highly doubtful. Wife got bored? As silly as it sounds, but for many husbands, the wife can get bored for a variety of reasons. Or maybe there's something more complicated that can't really be explained? I don't know myself; the boy's memories aren't intact, it's impossible to put the puzzle together.
And the black streak in life lasted for the child tangibly - two years of ever-growing gulf between his parents, over which he himself stood, keeping the balance as much as he could between the sides. It came to the point where the husband, in an outburst, hit his wife. Not with his fist, but with a slap, but that was already the deciding factor. The mother took the child and went out of town, to her mother and the boy's grandmother. It became an outlet for him; at last the quarrels and scandals between the parents stopped. And the grandmother in this case contributed, helping the child to move away from the negative state. And the parents love their child, even though they can no longer tolerate each other. Forgetting, of course, the moment that because of their scandals can traumatize the child.
A few months were a heavenly time for him. He could finally concentrate on his childhood years again, while the adults went about their business. Only occasionally distracting either his mother or his grandmother with games or activities. It was over, however, when her husband arrived at their house and they all got into the car together. The boy was silent as he watched the tension between them. Nothing seemed to portend trouble until finally one of them spoke. A quiet, calm conversation that turned into a loud argument. Again, they were back to their old ways. The child couldn't stand it any longer; he closed his ears and eyes, just so he wouldn't see or hear it again.
And then happened what was the climax of the whole short story. The child's father failed to keep his eyes on the road and almost crashed into a truck. At the last moment he goes sideways, but because of the sharp turn and speed several times overturns and flies off the highway, right into the woods, colliding with a tree. No one survived the accident, not even the boy, who put his head against the door several times. That was the end of the memory, leaving me to ponder.
I felt sorry for the boy. Sincerely, though the situation was quite common in many families. But it looked realistic for adults, but not for a child. I am not an expert in this topic, just had a similar experience myself: scandals, breaking of household utensils and manhandling of the partner. Thankfully they just divorced, where I stayed with my mother, maintaining contact with my father. I was lucky, which is more than I can say for him - Maxwell Varden. Heh, interesting surname, aristocratic even, though it translates to "warden" or "jailer". I wouldn't wish him such a job: the risk of dying working with prisoners is too great.
There was a picture in my mind. The moment I met a woman I knew, Fen. A female cannibal, a monster devoid of any humanity. Killing everyone she meets on her way, especially if they're human. And then devours them without leaving a wet spot on the victim. An extremely aggressive creature, but that's not certain, considering it wasn't in any great hurry to kill me. There's a lot of reasons, and there's no point in trying to find the most likely one. It didn't touch you? Be happy, as they say. The only one she won't touch is Xyster; they have sympathy for each other. Though what sympathy can a cannibal monster have?
In any case, I was worried about something else right now. I was in another world, about which nothing is really known except for its inhabitants, a single but huge location, appropriately named Dangerous Forest. In a universe where at every turn there is a monster, maniac, hton and other unknown shit, ready to pull out your guts, and your skull to use as a stand for ficus. Or, at the very least, arrange something worse than death if they didn't like you in some way.
The musings were beginning to come to an end. My consciousness was slowly returning to this mortal, very different world with creatures whose existence is impossible in mine, but possible for this world. I do not know what lies ahead. All my possible knowledge of the lore of this world is negligible. They offer no advantages other than knowledge of the basic traits of the characters. Maybe I won't be able to do anything, end up dying and possibly spawning again already in another world. Or maybe I'll be able to survive all the dangers, living out my life like a normal person. Or maybe there would be an opportunity to become stronger, so that I could defend myself. But these were just thoughts, unsupported by anything. After all, what I have to do is watch, stay out of the way, and gather information. It's essential to my survival, especially when you're an eight-year-old child, and of the relatives I know, the only one I have left is my grandmother.
The light penetrated the darkness, awakening the mind from the subconscious.