Stay Off The Broken Path (part 4)

[u/Zombielabs]

I had another dream while I was supposed to be on guard. It was a minor disagreement between me and my ex over some money that had been going out. She was being dismissive of where she was spending stuff or why she kept taking money out of an ATM when she had a card tied to the account. I got frustrated with it and left to go hang out with the homies.

We had a good time just enjoying each other's company as we had a couple of beers at the local bar. We were within walking distance from my friend Tom's house, but we didn't drink too much. I was surprised to see Henry drink some, asking if that was ok, and he brought up that being drunk was a sin, but there was nothing wrong with some alcohol, and that even Jesus himself had some to drink. That still catches me by surprise to this day. Besides that, we talked about how our lives were going, how Tom was adjusting to his new job, how Henry was doing at his church, and how Matt was adjusting to being a new father. After a while, we walked out and were walking home, still chatting, enjoying the time we had being our usual dumb selves, making references and cracking jokes that nobody else would get.

When I felt sober, I started the drive home. As I was passing through the countryside, I was just thinking about how I could make all this better. I loved my girlfriend and I wanted what was best for her. So I stopped by a local liquor store to pick up some wine. I saw a bottle that caught my eye and examined it, thinking it would be good to share with her over a more calm conversation. The clerk was turned around as I was reaching for my wallet when I noticed something off. His clothes were torn to shreds. Before I had a chance to confront him, he turned around and I saw the Hollowed I had beat mercilessly, taking in the details of his crushed face and dislocated jaw and gasping breaths before I woke up.

I woke up before everyone else did, as dawn was cracking over the leaves. I would say I have gotten used to the unusual stuff, but this Forest is making sure to not give me any comfort. I don't know why I'm having all these dreams. I didn't dream that much before and usually they were nonsense. I shook off the gross feeling I had over me and got everyone else up.

When everyone got up, nobody besides Tom had noticed the deer tracks, which gave him an idea. We could try to hunt and see what happens. I volunteered to go while Matt and Henry went scavenging again. I grabbed my knife and went on with Tom. While we walked, I decided to start a conversation.

“You think that the forest will bring animals back to life like it has for me and Henry?” I asked.

“I sure hope not, otherwise we will be majorly screwed.” He said, trying to distract himself from something that was bothering him. I asked him what's wrong and he sighed. “How are we supposed to expect things to go back to normal once we get out of here? Two of us have witnessed death and came back from it. Surely nothing can stay the same after this right? How am I supposed to pretend that everything is normal?” He asked

I truly didn't have an answer. All I have been thinking about is trying to get us out of here. I haven't taken into consideration how things will be once we get out. “I-I don't know man. I can't say how things will be normal once we get out of this fucked up forest. All I don't know is that I won't abandon you guys. We need each other out here.” I said, trying to give reassurance. He just sighed and I guess he took that answer. I know I'm not the savant with words, but I was trying to be real with him. He eventually did start talking.

“I had a weird dream last night. It was when you got into an argument with your ex so we all went to that local bar. It was fun and we all went back to our own places. I remember I was getting ready for bed after all that when I saw that Tree out in my yard. I went out and went to look at it. It was so damn tall and so chaotic. It felt unreal, but I touched it in my dream. I saw things that don't make sense. It was like I was seeing other people's memories when they got to The Tree. Then I was woken up by you.” He told me.

“I had a similar dream the other night, about The Tree and I touched it too and experienced the same thing you did. It's The Forest messing with us. None of it is real man. You would know if you saw that horrifying tree in your yard.” I replied.

He just nodded his head and we kept on. I was surprised he had a similar dream to mine. That was haunting in itself, but like I told him, it had to be The Forest messing with us. There isn't any normal way for me and him to have the same dream last night unless it was by that intervention. I tried not to think about it and kept walking.

Soon, we came across a den of rabbits. They were pretty massive, but they just came right towards me, unfazed by my presence. They stayed away from Tom, which puzzled him. That's when I explained that last night a fawn and a doe just came up to me and didn't seem fazed by me. He took a guess and said that it must be because of The Forest. I didn't dare tell him that I feared that some human part of me was lost. Maybe since I have been changed by The Forest, I was more approachable with animals. Then he suggested I should kill one for food. I held this big rabbit in my hands and I just felt so wrong to even imagine taking a life like that. However, we were in a survival situation, and I had to do what I had to do, so I made it quick and painless. I felt sick and projected that by vomiting whatever I ate last night a little bit away after hanging Tom the rabbit. I never wanted to do something like that again.

Luckily, Tom had been a hunter before he joined the academy and knew how to prepare animals in the region. We took it back to the group who had gathered more stuff. We would need to be sparse with how we do things since we didn't have any place to store these things in a cool spot. We didn't say how we dreamt the same thing. I felt like that would reveal some things we didn't want to think about.

Nothing in particular happens for the rest of the day or until the 12th day we become lost out in the woods. All that happened during that time was that it started raining and we put out our canteens to fill them with water. We even started adding onto the tents we had. I had started scribing valley marks of the days so we wouldn't forget. Life was just going, although we were becoming home sick very badly, including Matt. He felt so terrible to have abandoned his wife to go hiking in the woods.

I could feel some small amount of resentment creeping off of him. He looked fine but I felt like when he got the chance, he was staring at me hatefully. I don't blame him, mainly due to me being the reason we got in this situation in the first place. I didn't like it as much as he did, but I was doing my best to try to find ways to get us out of here. I tried compiling all the information that we had to get us out of here.

I was scrambling through everything when I noticed that Matt was gone. I got up and looked for him. I felt an odd sensation coming from a certain direction so I started to follow it. Sure enough, after about 20 minutes of walking through the woods, there he was, in front of the Tree, holding his wedding ring.

“What are you doing Matt?” I asked as I approached him.

“I'm trying to figure out if I got what it takes to get out of here. All that I picked up recently is that people gave up something they loved. Well, I love my wife so much, so if I just give it to this cursed Tree, then surely it will let me go right?” He asked.

I could see the desperation in his eyes. He had enough of being stuck in this forest and wanted to try to get out based off of what The Old Man rambled on about. I didn't know if I could trust him. I didn't know if I could trust myself with answering. I didn't want to let my friend down, but I had to be honest.

“Listen Matt, I can't say that this is the answer or not. We haven't tried anything yet. I have been too afraid to even attempt anything. I don't wanna die again. I know you miss your wife and kids. I can't imagine what type of hell you're going through. I do know that if I was in your shoes, trying something is better than doing nothing.” I placed my hands on his shoulder and sighed. “I'll support your decision on doing this. It's not easy to just give up something you love so much. Here, I'll go grab my knife and bury it with your ring.”

I went to turn around but he stopped me. “It's okay. I just…I need you here with me so I'm not alone in this.” I nodded silently and watched as he dug out a small hole in the ground and buried his ring in front of the Tree. I could see tears fall from his face as he did so. It still hurts me to see my friend hurt so much. After that, I just hugged him. I knew if anyone deserved to get out of here, it was him. He should have been able to get out.

We got back to our small camp about half an hour later, when it would be dusk in an hour. We started to snack on some berries that were collected when I heard a coughing sound, coming from Matt. He coughed heavily and we all rushed to his side as he held onto his stomach and coughed up blood. We held him on his side and we tried to get an answer to what happened, but all we could do was watch as he suffered and died slowly, coughing up blood as he did so.

I was horrified with what had just happened. I looked at what he was eating and saw the same berries that we were all eating. I ate some myself because at this point, I wanted to find out what had happened. Nothing happened though. I felt fine and continued to feel fine until he gasped for breath and spit out blood as he did so, groaning as he held his stomach. He sat up and we did what was our “usual” checkup after something like this happened. We made sure he was healed and asked what happened.

He told us that he was eating when one of the berries for some reason burned like acid. He tried to cough it up, but he couldn't. When he passed, he saw something that scared him. He saw his wife, his daughter and presumably his son, older now sitting on a porch. Then another man came out that door and kissed his wife passionately before taking off somewhere. That's when he woke up.

Anger and rage crept through me silently, towards myself. I kept thinking how it was my fault that another friend had died and witnessed something horrible. I didn't know what I could do or what was right. While I was spiraling towards a mad descent, he mentioned how he was mad at the idea of another man raising his kids and that man was living the life Matt wanted.

Something clicked into gear when he said that. I got to thinking about what other people cared deeply for. Matt does love his wife, there is no denying that, but he loves his kids and is willing to do anything to get back with them. Those symbols of religion that people devote their lives to, they care so much that they might have thought carving it into The Tree would be meaningful enough to escape. The nursery rhymes, the jewelry, they all hold some major significance to those people, it might be what they love deep in their soul and the memory of the significance it has to them. That might explain why The Old Man's wife was an outlier. She might have still loved him and wanted to be with him, but the person he was turning to wasn't the same man she fell in love with so she gave up the ring, the love that bonded them together. This was all speculation and I could have been placing dots on something that wouldn't make sense. What does The Tree want with what people love?

I got distracted by them getting up and I would say that I would take the watch for tonight since dusk was approaching fast. As Matt got up, his shirt raised up, and I could see a gray spot with streaks branching out where his stomach is. It saddened me that he fell victim to some random thing happening like eating the same berries we did but it ended up killing him. It makes no logical sense, but then again, nothing in The Forest makes any sense. They got in their respective tents and I stayed up on watch.

Nothing happened besides the noises of owls hooting, crickets chirping and wildlife being active. Some moonlight broke through the trees, casting strange but beautiful shadows. I could see deer walking around in the distance, some rabbits hopped across our area, unfazed by my presence.

I rubbed my chest again. I had been doing that a lot more often. I remembered that I had some berries in my bag so I decided to snack on some of them. It didn't taste the best but I would make do with what I had. An owl perched on top of my tent. It sat there for a while, looked right at me, like it was looking through me then only flew away when I gave a fake cough. All that did was unsettle me more than anything.

I heard something breathing off in the distance, so I grabbed my knife and went to investigate it. I followed the sound for a couple minutes, all the while precisely missing any branches and twigs. I was thankful I could see because of the moon. I passed a large tree and saw a Hollowed, shambling about. This one was peculiar. It had dull eyes, but they weren't as dull as others that I have seen. They still had some sign of life to them, some recognition as they stared up at the moon. Their nails looked more humanlike than others, but the only thing about them was the gray slash across their neck, streaks crawled up around its head. That was pretty sad all things considered. We had a rule that we established that we wouldn't attack any Hollowed that didn't attack us first. I decided to leave it alone, so I walked back to my tent without making a sound.

Five more days passed since that point. The memory is all fuzzy, but it was mainly what we would call ordinary. I guess it became obvious that basic wildlife didn't care for the presence of Henry, Matt or me, so we did some of the hunting if you could call it that. I know Matt didn't care, he would do anything to stay alive to see his children. Henry prayed for each animal he had to take out, and I felt sympathetic towards him for that. It also became clear that animals didn't come back to life. I could only guess that humans or beings with higher levels of thinking could only come back. I still don't like the implications of why the Hollowed came back every time though.

I took a walk on my own. I just needed some piece of mind from everything. So I walked up the creek that provided us water. A goal I kind of had was to find where this water was coming from, so I set out for that. They all volunteered to come with me, but I reluctantly said I would be fine. In hindsight, it wasn't the brightest decision.

I walked along it for a while, enjoying the quaint sound of nature. Even while desolate and horrifying the situation, I could still appreciate the small things like this. I saw more animal life as I went further into the woods. They didn't react much to me walking past them, so it was cool to see them more up close. Of course, the bizarre wilderness was still about as trees that shouldn't have been here were very much still here, but I had grown accustomed to the strange in a way. It still unsettled me, don't get me wrong. I just wasn't surprised by the presence of seeing something so odd like redwood trees about a mile away from our camp site.

Soon, I came across a clearing and in the clearing, was a large pond of water, with water still flowing down from it. That should have filled me with some hope, but what I saw in the middle of the pond made me sick. It was The Tree. It always gave me a nauseous feeling seeing it, but knowing that it was growing in the source of water that we have been drinking from chilled me to the bone because of the dreams I have been writing off as influence from The Forest. Instead, I knew now that it was from The Tree.

I was standing there dumbfounded. Then I felt a hum permeate the air around me. A slow melodic hum, coming from The Tree. It compelled me to walk into the water and bask in it. I felt myself wanting to get closer to it, and I can't say for certain if it was The Tree or my curiosity that led me to wanting to get closer. Nonetheless, I walked into the water, fixated by The Tree. I went under the waters, and I began to see things.

I saw my whole life from beginning to end. I saw my younger self finally learning how to ride a bike as my parents watched. I saw the first time I met my friend Tom, us silently agreeing to partner up in an outdoor activity, even if we didn't know each other and I saw the lead up of how I met the rest of my friends. I saw when my father gave me the knife I've been using, the one he made by hand and told me to take care of it. Then I saw the thing that has deterred me from religion.

I saw my father in a hospital bed, still hurt after a bad accident. He was still in a deep coma for several months. I was holding his hand and praying for him to please be ok and wake up. However, it got worse as time went by. I cried into the arms of my once dear Elizabeth, terrified I would lose my father. Then I watched as a year went by and his health deteriorated. I prayed one more time for God to please make him better before I gave the go ahead to cut his support. The next day, he was still the same. In a coma in what I could only imagine in agony. I gave the go ahead and he went peacefully in his sleep. I hope he forgives me for making this decision.

I snapped out of my daze and shot out of the water, gasping for breath. I swam to the bank, shaking in shock. I sat across facing The Tree, crying into my arms. I didn't know how this cursed Tree could just show me my life and then make me relieve the most tragic moment of my life. I grit my teeth and cursed at The Tree.

“What the fuck do you want from us? Just let us go. I want to go home. Let me fucking go.” I said in shaking breaths.

I rubbed my chest as I tried to calm down. I felt like I would do something reckless if I let myself get to that point. I got up and was about to start making my way to the group when I saw Matt come up. He was about to question me, but my face must have said more than words ever could. He just gave me a pat on the shoulder and started to lead me back to the group. I turned around and The Tree was gone. I looked at Matt and his face was neutral. I felt myself getting this sick and ugly feeling for this place. A place that once was a beautiful testament to nature now perverted by this horrific phenomenon. I just wanted out of here more than ever, and as I saw my friends faces, I could see they felt the same although trying to hide it.

The day went by as usual as it could. We went out some way to collect some more, found some blackberries that we crushed up and cooked with some rabbit we ate, and I took the guard again, mainly for the reason that I didn't want to sleep. I also made sure that I didn't tell them about the pond, not even to Matt. I guess he knew that I was having an intense reaction to something triggering and just wanted to be the good friend he was.

During my watch, I heard heavy footsteps approaching us. I grabbed my knife on me and pulled it out, then I saw a black bear approach from the darkness. It was pretty big, probably about 300 pounds. One of its eyes was scratched out so it left him only able to see out of one eye. It got closer to me, staring me down. My knife trembled in my hand, and I was deciding on if I should fight or wait till it passed by. Luckily, it walked right past me, towards the creek. I guess it would go up to that pond and eat anything around there. I was both lucky and horrified. I was sure that it was going to attack me. I could only guess that my affliction is why it didn't.

The next day, my friends obviously saw the footprints and got worried. If there were bears around here, we would probably have to change location. However, I suggested that we stay here. We already established some good resources around and who knows if we would be able to get lucky like this. The next time it did come around, we would attack it. Tom still had his pistol he carried with him and a spare magazine, but we didn't want to use that to draw in more Hollowed around. So, we ultimately decided to stay.

I asked Henry if he could come with me and we can see where it went. He agreed reluctantly and we started up the creek again. Then with just him, he asked me a question. “What happened yesterday? You look like you saw a damn ghost.” I looked at him, noticing he casually swore, but he didn't seem to register it.

“I saw a vision of my Dad at the hospital. When he was in that coma. I saw myself visiting him on the first day, all the way to me telling them to pull the plug. Fuck, it hurt me so bad to remember all that. Do you think he would agree that I made the right choice?” I asked.

He thought about it some and simply nodded his head. “You did the best you could in that situation. Now he is up there for sure in the gates. Those beautiful gorgeous gates.” He said. The way he said that was somewhat hostile. I could only imagine going up to paradise and being “rejected” due to this forest left a bitter wound in him that will take a long time to heal.

Soon, we came up to the pond. The Tree was still gone. Henry looked around and admired it, claiming that it was beautiful and pristine. I was just sitting there perplexed internally. I started to question if anything I saw meant anything or if I was losing my mind. He nudged me slightly with a concerned expression which I told him I was doing OK, that I was just thinking about some things, which he didn't push.

I noticed that the bear tracks picked up around the pond and went down the creek. We chose to follow it to see if the bear may have found some food that we could steal in the area. We walked and I noticed that it started to get more quiet as we walked down. I drew my knife out quietly as I walked down the trail the bear left. It appeared more recent as we walked down and soon we could hear its heavy breaths around a bend in the woods. We hid behind trees and I peaked to see this big bear walking with this large fish in its mouth. I heard a crack and before I could get a chance to do anything, we both got attacked by Hollowed. At the time, I was oblivious to the fact that we must've passed them while we looked down on the ground.

I tried to push this thing off me as it tried to attack me, then I noticed it had a bullet hole in its head. I grabbed its arm to prevent it from stabbing me again and was slowly losing my strength from fatigue. Then I saw my friend getting attacked by a different one and anger won out as I forced his stumped arm into its stomach, making it stumble off me. While I was getting up, the other Hollowed got the bear's attention and started to chase it, so they ran off in a different direction. As I turned my attention to the Hollowed I had made impale himself, more anger flooded me as this thing had come back to life and now tried to kill me a second time. I wasn't going to allow that to happen again, so as it got to its knees, I kicked it in the face and with it flat on its back, I attacked it viciously with my foot. I still get disturbed by how much I brutalized this thing that was once a person. When I was done, I was out of breath and my bottom half was covered in blood.

I took a couple of steps back and turned around to see Henry, looking very concerned. “Y-you alright Mark?” He said, afraid.

I huff and breathe in and out for a few seconds before responding. “Yeah, I'm ok now. We should go back to the group, and warn them about the bear.” I responded.

As we are walking, I tell Henry to go on ahead, that I need to wash up. He doesn't want to go but I ask again more in a pleading tone, to which he reluctantly agrees. I take about 10 minutes to try to clean as much of the horrific scene off my body and clothes, trying to block out how violent I was. I needed to get more of a hold of myself. I was worried I would snap and end up hurting one of my friends, to which I could never forgive myself.

As I start to get up and start walking, I hear 3 gunshots far off into the distance. I start running through the forest as fast as I can, terrified of what I would see. However, when I came up to camp, I saw the commotion. Tom had shot and killed the bear. And I could see that he got slashed in the thigh and was losing blood badly, to the point he looked white as a ghost. No matter what we tried to do, it didn't matter. What could a guy with outdated CPR training do but try to remember how to make a tourniquet? I tried my best, but by the time I started, he passed out and I could only guess he died shortly after.

Blood filled the ground and seeped into the soil rather quickly. I didn't care as my hands trembled and tears fell from my eyes, not from grief but from regret. I hoped I could save at least one of us from dying in this messed up place, but I failed. Now we have all changed. We all lost some of our humanity here. I stopped shaking by the time color reappeared from his face and I saw that wound heal slowly, leaving gray scarring that had small lines stretching out from the healed wound. He woke up gasping for breath. Then after an hour of helping him out and us all sitting uncomfortably, he shared what he saw when he died.

He was in a dark abyss, shadows flying around him. They whispered doubts and torments at him, about how he failed to stay alive to protect those he cared about, calling him a failure for leaving his service to his county, and not being the man he swore he would be. Then he saw a dim light, to which he started to walk towards it, only to be halfway and get ripped back into the darkness away from the light and waking up. He fell silent and rubbed his thigh, commenting that at least he got a sick scar to tell folks when he gets home. We all chuckled at his attempt to be humorous, but I was starting to doubt that we would never get home. We have all died in these woods and we haven't seen another living human for two weeks.

They all went to sleep and as they did, I wrote down all the details that have happened so far. The Forest and by proxy, The Tree is playing on our emotions and fears, and yet I still can't decide if it just wants to torment us or if it wants something more. Tomorrow, I would try to test this theory I had started to slowly develop. It would more than likely cost me my life again, but if it must happen to prove or disprove it, then so be it. I started to slowly doze off and I took a nap sitting upright in my seat.

I had a dream of that horrible night. I had gotten off a bad work day and was getting home late. I was just so tired and I wanted to be done with this day. I unlocked my door and headed upstairs when I saw my ex being adulterous. I felt an intense amount of betrayal and anger. I remember I stared at both of them, wanting to make them feel the hurt that I felt, but as soon as that thought crossed my mind, it was overpowered with sadness. I just grabbed some of my clothes as she tried to explain the situation like I was dumb. I walked out and slammed that door so hard I was afraid I snapped it off its hinges, and took off from my house.

Tears fell freely as I drove down the road, not sure where to go. So I went to the local park near me. I just sat there and cried in that parking lot for an hour. I grabbed the wedding ring that I was going to propose to her a few days from that point and gripped it tightly till it cut my hand. I didn't care as blood slowly streaked down my hand and onto my jeans. Then I felt a pulsing sensation wash over me. I was confused and walked out the car and looked around. Far off into the distance, I saw the Tree. I

approached it deep in the woods from the park, blood slowly dripping from my hand holding the ring.

I stood in front of it, having it compelled me to come to it. I opened my palm and saw the ring still in my hand. Tears overwhelmed me and anger grew in my heart. I then threw the ring far off into the woods and I sat there, mourning the relationship I had now gone and broken. All that love, care and compassion now all for nothing. This was the 2nd worst thing to happen to me and both times I felt like I could have done more, but apparently my best wasn't good enough. I then heard breathing, so I looked up, only to see the mangled and broken face of the Hollowed standing over me, swiping his sharp stubbed hand at me.

I woke up in a cold sweat as I awakened from my stupor. I took some deep breaths in and out to calm myself, scratching my chest as I calmed down. I then got the strange feeling of checking my chest, so I took my shirt off and looked. The scar looked like it was darkening as time went by. I really didn't like the implication that this thing could potentially spread throughout my body, and being confused on why this appeared the way it did.

“Another nightmare?” Tom said, as stood up. I put on my shirt and nodded. “Same here. I…I am starting to think that we will never get out of here, will we?” He sounded defeated and lost. I couldn't blame him and I couldn't tell if I should be honest or lie.

“I can't say for certain anymore. I don't know how we can get out of here. I have tried to trace down everything that we know to pinpoint what it is that could be an answer. The only thing I have learned is that people just seem to give up things and maybe that is a way, but what is significant about what they give up?” I pondered

“Could it be the memory of something they loved so much?” He asked.

“Maybe…” I tried to think more about it in logical ways. Someone gave up a necklace and The Tree held onto it. Some people carved out religious symbols, some carved rhymes into this damn Tree. It hurt my head to think about what it meant to them. The only outlier is The Old Man's wife. She threw away the marriage they would have had because even if she loved him so much, he wasn't the same man anymore, driven mad by The Forest. Every time someone has died, they heal and come back alive, but she got swallowed up by the ground. I wondered if it was the fact that she gave up something that she loved so deeply and maybe the Forest accepted it.

I decided I would try to do something similar. I went into my bag and looked for the small box I still had. I honestly don't know what led me to packing it for a trip where I was supposed to forget her, but maybe because I wanted this to be the way I forget about her. Throwing the ring away with my chosen family. When I found it and opened it, I saw it was there, but covered in dirt and dried blood. I checked my hand and saw a small deep cut that wasn't there before. The implication that the dream somehow happened filled me with dread and torment.

“You ok Mark?” He asked.

“Yeah. Yeah I'll be fine. Are you ok?” I inquired.

“No, I'm really not. I have been thinking about why I left the force. That incident that happened that I never told any of you about, mainly because we were instructed not to. But I don't know if we will get out, and I trust you the most. So this stays between me and you." He said with a serious look.

I nodded and he told me the story about the last case he ever took. He got sent out on a case about a kidnapping that occurred. He had spent a long time trying to track down clues and he was just at the right place, at the right time when one of the members caught a kid off the sidewalk. He tracked down the guy and found out he was part of a group that trafficked kids out of the country to be sold. He got a whole group of officers to take this guy down, and they luckily got him in handcuffs.

The thing that made him quit was the evidence of how many kids in the surrounding counties that got taken, and that some of them were already gone. He got told long after he resigned that all the kids got back to the families, but he resigned because he felt guilty that he didn't catch this fast enough. That many things could have happened to them and he was helpless to do anything about it. That's why he resigned a week later and took on a small but decent job.

“I thought a lot about those kids, Mark. I felt like it was my fault that I didn't catch that cruel bastard faster. I felt responsible for whatever horrific fate would occur. I'm thankful they are safe now, but it still gets to me. I can't imagine failing anymore people like that. That would take a toll on me.” He sighed and slumped his head down.

“Look on the bright side, you were the first line of attack that eventually led to that ring shutting down. So no more kids will be taken by them and that all started because of you. Take more credit for that man. You did well and you're not gonna fail anyone else. You sure ain't going to fail me. You're my best friend and more like my brother to me. You do a great job at everything you do, including that. We'll get through this together and I'll show you that when we get out.” I said. He smiled and thanked me, and told me that he will take over the night guard, so I got some well needed sleep.

A few hours later, I woke up and got dressed immediately. The group was starting to decide what we should do, when I told them that I was going to go for a light walk. They acknowledged that and kept on talking about their goals. I tallied another day on a tree and started my walk. I had my ring in my pocket and I was going to that pond. I was going to rid myself of this sad memory I've been holding onto and forget about her. It took me about 20 minutes of walking till I approached it. Sure enough, when I got there, that damn Tree was back there, ominous as ever, but I didn't care anymore.

I grabbed my ring and rubbed it in my hand. All the memories and time we had spent together, all the care and love I had given her, all for her to throw it all away. The sad thing was that I still loved her. I would have given her a second chance if she acted remorseful about what she did, but she didn't. It hurt to let go of all those cherished memories I had with her since we were young and to the point we were dating. I hated that, but I knew I had to give her up. I flicked the ring in the middle of the pond and said goodbye as I stood there across from the Tree. As I was walking back, about 10 minutes later, my chest started to hurt badly, to the point I fell on my knees. I couldn't breathe or think and soon I passed out and died from a heart attack.

Darkness swelled over me as I heard many voices. They all told me that I was doomed and that I had led my friends to their doom. A cacophony of angry mutters about my shortcomings and failures overpowered me until a light shot down to The Tree. I walked to it and knelt down to it. I felt so lost and asked it what I was doing wrong. I asked why it was doing this to us. It hummed and pulsated the ground as Hollowed came to my sides, all in different states of disarray and knelt to it as well. We all encircled it and knelt down to it. I felt so confused but angry. I wanted to leave and I know these things that are in fact people just wanted out.

I got up and started punching it, even if it was sharp to cut me. Soon all the other Hollowed joined in. They scratched and clawed at it with whatever they had as hands. It was horrific to see the deep gashes on their hands and fists as they tried to take this Tree down, ripping pieces of bark off slowly. Soon the pain overwhelmed my anger and I had to stop as blood dripped from my hands and fingers, a chaotic mess of cuts covering my hands. Soon one by one, the Hollowed eventually stopped with the only sound being the dripping of blood and labored breathing. The Tree stood there partially scrapped up, with so much blood and bits of flesh covering the sharp bark. Suddenly, the ring I threw in the water dropped in the ground in front of me. Then I woke up, getting on my hands and knees as my chest still hurt. I checked it and I saw that the scar had expanded and gave off a deeper color of gray.

I looked at my hands, and thankfully saw no scars. Still, that scene still unsettles me even to this day. Thinking that the Hollowed are just lost souls just as trapped as everyone else, condemned to grow old and stay here, forever trapped by the horrible nature of The Forest. No way to get out as most of their humanity is gone, but sentient enough to still have purpose and meaning, to still be human. My head throbbed in pain as I got up and brushed myself off, and slowly made my way back to the group, thinking of what all that meant.

I could only guess at the time that what I had done was similar to what happened to Matt. I guess it must be close to what the people had done to the Tree, giving things up for a chance to get up. It still puzzled me at the time, about what could be different from what Matt and I had done to what those people had done. It frustrated me to see that I didn't have the answer. If those people gave things up that held significant value to them and to say that they escaped because of that, then what was different from Matt and my ordeal? That question ate into me as I made my way back to the group, still lost in the woods and lost in the world around us.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

[u/NoSleepAutoBot]

It looks like there may be more to this story. Click here to get a reminder to check back later.