THE GIRL IN THE FOREST Final Part – Osebeyo Mark Kehinde
In an instant, the flourishing forest that was teeming with life began to fade and become lifeless. The trees in the forest turned sickly brown and dark tree trunks, shadows, and overhanging limbs lined our paths. As the wind whistled around the trunks, causing the leaves to be disturbed, I could detect the decaying air and oppressive atmosphere. Indeed, it was a scary sight to behold.
I glanced around and watched everything unfold. A sight that sent cold shivers down my spine greeted me when I turned my attention back to the little girl. A hunched, silhouetted female figure hovered before me. Her face was pale and wrinkled, and her hands were gnarled.
There were goosebumps all over my body as I was terrified to my core. Terror sucked the air out of my mouth and I wanted to run for safety, but my feet would not allow me to do so. Before I could make my next move, she grabbed me and began dragging me along with her.
I screamed and yelled in terror and pain as I was dragged on the ground. After a few steps forward, suddenly there was an opening in the forest, in the middle of which stood a giant oak tree. We came to an abrupt stop. “Home sweet home,” she said and let out a shriek of evil laughter and then she threw me inside the giant oak tree.
Surprisingly, the giant oak tree could house at least ten people. I looked around and could barely see as the room was poorly lit and the stench of rotten things filled the air as bones were scattered everywhere.
I steady my breath and try to calm the panic. After I was calm, I looked around to study the room that I was in. The fear of death and the horror I’d face gave me a kind of courage that I didn’t know I had. I was determined to make it out of this ordeal alive.
I searched the skeletons for anything helpful that could be used to escape the horrors I was experiencing. Not that I had any idea of what I was doing but I just looked because I had no idea what I was doing. After searching through the bones and coming up empty, I found a corner to sit down in and rested my back.
After bowing my head, I raised it back up and was surprised to see a bone that was reflecting light. I crawled to it and picked up the bone. When I did, “fear not” was carved on a piece of wood that I picked up the bones from.
“Fear not?” How is it possible not to be afraid in this kind of situation?” I wondered.
I had to act fast as I didn’t know when she would be back. I pondered the words “fear not” for a while. Suddenly it hit me like an epiphany. It became apparent to me that she lived off my fear. Therefore, if I was ever able to defeat her and come out of it alive, I couldn’t show fear.
Having gained a great deal of drive and determination, I got out of the huge oak tree and yelled, “Where are you? Come and get me. I do not fear you.”.
When I yelled for a while, I saw a figure in the mist running my way with evil laughter.
“This must be her,” I reasoned.
Indeed it was her. I stood before her unfazed. With full force, she raised her hands and was about to hit me when I opened my eyes.
“Buddy. You scared us. We thought we had lost you,” said my father with tears in his eyes as he held on to me as I lay on the floor.
I looked around and saw that a crowd had gathered.
Upon noticing that I was wearing an oxygen mask, I removed it from my face and asked, “Where am I?”
“You’re in the forest. Why didn’t you wait for me to come and get you after you closed from school?” My father asked.
As he said those words, I remembered I was on my way home from school.
“Dad, I saw the girl that was lost in this forest.”
As my father was puzzled, he asked, “What are you talking about?” “Oh. You mean Sarah? It was just a story we made up to prevent children from playing in the forest.”
“Dad. I saw her. She changed into a monster and was about to attack me when I woke up,” I argued.
With a sad tone, my father said, “Buddy. We talked about this. You know you’re schizophrenic. It wasn’t real. You were hallucinating. My guess was that you wandered into the forest and had one of your episodes. We found you unconscious on the floor. You probably passed out from the scary episode.”
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