"This place looks like a horror movie," I bite my lip, gripping Jace's arm "it's so dark for no reason." He glances over, smirking.
"That's just how these kinds of trails are designed, Ciri. What, do you expect them to light up half the forest? Animals and shit live around here. It'll, ya know, interfere with their, uh, hunting... or some shit, I don't know." I shiver, squinting into the darkness. The path in front of us is decently lit, despite my complaining. The forest, however, is pitch black. I can see our shadows running over bushes faintly, and I flinch whenever they go across a branch that's moving with the wind. I know nothing's out there. There are too many people, it's too close to the city, and there's too much traffic. It's perfectly safe, but my skin runs cold and the hair on the back of my neck can't help but stand up.
"I just have a bad feeling. I'm sorry." Jace wraps an arm around my shoulders, ruffling my hair.
"It's fine, ok? I promise. I'd never bring my bestie to a murder forest." He laughs, and I give him a look. "I come here all the time, and you can see the city from here. Hell, there's even a highway like, thirty feet to the right. If anything happens just do a dead sprint for that and you'll be fine. There's so many cars on that thing, one of them will stop for you whether they like it or not." He reassures me. "Nobody would have the balls to commit a murder this close to a busy highway." I nod, reluctantly accepting his reasoning. I really hate this feeling. I know it's fine, I know I'm being ridiculous, but I really can't help it. Jace's fearlessness at least brings some sort of strange comfort, but I can't shake this ominous feeling. It's honestly more disturbing than the usual 'somebody's watching you' feeling. It's more like my body telling me I'm too close to something I shouldn't be. Like there's something in the area.
"Ok, well, can we at least start heading back? It's like, 1am and I have work tomorrow. We're pretty far from the car, too." I look up, and Jace's face is scrunched in a disgruntled frown. "We don't have to go straight back, just start heading in the general direction. Okay?" He sighs, and I smile weakly in an attempt at lightening the mood.
"Fine, but-" A twig snaps "-What was that?" His head whips around and I squeak. Jace's arm tightens around my shoulders.
"Seriously this isn't funny, Jace. I want to go home."
"I didn't do anything, C. You're just making me nervous, ok? It was probably just a dog or something." He says. I squint through the brush again, squeezing my hands open and closed nervously.
"Let's just go." I insist, and he clenches his jaw.
"Yeah, it's getting late anyway." We turn around, and what little hair wasn't already raised stands tall on my arms. My back clenches and my calves go stiff. This time it does feel like something is watching us. "Do you feel that?" Jace whispers, his arm drops from my shoulders and he grabs my hand, something he hasn't done in years, since we were kids. I can see him visibly tense up, and I hear another crunch. "What the actual fuck was that?" My pointer finger snaps up to my lips, shushing him silently. My bottom lip trembles a little and I take care to walk as quietly as possible.
A growl rumbles through the forest, and my eyes well. Jace looks ready to run. I shake my head, grabbing his arm to stop him.
"Don't run." I mouth, the look on his face makes my blood run cold. The only way I can describe it is sheer terror. Only then do I realize he's been looking behind us. I start to turn and he widens his eyes in warning. I have a feeling I shouldn't look, so I lower my eyes and stare hard at the ground, making sure I don't step on anything that would make a noise. Jace gulps and keeps his gaze half behind us as we slowly walk back up the path. It feels like an eternity, but we eventually reach the top of the trail. I can see our car parked less than twenty feet away, across the almost empty parking lot. I want to run to it so badly, but I look up at Jace instead. His eyes are still trained behind us. Fifteen more feet. I want to look, I want to look so badly. I want to know what's made a guy who could bench me in his sleep just about piss his pants. Ten more feet, and I let my head tilt a little more so my peripheral vision catches the path we'd just left. I can't see much like this, five feet, but something is standing at the edge of the forest, is it a person? Jace places me at the passenger door, and starts walking to the driver's side slowly, not letting his eyes leave whatevers waiting for us at the edge of the forest. He finally locks eyes with me, and my hand reaches for the passenger door handle.
"One," He mouths, "two," my grip tightens "three." The click of the locks breaks the silence and we both wince. That thing perks up, and my body shrinks into itself a little. I still haven't looked yet, not really, but as it raises up I can tell it's more definitely not a person. I slide into the passenger side as Jace slides into the driver's seat. The car is perfectly angled to look back at the trail, and Jace moves quickly as my eyes widen and my mouth opens to scream when I finally take a good look. His hand is over my mouth before a sound leaves my lips. It shifts back and forth, cocking its head slowly. Silent tears stream down my face and I'm sure it can smell my fear. Jace slides the keys into the ignition, turning the car on. The creature flinches away as the headlights turn on. It bares its teeth, pacing back and forth at the edge of the parking lot. Jace starts backing up slowly, and the creature places one paw onto the pavement, its claws flexing. It crouches, and Jace puts the car out of reverse and slams on the gas. The car jolts forward and so does the creature, closing those twenty-something feet in only a couple leaps and bounds, fifteen feet, I brace my arms against the dash, teen feet and I'm pressing my feet into the floor hard and my back against the seat, five and the headlights flicker and my heart jumps into my throat, just as the creature is reaching out to grab us the car pulls forward and it trips, its face slamming into the back of our car. I shriek and Jace yells out.
"FUCK." Tears are streaming down both our faces and our breathing is ragged. We don't slow down until we've passed a good fifteen cars, too terrified to stop and too paranoid to slow down. We get a lot of angry honking and middle fingers, but neither of us can bring ourselves to care.
"What was that?" I force out, finally dragging my eyes away from the forest and onto Jace. His hands are white from gripping the steering wheel too tightly, and his entire body is tense.
"I don't think we should talk about it, Ciri. Not until we're back in the city, at least." I nod, wiping away tears. I shrug my sweater off and use it to wipe Jace's face gently.
"Ok."
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