The Figures in the Forest by Thorbjørn Pihl

The Figures in the Forest by Thorbjørn Pihl

Dense woods and orange leaves flew past on either side as Lauren sped down a narrow country road, the tires of her Kia grasping for traction on the damp asphalt. Loose clothes and paperwork tumbled around the backseat as the small car wobbled on its suspension, but she barely noticed, her eyes instead scanning the forest and road ahead for any sign of the yellow convertible her sister had left in.

Rounding a corner she nearly clipped an old van parked halfway on the road. She pulled the wheel hard and slammed the brakes, skidding to a halt and sending the wooden necklace around her rearview flying into her face. She stumbled out and over to the van. Maybe the owners had seen something, or could just tell her where she was.

The van was empty and looked like it had been parked there for a while. The license plates were missing, and three of the tires were flat. Through the tinted windows she could see a box of instant meal packets. The seats in the back had been removed in favor of a sleeping setup. Seeing the food she felt an empty rumble from her stomach. Breakfast and lunch had slipped her mind. She wasn’t the only one who had hungrily eyed the food. Scratch marks on the side looked like some small animal had tried to get in.

Lauren got back in her car. She stared at the road winding endlessly ahead like it was calling her, promising to find her sister around every next corner. She reached for the wayward necklace to return it to its perch. It was homemade with wood pearls on a hemp string, ending in a carved amulet talisman resembling a withered tree with a face. She ran her fingers over its rilled surface and closed her eyes. Her sister had given it to her a few days prior.

“This will protect you,” Ashley smiled at her. They were standing in the parking lot of a Motel 6. Tears were streaming down Lauren’s face. “I’ll just be gone for a little while. Just for a few days more. Then the forest’s spirit will be safe and I can come home.”

“Please, Ash” Lauren could barely get the words out. She had driven for 30 hours straight and her head was swimming. It had taken days to reach Ashley and find out where she was. “It’s just a game, remember. Just a game we used to play, you don’t have to go anywhere.”

“I know we used to play, but it has evolved to something more. They need me, and I must go when I’m called.” Ash closed Lauren’s hand around the necklace. “They say I can’t tell you where we’re going now. It would be too dangerous for the both of us. It’s like you used to say, our bond is too strong.” Ash smiled sweetly as she turned away, her image lingering on Lauren’s retina.

Lauren opened her eyes to face the road again. Ash had gone back to the little group waiting for her, and they had taken off in her convertible. Lauren had been too tired to follow and had ended up chasing their ghost. She had asked every gas station attendant and hitchhiker in Colorado if they had seen her lost little sister.

She set back into gear and continued. A mile later she passed a parked police car. Same as the van, it was empty, but the hood was still warm. She called out, but after ten minutes of waiting around without an answer, she drove on.

Dusk was starting to fall when she saw it. The last rays of the autumn sun made it shine like a yellow beacon in the graying surroundings. As Lauren approached she could see it had been left hastily, parked with its nose in the ditch and the retractable roof still down. The keys were gone, as well as any sign of phones or wallets. Luggage was tossed around the back seat and the trunk was a mess. As she started digging through the glove compartment for any clue as to where they might have gone, a noise from the hood of the car startled her.

She slowly got out and walked around to the front. The license plate was dangling from one screw and scratch marks lined the chrome fender. Another clang came from the car and a shadow moved underneath it.

Suddenly a brown border collie came crawling out, sending Lauren a few steps backward.

“Hey, boy.” After a moment of the two staring at each other Lauren slowly approached the dog. “What were you doing under there?” She stretched a hand out to it.

It had thick spotted fur and a large scar on either side of its mouth but seemed healthy, panting and wagging its tail as Lauren pet it.

“Your owner around?” Lauren looked around and called out, but was met with only the sound of groaning trees. The dog had a collar, but the writing on the tag was indiscernible. As she started searching the area for answers, she noticed a small hole in the brambles lining the ditch, creating a path into the forest. She looked over at the dog as if expecting an explanation from it.

She parked her car well off the road, grabbed her phone and jacket, and started down the small trail. She called to the dog to come with her, partly in the hopes she would find its owners and partly to not be completely alone. Surprisingly it followed her command and trotted back and forth as she pushed her way through small trees and undergrowth.

The leaf-covered ground gave the air an earthy smell and dampened all sounds around her. The light was growing too dim to see far off the lightly trodden path. A fog was slowly gathering.

She had stopped to regain her bearings when the dogs barking beckoned her further into the forest. Following the sound she came to a little clearing where the dog was sniffing around. A cold fire pit with a few food scraps had gotten its attention. At the other end of the clearing a rock formation had been carefully laid out, forming a large circle around a five-point star. A knot grew in Lauren’s stomach. She hurried to the center of the formation and kneeled.

In front of her lay a lock of hair, a few rings, a wooden necklace, and a leather-bound journal. All belonging to Ash. The hair was sticky with dried blood. Lauren picked up the book and flipped through it. A few pages were torn out from the back. The knot in her stomach tightened.

“You know you don’t have to do everything they say”. Ash had come home with half her hair shaven off.

“I know.” She was studying her new look in the mirror, trying to set the remaining half in a natural way. “It’s for the rituals though. Very important stuff. Got it all recorded in here” She plucked a leatherbound journal from her dresser and waved it in Lauren’s face.

“That’s just a game” Lauren took the journal and flipped through the pages of sketches of various creatures, and which plants and symbols repel them. Ash had always been the talented one, but had never dared show any of her work off like this. “You shouldn’t let it affect your choices this much.”

“What, getting a haircut? Big deal. And I was thinking of trying an undercut anyway. This is just slightly more than that.”

“I don’t just mean your haircut.”

“And why can’t a game be more than a game? You’re the one who purchased all of those books. Am I at fault for actually using them?” she gestured at a pile of books on the dresser. ‘Wiccan Craft and Folklore’ read the top one. Similar titles adorned the spines beneath it.

“Just don’t get too carried away. Your friends seem a bit… pushy”

Lauren’s knees were getting damp from the forest floor. She silently closed her sister’s journal. It was getting dark and the temperature was dropping. She picked up the rest of her sister’s things. The wooden necklace was identical to the one she had been given, except the tree at the end was in bloom. She stuck it in her pocket and breathed deeply. This was the closest she had been to Ashley since that day in the parking lot. She couldn’t turn back now.

A raised voice came through the forest. Lauren looked up, staring between the trees in the direction it came from. The collie copied her pose. Had it heard it too?

A shrill scream echoed from the same direction, and the dog shot off into the woods. Lauren scrambled to her feet and followed. Thorns and branches whipped her as she ran, guided only by the panting sounds ahead of her. She felt giddy, her heart and her mind both racing. The sound of the dog was slowly getting further and further away.

As it got darker she stopped and got her phone out. Its light revealed only a ghostly mass of trees. She listened for the dog’s panting, but it was now entirely replaced by her own. The fog pressed in on her as she took her best guess at the direction she had been heading.

The minutes ticked towards ten o’clock on her screen as she hiked. All natural light had left the forest. A thumping sound like heavy boots veered her path to the left, moving carefully forward as she strained her eyes. Getting closer she could hear a low moaning.

“Is someone there?”. Her query was answered with a rustling that turned into limping steps. She quickened her pace. The steps ahead of her mixed with a grunting as they scrambled forward. Suddenly they stopped. Then, ten feet ahead of her, supporting herself on a tree, was her sister.

She was wearing a white gown like a hospital patient, her hair was a dark tangle of branches, and across her cheek was a gash covered in what looked like black mud.

“Ash!” Lauren ran forward, but Ashley swung wildly and hit her phone out of her hand. Before Lauren could react Ashley had turned and run into the forest.

“Ash, wait!” She called and followed, but a rock or a root in her way sent her to the ground. She crawled hurriedly, crying out after her sister while feeling her way across the ground.

The canopy of the trees broke, letting the moon somewhere above give the fog a faint, pale blue glow. In front of her, she could make out the outline of a tall cliff. Silence gathered around her.

She followed the cliffside with a hand. The night was getting cold. She had no clue where she was. Her body started shaking as she moved forward. She stopped to rest, leaning against the cliff. The knot in her stomach returned and tears started to well up in her eyes.

“Hello?” a voice called out from the forest. A distant light flashed across the cliffside.

“Hello?” Lauren called out. “Hello! Help! I’m over here!” The flashlight sprung out from between the trees and found her shape against the wall. She pushed away and sprinted towards it, hoping to find the owner of the police car.

“Help! I think someone is in danger!”. She stumbled through the undergrowth into the cone of light. The flashlight lowered, illuminating in front of her a hiker with a worried look under his shabby stubble.

“Were you the one who screamed?” the Hiker said after letting Lauren catch her breath.

“No. That was someone else. Somewhere over there.”

“What are you doing out here?” His eyebrows curled in a disapproving look as he glanced over her lacking outdoor attire.

“Looking for someone”.

The hiker stood for a moment, chewing on her words.

“There’s a cliff up ahead,” She continued, “I heard that scream and was following it.”

“You’re bleeding.” The hiker shone the light on her. Her hands were covered with scratches and dirt, but the cold had numbed them from any sensation.

“I’m fine. But the scream came from over there.” She gestured behind her.

“You sure you’re alright? How long have you been out here?”

“I don’t know. Hours.” She could feel the knot moving from her stomach to her throat as she tried to choke back the tears. “Do you know which direction the road is?”

“Yeah.” He pointed over his shoulder. ”I’ll show you if you want. My car is parked close by. I was just heading back when I heard the scream. “

Lauren glanced back towards the cliff. She had no way of figuring out which way her sister had gone. Her heart sunk in her chest.

“That would be nice.”

“Come on then.” He nodded as he turned to start. “I’m Ulf by the way.”

“Lauren”

They walked in silence one after the other. Lauren tried to warm her hands in her pockets while her head swam with thought. The image of her sister in the white gown kept coming back to her.

Half an hour later they came to the road, where the old van was parked. Lauren hesitated as Ulf opened up the back.

“Yeah I know it doesn’t look great. I found it in this state a couple of days ago. I was out for the day and when I came back the plates were stolen and those marks had appeared.”

“So you like. Live here?”

Ulf’s face fell. “I’m looking for my brother. He disappeared over a week ago. The police have stopped searching. I’ve read about people being found weeks after their disappearance though. If I comb through the forest thoroughly enough…” His voice trailed off.

“My sister came out here yesterday. She was with some people.”

“Is that who you’re looking for? Maybe there’s still hope for her then. Anyway it’s too dark and cold to do anything about it now.” He turned on the engine and entered the back of the van. “You can get warm here for now.”

Lauren hopped into the van. She considered the common warnings of following strangers in the woods but figured she hadn’t much choice in her current situation.

The warmth from the heater burned her cheeks and she started to recover the feeling in her hands. The inside was pragmatically furnished with a bed, storage, a small stove, and a shelf crammed with books. Ulf fished out a water bottle and a protein bar from a box.

“Have you eaten?”

Again Lauren became aware of her own thirst and hunger. She downed half the bottle and tore into the bar.

“How did your sister end up out here?” Ulf handed her another bar.

As she bit into it she relayed the last couple of days chasing her sister across state borders. Ulf listened attentively as she told about Ashley’s changing behavior and the weird group of people she was with.

“I’m afraid it’s some sort of cult. I found this at one of their campsites.” She handed Ulf the bloodied hairlock from her pocket. “I’m afraid of what they’ll do to her”.

“And you just came running after her into the forest. No water, no food, no plan?”

“I thought I could convince her to come back with me. But she just wouldn’t. She really believed that she had to go with them.”

Ulf sat in silence. His face wrinkled in thought as he slowly responded.

“I don’t think they’re a cult… I don’t think they’re human at all. “

Lauren looked dumbly at him.

“I know it sounds crazy, but I think they’re something else in the shape of humans.”

“So you’re one of those as well?” She responded dryly. ”My sister never understood where the games ended and reality began either. And now it’s sent her into that forest with a bunch of lunatics.” Lauren looked sternly at Ulf. “I’m out of here.” She started for the back door, but Ulf put out a hand to stop her.

“Before my brother disappeared he started acting differently. At first seemed overjoyed, out of his mind happy. He said he had been chosen for some sort of ceremony. He was over the moon about it. But one day his attitude changed to one of fear. He started buying all these books. And then he disappeared. I think he found something out, but he was too late to do anything about it.” A tang of desperation was in his eyes. He leaned back and continued in a calmer tone.

“And anyway, where would you go? You can’t go looking for her now, you’d just get lost, and you said your car is miles away. Stay here the night, and then do what you will. But we’ll have a better chance of finding them if we work together.”

Lauren weighed her options. The fog was getting so thick outside the van that she’d probably lose herself just following the road. Ulf seemed like a nut, but not dangerous. And at least he wasn’t in on whatever her sister’s friends were up to.

“Fine.” She paused for a second. “And thank you. But don’t think I’m buying into your whole ‘something in the shape of humans’ thing.”

“If you’d seen some of the weird things I have, you’d probably think twice.” He pulled down the books from the shelf.

“These are some of the ones my brother bought. Just try to read one. Even if it won’t change your mind it won’t hurt you to be prepared.”

Lauren looked at the selection. Most of them were familiar to her. She looked up at Ulf, who had pulled out a map and strained to put his full attention on it. She picked up a book and flipped through the pages, failing to read anything but a couple of stray headings.

“This one has werewolves!” Ash excitedly shoved a tome onto the heavy pile Lauren was already carrying. “You can kill them with a silver knife and mistletoe.”

“And you can kill me under the weight of these. Plus I thought we were doing witch theme this month. You can’t bring a werewolf to a summoning circle, they’ll just eat the human sacrifice.”

“Well what if the witch wants a werewolf as a pet. Or if she has to fight one.”

Lauren looked at the price tag on it. It had been fished out of the second-hand bin, Ash’s favorite part of the local LARPing store.

“Fine. On one condition. You actually join one of the games they run down here.” Lauren gestured to a table marked ‘Tabletop Tuesdays Signup’. A boy in a leather tunic and a feathered hat was sitting behind it staring off into the distance. “You gotta be able to use all of this knowledge for something. And maybe you’ll stop bugging me when I’m doing homework.”

Ash’s eyes went huge as they darted back and forth between Lauren and the kid. At last she gathered up courage and accepted the terms, timidly walking towards the table.

Lauren closed the book again with a sigh. She observed Ulf’s careful studying. He made the same face Ash used to when absorbed in a book.

“You do know they are fiction right? I mean Stoker wasn’t exactly writing a pocket manual on vampires.” She gestured at a copy of Dracula in the pile.

“Why not? He goes into great detail about it. And wrapping it in a story means it got published around the world.” His tone was still tight from before. He seemed serious, but Lauren couldn’t help smiling.

“I think we met around here” Ulf pointed to the map in front of him. “The cliff you mentioned has a cave marked on it. I’m gonna start by looking there tomorrow. And I still think we have a better chance if we work together.”

“You’re right.” Lauren nodded. He’d been here a while and probably knew the area well at this point. “We’ll look together. I’m gonna get some sleep. Mind if I use the front seats?”

Lauren settled into the passenger’s seat tucked in under her coat and a small blanket Ulf had given her. There was a framed picture on the center console of a family of four, posing on some sunny mountain top. She guessed it was a younger Ulf with his parents and his brother. The glowing smile and excitement in the photo were now only a trace on his face, replaced by the constant worried curl on his lip. She glanced back through the glass pane separating the cabin from the back. Ulf still had his nose buried in books and maps.

She pictured herself in his position, wandering the forest for weeks and never getting closer to Ash. Believing in monsters to explain what had happened, instead of facing the reality of a sibling losing their mind. The image of Ash in the forest came back to her. The white robes and wild look on her face. How could she explain that? Ash barely seemed to recognize her. And her face had been all torn up.

She set the photo back. Those were the exact thoughts that had brought Ash out here, and were troubling Ulf’s grief. She pushed it out of her head and drifted to sleep.

A tapping on the windshield stirred her. A flashlight was pouring in and a hand signaled to open up. She put the cabin lights on and lowered the window.

“You all need some help?” the speaker was an older woman with a wind-eaten face and a monotone voice. She was wearing a large winter jacket with a badge pinned on it.

“No, I think we’re ok. We’re just overnighting here.” Lauren groggily replied.

“You’ve got a flat,” The officer shone her light down the side of the car. “or three.”

“Oh, yeah. It’s my friend’s van. Someone stole the plates. I think we could use some help, yeah.” Lauren replied.

“You need a tow then. There’s a mechanic in town west of here who can fix you up. I’m parked just up away from here if you want a lift to the hotel tonight.” She pointed the flashlight up the road.

“Uhm. I’ll stay here for the night.” Lauren hesitated as Ulf’s words came back to her. She studied the officer. Sleep was clouding her mind, and she shook the thought.

”I lost my sister in the woods. My little sister. I have to stay and look for her.”

“Missin’ person, eh? Lotsa folks go missin’ in the forest. Had one reported a few weeks back. And his poor brother searchin’ for him. Lost my dog too. Still patrollin’ for ‘er. Well I’ll radio the sheriff to have a look, send up a tow truck in the mornin’. You sure you wanna stay here for the night?”

Lauren glanced to the back. The cabin lights dimly showed a sleeping Ulf. She could feel a tingle of fear in the back of her mind.

“Your friend back there?” the officer continued.

“Umm, yeah. We’re good for the night. But thank you.”

Lauren gave her own and her sister’s name, and described where she’d seen her in the woods. The officer looked skeptical at the mention of Ash’s wild behavior and the people she had been with.

“Alright. Don’t stray too far now, in your searchin’. Keep the road where you can see it. I’m sure they’re just off making’ trouble like kids do. An’ groups have better chances of bein’ found. Have a good night now.” The officer continued down the road and disappeared into the fog.

Lauren leaned back and tucked in to sleep, but uneasy thoughts clung to her mind. Stirring, her hand found the necklace in her jacket pocket. She pulled it out and studied its carved design. Something had been strange about the cop, something about her story didn’t match up with what Ulf had told her. She looked out into the fog. The tingle of fear stirred again in the back of her mind, an uneasy feeling of being watched, or of something looming close by. There was no movement outside. What was she expecting? She tried to shake the feeling and pocketed the necklace. Double checking that the door was locked she turned and drifted to sleep.

Next morning the cold washed over her like a wave as she got out of the van. The fog laid dense from last night, giving the world a gray shine. She went around the back and knocked, and a second later it popped open to reveal an enthusiastic Ulf. He was sitting on the bed with a bunch of glass bottles and small containers. The smell of herbs and incense sailed out from within.

“Are you serious? You want to go werewolf hunting with a yankee candle?”

“Good Morning.” Ulf smiled. “And no. I never said anything about werewolves. But it can’t hurt to be prepared. I mean if they are a loony cult you can’t expect them to let your sister just wander off with us.”

Lauren was caught by his words. She was pretty sure she could strongarm her sister, and wished she had at their last meeting, but had never stopped to think about what her companions might do.

“Maybe. But I’m pretty sure a clove of garlic won’t help us much there either.”

“No, but this might.” Ulf pulled out a knife the length of a forearm and handed it to her shaft first. Either the sight of it or the thought of using it sent a visible hesitation through her body.

“I mean. Just in case of course. To scare them off.” Ulf quickly explained.

Lauren timidly took it.

“You can hook it to your belt.” Ulf gestured to a matching piece hanging from his hip. Lauren fixed it while glancing over the various gear Ulf was stuffing into a pair of large backpacks.

“Do you just have two of everything?”

“Can’t hurt to be prepared.”

Lauren watched his measured motions as he checked and packed a compact hiking stove. All his preparation hadn’t helped him find his brother. Still he kept it up, like a machine running on expired instructions.

“An officer came by last night. I reported my sister officially missing.”

“I’m sorry. It makes it feel real, doesn’t it?” Ulf glanced at her. Lauren Shrugged.

“They said they would come by here as soon as they found anything. And would bring a tow truck later, if we want. Should we wait for them?”

Ulf hesitated. “I’m not waiting. Finding you was my biggest lead so far, I’m gonna follow that trail while it’s fresh. You can wait if you want.”

Lauren looked into the forest. Ashley was somewhere in there. The longer they waited the harder she would be to find.

“I’ll leave a note.”

They set off into the forest with enough holy water and religious symbols to convert a small village, plus their knives, food, warm clothes, and a map that marked out where Ulf had already searched. Despite her snide remarks, Lauren felt more confident having a sense of preparation, pushing the strange thoughts from the previous night to the back of her mind.

Their course was towards the cliff they had met at the previous night, but the fog made retracing their steps slow. The whole forest disappeared into infinity just twenty feet in front of them, and the world outside their little bubble was muffled to a whisper. Lauren’s thoughts drifted as she spied through the trees. Their naked branches and grey forms in the moist autumn air reminded her of playing with Ash years ago.

“The spell protects us from monsters, right?” Ash was sitting criss-cross under a little roof of branches. They had moved up to Portland that summer and Ashley hadn’t made many friends in her new fourth-grade class, so most afternoons Lauren was stuck with her by her side.

“Yes, I told you” Lauren put the final stone in place, forming a large circle around their little hideout. “Nothing evil can cross this boundary”.

The woods behind their parent’s apartment building were about the size of a football field. The low hum of the highway could be heard even in the center of it. Despite this, it had taken a month to get Ashley to go near them. Now she could almost be here alone, given it was the middle of the day.

“Now get the hot coco. Real witches always drink hot coco to keep their cold-blooded bodies warm.”

“I don’t wanna be a witch.. they’re ugly and scary.”

“We’re good witches, remember? Beautiful as the dawn and fierce as the night. And yes we are scary, to anyone who will cross us.” Lauren tickled Ash in a sudden motion, getting a squeal and a laugh out of her.

“And if you are the scary one, you don’t have to be scared yourself. All the other scary things will be scared of you instead and run away! And then you will be the master of the forest. And until then” Lauren pulled a small homemade necklace from under her shirt. Ashley had a matching one dangling around her neck.

“This will protect you.”

“Ok. I’ll get the coco.”

Ulf pulled out a flashlight and lit around the cave. Its entrance had only been 50 feet from where they met the night before.

“There seems to have been a sort of camp here. No sign of a fire or anything though.” Ulf was kicking through a couple of food wrappers on the floor. The cave ceiling was low but continued far into the cliff. Parts of it were collapsed, leaving a maze of boulders and rocks throughout. Their footsteps shifted loose pebbles with a crunchy sound as they went further in. The air was damp and smelled like wet fur.

“Hey shine that over here”. Lauren was standing over a small bundle crumbled up in a dark corner. She felt the earth shift beneath her as the light fell on Ashley’s rose-pink coat. Grabbing it from the floor revealed a small pile of clothes and jewelry.

“Why would she leave this here? She must be freezing to death” Lauren’s voice hardened as she dug through the pile. In the coat pockets, a few pieces of paper were bundled up. Lauren unfolded them and recognised Ash’s handwriting densely filling the pages.

Ulf stood over her, watching silently as she read.

“The ritual is almost ready” Lauren read the last few sentences on the paper aloud.

“I would like to record the whole thing, but they say we must leave ourselves behind as we enter the sacred circle of the lake. They say there is beautiful and powerful magic there, the magic that sustains them. But they are weak now, and they need my help. If the tree is tended to, they will regain their strength. They have started showing me their true forms. At first it frightened me. Now I see it though. They too are beautiful. Beautiful like the dawn, and fierce like the night.”

The last sentence weighed heavily on Laruen’s mind. The lines on the paper blurred for her as her eyes unfocused and tears gathered at their edges. The knot in her chest returned stronger than before. Ulf stood over her in silence, her breathing quickening as she fought to control it. She sat still for a while, her swirling thoughts at last focusing on the words in front of her.

“I did this.” She broke the silence. “I filled her head with those ideas. I was just… and now she’s going crazy with them.”

“No” Ulf sat next to her and took the papers. “Whatever those people are, they’re the ones who brought her out here, not you. They showed her something that convinced her to follow them. For what it’s worth I don’t think she’s crazy. And neither was my brother.” He folded out the map.

“All we can do now is try to find her. There’s a large lake six miles northwest. That could be the one she was talking about.”

“Whoever they are. Whatever they are.” Lauren spoke in a trance. “How can I do anything about it? She won’t listen to me. And if they really are… things, and not human, like you say. Like she has written. What can I do to stop them then.” Lauren looked over at Ulf. She felt helpless. “Maybe we should go back and find that cop again.”

“You can’t stop here. We have to follow her” Ulf suddenly looked serious. “She wrote something about a ritual. If we don’t find her before then, it might be too late. If you turn back now you’re giving up.”

Lauren was frozen in place. She turned the words from her sister’s journal over in her head again and again, trying to fit one reality on the other like square pegs in a round hole. She had invented these games when they were children. They were absurd stories from books and nonsensical video game plotlines. That her sister could have seen them come alive, and that Ulf’s brother had fallen victim to them, could only be an extension of these fantasies. A result of confusing them with reality.

Once again the image of Ashley in the white gown returned to her. The thought of the cop trying to persuade her to leave the area. The weird scratches on Ulf’s car, the story of his brother, the scream in the forest. The books she had read her whole life, stories repeating across different times and different cultures.

“I haven’t given up hope.” Ulf continued. “And if this tells us anything” he held up Ashley’s notes, “It is that we might have a chance.”

Lauren looked up at him, the thoughts still racing in her head. Finally she pulled her sister’s necklace from her pocket and fastened it around her neck.

“Let’s get going then.”

The landscape passed them like swells coming through the fog, their path weaving around rocky hills and overgrown thickets. Lauren lost her sense of where they were, but Ulf’s confident stride gave her a feeling that they were making progress. She followed him blindly as her thoughts grew more determined. She imagined what they might find at the end of their trail; What state Ashley would be in, cold and weakened by the wild chase into the forest, but alive. She kept imagining her alive. Wherever she was, whatever had happened to her, Lauren knew it was her fault that it hadn’t stopped earlier.

Night was crawling in as the ground under their feet started going steadily downwards.

“We should be getting close,” Ulf said. The fading light had turned their surroundings dark gray. Lauren’s feet were swollen and her legs were burning. They had stopped just once to eat. Despite this, she could only think of continuing. Since noon she had felt as if in a trance, razor focused on her goal yet completely outside her body, her legs carrying her on autopilot.

The slanted terrain made Lauren feel like she was being funneled towards some dark conclusion, the black pit of a vortex that had been slowly sucking her in. She became deeply aware of her surroundings. Each step rustling the leaves was a crisp tone in the air. Each tree they passed a vivid painting. It seemed to her that the entirety of reality had shifted in her mind.

She went through the past couple of days in her head. How had she gotten here? So far away from everything she knew, utterly lost with her only lifeline being the stranger trotting in front of her. She took a deep breath.

The darkness around them was almost complete, and Ulf was leading the way with his flashlight. He stopped and looked at the map, his breathing heavy from the trek. Lauren was staring into the trees when she noticed a pale green glare filling the fog. “Turn off the light,” she whispered. “There’s something up ahead”.

Ulf hesitated a second but then obeyed. As their eyes adjusted to the green glow in the fog they could just about make out the forest around them.

“Can you hear water?” Ulf Asked.

Lauren listened for a bit. A soft lapping of waves could be heard as the sole sound in the darkness.

“Let’s try to see where that light is coming from”. She started with careful footsteps, now taking the lead.

The forest was denser in this direction, and the bushes and branches of small trees scraping against their jackets seemed absurdly loud in their attempt at sneaking forward. The sound of small waves on the lake’s shore grew closer, and the light became brighter. An opening in the trees slid into view, and the undergrowth made way for a carpet of withered grass and dead leaves. In the middle of the clearing, the source of the light stood clearly cut out in the darkness, as if the fog had parted around it. It was a short, thick, gnarled old tree. Along its trunk and branches, glowing cracks flowed like veins, pulsing with energy and casting a sickly hue on the forest around it.

Lauren stopped dead in her tracks. She was trying to whisper something to Ulf but her lips were paralyzed. She held up the talisman around her neck, its carved wooden amulet bearing the same curves as the tree in the clearing. Ulf grabbed her shoulder and pulled her towards a brush on the edge of the clearing.

“I think someone is coming” His voice quivered. She quietly squatted behind a branch but positioned herself to see as much of the clearing as possible. Ulf’s face was pulled together in a distorted expression. She could tell he was trying to hide his shaking.

“Listen” Ulf tried again, his voice choking on the way out. She heard footsteps. First a few, but slowly more started to emanate from all around the clearing. Across from their hiding place, Lauren saw figures emerge from between the trees. Three people dressed in the same white robes Ash had been in the night before came forth. They walked with slow gaits, their eyes focused on the old tree that illuminated them.

More figures came from other directions. Seven people had emerged into the clearing when, instead of humans, animals came forth in the same manner. A coyote and two dogs, came from one place, and a cat from another. The gathering stood completely still. Lauren could feel her heart beat in her chest. Ulf made a low whining noise as he turned away and shrank behind a large root.

Lauren put a hand out to quiet him down, but just then the clearing set in motion. Some of the figures stumbled backward, while others fell to their knees. Low grunts and groans came from them, the dogs barking as if choking on something. One of them emitted a loud, shrill scream. Then they started to change.

Scars started to appear on the faces of all the creatures. Lauren caught a gasp in her throat as the closest of the figures doubled over. What had before been a woman with long dark hair began growing around the shoulders, her gown slipping off. The skin on her face looked as if it was starting to boil as it slowly turned into a black sludge and her features disappeared. Her long hair grew and shrank wildly, swirling into her skin and merging with it. Her body convulsed in irregular rhythms. After a while it stopped, and the creature looked up. Its face was a flowing mass like a slow river of black roots, the only constant being two jet-black circles, large and round like an owl’s eyes.

The rest of the creatures had taken on the same complexion, black masses large and small, their skin like roots and branches covered in tar. Some of them moved closer to the center of the circle, their humanoid shapes writhing and changing as they did, sprouting limbs and taking on animalistic countenances. Lauren felt sick to her stomach.

Two more figures emerged just to the right of where they were sitting. Between them was a third, shorter figure: Ashley. Her cheeks weren’t scarred like the others’ had been, but she was wearing the same white robe. Her head had been shaven to the point that her scalp was marked by razor cuts. She was looking around the clearing with a joyous smile. Lauren snapped out of her frozen state. Ash was here. The real Ash. She had found her. They were so close she could almost reach out to her. Silent tears started down Lauren’s cheeks.

She grabbed the knife from her hip and moved to run for her sister, but Ulf’s hand grabbed around her and sent them both to the ground.

“Not yet,” he tried to keep his voice low. “Have you not seen those things? There’s so many of them. There is no way we can do anything.”

Lauren threw him off and stumbled back to her lookout point, but Ashley and the two figures had already moved closer to the tree, out of her reach. She sent a scornful look at Ulf, who was still on the ground, covering his face and sobbing. She turned her attention back to the circle. Ashley had moved forward, away from the two figures, approaching the tree alone. She let the white robe slide from her shoulders onto the ground. Her body was bathed in the pale glow from the tree, but despite her naked form and the biting night she did not seem cold at all, moving unburdened across the ground. Lauren clutched her knife, waiting for an opening.

As Ash approached the tree, its old trunk started to give way, moving like a door of flesh to reveal its hollow core. The creatures in the clearing muttered in low growls that filled the air and mingled with the softly lapping waves, creating a buzz around Lauren’s ears. Ashley walked into the tree’s opening as it spilled its sickly green hue onto her. She turned around and looked out, almost directly at Lauren. A smile dawned on her face and tears gathered on her cheeks. Vines and branches extended from the tree and encircled her like an octopus capturing its prey. Her eyes slowly shut and her limbs went limp, being held up only by the snare of the tree.

Lauren clenched her teeth.

“Please” Ulf muttered from the ground beside her “Not yet. Just wait a little longer”

“Why?” she snarled at him and got ready to run for the monsteresque tree. “You already ruined my chance”

“Because…” he coughed up in a gravelly voice. Lauren glanced down at him. He slowly looked up at her, scars starting to form across his cheeks. Her hand instinctively reached for her necklace. Behind her, the clearing roared to a crescendo.

“Because we get so hungry after the ritual.”

Through blurry eyes Lauren watched the canopy slide by. A warm tickle of blood flowed from her forehead into her eyes. The ground was cold but soft as she was dragged across it in intermittent tugs. The green light was getting brighter, but she was unsure where it was coming from.

“I’m scared Lauren.” Ashley was lying in the upper bunk.

“What are you scared of?”

“I don’t know. The dark. And if there are things in it”

“There’s nothing to be scared of.”

“But what if there is? What if there is something in the dark?”

“Then there is still nothing to be scared of. Because anything in the dark can’t get to you.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I’m magical,” Lauren sat up in her bed. “I was taught magic to keep away scary things and protect the good things.” She reached for a small necklace she had made at school that day and crawled up to her sister. “See this? If we hang this on the bed, nothing can get us in it.”

“How do you become magical?”

“I learned it. And tomorrow I can teach you too. But first you have to sleep, and to not be scared. The magic only works if you really believe in it. Can you do that?”

“Ok. I can do that.”

* * * * THE END * * * *
Copyright Thorbjørn Pihl 2025