In the Night Woods

When I started the hike into the woods, I should have realized I was going to get hopelessly lost. Bill and I had yet another explosive fight this morning. It was the stupidest thing; we couldn’t agree what to do on Halloween. He wanted to go to a huge costume party, I just wanted to drive around the neighborhood and watch the kids trick-or-treating.

After our fight, I felt the need to escape. Be alone for a while, be able to breathe again. The woods seemed like the perfect place to chill out and calm down. I couldn’t have been more wrong!

As I walked, it started getting gloomy and I looked up to see a beautiful sunset through the trees. This made me realize how late it was. I really wasn't equipped for an overnight camp in the woods! All I had with me was my jacket, half a bottle of water, and a few snacks – not exactly overnight stay sustenance!

As the birds' twittering quieted around me and they drifted off to sleep, other creatures of the woodland awoke. Strange noises were coming from the darkness around me. Something large snuffled close by, maybe a bear, while a coyote or wolf howled in the distance. To my right, an owl hooted loudly, almost making me jump out of my skin. He seemed to be asking, "What are you doing here?"

****

Eventually, the moon came up, so I could at least partially see my way. I kept following the path I was on – occasionally tripping over a tree branch or a rock.

Around two hours later, I spotted a light in the distance. I headed towards it and discovered it was a candle, burning in the window of a tiny wooden hut. I breathed a sigh of relief at the possibility of shelter for the night.

I slowly walked to the door and tentatively knocked. There was silence. I nervously cleared my throat and called out, “Hello? Is anyone in there?” There was still only silence. I peeked through the window and saw the candle was almost new – it had hardly burned down at all. There had to be someone around. Who would light a candle in the window of a wooden hut and then leave? That surely makes for the danger of a forest fire.

I decided to explore and carefully made my way around the outside of the hut. My first impression was right, it was tiny. It was about the size of a small one-car garage. There were no other windows or doors to be seen. I headed back to the front of the hut and knocked again, more loudly this time, shouting, “Hello? Is anyone there?”

By this time, it was getting chilly and damp, so I tentatively tried the doorknob. As I touched it, the door opened, creaking spookily. I quietly called out again, “Is anyone there?” Again, there was no reply.

I walked into the room and almost fell over. It was the strangest thing. While the hut looked tiny from outside, the indoors was a huge space – I couldn´t see across the room in the light of the candle. What I could see was an endless dusty floor. The room appeared to be unfurnished, except for a chair and a rickety table by the window, holding the burning candle.

I stepped further into the room. As I crossed the dusty floor, it seemed to stretch out endlessly before me. The far wall felt like it was miles away. I stopped and turned around, just as the door slammed shut. The resulting blast of air blew out the candle's flame. Now I was really freaked out.

It was pitch dark, with just a little moonlight filtering through the trees and the grimy window. At last, I found a good reason for smoking, as I had my lighter in my jacket pocket. However, despite the door being closed, the flame kept blowing out.

I then remembered my phone and used the flashlight function to try and see into the room. While I was doing that, I checked to see how many bars I had – of course, there were none. It turns out I wasn't in the best place for cell phone reception!

Not knowing what to do, I just kept walking slowly across the room, dragging my feet in the dust, but there was still no sign of the opposite wall. As I moved, I heard a distant sound, something that was either some kind of machine chugging, or, even more bizarrely, someone snoring.

****

Suddenly, the walls on either side seemed to close in on me - cobwebs were brushing my face. I now felt like I was walking through a tunnel. A few moments later, the floor dipped sharply and I was walking downwards. I wanted to stop and turn around, but something impelled me to keep on going, deeper and deeper into the earth.

Suddenly, I felt something sharp prick my left foot – when I looked down I found I was wearing no shoes. Both feet were covered in dust. Tentatively feeling the sole of my left foot, I found a piece of glass, and blood was pouring out.

Seconds later, I heard whispering voices, arguing with each other. It made the hairs on my arms rise. This instantly reminded me of the silly argument with Bill. If I could take that back right now, I would.

One voice got louder and louder. Eerily, it was calling out my name, "Anne." What the hell was going on here? I tried to run, but it felt like I was running through thick syrup. I couldn’t get up any speed at all.

Moments later, the floor seemed to fall away completely and I felt myself falling. The fall seemed to go on forever. With a crash, I finally hit the bottom and passed out.

****

Seconds later, I came to. I seemed to be lying on some kind of rug. The room was in total darkness and I had no idea where I was. I was completely terrified and unable to move an inch. Suddenly, a light came on. I looked around, totally bewildered.

I was in our bedroom at home! It was Bill who turned on the light. He called out to me, “Anne, are you OK? Did you have a bad dream?”

I was flabbergasted and probably looked more than a little weird, with my mouth wide open in shock. I turned to Bill and said, “If that was just a bad dream, it was so damn realistic.”

I told Bill how I had headed into the woods after our argument and how I came across the cottage with the candle in the window. He chuckled, brushing off my story, but in a nice way, and went on to apologize for our fight.

Bill said, “Something tells me you've already had too much Halloween and it hasn’t even started yet!” He told me to climb back into bed and he would make me some warm milk to soothe my nerves.

Was it truly a bad dream, or did this really happen to me? At every stage, the experience felt so real. Despite my doubts, I laughed, also apologizing for our silly argument.

I sat on the side of the bed, finally feeling somewhat relieved – of course, it must have been a really bad dream! However, when he left the room, I looked down, only to find my feet were covered in thick dust. Lifting my left foot, I found the sole was sticky with congealed blood.