The forbidden forestUpdated at Oct 30, 2026, 04:15
The forest was calling me again.I knew it was a dream. It had to be.I stood barefoot on a narrow path surrounded by enormous trees whose twisted branches blocked out the moonlight. Thick mist crept along the ground, wrapping around my ankles like cold fingers. The air smelled of damp earth and something metallic, something that reminded me of blood.I wanted to leave.God, I wanted to leave.But my feet wouldn’t move.I had dreamed of this forest so many times that I had begun to recognize its details. The crooked tree near the entrance. The broken stone archway covered in vines. The narrow path that disappeared into the darkness.And the mansion.Always the mansion.It stood at the end of the path, its enormous black windows staring into the night like empty sockets. Its walls were covered in creeping vines, and its front door hung slightly open.I had never visited the Forbidden Forest in my life, yet every time I dreamed of it, I felt as though something inside that mansion was waiting for me.Something that knew me.Something that wanted me there.A twig snapped behind me.I spun around.“Who’s there?”My voice sounded painfully small beneath the towering trees.Silence.Then I heard a low, unfamiliar sound coming from somewhere in the darkness. It wasn’t quite a growl, but it was close enough to make the hair on my arms stand on end.I began backing away.That was when I saw it.A blue eye.It appeared between two trees, glowing faintly in the darkness.I stopped breathing.The eye was enormous, far too large to belong to any ordinary human. Its blue iris was unnaturally bright, almost beautiful, but there was something deeply wrong about the way it watched me.It didn’t blink.It didn’t look away.It simply stared.And I knew, with a certainty that made my stomach twist, that whatever owned that eye could see me perfectly.“No,” I whispered.The eye moved.Just slightly.But that tiny movement was enough to send terror rushing through my body.I stumbled backward, nearly falling over a root. My heart hammered against my ribs, and I couldn’t seem to draw enough air into my lungs.“Please,” I whispered, though I had no idea what I was begging for.The eye remained fixed on me.Then another shadow shifted behind the trees.I couldn’t see a face. I couldn’t see a body. I couldn’t even tell how far away the creature was.All I knew was that it was there.Watching me.Waiting for me.I turned and ran.Branches scratched my arms as I forced my way through the undergrowth. The mist swallowed the path behind me, and the sound of my footsteps seemed impossibly loud in the silent forest.I didn’t look back.I couldn’t.Somehow, I knew that if I looked back, the eye would be closer.A strange sound echoed through the trees.Almost like laughter.I ran faster.Then a voice rose behind me.“Brie.”I screamed.It was a whisper, yet it sounded as though the creature had spoken directly into my ear.“Brie.”I stumbled and fell hard against the cold ground.Slowly, against every instinct screaming at me to keep running, I lifted my head.The blue eye was right in front of me.I couldn’t see anything else.Just that terrifying blue gaze, staring down at me from the darkness.I tried to scream, but no sound came out.Then the eye narrowed.And a voice, deep and frighteningly calm, whispered one final sentence.“You shouldn’t have come back.”The forest disappeared.I woke up with a scream caught in my throat, my body drenched in sweat and my heart pounding so violently that I thought it might burst through my chest.For several seconds, I couldn’t recognize my surroundings.Then I saw my bedroom window, the familiar curtains, and the pale morning light spilling across my floor.My bedroom.I was home.I pressed a trembling hand against my chest and forced myself to breathe.It was only a dream.Just another nightmare.But as I pulled my knees to my chest, one thought refused to leave my mind.Why did the creature say I’d come back?I’d never been to that forest.So why did it seem to know me?