Not Real. Not Imaginary.

PART FIVE: NINA. [Black stone]

Everything around us changed. It was like walking into another world. The colors mixed with each other, and danced all around.

I looked down, and realized the little girl wasn’t there anymore.

I looked all around…but I couldn’t see her. She was gone, and I was worried. I walked a couple steps forward, confused, and searching for somewhere she could’ve gone through.

Everything was the same…but it was…different, too. The trees were all from different, wild colors; the grass, the water.... It was like walking into a painting…one where everything was how it was supposed to be, and at the same time…it was not.

I heard a giggle, and turned my head in its direction. Without realizing, I started to run towards it. I could barely make out what I was passing by. I was too focused in going forward, there was something that kept pushing and pulling me in that direction…I wasn’t just looking for the girl anymore.

The trees were blending together; everything was just a colorful blur that I kept running by. The air here, unlike in the other forest, was sickeningly sweet and I was starting to get nauseous, but I kept going forward, I needed to.

The need kept growing stronger the more I ran, and it didn’t feel like I was getting close to wherever I was supposed to be now…. I felt a slight tinge of despair mixing up with my need to get to wherever I was trying to get to.

I was about to give up when I heard it again. A small giggle to my right. I stopped and looked in that direction. There was a very clear path between the colorful trees. I was panting to catch my breath, when I heard the giggle again. This time I walked towards it. I walked into the path, I looked down at the ground, and saw it was formed by small and smooth white rocks. They were so perfectly aligned, that it seemed like someone had placed them on purpose.

After a couple of minutes, I looked down, and noticed there was one single black pebble in the middle of the way. I walked towards it and crouched next to it, to inspect it closer. It was shiny and looked a lot smoother than the white rocks…so smooth…. I reached towards it…I wanted to see if it was as smooth as it looked.

When I reached for it, I heard some rustle nearby, between the trees. I looked in the direction of the noise, but everything seemed calm…. I just squinted my eyes and looked back at the stone. To my surprise…it was gone.

“What the…” I stood up, frowning…confused.

I looked around me to see if maybe, I somehow got turned around when I turned my gaze at the forest to place the noise in it…but there was nothing around me, no black shiny stone.

I was certain it was there. I was not imagining it…it was definitely there. Then…where did it go? There was no one else around me…this place seemed to be deserted….

The path didn’t seem to come to an end anytime soon, so I shook my head, dismissing the whole incident and started to walk again. However, this time something felt different; it was a sensation…like if everything had become colder…but I could only know the coldness was there…not really…feel it. My breath wasn’t fogging up in front of me, but I could almost see the trees covering up in frost.

I had to rub my eyes. I wasn’t really seeing this happen, I just…knew…or rather…felt, it was happening…but I couldn’t see it happening. It was like if my consciousness was divided between this and another reality. Everything that was going on right now was surreal. I couldn’t explain, not even to myself, what was happening now. I had never experienced something quite like that before.

The light started to fade, very slowly, like the night was coming. I kept walking, and started to get the feeling that I was being watched, like someone was following me, and then, I heard rustling again. This time on both sides of the path.

I stopped and looked around me, alarmed. Fear was starting to grow within me.

“Hello?” I waited….and of course, there was no answer.

I sighed and shook my head again, as if it was going to make everything fade away, and then I kept walking…a little faster, as the fear kept growing inside me.

The sickeningly sweet breeze brushed past me, rustling the leaves on the trees. And now I was more alert, because with this noise, it would be harder to identify any other sound.

Despite not being able to identify any other sound, I could feel it following me. It felt like one entity, surrounding me completely. Preoccupied about it, I forgot to look ahead at the path; then I stumbled and almost fell. When I looked down to see what had tripped me, I saw the shiny, black stone again. It shone even brighter despite the fact that the light was almost gone.

The light…was almost gone! And I was nowhere near my actual destination. I was scared, and distracted by a stone in the middle of the path. I crouched down to take it. I didn’t understand why I wanted to touch it so badly. It was just a stone…a very shiny and smooth looking stone….

While my attention was centered in the stone, I forgot to mind whatever was stalking me from behind the trees…. I felt its presence right behind me; I felt a shiver sliding down my spine, and my body began to tremble slightly, and just to add on all the fun, as I got distracted by the presence…the stone disappeared again.

I scoffed at myself….the situation was ridiculous. How many times would I fall for the same trick? I tried not to acknowledge the presence behind me, and stood up without looking back at it. Pretending everything was okay…pretending there was nothing there. And then, I kept walking forward.

I would have never thought that a colorful forest like this one could be so scary. All the scary movies I’ve ever watched, where people get lost in the forest, or are chased in it…were nothing compared to this scene. It was something completely innocent looking…yet so terrifying.

A light shone further away, and I felt momentarily relieved, but…whatever was following me, had gotten impatient and now, and I could feel its cold breath on the back of my neck…I could hear a small, almost silent growl behind me, as if it was demanding attention, as if it was demanding fear, from me. And it worked, I slowed down…not because I intended to…but because I was shivering so much.

My legs felt weak…as did my entire will right now.

I felt my clothes get stuck on something…being held on to, by something. I stopped moving immediately, and I could almost feel a grin forming in whatever creature was behind me right now.

There was no way to ignore it now, it had already realized I was aware of its presence. I felt my heartbeat racing with fear, my chest felt tight, heavy…and light, at the same time. My breathing quickened.

All I could do now was to stand there and wait. I wasn’t sure what I was waiting for…but I couldn’t do more. I was too scared to move at all.

The creature’s…’claws’, hovered right at the side of my face, and as I looked at it without moving my head, right from the corner of my eyes…they fell on my shoulder. They were cold, almost as cold as ice. I gasped. My breathing got even faster…I was terrified….

I didn’t know what to expect, what was going to happen next…but I am sure…what did happen…was not at all something I would’ve imagined.

I heard rustling in the forest again, and couldn’t help but to look around. I jumped away and covered my mouth, gasping, expecting to meet whatever creature was there…but, instead of facing the horrible, terrifying creature I had imagined would be there, I saw a girl….

A girl of around seventeen years old was there, standing in the middle of the path. No terrifying creature around, just a girl, alone, in the middle of the woods….

She was wearing an old, grey robe. Her hair and eyes matched in darkness. At first glance she had a certain gentleness to her features...

“Are you lost too?” I asked, not thinking too much before doing so, or why.

She didn’t answer.

I gulped, trying to swallow my fear, to get rid of it; then I sighed trying to gather some courage inside me. I started to walk towards her, and she didn’t move, in fact, she didn’t move at all the whole time…she didn’t even blink.

“Are you okay?” I tried to get an answer out of her. But like the last time, she didn’t answer.

I stopped in my tracks as I walked a little closer. Something about the whole scene wasn’t right.

Then, she smiled, and as soon as she did…I wished I had never looked in her direction.