Eyes

Chapter 2

It was dark and the forest around me had fallen completely silent as the creatures of the day started to sleep and the creatures of the night began to wake. The only sound I heard was the sound of the small fire crackling as I sat and watched the flames leap and dance.

I never made fires larger than I absolutely needed to. The air was crisp tonight so I had built one to stay warm and cook but that was all. My dinner consisted of a small rabbit I had managed to catch by a pitfall trap I had made a day prior. After I had eaten I covered the fire with dirt to put it out but not smother all the warmth the coals provided.

I was sitting near the embers looking at the sky when I felt it. That same feeling of being watched I had felt earlier but this time it felt like it was coming from a distinct point of the woods. I quickly covered the rest of the embers and packed my things getting ready to leave when I heard a sound behind me. The snapping of a twig or the crunching of a leaf was all it took for me to locate my stalkers position.

I turned and looked at the direction of the sound, a knife I had stolen from some poor soul ready in my hand. If I was going down I wasn't going down easy.

"Who's there!" I yelled out in the direction of the sounds but no reply came. Carefully I stood pulling my bag on my shoulder incase I needed to run. That's when I heard something to my right, a quiet barely audible huff.

"I know you're there. You've been following me fore the past several day so you might as well come out now instead of stalking me." I said to my right just as a figure dressed in black with a hood over their head stepped put from the woods into the clearing I was in.

I couldn't make out their face but from the size and bulk of their body I could tell it was a man. He seemed to be at least 6 feet tall but being dressed in black I couldn't tell. All I could make out of his face from under his hood were his eyes.

His eyes seemed to change color in the dim lighting, never staying the same color for long. He seemed to be observing me, trying the gage what I was thinking.

"Who are you?" I tried to keep my voice level even though I was scared. I had seen what these people could do to ther own kind and I didn't want to know what they would do to a normal human like myself.

When I didn't get a reply I asked again but never got a reply. As soon as I had asked he seemed to turn and walk back the way he had came only to vanish completely before leaving the clearing. I didn't stick around to figure out if he was still around and took off running as soon as he disappeared.

I wasn't taking my chances with it and didnt stop to sleep that night, wanting to put as much distance and I could between myself the the man with strange eyes. I traveled as far as I could through the woods the next day too before I was forced to stop to rest at the edge of the woods. I didn't like to travel open spaces during the day when I was most visible.

I found a large tree that had thick branches hidden behind a shield of leaves and climbed it. I had done this several times before. Once hidden by the leaves and on a large branch I settled in, staying close to the trunk of the tree to keep hidden and to provide support to keep me from falling as I slept.

I dreamt for the first time in a long time as I slept up in the tree. I had a dream of the figure in black and those strange eyes that seemed to shift colors and glow from under the hood he had on. We were back in the clearing from last night.

"Who are you?" I asked him, knowing I probably wouldn't get an answer again.

"You'll find out soon enough." The strangers voice was deep and smooth and I couldn't help but want to hear it again.

"Why are you following me?" I asked but before I got my answer I jolted awake, back to reality.