The forgotten land

In a night without moon I was staring at the black sky, it was a beautiful night, there were no stars and no moon visible, but somehow it wasn’t pitch black, the sky was glowing and make everything around me seem like a sketch. Not even the animals or insects made a noise in the darkness; it’s as if the world stood still for the moment. But then… The electricity from the air makes my hair stand, in just a second the atmosphere changed, I had no idea what was going on, but somehow I was scarred by something I just could not see! I was frustrated that I didn't listen to my family when they told me not to venture away from the camp, that it was dangerous, this being a wild forest where people rarely passed.  It seemed that time stood still, I felled like I was being watched, as if someone hidden was checking my every breath. However, I could not see anything, for a second I had the impression that I saw two flashes in a bush, but they disappeared as quickly as they appeared. I wanted to leave, but my legs wouldn't listen to me, no matter how much I wanted to get to camp, it seemed impossible, fear made me freeze instead! I couldn't understand, I never went through something like this, as if something instinctive made me stay still, as if my life depended on it. I slowly approached the rock wall behind me and clung to it, in a way I felt safer, at least that's how I knew no one could sneak in to attack me from behind! I thought about calling for my parents, but they were quite far away and I felt it was not a good idea, if I was really being watched it would not have arrived on time and the situation could be worse for me. It hasn't been more than 2 minutes since I felt like something was following me, but it seemed like hours had passed, I was sweating, and my breathing was heavy, no matter how hard I tried I couldn't breathe normally, I couldn't calm down. So I sat there clinging to the rock and waited, hoping things would calm down on their own. If he hasn't attacked me so far, maybe that's not his goal, I've been here for a while and he must have seen that I'm alone and a easy prey. We had to come here, in the mountains around Transylvania, one of the last virgin forests in Europe, the last in which wolves, bears and other wild animals can be found! The Carpathian Mountains are known as the last wilderness stronghold on the continent. At the same time, they are known for the legends of werewolves, vampires, undead, witches... We are not talking about fantasy stories, but about horror stories in all respect... Here even people are different… Cute and ready to help you at any time, but serious and tough when you ask them personal or indiscreet questions. People in one piece who seem to be hiding a secret world they adhere to. Even now in the 21st century you find out about strange stories, about exhumed dead whose family burns their hearts and drinks the ashes because the man is an undead and haunts their loved ones, or dead who have a stick in their heart or a needle in their belly to hold the dead in the grave… a strange place for our world and time. Slowly I began to relax, as if the pressure I had felt so far, gradually rose until I managed to calm down. Then I started to hear voices coming towards me... “Nefeli… Nefeli… where are you?” “I’m here mother! I’m ok!” “What the hell are doing, we were so scarred, I told you not to go so far, and I told you it’s dangerous” “I was just thinking about stuff and I lost track of time”. I did not want to tell them about me being scarred, mostly because I did not see anything that should make me scarred, I could have imagined it. My father looked at me and was shaking his head… He seems so tough, but he gets desperate whenever me or Eric are in danger, no matter how tough he is at work with us he is a lamb, and I loved him for this, he’s a great dad. We returned to the camp, where the fire was still burning, and my brother was grinning at me because I got into trouble. Eric was incredibly annoying when he wanted to, but I loved him too. We had a pretty close relationship, especially since we rarely saw each other because of school and my father's job. Eric was studying in England, and my father being a colonel in the U.S. Army meant we moved quite often. My mother was used to it and always said that we have a great opportunity to see and know places that many would not even dream of and that we should take advantage of that. But she, too, missed a house to call her own. “What where you doing for so long, thinking at that boyfriend of yours?” asked Eric with a smile on his face? “Not your business, you jerk, but actually no… Don’t laugh but I think something was hunting me, everything was fine and in a second I felt a fear so profound that I thought I was going to die of a heart attack…” “What was it?” he asked worriedly “I don’t know… I never saw anything, but I sensed it’s there” “OMG…Are you going crazy…”he said laughing  out loud  “…how long did you stay there scared at nothing…”he was holding his belly, my mom and dad looking at us, as they gathered wood around the camp. “God, you are terrible, you promised you will not laugh, I just felt someone was watching me” “You know sis, you read too much crazy story about Transylvania, it’s just a forest, a big one but nothing more, and it’s not the first one we camp in”  he told me in a slightly ironic tone, stroking my hair, but he may be right. “Or you are crazy” he said with a grin. “Maybe I am!...”