The Forest Of Charred Trees

The Forest Of Charred Trees

I woke in a painful state, my arms were aching all over and my head was pounding. I looked around me, nothing but leaf-ridden trees. It was dark, and I had no clue what had happened to me. Where am I, why am I in such pain? I struggled clumsily to my feet. I looked down at my watch to see the time, no use. The watch was stuck at 2:34 pm, which is of course daytime.

I couldn't hear any animals in this forest, and there were no trodden paths. It was just soil and black charred trees. It seemed to go on forever, I couldn't see anything other than these trees. At least I could remember who I was, Anna Nurving, I lived in China.

I continued to scramble through the forest and its thick black branches, nothing still. It was like I was going in circles, nothing more than soil and charred trees. I had an idea, I always kept my mobile phone on me, so surely I had it now in the pocket of my jeans or somewhere? Yes, I had my mobile. I switched it on and waited for it to load the main screen, I instantly looked at the signal bar at the top left corner. No signal, darn it! I was stumped on what to do.

I got ever more scared and angry, I picked up a twig from the floor and snapped it in my hands. As I dropped the recently snapped twig, I checked my hands. The twig had left black marks all over them. Ugh!

I kept on walking, trying to rub the black marks from the palms of my hands. No effect, I ended up right back to the place I had snapped the twig! I didn't know how this was even possible, I was sure I went in a straight line. I really was stuck, and sleeping in a forest like this was undeniably out of the question. I kicked an ugly black tree in anger, all I gained was a bruise however. This was just unbelievable...

An hour later of just thinking and waiting, and something peculiar happened. A howling sound could be heard not far away, and I stood stiller yet on the spot, what was that? I listened further to the howling... It was getting ever closer, and I was shivering. Surely in a forest like this there aren't any wolves?

I sharpened a long thick twig so that it could at least cut something, not that it would help against a wolf. The howling sounded now like it was about 30 feet away from me, I gasped... And did the most human thing in this situation. I ran. No matter how fast I was a runner, the sound came closer still. It now felt like it was 10 feet away, though I couldn't hear paws crunching against the soil. I tripped over a small black stump and the howling was now right next to me. I closed my eyes in great fear and breathed heavily. I dared not open them or look up, as something was breathing on me.

I started to bleed, my leg was crippled as I'd fallen quite hard on the ground. I tried not to make a sound but the pain was unbearable and I yelped a little. The breathing from above turned into a growl. Finally I decided I could no longer lay here bleeding and in pain, I clutched the sharp twig in my right hand and thrust it upwards toward the sky, I then opened my eyes. Nothing was there.

I got to my feet painfully, I was now limping and could barely walk. Bloodstains covered the bottom of my left jean legging. I started to cry, there was absolutely nothing I could do, I was stuck here and time never seemed to pass by at all. It was frustrating, scary, upsetting. I knew at least 6 hours must have gone by, but not in this forest.

I carried on limping aimlessly, into nothingness. Then I had an idea. I started to climb a high tree for a higher view on my surroundings. I succeeded unbelievably, how was I able to scale such a high tree? I finally reached the highest branch on the tree. My heart stopped, all I could see to the end of the horizon were charred black trees and horribly dry soil. I must be dreaming surely? A nightmare? That's what I decided. I closed my eyes and fell backwards from the branch, hoping to wake up.

I never did.