A twisting forest that plays with your mind, and fools your senses into making you believe what is fake to be real. I still can’t wrap my head around the situation. I’ve heard stories about the forest, but always thought they were a small town jokes that the people would say to scare off the tourists. I guess I’m just one of the silly tourist who had to move into the town, and later on have the curiosity to go searching into the forest. “Curiosity killed the cat!”, I would always hear my grandma say, but I never did listen to her much anyways since she always forgot her name and would speak gibberish whenever I was over. But this is why I try to warn others of the forest, and tell them my story and what had happened. I still remember the day like it was yesterday, and the way the leaves crunched under my bike wheels before the whole thing happened.

While my feet glided with the pedals of the bike, I zoomed down the road with the crisp air whipping my face. I begin to slow down as I notice something different with the path I’m going down. As I come to a stop, I look ahead and realise that there is a hill going downward. “Well this isn’t on my usual bike ride..” I mumble under my breath to myself. I twist my head back to make sure I didn’t miss a turn, and see all the right signs that I usually see while biking. The road ahead seemed different, but it’s connected to the road behind which I usually ride. I release my grip on the brake and begin to descend down the road slowly, “Maybe I’m just not thinking right?” I say while shaking my head trying to scramble through my thoughts. As I turn my head to the right I see it, the forest, and my bike came to a stop. I begin to widen my eyes as I take my hands off the brakes and the bike remains in place. I start get off my bike to examine it, and as I did I see a sharp piece of dark brown wood puncturing the back wheel. “But that doesn’t explain why it’s still standing upright..” I say as I begin to reach my hand towards the piece of wood. CRASH, I jump backwards as the bike fell smashing on the ground before my hand even touched the wheel. I begin to flop and flail as my body jumped back too far and began to roll down the tiny hill that led to the forest. My ragdoll like body slowly fell to the bottom and landed gently next to a tree. I stand up immediately, without knowing, and begin to walk to the center of the forest. Nothing seemed right here, there is no sign of wildlife, and I can’t see any roads surrounding the forest. “Maybe I’m dead.. But I don’t see any so called “light” as people in the movies do.” I mumble to myself. I came to a halt, and I start to glided my eyes side to side. It looks like a normal forest, I just don’t see any animals, and the air smells different.. almost like crisp apple pie, and cinnamon. “Maybe there is a cabin around here somewhere”, I say as I begin to follow the aroma. I start to take off and let my feet follow each other, one after the other, in hopes of finding the sweet smell that has seemed to taken over my senses. I let my eyes close tight shut, and have my smell lead the way. BAM, I fall to the ground and open my eyes to see a house covered in stones in front of me. I whip my head back and forth, looking at the scene around me, swearing I could have been running with nothing in front of me. The door creaks open, and I jump to my feet. “Hello?” I say as I slowly begin to approach the door. I push open the rustic door some more, and peek in my head to see a room covered in black. Everything was dark, nothing stood out and nothing seemed to even be in the room. “Um.. Hello?” I say once more as I back away from the house. I start to walk to the side of the house to see if there is a back door and if maybe someone is there instead. My mouth drops and I feel a rush of coldness fill my veins. I start to blink my eyes rapidly, not being able to understand what I see. The house, it had no back, it had no side, just a front that has a mysterious room inside that is black. “How is this even possible?” I say as my body sways back and forth to the front of the house and the non existing back to confirm in my mind what I was seeing was real. “Luce!” The hissing wind said as it slashed against my face. The chills ran down my back as I heard the chanting of my name coming from inside the house. My body became attached to the sound, but I wasn’t, it was like it had taken control of my movements and senses, and began to draw me closer to the door. The dirt and vines from the trees wrapped around my body and covered my mouth. All together my body with a gust of wind lept into the pitch black room, and so with it the door slammed shut, and so went my memories of what happened next.

I finished off my story to a group around me and everyone clapped. “Attention all patients must return to your room now.” The speaker blasted, as everyone in the room began to stand up. “Bye Luce!” Everyone shouted as they began to walk away, and I slowly waved my hand. I stared down at the name tag on my gown that read “Pennsylvania Mental Institution: Patient Luce Reece”, and then began to walk down the hall to a family member that was allowed to see me at the time. I slowly approached my mother as she grabbed onto my arm telling me that I would be released today, and a small grim began to form on my rosy face.