The Dark Forest

Chapter 4
Chapter Four: Meet Heather

Chapter Description: Justin wakes up to a familiar face.

Justin focused his eyes on her. It was her! As he scanned her entire body he found her identical to the girl in his dream, feature for feature, and even dressed exactly the same, this was the girl he had just finished dreaming about. Her knees didn’t feel too great in his stomach, so he began to get up when she put her hand on his shoulder, “Hey, calm down. You look like you had a rough night... Wow, you’re bleeding!” Now that Justin had time to focus on himself, he did feel lots of cuts and bruises.

“You shouldn’t get up so fast. Here, all take you back to my campsite and we can patch you up.” Justin returned to lying on his back. “What time is it?” he inquired. He had a headache. Last night had been rough. He felt as though he had been thrown about like a rag doll during the night, but he didn’t feel tired anymore. Quite honestly, he had no idea how long he had been asleep or even when he had finally drifted off.

The fact that he had just dreamed about this woman was deeply unsettling to him. He knew he’d never met her before and the dream warned him to be wary of her. As he stared at her, she extended her hand to help him up. “It’s two in the afternoon, I know it may not look it, but this part of the woods doesn’t get much daylight, so it’s really hard to tell what time of day it is without a watch.” Justin took her hand. It felt warm. He’d expected a cold hand, what with her hands being so small. She was apparently an active person. She helped him up to his feet. “What are you doing out here?” he asked. He found it odd that she knew anything about this forest at all. He couldn’t sense anything malicious about her though, which he found really confusing since he figured there wouldn’t be anyone else out here.

She took her time answering. Her green eyes bore down on him like rays of intense light. He had trouble maintaining eye contact with her. “I’m out here with my family, but they went out for a hike,” she answered, “what are you doing out here?”

Justin didn’t find her answer very convincing. He hadn’t even stepped on a beetle out here, much less seen one... why would someone be on a family outing out here, where no life had settled? He ignored her question. “Is your camp nearby?” Justin asked, “It sure is,” the lady replied, “After we get you treated I’ll make you some pancakes, you must be starving!”

Pancakes? Like in the dream? Would he get an unpleasant surprise from eating these too? Justin wanted to turn her down, but his stomach disagreed with him, so he held his tongue. He had no reason to mistrust this woman other than the dream he had, which he so very badly wanted to dismiss as paranoia, but his gut told him to be wary. He nodded and followed as she led the way to her campsite.

They walked for about ten minutes before they made it to her camp, which looked identical to his dream version of it. As much as Justin wanted to get out of there, he didn’t know his way around, so he’d just get lost. Justin chuckled to himself. A week ago he would have laughed at anyone who claimed their bizarre dream they had that night came true. He didn’t believe in superstitions at all, although now he was beginning to question his stance on the topic.

After bringing out a first aid kit and seeing to his cuts and bruises, his hostess proceeded with the afternoon meal as she had in the dream. “Do you know where the rest of your family went?” Justin probed. It was a while before she answered, “Nope, they just said they were going hiking. I wasn’t feeling up for it, so I stayed behind. I eventually went out for a stroll and found you... Oh, I forgot, I haven’t introduced myself. My name’s Heather, what’s yours?” she continued to stir the batter while talking. Justin was salivating. In spite of how similar this was to his dream, he couldn’t help but crave the pancakes that were baking on the skillet. They smelled like the ones his mother made him all those years ago, despite being made from store bought pancake mix. “My name’s Justin,” he answered, looking longingly at the food. He had to fight back the drool trying to escape his mouth.

Heather served him a couple pancakes. They were coated in honey. Justin stared at Heather as she set them down on his lap. “I’m sorry, I don’t have any syrup. Honey’s more natural and better for you anyway.” Heather returned to the burner, already at her second batch.

Now that he saw that the food being served to him was no different from his premonition, he didn’t want a single bite. As he tried to fight off his desire to at least sample, his stomach rumbled. His dinner the night before had been light at best and he really needed the nourishment. Fearing a repeat of the events in his dream, Justin started to eat.

The pancakes were just as good as the ones he dreamed about eating. As he ate, he expected his surroundings to grow bigger as they had in his dream, for Heather to start acting strange toward him, as if she were his mother and he were just a toddler. To his relief, nothing changed as he finished his plate. Justin relaxed. It was just a dream after all. Perhaps Heather only looked similar and he was only paranoid because of his surroundings. “These are good,” Justin complimented as he finished the last bite.

“Thanks,” Heather replied, reloading his plate while Justin still had his fork in his mouth. He wanted to turn her down, but these pancakes were too good to pass up. “... so we actually came up here to explore the legend of the witch,” Heather brought up. Justin looked up at her. He had heard the legends and rumors too, but that was all the credit he could give them, although now that he thought about it, it didn’t sound unreasonable to believe there was a witch out here in addition to the presence he had felt. “I heard the legend of the witch of the dark forest,” Justin indulged her, “but I honestly never believed it... granted this mountain is sort of creepy. I haven’t even noticed bugs out here-”

“You too?” Heather cut him off. Justin stopped eating. At least someone else noticed. “To be honest, I’m uncomfortable staying here and want to leave, but my husband and children really wanted to check it out. They had me sold on enjoying the great outdoors, but now that I’m here I’m ready to leave...” Justin couldn’t believe this woman had been in his dreams such a short time ago. Again, he dismissed his suspicion as paranoia. “...no rabbits, no deer, the stream’s dark and lifeless, it’s almost always dark and foggy, the trees are all dead and rotting... ugh, think I should have talked them into going to the zoo with me instead...” she rambled about other outings she could have talked her family into doing with her.

Justin slowly continued to eat. She was saying exactly what he had been thinking and observing this whole time. As he cut up his pancakes with his fork, he noticed a creepy doll tucked almost out of sight. His eyes widened. The doll had terrified him in his dream, granted he’d been reduced to an infant which had intensified the fear. It was the same doll...

Heather followed his gaze. “Oh, my son’s into horror.” She got up and grabbed a diaper bag, which made Justin nervous, “As a mom I find it unsettling that he likes these creepy dolls, especially given his age, but I suppose he does get that from his father. He’s only two years old and he loves scary stories, heck if I didn’t put my foot down he’d probably be watching scary movies too...” she continued to ramble about the odd things her son enjoyed and how she thought his fascination was unusual, “... so anyway, one day while we went shopping he spotted this doll and just had to have it...” Justin thought he saw the doll twitch as she reached for it. He couldn’t stop staring at it. Justin half expected the doll to start writhing and screaming about this being an elaborate setup. The fog would turn black and the eerie feeling would return, not as full as when he first arrived, but at least as intense as during the dream he had had earlier that day. The doll remained motionless, however. It was all just his imagination. Heather put the doll in the bag. Justin’s suspicions returned with full force.

Heather put the diaper bag in her tent. Justin was ready to leave, but he had to finish eating first. Being a student, he almost never had the luxury of eating his fill. “Justin, you never told me what you’re doing out here,” Heather brought up, a hint of concern in her voice.

Justin didn’t think she’d bother asking again, but he supposed there was no problem in telling her what he was doing out here. “My coworker was on vacation out here,” he began, swallowing his food as he spoke, “he got lost, and my boss, who happens to be his uncle hired a search party to find him. I really didn’t want to come, but he promised me a raise and a promotion. I don’t quite remember how I ended up outside my tent...” Justin didn’t want to bring up the fact that he could sense an evil presence in the forest. He hadn’t tried to track it today, but he’d had no reason to do so thus far, so he figured he’d keep it to himself. He hoped this answer would satisfy her, but she still had questions and chit-chat she apparently had to get out.

Justin finished his second plate of pancakes. He looked longingly at the pancake mix that Heather had left out, but figured he’d imposed enough. Feeling really childish, he started to lick his plate clean. The honey was exceptional. “Good stuff, isn’t it?” Heather teased. Justin felt guilty about lifting his plate out of his lap at all, but since he wasn’t getting any more pancakes this was the next best thing. “Where did you get this honey?” he asked, hoping to get the name of some local store that may be hard to find, but worth finding in the end. “I actually know someone who harvests it,” Heather revealed. Justin was disappointed after hearing that, but he’d let it be. “Where do you want these dishes?” he asked. Heather just took them from him without saying a word.

Justin watched as she washed the dishes. Heather had been watching him eat the whole time. She hadn’t eaten any pancakes that he had seen. Perhaps he would shrink, but it would take longer than in the dream. Justin looked at her nervously and started to question whether he should trust her or not, little did he know that his mumbling was audible.

“What?” she asked, returning his gaze. “You... didn’t have any pancakes.” Heather smiled. Her grin looked a little sinister, almost like she was scheming, but then as she turned back to her task she replied, “I’m sick of pancakes... it’s the only food we brought along and I would love to have something else...”

Justin wasn’t completely sold on her response, considering how good her pancakes were. She took out containers in which she packed the clean dishes, “Now where’s your camp? Might as well see you back before it gets too dark.” Justin looked around. What little light that had illuminated the forest was beginning to fade.

Justin remembered that his party hadn’t planned to stay in one location, the plan was to search the mountain, meaning they’d be moving around a lot... in fact they were probably looking for him too. Justin felt rather embarrassed at the prospect of her walking him back, after all, she had a small child and her walking him back didn’t feel right to him. “I can’t remember,” he replied, “we were moving around though, so I might run into them eventually... besides, what about you’re family, aren’t they getting back soon?”

Heather got out of her chair. “They said they’d be gone overnight,” she paused before continuing, “I really think you need my help. You still look pretty fatigued and I don’t want to send you back out just to find you on the ground again.” Justin turned red. “Really, I’ll be fine,” he blushed, it was unbearable having an older woman insist on seeing him back to camp like that, especially with those arguments. Justin knew he’d be embarrassed if the guys saw her bring him back to camp.

Still blushing, it hit Justin that she might not be telling him everything, or even the truth about who she was for that matter. What kind of mom would let her two year old explore a creepy forest which bothered her without sounding concerned in the least? Was the diaper bag really meant for him, as it was in the dream? He wondered if he was getting smaller like he did in the dream, but one quick glance at his hands told him that he hadn’t grown any smaller in the last few minutes. He knew at the very least somebody would have stayed behind in the event that he showed up again. None of them would be happy about his disappearance and he’d be branded a liability either way. As Justin considered all this he put his face in his hands. “Fine,” he relented as he got up, “our site was this way.”