The Lonely Man

Loneliness: Without companions; lone.

For the past two or three years now I have taken long walks through the forest just behind our house. Mostly when I'm bored and theres nothing to do (it can get rather lonely living in a small house far away from any town or city.) I have had no real problems with these walks, nothing that would ever cause me to feel nervous or uncomfortable. This all changed during the Winter of 2010.

It was during what was known as "The Big Freeze of 2010". I looked out my windows at about half past eleven in the morning, and the whole of the forest behind my house was layered with snow. Because I was into photography at the time I dicided to go out and take pictures of the winter landscape and some of the trees from within the forest.

I went out into the snow and made my way into the forest, where I usually like to have a walk. I had a small digital camera tucked away in my coat pocket. As I entered I was amazed by the beauty of the forest, and I began to take pictures. However, as I was about to take the next picture, the camera stopped working.

I didn't think about it much, and I just decided to continue walking anyway. That is when I began to feel this strange feeling. The snow had stopped falling, the sounds of birds had stopped and the blistering cold wind came to a halt. There was this horrible feeling of loneliness glooming over me, that I had never felt before.

I continued walking, hoping that something would get rid of this feeling. Even something like a cry of a crow, though not a pleasent sound, it would at least let me know that I'm not alone.

As I continued this walk, there was sudenly a loud crack and then a sound of something crashing onto the bare forest floor. I jumped and looked behind me, and I noticed that one of the very young trees was lying on it's side. My eyes scanned the forest, thinking that someone of something was behind me. I saw nothing. I had come to the conclusion that it was probably just some snow weighing the tree down, or perhaps the soil or roots were loose causing it to tilt and eventually fall.

The feeling of loneliness had left me completely. A new feeling had came to me, a feeling that I was being followed, even though it was unlikely that there would be anyone else in the forest. I walked again, this time much faster, I didn't know whether to go back, or continue walking. I decided I would continue as I thought it would be unlikely that anything was behind me.

Suddenly, as I was walking, there was another loud crack, I looked down, thinking that I had stepped on a stick, but there were no sticks around me. I then looked behind me, "perhaps it was bird" I thought to myself. I scanned the woods again with my eyes, this time even longer, desperately looking for the source of the loud noise.

Then, I saw it. My eyes was fixed on this tall figure far in front of me. It was a tall creature, It was standing by a tree, and half of it's long thin body was covered by the trunk of a tree. From what I saw, it had a long, thick, dark cloak covering every inch of it. It was perfectly still, not moving in the slightest. I stepped away slowly, not taking my eye off it. But as my foot crunched down into the thick snow, it turned. It had two holes cut into the fabric of the cloak. It's eyes were not visible. We stared at eachother eye to eye for a about a minute, before I decided to turn and walk away.

I didn't want to turn away from it, nor did I want to look at it, I just kept walking. My mind was in a complete mess. I don't know whether I was being foolish because I was scared. "Perhaps it's just some tall man in a cloak" I thought to myself. I peered over my shoulder, hoping that it had not moved. It was still there, not moving, its eyes staring at me as I walked away from it.

As I got further and further away, I looked behind me, and I noticed it was closer. I began walking faster and faster, but I did not run. I looked behind me to see if it was there, but it wasn't. I thought it was hiding behind a tree, but it was not in sight. I decided to go back, because it had clearly left.

For the first time in what seemed like a long time, I felt somewhat calm. I knew I wasn't alone, but now I knew I wasn't being followed.

I walked back at a very steady pace, though I wanted to get back to my home as quickly as possible. I made it to the edge of the forest, and I took one final look behind me. I was hoping I would see nothing. But I was wrong. There it was again, and all my fears came rushing back. It was a few hundred yards away, and approaching. I tried to ignore it, even though my fears at this point had reached it's peak. I left the forest and a quick pace. My heart was pounding, and I quickly ran back towards my house. I glanced back, only to see it make its way back into the woods.

The first thing I did as I got into my house was lock the doors. Even though I didn't know what it was, I knew that it was following me. For all I know, it could have been a man trying to scare me. But I know that I will never go back into that woods again after that experience.

Whenever he crops up in conversation, I always call it "The Lonely Man."