Keep Walking Down the Path

My name is Benjamin Stone. I am 28 years old.

Recently I moved into a house with my girlfriend, after our happy engagement and marriage in June. The house is beautiful! It's right next to this national park, with only a few neighbors. They're distant from us, and I haven't even met some of them yet. This town is a bit strange, though, so I'm not sure if I want to meet them.

Tonight, my girlfriend told me that she wanted to see a movie with me. Some chick flick, "The Mystery Boy" or some other cheesy shit. I hesitantly told her I would, though honestly, it is the last thing on Earth I would like to do right now. Oh well.

After the movie, we came back and snuggled together on the couch and watched TV. Life has been so generous to me lately. I'm glad things have been so peaceful.

"Babe, I'm gonna go to the bathroom, I'll be right back," I tell her.

She lifts her legs off of me so I can get off the couch. As I'm walking to the bathroom, I hear a scream and smashing of glass. I dash across the house and see a man raise a knife and stab her in the chest. She falls to the ground, looking at me with so much desperation. Tears threaten to spill from my eyes, but there is too much anger. I run out of the house after the man.

"Hey f*&#er! Get back here, you piece of SH*T!" I dash after him. My emotions finally get the best of me and I begin to sob angrily while I'm running. I finally jump down a hill after him and tackle him. We tumble down the rest of the hill and his body hits a tree. I'll never forget the noise it made, just the most bone-chilling noise ever. His neck cracking against the hard bark. He's dead. I stand up and I'm not sure where I am now. My fury got the best of me and I've lost all my sense of direction. Well, I guess I'd better start walking.

THE PATH
Dear God, it must have been hours since I killed that man. Guilt is fighting my anger and I'm not sure if I should have killed him or not. I mean, I'm not the type of person that would go out and kill people! But HE killed my fiance! That bastard had the audacity to enter my own household and just kill her!

WHY?!?!?

I calm myself down. There's got to be a reason for this. There's got to be. An angry coworker? Boss? Jealous ex? He wouldn't just kill her for no reason, that's just dumb!

F**K!

Ugh, again. I've gotta calm myself down here. I've got to learn to cope with things like this. People are in worse conditions than me. I loved her very much, but there's nothing I can do about it now.

But seriously, how long can these forests go on? Tree after tree, I've got to make it to civilization SOMETIME! Ugh.

Wait, hold on. Hold on a second.

Is that--?

No, it couldn't be.

Five feet in front of me, there is a body. I quickly reach into my pocket and grab my iPod touch, and turn on the flashlight app.

F**K!

What lies before me is a decomposing body. Eyes sunken back in it's head, and guts spilling out all over the ground. Uuuughhh...excuse me.

After that quick vomit break, I take one more look. One thing is just fascinating me. The soon-to-be has a frightened look on it's face. It's reaching up at me. Trying to get me to help.

Gosh, I don't know what to do here. Can't make calls from an iPod.

"Pl-pleaahhhh" it chokes out, "pleahhhseee d-don't."

"I won't...I won't hurt you..."

"You...uh."

The man finally dies.

I panic and run. Dear God. This is hell. To calm my nerves while I continue my walk, I turn on my music and slip my headphones on. It's the song by Fun. called "Carry On." I lightly sing along to the music.

''So we will come We will find our way home ''

Suddenly the music glitched out. Instead of saying the aforementioned line, it said this.

WE'LL NEVER FIND OUR WAY HOME

I stopped in my tracks.

Was that--?

Did it--?

I keep walking, hoping that the song will start back up again. A few steps later, it does.

''If you're lost and alone Or you're sinking like a stone, TURN BACK NOW''

Sh*t. Sh*t. Sh*t. I nearly wet myself. This is not my idea of a fun night.

I switch to the next song and look around at the forest. Nothing is in sight besides the same gosh damn trees. Everything is normal for a few minutes. Me taking a not-so-peaceful night walk in the forest. That's all it is. Nothing in the world to be afraid of. Not anymore, at least. Then Guiding Light by Muse comes on. The lyrics are pretty normal. Nothing glitches, in fact.

Halfway through the song, however, during the chorus, I begin to see a light. It illuminates the path in front of me. Well, what do you know? Maybe my luck has changed for the better.

That's when I see everything.

Dead bodies, strewn everywhere.

It makes me sick. So f**king sick.

Some decomposing, some begging for life like the man I met earlier. Where the hell am I?!? How can there possibly be so many dead people in one area?

That's when I reach the light. It's an armada of police vehicles. They draw their guns at me.

"What? What the hell is going on, I..."

A sharp pain hits me in the side, and jolts my entire body. I fall to the ground and everything goes dark. The music fades away slowly.

''When comfort and warmth can't be found I still reach for you, But I'm lost, crushed, cold and confused with no guiding light left insi...''

Afterword
They

They

They dragged me in...told me I was a lunatic.

I told them...

I said I was only looking for help.

I told them a man had murdered my fiance.

They

They didn't listen.

They told me that it was a trigger

When she died

And I...

I lost

I lost my mind, HAHAHAHAHA crazy right?!?!?!?!

And they told me...

That I was going to be executed...

And that I had stumbled onto the nature trail of that park and killed two dozen people.

And this was all me.

They stepped back as I looked at them and smiled.

I smiled like a clown.

I laughed, too.

A deep laugh.

A belly laugh.

And I closed my eyes because I was laughing so hard.

And when I opened my eyes

When I opened my damned eyes

They were begging for help too!

But I'm a "sick bastard."

I can't help them now.

I'm a "maniac."

I can't help.

I guess I'll just keep walking down the path. Maybe I'll find the answers.