Echoes

“..What?..” I woke up, surrounded by a cold water that flowed through my torso. It was early morning, when the sky was barely lit, and the darkness was held above the valley like a shadow. My head was splitting and the cold water pierced me like a million needles in my skin. I looked around to see the sides of a plane crushed inwards and I could feel metal pieces cutting me from beneath the icy waters. I couldn’t remember anything, not even how I had gotten on a plane. The front was ripped from the part I was laying in and I could see it down the stream smoking into the trees. The morning started blowing in with a chilling wind that paralysed me. I didn’t seem to be hurt besides the metal cutting my leg. I lifted up slowly off the hard floor and I felt a sharp sting. A piece of metal jerked from my side and I felt a strange warmness go down my back. I saw red float in the water from behind me. I knew I was bleeding. I stood with a stagger and pressed my hand against the plane, holding myself up.

I could hear the plane cracking and growling from its unstable state in the river. I ran my fingers through my black wet hair. It was dripping wet and hung down over my face like it did when I stepped out of a warm shower before I brushed it behind my ears. I would have killed for warmth. What the hell was I doing on a plane? and what happened? I didn’t recognize the woods I had crashed in, and there were no other passengers that I could see. This was all so weird. As I walked into the calm sun, I searched my mind for answers but only drew useless information like my name “Joseph Snow”, my eye color “Brown”, my figure “Moderate”, my clothes “Flannel” and my situation “shit out of luck”. I laughed slightly in my head but not enough to escape me. I walked through scattered pieces of the wreckage searching for a sign of life. Nothing was here. I began walking through the trees trying to reach a road or city or park or even a bathroom. I saw an open area and rushed quickly to receive the relief of finding something useful but instead, I found a cliff. My eyes enlarged and I collapsed to the ground in a panicked state. The cliff was above a black nothingness. My eyes moved back and forth quickly and my body shook as I stared down into the vast nothingness. I felt my whole world dim into confusion and paranoia. I turned over, feeling the ground scrape against my wound and I held my breathe through the sting. I looked up into the trees and into the sky. I noticed something strange..the sky was shimmering, like an illusion..I squinted in confusion and then closed my eyes tight. I just wanted to fade out and rest. As I rested, I saw the image of a woman, I recognized her but I couldn’t place her name or connection to me. She guided me through a heavy forest filled with large thorns and bushes. We came upon a pool of water that faded into a bank. The water was like a thick mud that was clear and a dim blue, she grabbed my hand and walked into it and I followed her. Suddenly I awoke in a jolt. The sky was black and menacing above me. My leg dangled off of the cliff which must have happened in my sleep, I jumped backwards away from it and tried to catch my breath. The harsh darkness settled between crooked trees and the wandering shadows of imagination kept me clinching the ground like a safety blanket. The wind blew in an unsettling howl as the freezing cold draft burnt into the tips of my ears. i felt afraid, afraid to move, afraid to breathe. the only thing I could see was the black and red patterns of my shirt and the very tops of the trees that wrapped around the darkness like grotesque fingers. I shifted my legs and sat more comfortably to the best of my ability. I could feel rock beneath me but I didn’t want to move too much. As I sat, mindlessly trying to calm myself down by paying extra attention to small things like the grass or the dirt on my pants which I could barely see.

“Joe…” I heard a faint whisper from the cold black. I was startled at first but then made myself believe that I had heard my name from my imagination trying to cope with the fear. But then I felt it. I felt something on my neck from behind me, It felt like tiny branches running up my neck, hard and rough but thin. Then I heard crunching, like bones popping in out of place as the sensation moved closer to my ear. I was frozen in place, with my eye trying to see what was behind me without moving my head. I heard the crunching moving, like something was adjusting itself. The ground behind me clicked and rustled. I began shaking as the touch moved around my throat. I closed my eyes tight and pressed my arms together and swung backwards with all my strength hoping to knock whatever was behind me down. I swung, but my arms collided with the ground. I felt smoke tickle my nose and pass me by, leaving the smell of a rotten animal. I scanned the area and frantically looked around me. I felt like I was being watched, so I took off heading towards the trees. I ran until I didn’t think there was anything behind me. I stopped and backed up onto a large tree. I let out air and shut my eyes. I could hear the trees swaying slightly. I slid down the tree and rested at its roots. Before long I thought everything was alive. I had forgotten about my wound as it felt better. The night got quite, as if it was a party, and the host had just walked in. But from behind the tree, a gust blew past me. The wind was low to the ground and carried dark and decayed leaves into the air. and that’s when I heard them.

“Joe….”

“Come play Joe”

“We need you”

The wind howled, and three voices echoed through the trees. I breathed heavily and shut my eyes tighter and tighter as the voices grew closer.

“Joe….”

“we need you Joe”

“Come play”

I started smacking the sides of my head and rocked back and forth trying to drown out the echoes.

“You’re not real” I said through them.

Suddenly, everything stopped. Nothing.

I opened my eyes slowly with my hands still pressed against my ears. Still shaking, I moved my hands and placed them on the ground. I pushed up and stood. I looked all around, puzzled by the sudden departure of madness. I smiled at the silence and put my hands deep in my pockets which was a habit of mine. I felt something rubbing against my hand. I pulled my hand out and there was a tiny thing of matches. I laughed as if I had just heard the best joke in the world and took out a match. I swiped the match and nothing happened. The match was a bit wet so i grabbed another and swiped it. The flame lit up the area in front of me and I smiled big and bright. A warm air hit the back of my neck like a tidal wave. I turned still smiling to look into the woods. But the light catched not woods, but a face, grey and emotionless. It’s eyes were dark and black, like a void, and it’s mouth was drooped open and black as well. I was shocked and paralysed. But then I realized, there were hundreds of them, their legs bent like a praying mantis and skin grey as stone, and they all had noticed me, as i dropped the match.