This Was It

I could have written so much about this event. However, I will keep it short for the purpose of getting the message through.

I am the only survivor at this point, and I am hopeful that this "thing" will get noticed before it gives me the same fate as my fellow travellers.

What is this "thing", you ask? Let me back up.

The story began last week, when a couple of friends and I went camping in the woods around an hour's walk from my house in Kristiansund, Norway.

There was me, Pete, and my good friends Rob and Lars.

I was probably the most cowardly of us all, so as the night crept closer, I became less and less motivated to go further into the gloomy forest. However, Lars and Rob kept going, and I wouldn't want to be left alone, would I?

The forest grew darker as we went, and soon all light we could see came from the glittery stars scattered across the skies which were almost invisible through the thick vegetation. I had a bad feeling, as if something would happen. We stopped.

If we would have turned our tails and ran home then, we would have all been fine.

I looked around where we stopped. I could barely make out the shape of it, but there was a small tent, seemingly abandoned, as the zipper door was torn open.

"Dudes, are we lucky or what? We just found ourselves a spot for the night! We don't have to sleep an open sky!" Rob shouted.

"I don't know, maybe the owners will return later tonight. I wouldn't be the one caught in someone else's tent," I replied.

"Quit being such a wuss, Pete. It's only for one damn night," Lars said

Being the total bitch I was, I complied, and we proceeded to enter the tent. It was surprisingly big from the inside, as all three of us could easily fit, without the awkwardness of too much skin contact. I laid down in my sleeping bag.

Suddenly, a rush of fear struck me, as what seemed like a pale and eerie figure appeared outside the wide open tent. My heart was pounding. I breathed fast.

"Chill out, dude, get some sleep, will ya...?" Lars muffled through his sleeping bag. The figure was gone as soon as it appeared. I was left with a terrified feeling in my stomach, but I brushed it off as a mental projection, or just a dream, brought on by an irrational fear of the dark.

Oh, how I wish it was just a projection.

I was awoken later that night by a pinching sensation in my right side. I felt around with my hand, and to my surprise there was a camera there. Desperate for some way of taking my mind off what happened earlier, I picked it up. I must have accidentally clicked a button or something, as a bright white flash appeared, and then a sizzling sound of a destroyed camera was heard. I figured the camera was useless now, and I threw it outside. I kept the film for documentary purposes.

Morning came, and the eerie figure was still burnt into my memory. I tried explaining it to my friends, but as expected, they blew it off, thinking I was only being the pussy I had been for the past twenty years. Although this time I knew something was wrong. The feeling of eeriness crept through my body still, even in daylight. We went home.

I was awoken the next morning by an SMS from Lars. These are the exact words: "Pete, dude. Some shit is happening at my place, can I come over to you for a couple hours so I can calm down?"

As to which I answered "Of course man, mi casa, su casa".

He never came. I was beginning to get worried about his whereabouts, until I watched the news the next day.

They had found his body, but no cause of death. Apparently he had just... died.

Memories of the eerie figure from the trip flooded back to me. What the hell happened to Lars? I decided I did not want to be alone, so I headed to Rob's place.

I rang the doorbell, but there was no answer. I was fearing the worst so I turned around, ready to run for it, but then I heard a calm voice say "Come in, Pete". I figured it was his girlfriend or something, so I opened the door, and there he was. Rob stared at me with open eyes. It took me a moment to realise what had happened though. He had no wounds and no sign of a trauma, he was just...

I ran.

Back at my place I was now crying, what the hell was happening? Would I die too? What could possibly have happened to my two best friends? After a day of sadness mixed with the fear of death, I decided I needed some kind of answers. That's when I noticed the film that was still on my desk.

I ran to one of those Kodak stores, and asked if they could bring me the pictures from the film. It took a while, but as he returned, he had the strangest expression on his face, as if he had just seen something out of the ordinary.

There was only one picture on the film, and not to my surprise, it was of me. But there was something else in the background. Something extraordinary. As I looked upon the picture I could noticed a certain shape in the background of the picture. At first it looked like a well-lit bush, but as I took a closer look, I felt a strange sensation of recognition in my stomach.

It was the face from the forest.

Which brings me to tonight. I have barricaded all doors and windows, blocked contact with the outside world, and I am now sitting here, waiting for the pale, eerie figure to materialize in my flat.

"Come out, Pete," I hear a calm voice say. A familiar voice. The voice from Rob's house.

This is it.