Something in the Darkness

The trees rushed past and branches whipped into his face. He caught his arms and bare legs on sharp branches and they snagged his skin, but he didn’t care, he just needed to get out of the forest and as far away from here as possible- he didn’t know where ‘here’ was exactly, all he knew was something was after him, something big and terrifying, and he didn’t know what.

His name was Matthew West. He was nineteen years old and was from Cardiff. Wearing a Nike t-shirt, cargo shorts and Adidas trainers, you could see he was physically fit from the muscles in his arms, legs, back, chest and shoulders- he had a rugby player’s build, yet he only did running and weight in the local gym by his house. Matthew had a rough-cut hairstyle and had spiked it up in a Mohawk today; holding his brunette hair up with just gel. He also had green eyes which were sharp, yet kind; now they were wide and worried.

He carried on running despite tripping over several times; over his own feet and roots and branches on the ground, until he reached a clearing with four paths coming off it. Two were rather overgrown, one was a proper footpath (with a sign), and the other was a beaten track. Matthew stopped to think: the beaten track could lead to a house, but then again it could go back to where he started; the footpath however could lead to a road and away from the forest. He had to make a decision and he had to make it fast. He could hear the creature’s lumbering footsteps approaching and it’s rapid breathing almost bouncing off the trees as it drew nearer.

Matthew made the decision to run straight ahead along the footpath, jumping awkwardly over a stile some way down and then vaulting over large rocks, just on the edge of a large field, covering the path. He had to be extra careful now as it was a Friday night time and he was running.

The footpath forked again, but in the distance Matthew could see cars flashing past so he took the right path until he reached an empty car park. He shot up the banking, stumbling as he went, and ran on to the dual carriageway. Headlights blinded him, the honking of a horn deafened him and suddenly he didn’t know what was going on. Had he been run over? Was he safely in the trees lining the road on the other side? Was the beast upon him, tearing him limb from limb? He didn’t know what was happening, but what he did know was everything was black and loud and confusing.