JESSIE BRYANT The Forest of Decay

THE FOREST OF DECAY

By Jessie Bryant A creeping road lead her deeper and deeper into an unfamiliar place. It twisted like a single coil wrapped within an intricate design, and broke between the forest like an unwanted guest, with its jagged edges and narrow sides. Broad, lengthy trees outstretched their limbs over the road, capturing it from the night as it graced its opaque glow onto the earth. This road had been untraveled for sometime now; the vegetation from the bushes seeped out onto the asphalt, and enormous roots had begun to peak between some of the gravel, leaving the surface full of holes.

And everything was silent-not even the wind dared to ruffle the leaves.

She had yet to notice the silence, however, as she listened to the quiet music pouring from her stereo. The relaxing sound of some upbeat tune slightly helped ease her nerves as she traveled farther down the road.

Somehow, she always found a way to get lost. Whether she blamed it on her poor sense of direction, or lack of common sense, she always found herself in these situations; driving around aimlessly, close to tears. On cue, frustration began to override her nervousness as the road stretched on and on, winding down and down. She had thought this road might have been a back route- a quicker way to get home from her dull, mind-numbing job. But that wasn’t the case. She had noticed the tiny, dark entrance to the road before, but never had an interest in checking it out. However, today, when an awful accident blocked her usual route, she thought she might give it a try. Regret filled her with each passing second. Eventually, her patience neared its peak, and she stopped. “Wasted five miles worth of gas for nothing,” she exhaled, as

she prepared to make a quick turn around in the middle of the street.

As she maneuvered the car around and started another five miles back to where she came, she caught a glimpse of something in her rearview mirror. Without stopping, she glanced back to identify what she may have seen, but all that reflected back was lanky tree limbs and darkness. Completely annoyed, she listened to the stereo once more and tired to focus on the winding, bumpy trek ahead of her, until she saw something at the end of the nearest bend. She blinked a few times, squinting to see what was leaking about between the trees. She couldn’t distinguish the certain color or shape or form of what it was- it was like watching fog collect above a body of water. She was so distracted by the approaching shape that she hadn’t noticed the sudden absence of the music- but at the same time, she was not distracted enough, for the flash that whipped across her rearview mirror caught her cautious glance, once more.

Because of that split second missed, she hadn’t been paying attention to the absence of her foot on the brake. And when the white fog- now a shape that registered as a human form- appeared in front of her speeding car, she had no time to stop before she plowed into it. It happened so quickly, the girl had barely enough time to allow a panicked breath release from her lungs. When the car jolted to a stop, leaving a long trail of black skid marks along the jagged asphalt, she cursed under her breath. For a long moment, she sat there, both hands on the wheel with nails digging into the leather, only hearing her heartbeat in her ears but expecting agonizing screams or cries from the person she had just hit. Eventually, the girl swallowed the lump that had crawled its way up her throat, and exited the car cautiously, fighting tears.

Slowly, she drug her feet, peeking to the front with a cautious gaze. However, expecting to find a bloody, mangled body, she met her undented, unscratched and unfazed front bumper. The only evidence of what had just happened, was her memory and the crippling fear consuming her entire being. The girl peered about, carefully looking around and above the car, searching to find anything- maybe some blood, a shoe, a tooth, something to let her know that what just happened wasn’t a part of her imagination. She couldn’t decide whether she was happy or more afraid that she was finding nothing. The air grew colder with each passing second she spent outside, beside the trees. The wind passing between the limbs created a haunting sound- like hushed, muffled human screams, and brushed against her skin like decayed breath. Somehow, even with the moon still full in the sky, the road had grown darker.

Hugging herself tightly, she hurried to her car, giving up and more disturbed than she had been before. She had found nothing, so she convinced herself there was nothing, and that was that.

She readjusted the radio so it was playing soft tunes again, yet the sound seemed familiar, and did not calm her as it had before. Between the chorus of whatever song it was and the mellow beat of the instruments, there was a haunting noise breaking between the melody. Oddly enough, it sounded like the wind had sounded when it passed between the forests… so she turned it off.

Immediately she locked the doors and laid her foot down on the gas, wanting nothing more than to get out of there. As surreal as it felt, a nasty feeling settled in her gut. A feeling that told her she was not safe- not in this unusually cool car on this strange, jagged road. The nasty feeling grew bigger and bigger; a ball of thorns col-