The Forest

They stepped into the forest and were instantly swallowed by foliage.

Amy gripped John’s hand. She let him take the lead as they walked on the trail that brought them into the dark woods. The denseness of the trees and shrubs blocked the sunlight, creating a surreal, twilight effect. With the darkness came a noticeable decrease in temperature.

The woods seemed to close in around Amy and she could no longer see signs of civilization behind her. She felt disoriented. Could someone get lost here? The woods seemed so wild and untamed. It was unnerving.

“John,” Amy said, “maybe this hike to the river isn’t such a good idea.”

John stopped and looked at her. “What are you talking about?”

“Well, it’s kind of spooky around here, don’t you think?”

“No it’s not,” he said. “It’s beautiful. Wild. Look around at the scenery. Besides, it’s not like we’re in the wilderness or anything. There’s a town a few miles behind us, remember?”

“I know,” Amy said, “but it doesn’t feel like there’s any town around at all. We won’t get lost out here, will we?”

“Impossible.”

She became determined to not complain any more. Maybe he was right. She was being silly, because the woods were just trees. Anything else was in her imagination.

So they continued onward, further into the cool, green forest. There were old, moldy leaves left over from the previous autumn, and what appeared to be squirrel or gopher holes in the earth every so often. The ground was lush with short, wild plants that had such big leaves they almost appeared tropical. Trees of all ages were growing, some tall and wide, and some that were young and whip-like.

“Hey,” she said, stopping. “Look at that tree.”

“Which tree?” John asked. “There’s like a billion of them.”

Amy pointed. “Half of that tree must have fallen over. Yet it healed itself. Look.”

It was true. The tree had broken in half, but the broken top was still attached to the trunk. And the tree did appear to have healed itself, because even though the top half was lying on the ground, the leaves upon it were flourishing.

“Nature can do amazing things,” John said.

He let go of her hand because the dirt trail narrowed and they had to travel single-file.

Amy hesitated for a moment, wondering if they had made a wrong turn somewhere. But then she hurried after John, not wanting to be left back…not wanting to be left alone.

She continued to study the forest as she walked behind John. She noticed odd things. The trees seemed sturdier here; tougher. If they were broken, they healed. If they had fallen, they somehow managed to send shoots into the ground to form new roots, and from the tops of the fallen logs, waterspouts would grow with new leaves. If they had lightning or fire damage, the bark scabbed around the wounds, and the trees continued to flourish. Nowhere were there any dead trees, or even sick ones.

Even the bushes appeared to be at the height of health. If these bushes were ever chewed by animals or insects, they didn’t show it.

“Nothing dies here,” Amy commented.

“What?” John didn’t turn around as he continued to walk.

“Well,” Amy told him, “look around. Everything is so green; there’s no brown anywhere. Nothing is dead. Nothing is even damaged. I didn’t know a forest could be so incredibly healthy. My mom’s garden could sure use whatever stuff that is making this forest grow so well.”

“So Smokey the Bear works around here. Hell, I don’t know. It just looks like a forest to me.”

“Shouldn’t we be at the river by now?”

John slowed his pace and then came to a complete halt. “It does seem like it’s been a while, doesn’t it?”

“Oh my god!” Amy cried. “I knew it! We’re lost.”

John seemed annoyed. “Look, it’s not like we’re in the Alaskan wilderness a hundred years ago. This is practically just a green belt. In fact, it doesn’t even matter which direction we walk; we’ll come out to a paved road sooner or later. It’s impossible to get completely lost. We just got turned around a bit, that’s all.”

She wanted to tell him that this was no green belt, but she didn’t have the energy for an argument. She felt too stressed because she was sure they were lost in this strange forest of biological eternal life.

Instead, she said, “Which direction should we go?”

“Let’s just keep going on this trail for a while. If the trail gets any narrower, we’ll know we’re going in the wrong direction and we can turn around. It’s not like it’s getting dark or anything. We still have plenty of daylight left to find the river.”

As they continued down the trail, the slight breeze rustled the leaves on the trees and shrubs, making a sound not unlike that of an ocean heard at a distance. The air smelled cleaner here, as though it was somehow filtered through the thick vegetation. Big black butterflies occasionally fluttered across the trail, oblivious to the humans invading their territory.

“Wait! Listen,” Amy said. “Did you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

“Listen!” Amy began to whisper. “There it is again. There’s something out there.”

She looked around. The trail had gotten very narrow and difficult to navigate. The shrubs and other second-story undergrowth were dense. Wild blackberry ran rampant through other native plants and everything appeared intertwined.

Was it was an animal that she had heard? She wondered what kinds of animals made this forest their home. Deer, certainly. What about wolves? Or mountain lions?

Amy’s eyes searched the dark woods around them. And then she saw movement from behind the thick leaves of a shrub. Something was crouched between two trees, bending the limbs back with its presence. In the folds of shadow, Amy couldn’t make out its shape or appearance.

John suddenly screamed, “Run!”

His tone panicked her. Amy twisted around and ran, her legs pumping beneath her. She was too afraid to look back to see what made John sound the alarm. She could hear pounding feet and panting breath. She assumed that meant John was right behind her.

She continued to run, but the trail became so narrow and wild that she was not sure of her footing. She didn’t want to fall. She felt hampered by the uneven ground beneath her feet. She could hear herself wheeze, and her lungs were beginning to hurt.

And then suddenly she realized that she couldn’t hear John behind her any more.

She continued to run for a few more paces, listening intently. She still couldn’t hear anyone else. Amy slowed, and turned her head to look behind her.

Nothing. Just an empty, dark, narrow trail in the woods.

Reluctantly Amy stopped. She couldn’t go on without knowing where John was or what had happened to him. She stood on the trail; hesitating, thinking. She knew the right thing to do was to go back and find John. Maybe he was hurt. Maybe he needed help.

Was she brave enough to go back? What had John seen or heard that scared him enough to tell her to run? She needed to find him, because she suddenly realized that being alone in these woods was more frightening than anything that could have scared John.

Her senses were alert as she walked back the way she had come. Amy could smell the moldy forest floor, a musty, mushroom-like scent. The leaves on the White Alders and the Valley Oaks seemed to be a beautiful emerald color, but they glistened unnaturally, as though glowing. The trunks of the Black Oaks were rugged and she noticed that the pattern on one tree’s bark resembled a face.

And then the face moved.

Amy held her scream in. She stopped walking, unsure if she should pass the tree. She imagined that if there was a face, there could be arms to grab her. She desperately wished that John was with her.

She closed her eyes. When she opened them again, the face on the tree was gone. There was nothing more than rugged bark and there was no movement at all. In her fear, she had imagined it. In reality it was just a tree; a bit scary-looking in this dark forest, but a tree nonetheless.

She would find John and together they would leave this awful place.

She continued on the trail. She thought she heard rustling in the bushes. The sound seemed to keep pace with her as she walked. She was terrified but had no choice other than to continue her search for John.

She began to feel odd; lightheaded. The feeling reminded her of the one time she took psilocybin, when everything she saw appeared crystal-clear. She experienced a mild euphoria and a sensation of warmth. She was no longer afraid of the forest. Instead, it now seemed beautiful. She accepted the wild foliage as a natural element of the earth and she experienced a feeling of belonging.

She heard the rustling in the foliage with seemingly enhanced audio perception. She was not surprised to see a bush at the trail part its leaves as though someone was inside the plant, finding its way out. She understood that whatever was approaching her was no threat. It was simply a natural part of the forest. She felt all of this in her altered state.

The man that came out of the foliage wore John’s clothes. It was his height and weight. The man moved like John always did—smoothly and confidently. With her heightened perceptions, Amy could smell him but he didn’t smell like John.

And the face did not look like John. This face was different.

Although the eyes resemble John’s, that was where the similarities ended. John’s face had been clean-shaven, but this face had a flowing beard made of leaves. The head was crowned with green fronds and other foliage. The lips were full and sensuous, and the nostrils above were flared. The skin was the same emerald-green as the alders and the oaks.

The Green Man would be her lover and she willingly went to him. He embraced her in his arms and he gently lowered her onto the dirt trail. He caressed her with fingers that were ferns, and his kiss had the taste of the wild mint that grew in her mother’s yard.

She closed her eyes and gave herself to The Green Man.

******

Amy sat up. She was alone on the narrow trail. She felt disoriented, like she was coming down from a psychedelic high. She had a warm feeling like an afterglow. She looked around her. She could tell that the sun was going down because the air felt cooler than it had previously.

She had a vague recollection of being with a man. It must have been John. He must have found her and they made love.

But if that was the case, where was he now? Surely he wouldn’t leave her.

She gathered her wits about her and then stood up. She didn’t feel afraid. She merely felt that it was time to leave the forest. She felt calm and decided that this was only a green belt and that the road back to town was just ahead on this trail, just as John had told her. She wondered why she had felt afraid earlier in the day. There was no reason for fear. This was a good place and no one could ever get lost here.

She ran her fingers through her hair and dislodged the leaves that fell out and floated to the ground. Her mouth tasted fresh, like wild mint. She felt energized and so she began to walk.

She heard birds and saw a squirrel. She approached a small clearing and in it was a meadow. Rays of sunlight shined on the grass and she felt like rolling on it, but restrained herself.

A deer poked its head out of a bush. Its red eyes met hers and she felt the animal was evaluating her. It seemed to accept her presence because it left the bush and entered the meadow. As its body emerged from the shrubs, its white fur gleamed with health. The rare albino deer calmly chewed the grass and Amy was awed by its beauty.

Did she really want to leave this place?

What was she thinking? Of course she did.

She continued down the trail. The light in the forest was dimming and she understood that it was probably near sunset. The trail widened and it became easier to walk faster. The air was losing the coolness of the deep forest and Amy knew she would find a paved road soon.

*****

When the days turned into a week, the town’s community put up missing flyers for John. They stapled the flyers to poles and taped them onto the front windows of businesses. Amy was questioned by the police and told them everything she knew: that she and John had made love on the trail but then she must have fallen asleep because when she woke up, he was gone.

The police asked for the clothing she had worn that day and she willingly gave it to them. She knew there would be no traces of blood…only dirt and perhaps leaves.

They wanted her to stay in town for a while, but they didn’t charge her with anything and she knew she was not to blame for John’s disappearance. She left and went home to Sacramento. She waited for John to find her but he never came.

Instead, she struggled. She often felt she was losing her mind. She behaved erratically and couldn’t seem to function normally. She moved into her mother’s home because she was unable to keep a job to support herself. She found herself drawn to the local park and spent most of her time there. She felt empty; something was missing in her life.

Three months later, her breasts were sore and she experienced nausea. Oh no , she thought. Am I pregnant?

Amy purchased a home pregnancy kit and sure enough, there were two red lines. She was pregnant.

After much thought, she knew that she was not emotionally capable of having a child. She couldn’t even take care of herself. She contemplated it for a week as she wandered around the local park. Finally she decided that she would have an abortion.

But when she got to the clinic, she couldn’t go through with it.

Instead, she had a wild idea that she should find John. He needed to know about this baby. She remembered how she had once been so afraid that he would leave her alone in the forest. And then he found her and together they conceived this child on the dirt trail.

She knew she was still acting irrationally, but she was compelled to find her way back to the forest. She had no choice; the forest called to her like it was an addiction. She found her way back to the bordering town.

Most of the flyers bearing John’s photo were gone. The ones that remained stapled to the telephone poles were tattered and fluttered in the breeze. The police had not found him.

But she would.

Once again she entered the forest. Instead of giving her a menacing feeling, she felt like she was coming home. No wonder her life had fallen apart when she was away in Sacramento. She didn’t belong there; she belonged here.

The forest was still lush and green. It had a magical surrealness; everything was healthy and alive. She realized why she didn’t get the abortion. No abortion would have been able to touch a child that was conceived in this eternal forest. It was a child of the woods and it would live forever.

She traveled the same trail that she once walked with John. She continued when the trail narrowed and any signs of civilization disappeared. She had some sort of internal homing device and she knew she was close.

Soon she heard a rustling in the trailside foliage. She stopped walking and waited for her lover.

He came out of the bushes and held his green arms out to her. His full lips smiled beneath his leafy moustache and the fronds of his beard seemed to float in the slight breeze. The crown of foliage on his head glistened with health.

A week later, the town was peppered with missing flyers that showed a photo of Amy.

THE END

Bio: While most people go to Disneyland while in Southern California, Jeani Rector went to the Fangoria Weekend of Horror there instead. She grew up watching the Bob Wilkins Creature Feature on television and lived in a house that had the walls covered with framed Universal Monsters posters. It is all in good fun and actually, most people who know Jeani personally are of the opinion that she is a very normal person. She just writes abnormal stories.
Jeani Rector is the founder and editor of The Horror Zine and has had her stories featured in magazines such as Aphelion, Midnight Street, Bewildering Stories, Strange Weird and Wonderful, Dark River Press, Macabre Cadaver, Blood Moon Rising, Morbid Outlook, Horror in Words, Black Petals, 63Channels, and others.

E-mail: Jeani Rector

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