Caught at a Distance from Myself

I waited a few days before going to the park, in an attempt to avoid encountering the guy from the coffee shop on my way there. The walk there was tense; I kept looking over my shoulder every few moments to make sure I wasn’t being followed, and as far as I could tell, I wasn’t, which brought some semblance of relief to me as I walked. After about fifteen agonizing minutes of looking over my shoulder, I found myself standing at a gate leading into the park.

When I arrived, the first thing I noticed was the massive forest that goes on for miles along one of the edges of the park; when I saw it, I instantly remembered being led into the forest by Hallie's friend to find the creature that took my sister. I was almost paralyzed with fear, something that hasn’t happened in years, but I knew that I couldn’t let it get the better of me if I was going to look for her.

Soon after, I noticed a large, run-down house at the other side of the park. It looked like it could easily have been a hundred years old or more. I couldn’t really tell you what, but there was something about the house that didn’t sit well with me, like the house had an unholy energy to it that seemed to suggest that going there would be incredibly dangerous.

There weren’t many people at the park when I arrived, which was fine by me. The fewer people around, the less chance that the guy who told me to come here would be around. Before attempting to enter the forest, I decided to look around in the more open fields between the entrances to the park and the forest, because clues could be anywhere. Unfortunately, there weren’t any out in the open, which meant that I would have to instead search either the forest or the house, and neither seemed like a good option to me.

I decided to attempt to search the house first, because I thought it would be quicker to search due to the absolutely huge size of the forest. However, as I walked towards the house, I heard footsteps running towards me; I turned to see a woman approaching me rapidly with a worried look on her face.

“I wouldn’t go there if I were you, miss. The last person who went there hasn’t been seen for almost three years now,” she told me while breathing heavily from running to catch up to me. I was so glad that she wasn’t the man from before that I almost didn’t comprehend what she was saying, but I when I did I thanked her and walked away from the house.

After a few minutes of walking, I was standing at the edge of the forest. I took a deep breath, trying to swallow my fear, and stepped inside.