Surviving The Turbulence

*Screech!*

In the shroud of the dimmed forest, a series of unearthly screams reverberated through the night, emanating from several monstrous beings.

A boy sprinted through the tall and intimidating trees. With each step through the dense flora of the forest, the boy's heart pounded in his chest, accompanied by the crunching of dried leaves. Ragged breaths escaped his lips, as he fought to outpace the looming monsters.

As the boy pressed on, the humanoid monsters scaled the towering trees, leaping from branch to branch with inhumane agility. They quickly closed the distance. Their haunting silhouettes cast ominous shadows in the moonlight.

With his stamina depleted and legs trembling with fatigue, he halted, unable to run away anymore. Gasping for breath, he threw a horrified gaze up at the treetops to see where the monsters were.

Frozen in terror, the boy stood completely vulnerable against the monsters lurking in the darkness. The monsters emerged from the shadows, their grotesque forms materializing behind the veil of the trees. Though humanoid in shape, their features were twisted and distorted, bearing little resemblance to anything human.

Their appearance sent shivers down the boy's spine. Their pale grey skin stretched over abnormally long limbs, each ending in blood-red nails, razor-sharp and gleaming in the moonlight like daggers. Their most disturbing feature was, however, their face. Their eyes were devoid of pupils, a ghastly white void, while a gaping maw of jagged teeth protruded from their bloodied mouths.

Paralyzed by fear, the boy could only watch helplessly as the unearthly beings closed in, their intentions unknown and their presence suffocating in the darkness.

The boy tried to focus on the ghoul-like monsters. However, that was proven to be difficult as a persistent voice in his head echoed relentlessly in his mind, urging him towards a place called "Camp Twilight" over and over again.

Since two days ago, he has been repeatedly told the same sentence by the same unsettling voice: "Go to Camp Twilight". Despite the lack of explicit direction from the insistent voice, the boy knew exactly where it was: far east of Long Island, Montauk.

At first, he thought he was going insane, but in the end, he gave up and followed the voice in his head. But as he was on his way to the camp on a bus, these monsters started to chase him. Without a choice, he fled to the forest and let the voice navigate him through the forest. He should have been close to the camp—maybe a 30-minute run at most. But his weary legs refused to carry him further as exhaustion weighed heavily upon him. He had been running for 2 hours by now.

As the monsters slowly approached him, he also tried to back away step by step, his body tensing in preparation for flight. Yet, before he could react, one of the creatures lunged forward, catching him off guard. In a blur of motion, the sharp, blood-red nails dug deep into his chest, sending searing pain coursing through his body. All the air left his lungs as he gasped, followed by a scream of agony.

"Aaargh!"

The pain left the boy paralyzed, unable to move. The boy could do nothing but watch helplessly as the monstrous creature painfully butchered him. Collapsing to the ground as the monster withdrew its bloodied claws, the boy felt the life force draining from his body, his crimson blood staining the earth beneath him. With each agonizing moment, a torrent of emotions flooded his mind—fear, despair, regret—mingling with the searing pain that radiated from his chest. The fear of death rushed into the boy's mind while he lay on the ground.

Under his unstable emotional state of mind, he glared upon the monsters with pure hatred who were making eerie noises similar to laughter. Witnessing their twisted amusement pushed him to the brink of madness as he struggled to contain the overwhelming surge of emotions coursing through his veins.

Mumbling words of frustration soon gave way to guttural shouts of anguish, his voice resounding through the desolate forest.

"Why..? Why..? What the hell is happening?! First some weird noises in my head and now supernatural monsters?! Why the fuck am I even dying for?!"

With a surge of primal rage coursing through his veins, he slammed the ground with all the strength he had left in his fist. The second his punch connected with the ground, the ground started to tremble and cracks rippled through the soil. Suddenly, from within the cracks that had formed, emerged a skeleton wielding a gleaming black sword. Witnessing this unfold before them, the ghoul-like monsters were alerted. But it was already too late for them.

The skeletal warrior, with great speed, surged forward, its black sword flashing in the moonlight as it cut through the monsters. One by one, the monsters were killed before its relentless onslaught, their eerie cries silenced by the swift stroke of its blade. Having fulfilled its purpose, the skeleton crumbled into dust, its essence becoming one with the earth from where it had come.

As the chaos subsided, the boy didn't even try to make sense of it after seeing how things settled down. With all the blood he lost, the boy's world began to dim, his senses fading and vision blurring with each passing moment.

"Fuck! I can't... I can't... die... here..."

As the last flicker of life extinguished from the boy's eyes, his hand fell to the ground with a thud.

A profound serenity descended upon the forest, the night was enveloped in a dreadful silence. Yet, this tranquility was short-lived, shattered by the sudden onset of a colossal earthquake. The ground convulsed violently as if the god itself were in a rage deep under the ground.

The earthquake continued for a while and then suddenly ceased. The rain poured down on the forest, wetting the boy's pitch-black hair.

However, what seemed like an eternal stillness that had dawned on the forest was disrupted by a subtle twitching of the boy's finger. As if defying the rules of mortality, the once-dead boy's crimson-red eyes unlatched once again.

***

As consciousness gradually reclaimed me, I found myself enveloped by the oppressive darkness of the night sky. A metallic taste lingered on my tongue, accompanied by the unmistakable scent of blood that hung heavily in the air filling my nostrils. I also felt a painful stinging sensation around my chest area. Though I couldn't say I was eager to find out the reason for this sensation.

I was currently inside a dense forest without a single living being in sight. Despite my desire to move, my body refused to obey, so I just surrendered and gazed upon the starry night sky above.

Although I should have been dead by now after the bus crash, the unforgiving cold, the scent of the blood, and the painful sensation I was feeling anchored me to the reality that I was still alive.

Connecting all the points, I constructed a logical narrative of what may have happened. What probably happened was that the bus fell off the cliff, ending up in a remote forest area under the cliff. Upon the crash, many had died, stenching the air with the smell of blood. But unfortunately, I had somehow survived with a wound on my chest.

I was able to stay relatively calm since it wasn't the first time I witnessed such a brutal and tragic scene. After recovering some of my strength, I straightened up and examined my environment. However, as soon as I caught a glimpse of the grotesque corpses with grey skin and distorted features, my mind blanked.

These creatures didn't belong to my world.

"Where am- Aargh!"

As pain ripped through my mind, I instinctively clutched at my head, seeking to subdue the pain. As the pain faded away, it was replaced by a voice that resonated within the confines of my consciousness.

'Go to the Camp Twilight, Go to the Camp Twilight, Go to the Camp Twilight..."

Information about the location of the camp was somehow installed in my brain as I realized it wasn't that far away.

There was definitely something strange about the situation I was in. The bus was nowhere to be seen, let alone the alien-like corpses. And the fact that the trees weren't even familiar only suggested this was a different forest. I had no idea where I was.

Having no other choice, I decided to listen to the voice in my head. I couldn't really resist the command anyway. So I started to walk in a certain direction.

Although this made me very uneasy, I knew I had to stay calm. I had five little holes in my chest that were getting more and more agonizing as time passed. It was as if five fingers had penetrated my chest. This wound was screaming to me that If I waited any longer, my fate wouldn't be any different than those grey humanoid figures.

I walked through the thick trees. Each step echoed in the vast forest. I was feeling very exhausted and the low blood pressure due to bleeding was taking a toll on me. Yet I knew I was very close to my destination.

Just then, I came across a wooden sign.

-CAMP TWILIGHT-

'Now that I look at it. This camp name seems strangely familiar but also unfamiliar at the same time.'

Regardless, I passed by the sign and walked forward. I walked for a minute or two, but there was nothing in sight. Just when I was losing hope, I noticed semi-transparent blue and white threads, constructing a thin barrier.

The voices in my head were extremely loud and persistent as if telling me that I was very close to my target. Without any more hesitation, I stepped forward, passing through the thin wall of threads. As soon as I crossed through, the strength in my body left and I slowly fell to the ground.

As I was falling, I caught a glimpse of my surroundings. There was a camp that wasn't there a moment ago. I heard some voices approaching me from the direction of the camp but I lost consciousness and my vision submerged into darkness once again.