The hollow forest

The sun was setting, slowly, painfully. I made my way through the hollow forest, not remembering where I came from or where I was going. 

It had a familiar feeling to it, like if I'd been here before, the weeping trees, the loud quiet that rushed through the breeze. It just seemed so familiar. 

"- That doesn't matter right now," I thought out loud and kept on walking deeper and deeper into this unknown maze. One thing was for sure: I had to find shelter. 

The dropping temperatures made it clear that I wouldn't make it till morning with no real heat. "- What is this place?" I asked myself, walking blindly through the night. 

The forest sounds got louder and louder, and the faint feeling of being watched crept into my veins. An icy-cold chill went down my spine; I looked back over my shoulder; the hairs on my neck stood on end. Something was there, something dark. 

I came across a small shed after some time. The eerie structure had a sole window and seemed to blend into the night. It appeared abandoned, except that something that looked like glowing embers were shining inside. 

I approached with hesitation, but I was too cold to care; I knocked on the door. It cracked open. I felt relief that I'd found somewhere to spend the night, but it all seemed too good to be true. 

"- Hello? Is anybody here?" Nothing answered, except my own words echoing back into the forest, swallowed up by the silence. 

I let myself in. Apart from the fireplace and an old rocking chair, the place was empty. It felt familiar, somehow, but I had never been here before. 

I sat in the rocking chair. I took my shoes off and placed them near the fireplace. Exhausted, trying to take in the heat, I began to close my eyes when a chilling breeze opened the window. I jumped, startled by the feeling of my racing heart as a cold grip latched unto my shoulder. 

I gasped, my fright turning to terror as I turned around to see a shadow-like creature towering above me with an unnerving, faceless expression. It had multiple hands and feet that left a shadow trail as it moved—a nightmare of a thing standing right in front of my eyes. 

My mind was racing; its vice grip tightened around my shoulder, almost pinning me down to the chair. Without a second thought, I grabbed one of the embers from the fireplace with my bare hands, hurling it at the specter. It seemed not to care at my attempts of snatching free, though it let go. 

The creature made a sound, almost like a voice, and moved back a few steps. It hesitated like it wanted to say something to me, but I couldn't tell what it wanted. 

The adrenaline pumped through my veins, and in a second, I bolted for the door. I left the nightmare behind. I ran without looking back, without even feeling the cold, the wind, or the frozen ground with...my bare feet. 

I stopped dead. My shoes. Shit. If I hadn't died before, I had now signed my death sentence by leaving my shoes behind. 

The biting cold hit me like a ton of bricks. I knew I didn't have long before I could barely walk, and the tiredness and cold would soon make my legs shut down. 

I tried to keep going, hugging my arms around my body, hoping to stay a little warm. I knew it was pointless. It was only a matter of time now. 

 I fell to the frozen ground with a thud. I felt it was over. Nobody would ever find my freezing body out here. 

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something moving. It was the shadow creature. And it was slowly approaching, stalking me. 

It took its time. It knew it had me. I got up halfway on my knees, fighting for what life I had in me, but in the end, I was barely able to let out a faint, "-Wh… who are you? What do you want from me?" through chattering teeth. 

The creature stood without moving, its hologram-like form staring down at me in a...motherly way? 

"- For you to come home." 

I shivered at its strange voice; it sounded like my mother. This horrible creature sounded just like my mom. 

I closed my eyes, almost passing out; I looked straight into its face, but all I saw was my reflection, my face in the shadows. 

There was something more, more shadows, more faces, my moms, dads, and siblings. I nearly fainted at this; I wanted to scream but couldn't. "- Mom? Dad? Is that you? Where are you?" I whispered, trying to find more words in my dying body. 

The shadow bent down and spoke with all their voices, "- We are here, with you, wanting you to come back to us." "-How? How do I come back to you?" I said as the darkness closed around me. 

The shadow looked at me and said, "-Open your eyes." 

The shadows started to glow, burning up all the darkness. Everything was becoming warm and clear. I found myself opening my eyes in a hospital bed, though I could not remember how I got there. 

My family was there; I tried to speak and let out a croak that hurt my throat. "- Doctor, he's awake!" My sister cried out. A man in white, a doctor, looked at me with a bewildered expression, clearly surprised at me waking up. "- How are you feeling, son?" He said. "-"-Confused," I said flatly. "-What happened? How'd I get here?" 

They all looked at each other, nervously. My Dad said, "- A few months back you were hiking out in the woods, you went alone and never came back, we… we thought you were dead son. We found you in an abandoned cabin deep in the forest. We don't know how you got there. You were out cold, barely alive. You've been out for six months," he said in tears. 

The sound of his voice sent an eery familiar chill through me, a feeling of being lost. "-Do you remember anything?" The doctor asked. I looked at him and said, "A shadow. A dark many-faced shadow."