Curiosity's Curse

Samuel knows that he should never have taken that picture. There have been rumors that there was something in those woods. Babies shriek and lose their little minds anytime they are anywhere near the forest, animals and pets avoid it like the plague. The deeper one goes into the forest the deader it looks. From lush and green trees to slowly more skeletal looking ones slowly start to appear until one reaches the pure heart of the forest. Everything is dead and baren, from larger animals to the tiniest of insects, there is no life in the heart of the forest. Everything is gray and dead, the air still and stagnant.

He has always been a daredevil. Someone who doesn’t really listen to the rules, preferring to make his own. So when Samuel heard that no one had ever taken a picture of the heart of the forest he, as a photographer of the dangerous stuff, knew that it was his calling. He was confident and cocky, laughing as everyone around him warned him not too. Only those who have seen the heart and tell him of their haunting experience gave him some pause.

People tend to exaggerate; Samuel had assured himself. Plus, every time he goes on with his adventures there’s always someone who warns him not to go through with his plans. Though, he had frowned at the edge of the forest as he slowly made his way inside, no one had ever tried to dissuade him as hard as for this mission. And the look in the people who have seen the heart…

He should have listened. He should have listened!

No matter how dangerous his other adventures have been, this was another thing entirely. The deeper he had gone into the forest the more his instincts had screamed at him to get out. The feeling of something watching him, stalking him only got worse the closer he got to the heart of the forest. When he reached the ring where the foliage was thicker, before things started to die down, he noticed the animals watching him.

At first, he thought he was hallucinating. A bunny had stopped and had watched him as he walked by, he had thought it was merely prey instincts frozen in fear from watching something bigger watch by. The size of the animals slowly started to increase, so were the number of ravens and crows. Sitting high in the trees and watching him quietly, heads slowly turning as they watched him walk by. A stag and his herd in a clump watching him with the ravens and crows standing on them or near them. He nearly turned around and abandoned his mission when at the edge of that ring he noticed a pack of wolves and a pair of brown bears watching him as well.

There was no chirping of birds. No clicks of the insects. Just a loud and overbearing silence that had threaten to crush him to death. The more skeletal trees that appeared the more it had felt as if the oxygen levels had also decreased. In a place where everything appeared to be gray, including the sunlight, he had started to accumulate cold sweat. Every step came with the beat of his heart telling him to get out of there. To run away and never get out. There was no life there, not even bones of animals that could have once upon a time lived there, just… death.

To Samuels greatest misfortune, he had taken that picture. The moment that his camera had clicked with the capture of the center, the heart, he had whipped around and bolted for his life back to his car. In retrospect, he now realizes that he had encountered no animals in the way back. None of the animals that he had seen beforehand were there, not even the pestering bugs. The dog that always barks at him didn’t make a sound when he had arrived at his home.

Samuel had collapsed on his bed and had fallen into a dead sleep the moment that his head hit the pillow. When he had woken up, he had felt like a microwaved meal. His sheets and clothes were absolutely drenched in sweat, but he was still trembling from the cold numbness creeping in his bones. It took him a whole week before he managed to summon enough courage to look at the picture.

Despite all of his fears, despite what he went through… the image came out completely normal. Sure, there were the bare white trees sticking out like white ribs with the absolute grayscale of the entire setting. Samuel nearly had a breakdown looking at the image, what were all those warnings? All of his fears in the face of the nearly innocuous images?

He tried to convince himself that he had imagined everything that happened in the forest. Though everyday it was more difficult. People always look surprised when they see that he was still alive. When he told them about the picture, he took they would look at him with terror. Then there were the animals, where before it was rare for him to see crows or even ravens, with each passing day he would start to notice them more often. Sitting in the trees, on cars, wherever they could and watching him. Dogs and cats would fall silent when he passes by and start growling and snarling if he got too close.

After two weeks had passed from his visit to the week did, he noticed something weird with the picture he took. A smudge that he could have sworn was never there originally there, small as if it was very far away. After that, every week, right on the day that he had taken the picture did he noticed some changes to the image. The smudge that he had seen earlier appeared to slowly be getting bigger.

Which is where he is now. Nearly three months have passed, and the smudge has taken shape. Something humanoid started to take shape, not quite human but similar in shape. With long limbs and an upright figure. Not only the picture, but everything else has started to become stranger. Strange markings on his walls as if something with sharp nails passed by. Dogs and cats have started to get more violent, snarling and trying their absolute hardest to get a chunk out of them. And the raven and crows have taken to sitting outside his house. On the lawn and on the top of his house.

No matter what he did, or what he does, the feeling of being watched never goes away. Outside or even in his home. Something is always watching. Occasionally he feels something nearby, as there is a presence extremely close by, breathing on him. However, it’s as if something is telling him, something is coming. Something is coming. Run. Run!

Samuel is currently hiding in his bathroom, gun in hand, and completely curled up in the corner watching the door. Last time he checked his phone it was midnight, already the day since he last took that cursed image. At first it was his nerves, just when he was about to go back to sleep did, he heard it. Something was coming up the stairs. Now, he could hear whatever it is, scratching at the walls and doors. The only sound being the loud beating of his heart and his wheezy breath.

The creaking of the boards of something heavy makes Samuel fumble with the gun and point it at the door. He almost stops breathing as the knob at the door starts twitching. As if something was trying to open the door but couldn’t. He starts to quietly cry as he realizes that he forgot to lock the door. He has never been a religious man, but at that moment he started to pray to any and all the gods. A last-ditch plea for his life, and for ignoring all the signs.

Could it have been God sending those animals to watch him? To make him fearful enough not to cross what should never be crossed? What ever it is, he can only pray to that same god to please spare him one last time.

It was for naught, and even he knew that the gods had abandoned him as the knob of the door twitches fully and the door is finally opened. Only the glow of the moonlight allows him to see the creature. Something in his mind breaking as he cannot fully describe what it is. Just that it’s tall and incredibly slender, as if it were a starved animal with limbs just as long and then. It watched him quietly as it slowly made it’s way to him.

Years later, no one could find the body of Samuel. When someone came to check on him, they notice the strange marks despite the lack of violence. The only thing found was a blanket and gun in the tub with a strange picture near the doorway. Everyone knew of the strange man who took a picture of the heart of the cursed forest. They tried their best to get rid of the picture. When someone burned it, the picture appeared unharmed in the person’s bed.

When they tried to bury it in the forest where the image was taken the creatures of the forest would rebel. The deer’s attacking the people, while the wolves would dig it up and toss it back. The only thing the townspeople could do is lock it up and bury it in a secluded place.

Unfortunately for them all, curiosity is not something so easily buried. The rumor of the cursed picture brings the curiosity of others, mostly children. Once something is warned about, there will always be someone willing to risk everything to conquer it.