u/pmpc414_two

A short story for the comics made by u/sorabellesilli and please check out her content :D

Year 1942. The sky of Maple Island is never quite bright, even during midday, the sky never seems to be clear. I've devoted two years in the study of biology at my university. I have heard folklore among the locals, stories that don't quite match my studies. They say it spreads. I spoke with an older man, I asked him about the forest, he provided little worth for my studies

“The roots… they spread.” he told me.

Spread, what do the locals mean by spread? Within my shelter I have built for the night. I note down what I’ve heard, the stories, my ideas, the tales that don’t align with what I’ve been taught. My handwriting slightly disproportionate coming from the idea of facing conflict overseas; When I have finished my documentations, I close my note and lie my head to rest, the thought of the Second Great War lingering. Later I arose from my restless sleep, noting down what I have experienced. After I let the remaining drowsiness slide off me, I decided to gather a few necessities to execute my expedition to the Forest. Within a few hours of walking, I arrived at the forest the locals spoke of. I cannot see how such elaborate folklore could be made of such mundane plant life. I start my way through the plant fauna, the sky gray, sunlight not quite passing through. As I explore the forest I’ve noticed the oddities of it. As my eyes gaze upon the wildlife, more specifically the lack of it, I have been expecting an abundance of wilderness to excuse the absurd stories centered around this forest. Other odd views I witness are the unique leaves or I should say… Flowers? To my surprise the trees possess pink flowers instead of leaves, and the odd out of place scent of what seems to be a mix of vanilla and cinnamon

As I proceeded deeper into the forest, less through courage but from a curiosity to gauge the truth of the locals’ stories or rather, to disprove their absurd tales with the certainty of my education. I lifted my eyes from the soil and upon the trees, noting down the view of the out of place yet strangely beautiful trees, resembling nothing like any I had studied. I paused to sketch the blossoms, thinking to preserve their structure upon paper to document detail in a way memory cannot. The blossoms bore resemblance to Japanese cherry trees I have studied at my university, bright clusters of pink flowers suspended upon slender branches. Yet these trees were taller, unnaturally so, their trunks narrow and drawn upwards as though reaching for something vast and unseen, the blossoms took the place of leaves. I stooped down to pick one of the petals off the soil, examining what I imagined to be soft and yielding to the touch, but truth proved otherwise. The petal was thick in a way cherry blossoms are not, the texture disturbingly resemblant to flesh, beyond what any petal should with the scent of vanilla, touched with cinnamon emanating from the petal. I recoil before I understood why, I toss the blossom back to the earth and withdraw my notepad to distract and push the unease from my unexpected discovery upon the blossoms of the tree. I glide the graphite upon the paper to write my farewells to my family addressing the growing possibility for me to be involved with matters beyond my control “October 28 1942- My dearest family, I sincerely hope this letter finds you all in good health. I have continued my studies as you and Father always encouraged me to do, and I remain grateful for your support in there uncertain times. I am presently conducting research upon an island whose name I am regrettably unable to disclose. Though my work progress steadily, I fear it may soon be interrupted, as there is a growing likelihood that I shall be called to serve our country overseas. Know that my thoughts remain with you. Your devoted son, John Milton.” The sky faded into a black ink by the time I had written down my farewell to my family, the darkness above me expanding to lengths unknown to the mind, vast with indifferent stars and the beautiful cosmos with the faint glow of the moon. And within the silence of the forest, the quiet stretched to beyond what felt natural, I was expecting to the minimum a coyote or the faint chirps of crickets but my ears fell upon deafening silence. As I searched further through the forest, the darkness engulfed the trees, there was an absence of anything, the presence of insects, birds nor even deer seemed to be present. I strain my ears, listening closely for even the faintest sense of wilderness yet nothing had came. I was looking for something, anything but yet there was no presence to detect. The unnatural silence allowed a quiet sense of dread to take hold. Within my disturbed delirium I felt a gaze without witness, though if there’s something beyond watching me pass the unnatural trees. The vast silence engulfs the forest, silent to the edge of hearing my own pulse. I venture even deeper within the forest, desperate for even the faintest sign of life within the forest. During my search to find life, the trees seem indifferent and unconcerned of the lack of inherently anything besides itself and the soil, upon closer inspection of the soil underneath my boots; it seemed almost dead where plant life shouldn’t be possible. A faint but nevertheless present dread emanates from each discovery I find within this forest, I simply dismiss the near impossible growth of the trees with that how the Amazon Rain Forest could with such poor soil. Yet the inconsistencies still stood firm within my mind, how such beyond natural oddities stood out, but I know better than to believe in superstition or the supernatural due to knowing such isn’t possible. I stop to witness the environment around me, not so focusing on the absence of wildlife but instead the trees in front of me, resting my hand upon its bark. It felt that of a birch tree, though its bark is more so a sickly gray. I pull my hand away and note down my discovery, hoping that bringing my mind back to that of education could lighten the ever growing dread that grows within my mind. I lift my eyes from the paper and up into the distance within the darkness and in the trees something stood before me, it resembled that of a man but stood to the height of the trees, possessing wood-like growth upon its body. I quickly rubbed my eyes to bring myself back to reality, when I opened my eyes it stood there no more. I felt not fear but an equivalent which led me to flee from the forest knowing that it’s best that I preserve myself.

As I fled the forest I stumbled and fell from its exposed roots before getting back up to continue to escape, from what felt like hours I eventually found myself upon my shelter. I proceeded to attempt to calm myself by breathing with such effort that my vision began to haze before taking in one to relieve myself, I withdrew my notepad to reconstruct what I have witnessed onto paper. I sketch graphite across paper to put together what I viewed, a vague silhouette of a man but stood to heights that no man should, rivaling that of the trees within the forest, wearing what seemed to be formal clothing. Throughout the everpassing days I thought to myself of the forest, attempting to push back the thought through studying other life among the island but none stood out like the trees did. I try to shake away the very idea of the trees but I can’t find myself but to be drawn to what I know could be dangerous, yet one thought persists… That I must return. Through the passing days the thought grew deeper and deeper within my mind, the more I view my notes and documentations the idea of venturing the forest called to me, my mind drifting back to the ‘man’ I saw. The more I think the more I question whether what I witnessed was a figment of my imagination or part of reality, I resist the temptation to the best of my capabilities but what I saw was beyond natural, beyond anything I have previously studied. Through the hours the simple thought of study felt maddening, the trees don’t make sense, everything about them felt unnatural; that I must make sense whatever I studied of it. The following day, I found myself unable to resist the urge any longer. I gathered my supplies, my necessities and resolved that I must return to the forest. The journey was long, or at least it felt so. After what seemed like hours, I once more stood at its edge, the trees unchanged bearing their sickly gray bark and flesh-like blossoms that seemed almost to gaze down upon me. I pressed further inward. The forest stretched on without end, as though it rejected the very notion of distance or boundary. Once again, I felt it, that gaze.

A presence I could neither see nor escape. The dread it inspired crept steadily into my mind, and I found myself questioning what could possibly observe me in a place so utterly devoid of life. As I walked, the sky above seemed to darken into a depthless void, and it was then I came upon it. A house.

It stood alone within the forest, an abandoned homestead that had no place existing in such a desolate expanse. I could not begin to understand how it had come to be there. I knew I should not enter. I knew it with certainty.

Yet something within me some quiet, insistent force compelled me forward.

Upon stepping inside, I was struck with a strange familiarity, as though I had once known this place, though I could not recall when. The interior was far too clean to be abandoned. Everything was orderly, untouched, as though its occupants had departed in great haste only moments before my arrival. The silence was unbearable. Each room carried the same unnatural stillness, until at last I found myself in what appeared to be the master bedroom. My gaze fell upon the closet, the only space left unexplored. I hesitated, resting my hand upon the handle. Then I opened it. And found… another room. I recoiled at once, a sharp dread coursing through me. Every instinct urged me to flee, to abandon the house entirely yet that same unseen force compelled me onward. I stepped inside. The room was wrong. It bore the shape of a lived space, yet it was utterly, oppressively empty. And there, impossibly, were the trees once more. Their blossoms turned not randomly, but deliberately toward a single door. I stared at it for what felt like an eternity. Then, despite myself, I approached. My hand trembled as I reached for the handle. I opened the door and found yet another room, just as familiar… and just as wrong. I turned to look behind me, intending to return where I had come and found only a wall, I recoiled in sudden alarm, my thoughts seek refuge in denial. Not a door nor the suggestion of one but the closet and door that I had came are now just that of a wall. I pressed my fingers against my eyes then looking back up, with trembling hands I reached out and laid my hands upon it. It was real, firm, cold, and indifferent to my confusion. Now I understood with a far more dreadful realization that there was no going back. I take in a deep breath to both ease my nerves and to prepare myself for what these room lie for me, walking through each door seems to have no end until I felt that gaze once more, I turned at once to confront what could be watching me but only emptiness stood, where I assumed something was watching me only held the interior of the room I stood in and the limbs of pink blossoms filled the space. I refused to believe that there might be something watching me but the feeling stands firm, to my way towards the next door once more stood another room but I instead close the door behind me to confirm that if there’s something that it’ll open the door, as I walk through the room; it’s contents stood just as familiar and off putting as the rooms before it. After what felt like nothing but a few minutes of exploring I return to the door I had closed behind me, to my disbelief it stood partly open as if whatever had entered it attempted to close it. I felt my heart drown toward my stomach at this discovery that seemingly confirms that there is someone or something following my steps, I quickly attempt to rationalize the thought with that I had simply haven’t property closed the door behind myself although not even I can fully put that into my own mind. I turned at once to continued my way through the rooms from door to door to door, the more pathways I venture the more each room seemed to possess a evermore wrongness to them, the more I travel the more I felt a presence gazing upon all my movements but within every instance I turn nothing seemed to be present to justify this feeling. I finally found myself in the presence of a room that didn’t seem bounded within reality itself as I found myself gazing inside what seemed to be a train or a trolly except the floor seemed to be that of grass, I pause at the bizarre yet surprisingly peaceful sight with an expression of disturbance, everything I have seen has broken any logic I’ve studied. Before the sight can truly unnerve me I look to my right to find… clouds. Clouds? Whatever I found myself inside of was suspended inside the sky despite me finding these rooms within a closet from an homestead inside a forest, I stood not in shock but in something stronger and more dumbfound at what I found myself inside, how such did not, could not make any logical sense whatsoever, I stand paralyzed at the sight of the place I found myself inside. I stood there for felt like forever until I finally placed one boot in front of the other before making my way through the train, it’s glass green and luscious as the sky outside shined a bright blue, I still stood disturbed but I make myself carry on while attempting to deny the existence of this place by not to put the thought in my head. As I stepped through the train to force myself onwards into the next door hoping that the next room isn’t an continuation of this train, as I walked further I decides to pick one of the flowers in the grass and examine it, it was one I have studied before therefor I pay no mine to it, for what felt like I have been walking for hours I finally found myself at the next door and with almost a feeling of solace before opening the door to find myself in once more a disturbingly familiar room that possesses those trees, the sight of these tree began to irritate me but I heard something that I believed belonged to myself at first but as I strain my ears I hear a sound that I wish I shouldn’t have listened to; a heartbeat, a heartbeat of that of an animal but inside the roots of the trees. I jolt back violently at this nature breaking discovery that violated everything I have learned about Plantae within all my years of study.

I have been walking for what seemed like an amount of time that my mind couldn’t count, I walk through door after door after door and I still feel that unyielding presence watching me behind my shoulders despite looking behind myself numerous times there’s nothing ever there. It must be the trees, it has to be, I can’t think of any other reason, nothing here matches any logic from my studies, the trees heartbeat eats away at my very thoughts, anytime attempt to think within reason I hear it’s sickening thumping, a sound that make my guts turn at its presence, at the distance I see something that seems to be that of a door but with what looks to be an exit sign suspended above it. I ran towards it only for it to never exist there at all, the door I once was looking at is now only that of another wall with it’s sickly yellow color. From the corner of my vision I saw, no, I seen what I thought was that same monstrously huge silhouette that resembled a man but when I turn my head to fully view it, nothing was there. I swear, I knew that something was there, I saw it, how did it just vanish as if it never existed? Now as if this room is listening to me I saw what seemed to be an eye on the trees blossoms in the farside of my vision, without hesitation I turn at once to only see the blossoms had nothing on it except its pink petals, I felt my stomach churn as I stood underly disturbed at whatever seemed to be going on, I walk to only trip on the tree’s roots and seem to fall in a hole that previously never existed at all or so I thought. Within my descent I have fallen into a space infested with the trees, its flowers bore eyes, they turned towards me, no- not turned. They had always been facing me. Hadn’t they? This sight, this very view, it was far beyond what I could bare, I could not stare any longer at the sight before me as tears fall from my eyes, trembling with horror and I jolt up in terror as the eyes stared as if their gaze were to judge upon me. I stood up, tripping on my own boots as I ran through the cursed plants before I stepped on what seemed to be an eye, causing what I thought was a squelch underneath my boot, causing me to stumble backwards to fall over my own footing, making me become engulfed by a cluster of flowers, Its pollen entering my lungs causing a burning sensation. I coughed brutally from the burning in my lungs as I violently convulsed on the ground, feeling that something has entered my body, from that instant I felt a piercing feeling within my chest, making breathing impossible as I felt no longer in control of my own skin, feeling that same piercing within my chest became unbearable as I could no longer see from my eyes were blinded by my own blood, now hearing a heartbeat that was no longer my own as roots sprouted from my own body, causing mutilation upon me beyond what I could describe. Now becoming a part of the trees in ways I could not bear nor comprehend.

I finally finished my Gothic short story for u/sorabellesilli 's Danger forest AU Astray. Also here's a challenge for artists, draw the main character in your own interpretation

I finally finished my short story for u/sorabellesilli 's Danger forest AU Astray. Also here's a challenge for artists, draw the main character in your own interpretation