'Should I turn back, or keep going forward?' I contemplated.
If I went back, this would be all for nothing; I would be back at square one. Everything was telling me I regressed a week, but there was self-doubt. My coming out here, seeing if the veil was there, would only confirm my suspicion.
Everything to me was still blips in time, all blurry to me. Exploring the academy, trying to leave this place, even that dark abyss. It all felt like deja vu, as if I knew what was about to happen next, but was uncertain at the same time, with a missing piece in between.
This uncertainty was making me go crazy—no, I already felt crazy for even thinking I lived this week. I have gone through too much to have this on my mind as well.
I looked around one final time to make sure there was no one else around and make my decision. I continued to walk into the forest. My journey was already halfway done; it was just a few more steps until I got my answers.
My determination to get answers was high, but even that would not heal my wounds. I would have to stop every few yards to rest on a tree, catching my breath for a brief moment. My clothes began to get stained by the bark and its coating.
During these times, I would rest on trees, I would take my time to look around a few more times, just in case. The eerie thought that someone else was around here did not leave my mind.
I would step on a branch and yelped. I would hear birds cawing, and I would turn. It was clear that I was on high alert. About now, I only had a couple of hundred yards left. I would arrive at the edge of campus in a couple of minutes if I kept pace. But just then, my walking stick snapped, causing me to fall forward into the snow. When I fell, it didn't hurt as much as I thought it would, since the snow cushioned my fall.
"Just what I need," I say, getting up from the snow, whipping it off. When I do, I continue walking. After a couple of minutes, the trees started to open up again. I could see light.
"Light?"
I started to doubt myself, thinking I had gone crazy this whole time, that maybe I hadn't gone back a week, that perhaps it was all in my head. That this entire thing was just a whole ordeal of major deja vu, but as I finally made it past the trees in front of me, there stood the same veil I remembered before.
"I wasn't crazy." I let out a sigh and start laughing hysterically. "I didn't go crazy!"
Forgetting the danger of what could be in the forest, I sigh in relief. Fall back on my ass, where the snow breaks my fall. I look up and start smiling.
This wasn't a whole ordeal of major deja vu. Somehow, someway, I was reliving the same week. I felt as if I was going mentally unstable these past few days. That I lost touch with myself, but that wasn't it. All of it was real.
As I take in this short victory to myself just then, reality kicks in.
"If I went back a week, then why? What was the reason for all of this?"
Just as one question was answered, many more come flooding in. I try to think back to the flash of memories I do remember, but nothing makes sense.
Looking towards the veil, I started to see it grow in rage. It was like a storm that encapsulated this whole place. I looked up to see where it ended, but I couldn't see anything.
*crack*
I hear the cracking of a branch far off into the distance. Turning frantically, I can see the branch that broke far off in the distance, but no one is there.
'Shit.'
Not wasting time, I quickly rolled over to my side, hiding in the snow that rose more as you went into the forest. It kept my head and body hidden from anyone who was standing afar. I take another quick second to see if anyone else is here but no one.
With these wounds of mine, I could not run, so my best course of action was to hide. Right now, I have to move position if they do see me by chance. I use my arms to pull me forward in an army crawl motion. I try to stick to the outer rim with the veil behind me since this was where I could hide best behind the snow and trees.
With every moment, I could feel my skin wanting to tear apart. The stitches were holding up, but I don't think they would for long. After making it a few yards from my original position, I still lay in the snow but rest again a tree this time as to not do any more damage to my stitches.
I sit here for a few minutes, looking around for any signs of someone, but I don't see or hear anyone. But I still stay hidden for a bit longer to be on the safe side. After a few more minutes, with it being a total of half an hour now, I take one final look.
"Nothing." I let out a sigh of relief, knowing now I was in the clear. Making my way up from the tree, I notice an issue. The sun was coming down. I took longer than expected coming to the edge of campus with my stick, breaking and hiding out for that long.
This campus now had an active wildlife. Knowing that, I could not leave now. I had to stay put. If things stayed consistent, it meant this place was now home to wolves and other such vicious animals around.