[September 8th 1979]
[Nathan's POV]
I should've been able to see Steve, he'd only been a dozen steps ahead of me. The trail was narrow enough that he should've stayed in my sight, a floating silhouette in the fog. So why can't I see him?
It shouldn't be possible. I only looked away for a second.
Maybe he's trying to scare me.
But Steve's never been the type to leap out of bushes with a stupid grin. Maybe I got distracted, slowed down, drifted off the path and go-
Snap.
The sharp crack of a twig folds the forest around me. My breath halts. I turn toward the sound with a fragile hope.
"Steve? You there?"
The fog parts just enough to reveal a hundred crows staring down at me, balanced like ornaments on the blackened branches. Their feathers shimmer with an oil-slick sheen. None of them move.
"Steve?" I whisper, the unease feeling climbing up my spine.
I try to take a step, but something clamps around my ankle tight. I stumble and try to tug against it, but it doesn't budge. Panic sets in so i grab a rock from the trail and smash it down on the thing gripping me ankle and to my shock, it recoils.
I jerk my leg back too fast and fall onto my back. "Ouch," I mutter, though the pain is just a background hum compared to the relief of being free.
The fog thickens into a trembling curtain ahead of me. Long spider legs with sharp end that digged into tje ground and trees around it their movements smooth like its done this hundred of not thousands of time before.
And then I understand why it appeared infront of me:
I didn't hurt it.
I only pissed it off.
"What are you?" The words leave my throat on the hope its understandable english or even talks but my question is met with the sound of crows.
One of the claw unfolds and a massive, razor-sharp end peirces directly into my leg. Pain explodes in my leg as i scream, loud enough to give myself headache.
But the scream did nothing to help me as all it seems to do was dry my throat but then i started to pull me toward its fog like body.
My fingers claw at the dirt as I scream again but this time not out of pain but out of fear of what this thing will do to me as I'm dragged closer and towards the fog and the jagged claws inside seem to open up ready to eat.
"Nathan!"
The voice cuts through the fog and haze, and I know that voice from anywhere, its steve.
The creature froze. Every limb lifts as though listening. The grip on my ruined ankle loosens.
I don't waste a second.
I dragged no that would be a understatement i clawed myself away from it, as i calling out for Steve, my voice hoarse. My vision narrows and then suddenly everything goes quiet.
---
[September 9th, 1979]
[Steve's POV]
This is my fault.
I keep looping the thought in my head like a cruel reel of film.
If I hadn't dragged Nathan into the woods to play if I'd paid attention when he fell behind.
He wouldn't have stepped in that bear trap and hurt his leg.
"I'm sorry, Nathan," I whisper into the bright hospital room. My voice feels too small. I'd managed to get him to the hospital, after I found him unconscious on the path and His ankle I can't even describe what that trap did to him.
He lies on the hospital bed pale as a corpse and its my fault.
I rub my eyes, fighting to stay awake. Dawn hasn't fully arrived. The smell of damp earth still clings to Nathan's clothes and then suddenly I hear it.
"What happened?" Nathan mumbles, voice sanded down to a faint rasp.
I jolt upright so fast the world blurs. "Nathan!" Relief crashes through me, wild and overwhelming, and I pull him into a careful hug as I tear up a little oh god your awake do you remember what happend.
He look at me and pull away "yeah I stepped in a trap" i let out a sigh of relief, you know how much you scared me and im sorry I wasn't there. "Its not your fault steve" he said.
Still i should have stayed with you not let you wonder off l, how do you feel. "I feel better but my leg still hurts" that good ill go get the doctor and with that i stand up and leave the room hoping Nathan will be okay.
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