The sickly yellow leaves hissed around Jeames as the wind picked up and he stopped to take a breath. His eyes flew from side to side trying to track movement that seemed to be coming from either side of the trail, but the shadows of twilight made it near impossible. The sound slowly calmed to a whisper and then, as quickly as it had come, faded to nothing. Suddenly, everything was still and he was surrounded by a thick blanket of silence. That’s when he noticed he was truly alone. He ran his fingers through his scraggly brown hair and sighed. “Where are they?” he muttered with what little breath he had left. A cold shiver ran up his spine and he shrank back against the trees looming above, thin branches reaching down toward him like bony dead fingers. The feeling of being watched was starting to overwhelm him. He needed to find the rest of his group before the sun set and the darkness fully took hold of the forest. His fists clenched and he directed his gaze farther down the path. “Keep moving forward,” he told himself as he took another step down the path and the hissing returned…
Photo Credit: CJ Bowers
The CJBuzz 