Chapter 3

Rex decided his next best course of action would be to make for home after the events that unfolded at the river with Dean.

He had planned on taking the same track he came in because it was the quickest route, but after the altercation earlier, he changed his mind, he was not wanting to risk running into the group again on the way out.

'An extra 20 minutes to go around him and his friends won't kill me,' he thought as he picked up his bike and started off up the hill, going along the road headed in the opposite direction he used to come in.

The only problem was the other track he knew about that would lead him back towards home was a very steep and looked and even rougher trail than the one he had taken to reach his secluded beach, the trail went over the eastern hills behind the town that cut through a dense forest area that many people avoided, there were many stories from the locals about strange things that happened in that forest.

As he rode, his mind went back to the events at the river, ‘How had I overpowered two men? And still been strong enough to knock Dean out?’ Rex Stopped just outside of the edge of the tree line, due to his musings, he had made it to the forest in what he thought was record time. Just as he placed his foot on the pedal to begin his journey had an odd prickling sensation on the neck of his neck, as if someone was watching him. Darting his eyes around to look for anyone that may be hiding, he took a deep breath in, not being able to see anything out of place, Rex resumed his pedalling along the path heading into the forest.

Still not being unable to shake his feeling of uneasiness, Rex decided it would be best to pedal a little faster, he wanted to get out of the forest as quickly as possible, hoping the feeling of dread he was currently suffering from would pass once he was safely on the other side.

Feeling a sudden gust of wind pass by his head, followed by a strange pinging sound, caused Rex to falter in his trek, applying the brakes, allowing him to snap his head back and forth wildly. ‘What the f**k was that?’ he asked, his eyes widening in fear as he was only able to see tall trees and wide canopy blocking out most of the light from the sun, causing long dark shadows to be cast around his immediate surroundings. The prickling sensation had now begun to be a tingling down his spine as his mind calculated how many things could be hiding amongst the sheer volume of deep shadows.

Picking up the pace significantly once he took off, Rex started to feel a little better once he was able to see the outer edge of the forest appear, being able to see clearly see the main road that would lead him back home.

'I need to get out of here,' Rex thought. Like everyone in town, he knew the many stories that circulated about this forest from the older locals, this must have been the reasoning for his uneasiness about being in here he concluded, after all, the stories were about a woodland axe murderer as well as a woman who had power to lure men into the woods to horrific deaths. The way they were told made them sound to be quite horrible accounts, making it possible for the brain to be tricked into seeing things that did not exist.

'What is that?' Rex saw looking toward his way out of the forest once more, in the light from the sun outside of the woods, he could have sworn he could see something shiny traveling in his direction. The blood drained from his face when he realized it was not just his eyes adjusting to the brightness from the sun being a lot stronger with the trees thinning out as he reached the exit, something was headed on a collision course with his face. 

“Oh shit!" Rex cursed out loud, the shock of the sight forcing him to take in a deep breath and clench his teeth, squinted slightly as his body tensed up, bracing himself for the impact from the mystery object. After a few seconds, the object had not collided with him yet, Rex’s vision cleared, and he noticed something strange happening around him. He could see the trees were not moving at the speed they should be with how fast he was moving forward.

'This is weird, it’s almost like time is slowed, what the actual f**k!?' Rex thought his brain now slowed due to a lack of comprehension to what was happening around him at the present, but the still approaching glint of the object continuing on its journey towards him pulled him back to his current situation. Using the extra time that had mysteriously presented itself giving himself more time for his body to react, he was able to quickly turn his bike to the side, ducking his head and shoulders over at just the right time, the object passed by his face with only an inch to spare.

“Holy shit! That's a bloody dagger!!” Rex exclaimed wide-eyed, staring at the hilt and cutting edge of a knife passing by him.

Feeling himself start to continue his path sideways, he quickly threw himself back to the other side to realign his body back upright and with renewed gusto at his recent brush with death, Rex pedalled as hard as he could to clear the forest, only taking a moment to stop once he saw the familiar sight of the main highway that would take him safely back home.

Turning his head back down along the path, between deep breaths, a thought occurred to him, 'That was aimed right at me as if someone had just tried to kill me!?’ Rex knew the stories about this forest did not seem believable but what had just happened to him proved it must be true indeed. A second thought occurred to him, no one would believe him when he retold it, but he was hoping one person would.

"I have to tell Iris, surely she will believe me. She has told me many incredible stories from her time as a traveller," Rex said as if saying it out aloud would help reassure him.

Just as Rex put his foot on the pedal to ride off, he felt a sudden pain begin to shoot up his spine, stopping at the base of his skull. The sudden throbbing felt like someone was hammering on the inside of his skull as if they were attempting escape.

After a few minutes of pounding agony, his headache seem to ease giving him the faculty to think clearly once more. He wiped his sweaty face, feeling a strange dampness on his face that came back instantly once being wiped. Placing his fingers above his top lip where the wetness seemed to originate from, he realised the headache had even made his nose bleed.

"A headache has never done this to me before" Rex exclaimed, a feeling of confusion washing over him as he stared at the blood on his shaky fingers. 

He knew he was long overdue to get his ass home, too many things had gone wrong and he was at a loss of what to do about it. He quickly wiped the blood from his nose again with the sleeve of his shirt, feeling it had seeped down again and peddled as fast as he could down the path, changing his direction once he was at the main road, easily finding his direction once more, his heart hammered extra at the thought something odd could happen to him again.

Skidding his bike to a halt at the gate to his house, he threw the bike into the front yard, jumped the fence, and bolted in through the front door, locking it quickly and closing the curtains, pulling one curtain to the side ever so slightly to take a quick look outside to make sure he hadn’t been followed. Now was not the time to take any chances.

"I thought I heard you come in. Oh, you're back early," Iris exclaimed as she walked into the room, looking up at the clock on the wall, it only took a brief glance at Rex for Iris to know something was wrong.

"What's going on? Why is there dried blood on your face and your shirt? What happened to you? Who did this?" She asked, her voice higher than usual as she questioned him, Rex could tell she was really worried just judging be her fussing alone.

"You'll never believe what happened at the river and on the way back!!" Rex said, moving away from the front landing to the kitchen, finding a chair and sitting down, shakily running his fingers through his hair to try to calm himself.

"Well spit it out boy!!" Iris snapped after a few intense moments of watching him, sliding a chair out and sitting across from Rex staring at him.

Taking in a few deep breaths to calm himself, he told Iris about what happened with Dean at the river, showing her his broken phone and then retelling the story of the dagger in the forest, explaining the blood came after a terrible headache he got shortly after exiting the woods.

"Now I understand. You've been playing too many video games, haven't you? I told you it would rot your brain, that is probably why you had the headache. Also my boy, those stories are not true about the forest, there are no women with magic able to drag men to their deaths, nor is there a man who kills people with an axe, or whatever other stories you kids tell each other to instil fear. Although the fact Dean and his cronies openly attacked you outside of school is quite troubling, I think it’s finally time to speak to someone. Your story seems quite silly if you ask me, look at what you just imagined," Iris said leaning over and placing her hands over Rex’s hands that were outstretched and clasped together.