Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

I'm so Sick

November 1st, 2025

The sound of your phone vibrating echoed in your room.

Your phone laid on the pillow next to your head, vibrating endlessly as your morning alarm blared, and the sound stung your ears. Immediately upon waking up, a heavy, cold, and depressing sense of dread washed over you. It was a Monday morning, meaning you'd have to get up for school.

Thankfully, you'd managed to get a spare period in your schedule, so you really only had three classes. Having classes at all sucked, though, and you felt like today especially would be hard to get through. At least your spare was before lunch, so you'd have extra time to eat and walk around before the third period.

Finally deciding to get up, you rolled over and smacked your phone screen a few times, successfully managing to turn off your alarm and not just accidentally snooze it.

You laid in your warm bed for a few seconds more before sitting up. Your apartment was cold, dark, and so very quiet. The feeling of dread remained in your stomach. This wasn't uncommon. It was hard not to feel awful these days.

You lived alone in this quiet apartment; you had been alone for a while. Your parents had passed years prior in an accident, and since you were old enough to be alone, you stayed living in your family apartment by yourself.

Not that you were complaining, though. Your parents sucked ass while they were alive, and living alone as a teenager was pretty cool. You'd inherited enough money from your deadbeat parents after their passing to live comfortably, so you truly had no issues living alone.

Scooting off of your bed, you stood up, yawned, and stretched before checking the time on your phone. Upon seeing the time, you cringed. You were gonna be late getting to class.

Maybe it would be best to just crawl back into bed and lie down; maybe you go back to bed for a little bit. The idea sounded great, but you knew you should probably get ready and just take the late attendance mark. You were on thin ice with the office ladies anyway. You knew they'd threaten you with suspension and detention if you missed any more days of school. It would probably be best to go to class, as much as you'd rather stay home.

You hated school. You weren't a fan of any of your classmates, and you knew they felt the same about you. They'd often end up tormenting you. They'd shove you in the hallways and purposely bump into you. They'd also knock stuff off your desk, start rumours, and throw crumpled-up papers with vulgar insults on them at you. They'd do a lot to torment you on a regular basis.

You were in your final year at this godforsaken school. Senior year, and you'd just turned eighteen. You could legally drop out now, but what would be the point? Only a few months left, might as well tough it out.

Sighing, you threw on whatever you could find and grabbed your bag, not bothering to eat anything before heading to class. You didn't normally eat breakfast anyway. It made you nauseous.

The path to school was cold. It was a small, stone path that headed straight towards your school.

With how worn down, old, and unkempt it was, it could barely even be called an actual path at this point. Despite that, you walked it every day. You'd gotten used to the eerie feeling that would come with walking down it.

Not many others traversed it. The path cut through the forest on the outskirts of your town; most other people had heard enough about the forest to keep away from it, though. Apparently there were a lot of rumours about this forest.

However, rumours were just stories without any proof, and you didn't feel as though there was any reason to avoid the path. Others would disagree, claiming that the forest was bad luck, or that it was haunted, or whatever it was that they'd say. You never really cared for any of that stuff.

The only odd thing you'd ever encountered on the path was a weird ringing in your ears. It would happen often throughout the day, but more than ever when you were near the forest. And although it was very rare, you'd sometimes get tunnel vision too, most often accompanied by nausea.

You assumed it was just personal health issues, though. You weren't always the most mentally stable person.

It had rained throughout the night, so the path was a bit slippery, and the remaining storm clouds blocked out most of the light. It was cold and gloomy, and the September weather caused a heavy fog that prevented you from seeing too far down the path in front of you.

This was your favourite kind of morning.

There was a small breeze, and you didn't think too much of the sound of leaves rustling behind you until you heard the sound of a twig snapping. Suddenly, the breeze had stopped and the surrounding areas had gone silent.

Everything around you had gone quiet. Was something nearby? Maybe someone else was on the path and spooked the nearby animals.

You paused for a second and looked behind yourself. The sudden snap of a twig and the unnatural silence that followed it were both a bit odd. Though nobody was on the path behind you.

You sighed and shook your head, continuing down the path. Maybe you were just tired; it was pretty early, and you did have trouble sleeping the previous night. Maybe it was just an animal, and you got spooked over nothing.

Despite your rationalization, the feeling of dread you'd woken up with had only grown stronger.

You continued on the walk, making it to school a little after the bell had rung. You sighed, shivering a bit as you pulled open the side door to the school and dragged yourself inside.

It was warmer in the halls. You slowly trudged down the halls towards your first class. Upon getting there and opening the door, your teacher shot you a glare and told you to sit down in his usual snarky tone. You nodded and headed towards your seat in the back corner, ignoring the judgemental stares from your classmates.

You were just glad Mr. Clark hadn't stood you in front of everyone and interrogated you about why you were late today. He did that last week. Not a fun experience.

You dropped your bag beside your chair and sat down, pulling your phone from your pocket and scrolling through whatever app you opened first. Due to where you were sitting, you knew Mr. Clark couldn't see whether or not you were on your phone, and you also knew he didn't care enough to check, so you could usually get away with being on your phone during class.

You were also sat by the window, able to glance up occasionally to look out at the gloomy outdoors. Your window faced the forest, much to your liking. Sometimes you'd see a deer in the morning or some small forest animals running around on the outskirts of the forest.

Feeling your stomach turn, you sighed and put your phone down, opting to look out the window for a bit instead. The constant feeling of dread and exhaustion that forced itself onto you was something you'd grown used to. You always felt awful and stressed, and it made you sick to your stomach. Whenever your feelings got too bad, you ended up nauseous.

Hoping that the view would help distract you from the feelings, you stared intently outside the classroom window, getting lost in your own thoughts and distractions.

You'd almost gotten completely lost in thought before being interrupted. A small and folded piece of paper landed onto your desk, and you unfortunately missed seeing the direction it came from. You looked down at the paper and frowned, unsure of whether you should open it or not.

They did this often, your classmates.

Hesitantly, you reached for the paper, opening it only to see a small message:

"fucking freak
kys"

You rolled your eyes, ignoring the hushed snickers from your surrounding classmates as you crumpled up the paper and stuffed it into your backpack. After turning your attention back towards the window, you stared at the tiny fawn that had shown up on the tree line.

It hopped happily and delicately along the tree line, coming to a stop near some bright yellow wildflowers.

Another paper landed on your desk.

The deer started hopping again, only to suddenly freeze and drop to the ground, remaining completely still. Out of curiosity, you looked around. Suddenly, you froze, feeling your stomach drop as you took notice of whatever had spooked the deer.

Your ears started to ring.

A tall, dark figure stood behind a tree not too far from the woodland's edge. You couldn't tell whether or not it was a person or a really weird tree; it was too far away, and if it was a person, then they were freakishly tall. The longer you stared, the stronger the ringing in your ears became. You were overcome with an overwhelming sense of nausea; the feeling of dread you held got so awful that you felt yourself start to hold your breath.

Suddenly, a small, crumbled-up paper hit your head, and you flinched. When you flinched, you knocked your phone off of your desk, and everyone turned to look back towards you.

Mr. Clark stepped away from the whiteboard and turned to glare at you. "Is there a reason you're disrupting my lesson?"

A bit shaken up and confused, you stared at your teacher with a bit of a lost expression, provoking a few giggles from the girls in front of you. You quickly shook your head, feeling the ringing in your ears come to a stop. Mr. Clark just stared before sighing heavily and returning to whatever he was teaching. Slowly everyone turned back around in their seats to face him again.

You quickly grabbed your phone off of the ground and looked back out the window, not bothering to check what was written on the newest papers that had been thrown at you. The figure was gone, and so was the fawn.

You blinked, having not realized your eyes had started watering. There was a stinging sensation in your eyes; it had become hard to stare at the figure. Just staring at it had given you a migraine.

The ringing of the school bell made you flinch again, and the boy beside you snickered as he was getting up. You frowned and slowly stood up, grabbing your bag and following your classmates out into the hallway, slipping your phone into your bag as you walked.

Your mind was stuck on whatever you saw standing outside the window. Why had your ears started ringing again? What was that? Did it see you—

Without realizing it, you'd made your way down the hallway and towards the side exit door. It was your spare period now. At least you had some time to sit somewhere quiet and think. Upon stepping outside, you were forcefully dragged out of your thoughts when a leg was stuck out before you, successfully tripping you and sending your bag flying a few feet in front of you.

You winced as you hit the ground, your hands painfully smacking against the concrete. Giggles erupted from beside you, and you blinked as you slowly pushed yourself up to a sitting position.

Your knees and palms stung. Tiny rocks had clung to the slightly broken skin on your palms, and on your knees, your pants were a bit shredded from the rocky concrete you'd landed on.

A rough hand smacked the back of your head, and you shut your eyes tightly as you reached a hand to your head. The headache you'd gotten from that thing was only made worse by this.

"Oh, sorry! Guess I didn't see you there." You looked up, locking eyes with a guy you didn't particularly like: Damien. The guy was tall, arrogant, and strong enough to be on the football team. He was someone who always seemed to enjoy picking on you in particular.

Damien grinned as he stared down at you, taking in your annoyed and pained expression. He then rolled his eyes and turned around, gesturing for his friends to follow him as they walked away. "Be more careful next time, slut." He shot back at you.

As they walked away, one of the girls kicked your bag further away from you. She looked back and gave you a fake pitiful look, followed by a giggly "Sorry!" before she jogged to catch up with the others.

You said nothing in response, only glancing towards your backpack before you sighed heavily and pushed yourself off of the ground. You dusted yourself off and moved to grab your backpack. Your palms had gotten a bit scraped up and cut from the fall, but it wasn't too bad, so you didn't bother trying to bandage it.

Yanking your backpack off the ground, you slung it over your back and quickly decided to hurry off and find a place to sit before Damien and his gaggle of assholes could come back and mess with you again.

Alone with your thoughts once again, your attention was snapped back to earlier. The feeling of dread you had was still present, wedged tightly in the bottom of your stomach. You crossed your arms, almost hugging yourself as you walked. What was that?

Maybe it was just a fucked-up tree you hadn't noticed before? No person or animal could be that tall, right?

Maybe it was a moose. Those are actually massive, right? No, no. You don't typically have moose present in your area. It couldn't have been that.

You made your way to a lone tree off to the side of the school, a place where you'd usually sit. No one really came over this way, so you didn't have to worry much about any of your classmates bothering you. After dropping your bag, you sat down with your back against the tree. You could hear the rustling of leaves in the forest behind you. The breeze chilled you—it was still cold out.

You pulled your phone from your bag, deciding not to think too much about what you'd seen and how you felt. Thinking about it made your nausea worse.

After about an hour of doing nothing by the tree, you checked the time. The cafeteria would be serving lunch by now. Since it was still a bit early, you could probably beat the crowd if you went now.

After you'd decided you were hungry enough for a snack, you stood up, only to feel your stomach drop.

Out of the corner of your eye, you spotted it. By the edge of the forest stood a tall, dark figure. It was between two trees a few feet from where the forest ended. Your breath hitched, and you stared wide-eyed at the figure. It hurt to stare at it, and your ears started to ring. It stung. Your body began to ache, and you felt your stomach turn disgustingly.

It was tall. It wore what looked to be a suit? It was hard to see. Through your tunnel vision, you looked up to try and see its face through the low-hanging leaves of the trees before it. You pressed a hand to your stomach and stumbled back.

It had no face.

Where its face should be sat a blank canvas. It was just a head with no face, white and devoid of any soul.

The sound of crunching and leaves rustling made you look down, only to make eye contact with someone a bit taller than you.

He had emerged from behind the tall being, and you could tell he held something in both hands, but you couldn't see what. The man took a few steps forward, though he didn't move past the tree line.

Suddenly gaining consciousness from whatever state of shock and fear you were in, you turned and ran towards the school. Stumbling and breathless, you made it to the side door and fell inside, hearing the heavy door slam behind you. You stood and turned, staring out the window to see if they'd followed. However, both the man and the other thing were gone.

Your headache was agonizing, and your ears and eyes stung from the ringing and tunnel vision. You felt as though you were about to be sick.

"What the fuck...?" A voice said from behind you, and you spun on your heel to see who it was. Damien and two of his friends stood behind you in the hallway, staring at you confused. You had just barged in and fallen over.

You stared at the three guys with wide, red, and teary eyes before running past them and down the hall towards the exit. Fuck this shit, you were going home.

"You having a mental breakdown already? It's not even the third period yet!" You heard Damien shout down towards you as you stumbled further down the hall, his voice fading out behind you.

Whatever you'd seen was sickening, and you weren't going to spend another minute here. What was that thing? Why did you start freaking out like that? The ringing in your ears, the tunnel vision, the nausea, and the agonizing headache? Those symptoms were ones you'd experienced before, all whenever you were near that forest.

The rumours—were the rumours true? Fuck, fuck—you'd never actually stopped to listen to them—

Upon reaching the exit and running out of the school. You froze.

You had to walk through the forest to get home.

Chapter Text

No Rest at All

November 1st, 2025

You stood at the edge of the forest, your feet stuck in place as you stared hesitantly down the path.

It was in there. You knew it had seen you, and you knew whoever was with it did too.

This was the fastest route home and the only route with an actual path. You'd be walking on the side of the road if you took the other way home, and that route was half an hour longer.

The sound of the school door opening and slamming behind you caused you to jump a little, and the fear of being caught ditching school sent you stepping down the path. You didn't have the time to decide which route would be best right now. You just had to get out of there. You bit your lip, crossing your arms as you uncomfortably made your way into the forest.

You huffed, your breath visible in the cold air. Maybe you'd been hallucinating earlier. After having skipped breakfast and eating practically nothing else over the past few days, you very well could've just been so hungry that you started hallucinating wild things. Imagine telling someone that you'd seen a massively tall man in the forest. They'd think you're crazy.

The walk was agonizingly long. Had it always taken this long to walk the path?

Every little snap of a twig, sound of leaves rustling, or gust of wind would freak you out. Every shiver of the bushes would cause you to flinch and speed up. You just needed to make it back to your apartment. Once you got home, you could lock yourself inside and hide for the rest of the day.

After what felt like ages, you finally made it to your building. You scurried inside and up to your apartment, then fumbled with your keys. After managing to unlock your door, you shuffled inside and shut it behind you.

You sighed heavily, dropping your bag down and turning to move towards the windows. You should probably make sure they were locked.

-

After doing a security check of your apartment, you deemed it safe enough to relax. You then changed into your pyjamas, crawled into bed, and warmed up under the covers.

The day passed slowly. You had tried to distract yourself every now and then, but another awful feeling had started bugging you. You'd started to feel as though you were being watched. You knew you were just being paranoid, but you couldn't shake the fear that it was watching you from somewhere. You'd even gotten up and shut the blinds sometime mid-afternoon.

The paranoia erased any feelings of hunger or exhaustion you had. You couldn't take a nap because what you'd seen wouldn't fully leave your mind, and the thought replaying in your head constantly had made you too nauseous and anxious to eat.

When you finally got up again at the end of the day, it was late and dark outside. You'd done nothing but lie in bed on your phone all day, too paranoid to leave your bed.

You picked at some old fruits in your fridge before sauntering back to your bedroom. You cuddled back up under your sheets, deciding that it would be best to sleep the night away and forget about it, as insane as that sounded.

Hours passed as you laid in bed awake. You stared at the ceiling, unable to sleep, focused on the occasional sounds you'd hear from outside. You were so freaked out that you ended up sleeping with the lights on like a child.

When morning came, you were still in the same position you'd tried to fall asleep in. You stared tiredly at the ceiling, unsure of whether or not you'd actually slept. You felt tired, but you were sure you'd gotten at least half an hour of sleep at some point.

Your alarm went off in the early hours. Finally peeling your eyes away from your ceiling, you glanced towards your window, seeing light peek in from behind your closed curtains.

The thought of going to school was paralyzing. But you knew your attendance had suffered enough. You had to go in, at least for a period or two.

-

The walk to school had gone okay. You hadn't seen that tall man or the other man at all, and everything seemed to be normal. However, you were still on edge, your mind constantly directing back to the memory of what you'd seen yesterday.

Your classes were agonizing and long. As usual, you paid little attention to any of your lessons, opting to spend your time doodling in your notebooks or playing on your phone.

During your breaks, you slipped through the halls as quickly as you could. You'd done your best to avoid Damien and everyone else, which had been successful throughout the day.

When you had the time, you'd hide outside behind the school. You'd stand beside the massive garbage bins and scroll on your phone. It reeked of smoke and weed behind the school, and the ground was littered with crushed cigarettes; most students would hang out here after school hours and get high. Though, during school hours, it wasn't as popular of a hangout spot.

It was a bit surprising. You'd managed to make it through a full school day without anyone actually doing anything to you. Days like this were nice and unusual for you, and being left alone helped you to relax and calm down from everything that had happened.

Soon enough, school was over, and the sound of the final bell sent everyone rushing to leave and head home. The day had gone by, you felt somewhat better, and you could now head home and hope that the rest of your day would be okay too.

You'd only gotten a few feet down the path home, only to be stopped when you got to the edge of the woods. From behind you, someone called your name. Your stomach dropped, and you rolled your eyes in annoyance; you knew who was calling you.

"Hey. Wait up." You turned to see Damien walking up the path towards you, his hands in his pockets. He grinned when you made eye contact. At his side were the two guys from yesterday, the ones you'd seen after running into the school during your panic. "Didn't think you'd stop." Damien snickered as he finally got within five feet of you. He pulled a hand from his pocket, running it through his blond hair.

You stared at him, and a frown tugged at the corners of your lips as you turned to face him.

He rolled his eyes. "Don't look at me like that. I just wanna talk." Your brows furrowed even more at his words, and he took a step closer to you, his friends following behind him. He tilted his head, eyeing you in silence for a long ten seconds. "You're pretty cute, y'know..." He paused. "It's a shame that you're such a fucking freak. You should talk more."

You took a step back. A look of annoyance was visible on your face as you shook your head, turning away from Damien and his friends. Damien groaned from behind you as you started walking away.

"Jesus—will you stop? I had a question." You heard Damien follow you. Hesitantly, you stopped and turned back towards him, your arms crossed. He stared at you with an unreadable expression. "Why'd you freak out yesterday?"

You shrugged. "I don't know what you're talking about."

One of the other guys snickered, and Damien's stare hardened, growing cold. "Yes, you do. Don't bullshit me. We saw you freak out when you ran inside, crying and shit."

"I wasn't crying." You shook your head, keeping your voice low and calm. "It doesn't matter, okay—why do you even care?" You squinted at Damien.

The blond shrugged and stared at you, taking a step closer. When you stepped back, he stepped closer again. You uncrossed your arms, grabbing one of your bag straps with your hand. Your other hand was balled into a fist by your side. Damien stood, an expression that you couldn't read on his face, and a stance so stiff that it looked like he was about to run at you.

His two friends stood behind him, and the four of you were about ten feet now into the forest path.

"Why don't you wanna tell us? Were you doing something and almost got caught out there?" He took another step forward, and you felt yourself grow tense. You shook your head, and he spoke again. "You're such a creep, you know that? You never talk, you're always staring out the window or doodling some shit, and you never hang out with anyone." He laughed airily, staring at you with a heavy glare.

"I heard her parents are dead too." One of Damien's friends spoke up—you thought his name was Alec, but you weren't actually sure. The third guy, Gene, snickered from beside Alec.

Damien's eyes widened, and he grinned, looking you up and down. "Fuck, is that true? How'd they die?" He took another step forward, and you stumbled back. He was getting uncomfortably close now. "Did you kill them? I wouldn't be too surprised, y'know. A freak like you would do something like that."

When he spoke, he raised his hand, harshly smacking your shoulder and shoving you. You stumbled back, and you knew your bag would've slid off your shoulder if you hadn't been gripping the strap.

"I didn't kill them. My family is none of your business." You glared up at Damien, meeting his cold gaze with your piercing eyes. Damien scoffed, rolling his eyes before shoving you again.

"C'mon, tell the fucking truth. You killed your parents, and you were probably doing some nasty, fucked-up shit in the courtyard yesterday, and you ran inside beside someone almost caught you." Damien spat, his voice heavy and full of malice, shoving you again. You winced. "Just tell us what you were doing."

"I wasn't doing anything! I was on my phone. A deer ran out—it ran out and spooked me." You stuttered, fumbling your words as you stared up at Damien. "Is that what you wanted to hear? You happy now? I was scared by a fucking deer." You lied, glaring at the jock.

Damien said nothing before snickering and taking another step closer. "You're a fucking loser—"

"Back up!" You snapped, finally shoving Damien back and cutting him off. He stumbled a few steps back, bumping into Alec.

Immediately, you felt your breath hitch. Damien's glare had gone cold, and he had regained his balance with an angry expression. You took a few steps back, only to see Damien pause and glare at you before he began sprinting towards you. Your eyes widened and you panicked, spinning on your heel and turning to run down the path.

"Get back here! Who the fuck do you think you are—fucking shoving me?" You heard Damien roar from behind you, and you knew he wasn't going to let up, and neither were his friends.

You wasted no time running down the path, panic pushing you to run faster than you think you ever had before. Damien was close behind, continuing to shout insults at you, screaming for you to stop running. "I'm gonna beat the shit outta you!"

In your panic, you completely forgot about your newfound fears concerning the forest. You slipped, falling off and into the forest, landing in a ditch just off the side of the path. You groaned but quickly shoved yourself off the ground. Without thought, you ran further into the forest, the path growing distant behind you.

For the first time, you glanced back. You watched Gene slip in the same place you had, falling off of the path and into the ditch. Alec stumbled into the ditch beside Gene, stopping to help his friend up. Damien, however, bolted past his friends, ignoring them and continuing to chase after you.

It was now just you and Damien. You felt sick and scared, your breathing erratic, and the adrenaline rush had you sprinting deeper into the darker forest. If he caught you, you knew you'd be fucked. Damien had gotten into fights at school before, and he didn't seem to ever lose.

The guy was relentless. You knew he was one of the more sport-oriented guys at your school; you'd always seen him trying out for track and playing football. He'd catch up to you soon. You kept running.

At some point, you weren't sure when, but the sound of footsteps chasing after you had stopped. You finally slowed down, glancing behind you to check for Damien, but there was no sign of him. Breathing heavily, you raised a hand to your chest, your brows furrowed and your hands shaking. You spun around frantically, scanning the forest for any sign of your schoolmate. He was gone. Maybe he'd given up?

It didn't matter. He was gone, and you could focus on heading home now. You breathed heavily, taking a minute to catch your breath.

The forest had grown darker. Heavy and dark storm clouds had rolled in. You grimaced at the thought of getting caught in such awful weather.

After catching your breath, you slowly began making your way back the way you'd come.

By the time you'd gotten back onto the path, it was dark out, and you could hear thunder in the distance. You glanced around the path for any sign of Damien and his friends. There was no evidence they were nearby, but out of paranoia, you broke into a slow sprint towards your apartment. You wanted to get home as soon as possible.

-

Walking into your apartment filled you with a massive sense of relief. You sighed and locked the door behind you.

After cleaning up, you crawled into your bed. You were glad to be home.

-

When you came back to school, everyone's eyes were glued to you.

Two days had passed since Damien had chased you into the forest. You hadn't gone back to school until now, fearing another encounter with the jock or any of his friends.

Today was your first day back. It was Friday. Everyone was typically more relaxed on Fridays for the obvious reasons. However, today, everyone seemed on edge, their stares lingering on you for longer than usual, and you'd hear them whisper whenever you'd walk by. You weren't sure why everyone seemed so on edge today and why they all seemed focused on you. Even people you'd never interacted with seemed to be eyeing you.

While heading to your first class, you were stopped a few halls away. Alec and Gene had stomped up to you. Gene shoved you into the wall of lockers behind you while Alec stepped forward.

"Where is he?" Alec hissed. You stared up at him in confusion, pressing yourself back into a locked door to try and evade the two boys.

"Who?"

"Damien. Where is he?" Gene spoke up. Nobody stopped to intervene with the situation you were in, but everyone who passed by stared intently. A few people who'd been standing nearby had tuned into your conversation.

"Why would I know where he is?" You shot back, confusion audible in your voice. You furrowed your brows, crossing your arms. Gene sighed heavily and turned away from you, balling his fist and pounding on the locker beside you.

"Because he's been fucking missing since he chased you into that creepy-ass forest." Alec took a step back from you and crossed his arms.

You froze, being left speechless for a second. Your jaw dropped, and you stared at the two boys, who glared back at you. The hallway seemed to go silent, and you seemed to have forgotten how to breathe, your next sentence coming out as a shocked gasp.

"Damien's missing?"