Whatever lurks stays in the dark : Chapter 2Time: 05 39 hours. James couldn't take it any longer. He has been walking on for far too long without any breaks in between, and now he was just exhausted from all the walking he had done. The recurring thought of turning back in hopes of finding other survivors had James ponder about the decision he made. Then again, he did not want to bump into whatever he had encountered along the path he had taken.
Time: ? ? hours. James squinted his eyes and tried to focus at what seemed to be a vehicle obstructing the road up ahead. A vehicle! Yes! James thought to himself. However, as he got closer to the vehicle, a wave of familiarity hit him hard. The broken lamp post… the wrecked up vehicle… the flickering lights. James found himself back where he started. He took a look back at his watch.
Time: 02 17 hours. Time had reset itself. The crashed bus was still void of people, as was James' crushed enthusiasm of believing he had a form of rescue. James approached the white bus, hit the "Emergency Open" button on the exterior of the bus, and boarded it. Everything was as he left it; The bags he rummaged through were unzipped, some of the seats were still overturned due to the crash, and the light at the ceiling of the bus was still flickering. James stared in disbelief. He was walking straight for 3 hours, mustering what little strength he had to traverse the distance on his own. Something out there was messing with him. Toying with him.
Time: 02 30 hours. James made a thorough search through everyone's bags now, making sure that he had more defensive and offensive measures if he had to face combat with whatever lurks in the darkness.
"Oooohh, how'd I miss this?" James said as he pulled out a handy little Swiss Army Knife from a pocket of someone's jeans, and slipped it into his right pocket.
He went through articles and articles of clothing, finding all sorts of weird things. One man had drugs hidden in the trunks of his luggage, which James looked at impressively.
"Smuggling drugs, eh? What a sneaky little bastard, you are." James crushed it under his shoes, and hurled it out the window.
There wasn't much James could scavenge after the first time he raided the place, after all. He salvaged a fresh set of clothes, held on to the Swiss army knife, and found a ball of twine. That was about all the useful things he could get. Right as James was about to leave the bus, he remembered the little note he collected by the accelerator. He emptied out his left pocket, but couldn't find it anymore. He peered into the accelerator of the driver's seat to find another note. He reached into it and yanked it out. This time it said, "You're gone." James had no idea what either meant, but this time he left the note back where he found it instead of holding on to it.
James whipped out his camcorder, but was appalled to see that his previous entries had gone missing from the memory card. They just vanished for no reason. James could've sworn that he hit the record button, or at least did not delete off the files on accident. This time, he used the twine he recovered to tie the torchlight and the camcorder together and secured the 2 onto his bag pack, leaving it on record at all times.
Time: 03 18 hours. James washed his face with some water tanks at the trunk of the bus, emptied a can of tuna and finished a bag of chips, all in a matter of minutes. Since he failed to get out of the place by moving forwards, James made ultimate choice of heading backwards, to where he came from instead. He turned his back from the bus, and walked off in the general direction away from the crash site.
Entry (1): "Alright, no more messing around. I've got a bad feeling about this place, and I'm getting to the bottom of it. I've arrived back at the same bus by moving forwards all the time, and I'm pretty damn sure I didn't walk in a circular direction. The time of day even reset on me! The fuck's going on around here? Okay talk in a bit." *Video records James going further away from the bus, and then turns around to the direction he's headed.*Time: 04 26 hours. James was getting tired of all the walking he had done, despite knowing there's literally nothing else he could do to pass the time in the forest. He didn't want to stop walking at all. He felt like he had to be on his feet at all times, especially when he wasn't near an area of safety, or risk getting jumped as he almost did in his previous encounter. He was getting really overwhelmed by all the ongoings, but he managed to maintain his consciousness throughout his journey along the road, frequently checking behind him for weird happenings which hasn't happened yet. He took out his cellphone again, wondering if there were any signals yet. A single bar! James was elated at the prospect of rescue, and dialed 911.
Ring…Ring…Ring…Ring… "Hello, 911, what's the emergency?"
"Hello? This is James! Help, I'm stranded out-"
"Hello? Hello… Is anybody there?" the man cut James off.
"Can you hear me? I'm stranded in the middle of a forest near-"
"Jesus, man. Must be a prank call. There's no one on the other side of the line. You kids better stop your shenanigans, we've got real lives to save!" and with that, the man hung up.
James didn't panic at the fact that 911 couldn't help him; He had so many other numbers to call for help. He dialed them one by one, and the exact same result happened to everyone who received his calls. They couldn't hear him at all. They claimed to receive a number from 'Anonymous'. The final number James tried to call was Aleks', but he had the worst feeling in the pit of his stomach that it was a horrid idea.
Ring…Ring…Ring…"Hello, Aleks, you there?" James exclaimed through the phone.
"Yes. I'm in the forest, man. Come on in," Aleks had that creepy voice again, instead this time it was over a transmission call.
"No, you come on out. The forest is really dark and I can't see for shit in there. Get your ass out here, or I swear to Go-"
"James," Aleks' normal voice came out through the phone.
"Help…Me…" it continued.
James had enough of this. He hung up the cellphone, and took a couple of deep breaths. He looked straight in to the forest on both ends of the road, trying to look for any sign of Aleks' presence. No one could be found in the deep, dense forest. Right then and there, his cellphone lost its bar of signal, leaving James cut off from the world yet again…
Time: 05 27 hours. James made marks on the lamp posts that he had passed using the Swiss army knife, which would help him identify the places that he's passed, once every so often. He left 'Aleks' back in the middle of the forest, and continued his twisted trek further up the road. He wondered if he'd made the right decision. He didn't want to risk bumping into that thing in the treetops again.
Entry (2): "I should've been able to record the audio on what happened an hour ago. There's lots of unexplained shit going on in this forest, and to be honest, it's really terrifying being stuck in this infinite loop. I hope I get out of here soon, or I'll really lose my marbles. Why couldn't anyone hear me? Whatever happened to Aleks? These are the questions I ask myself to keep me going. Talk to you in a bit." *Video records the up and down motion of James' bag pack.* Oh Sh*t. Fuck. Gimme a minute… Okay got it. *Video falls off the rucksack, pointing into the woods. A white figure shimmers into view for a second, then disperses back into the woods. The video then captures James' hands, the rucksack and some twine work. It focuses back onto the path forwards.*