Epel lost track of the hours–days?–since his escape from the horrors that occurred back home. All he has done since is run and hide from the ever-looming curse that dreadful tape inflicted upon him. Running and hiding, like a goddamned coward! Not only was he unable to save Deuce, but he ran away instead of trying to fight back. Distanced from the immediate threat, he lashes out his frustration and regret upon the plantlife. When that isn't enough, he unleashes his fury upon the wildlife.
He spots a white rabbit hopping ahead of him on the untrodden forest path. A singular white dot in a backdrop of grey and black. His bruised and blistered hands ball up into fists, and he runs after it.
Day ∎. Still in pursuit of the white rabbit.
Day ∎∎. The white rabbit is dead. Dead just like in that video footage. It reminds me of the pet bunny I used to have as a kid. Strange I was reminded of that now.
Day ∎∎. Followed several deer, dozens of birds, and many, many rabbits. I should be well into the mountain ranges by now. Where the hell am I?
Day ∎∎∎. I marked some of the trees with my blood. Strange how I haven't run dry yet. Maybe I should patch myself up; I'm leaving a huge trail.
Day ∎∎∎. These damn woods all look the same! Even with the marks I made, I can't find my way back home! Why did you have to run off on your own, you bastard?
Day ∎∎∎. My throat was feeling itchy from yelling so much. I tried to scratch the itch, but I think I made it worse. God, there's so much blood…
Day ∎∎∎∎. I recognize this place, I think. We used to do the Bean Festival here back in Night Raven College. I see an open field, and the equestrian club's stables. If I keep going, I can find someone to help. Would Coach Vargas still be teaching? I wonder…
AUTHOR'S NOTE
If you've reached this far, thanks for reading!
This story was a quick piece I made to sharpen my writing skills which have gotten rusty, and decided to double it as a Halloween contribution. I came up with the idea while searching for pre-made fanfic prompts to help me out of a creative funk caused by a perceived lack of passion towards the fandoms/media I was into. This story was based on the "cursed/haunted videotape" subgenre of creepypasta stories, adding in the "lost in the woods" horror trope and sprinkling in bits of incidental inspiration from The Path (a dark Red Riding Hood-inspired art game), "Open the Door" by LongestSoloEver (ft. Dayumdahlia), and the infamous "Love Town" storyline from Library of Ruina. Normally, I would have just uploaded the whole thing as a one-shot, but I decided to split the parts up to make reading easier and more "bite-sized" in nature, with the loading time serving as a transition between them.
The story itself is a major rush job, being a short fic that I specifically wanted to finish by Halloween, so it might have some unintended plot holes and areas where it goes past being "open to interpretation" and becomes "confusing". All that said, if you somehow are inspired to add onto this idea or even want to improve upon it, you're more than welcome to do so!