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fandomweekly2025-10-17 01:55 pm
badly_knitted) wrote in fandomweekly2025-10-17 01:55 pm
Entry tags:
[#278] Into The Forest (Original)
Theme Prompt: #278 – Dark Forest
Title: Into The Forest
Fandom: Original.
Rating/Warnings: PG / None
Bonus: Yes
Word Count: 1000
Summary: There were no trees in sight when they’d parked, but now there’s a whole forest…
When Michael and Chris pulled off the road and parked to get some sleep, because they were both too tired to keep driving, there was nothing but open farmland in every direction, as far as the eye could see. It had been that way for the past several hundred miles, which was only to be expected; Oklahoma had a LOT of farmland, but it was part of the whole Route 66 experience, and driving it had always been their plan to celebrate graduating from college. So here they were, in the middle of Nowhere, USA, intent on grabbing some shuteye before continuing their epic road trip.
The sun had just set when they’d stopped, deciding to sleep in the car for a few hours then get back on the road, but when they woke around midnight, a full moon was riding high in the sky. That was the first thing that caught their attention, because the previous night, the moon had been in its first quarter.
The second thing they noticed, because it was impossible not to, was the fact that instead of being parked alongside a wheatfield, or whatever, their beat-up old Chevy was sitting in the shadows cast by massive trees with thick, gnarled trunks. Trees that had to be hundreds of years old at least. Trees that hadn’t been there when they’d parked.
“Whoa!” Chris clutched at his boyfriend’s arm. “Okay, that’s… Are we dreamin’?”
“How should I know?” Michael peered through the windscreen, trying to see between the densely growing trees. “Turn the headlights on, would ya?”
Not wanting to run the battery down so far from civilisation, Chris fired up the engine, or tried to; it made a sad whining sound, but refused to turn over. Nothing happened when he tried the headlights either. “Well, that’s just great! Looks like we’re stuck here. Hey, where’re you goin’?”
Michael had the car door open and was halfway out. “Gonna take a closer look.”
“What the hell for?”
“Because there wasn’t a forest here when we parked, and now there is. Probably a dream anyway, so why not?”
“You’re crazy!” That wasn’t exactly news; it was Michael’s craziness that had attracted Chris in the first place. Michael was up for trying pretty much anything, anytime, except for drugs; he was the athletic type, fit, blond, muscular, gorgeous, an athlete whose favourite hobbies were parkour and surfing. Chris was more into rebuilding old cars, but somehow something had clicked the night they’d met, halfway through their first semester, and they’d been inseparable ever since.
Michael glanced back over his shoulder, grinning. “Yeah, but you love me!”
It was true, and Chris wasn’t about to sit there in the car while Michael pulled another crazy stunt, out here with nobody else around. “Hey, wait up!” He scrambled out, locking the car doors and pocketing the keys. “You’re seriously thinkin’ about going in there? Alone?”
“Well, only if you’re not gonna come with.” Michael’s grin was a flash of white teeth in the moonlight.
“Fine, but I want it known I’m doin’ this under protest, ‘cause it is INSANE!”
“Duly noted.” Michael held out his hand. “C’mon, babe. Let’s explore, see what this forest deal is all about. Thought this would be right up your alley. You love all those ghost-huntin’ and paranormal shows.”
“I like watchin’ ‘em, that doesn’t mean I ever wanted to take part in one. There could be anything in there! Wild animals, monsters, ghosts, ghouls…” Chris trailed off as a distant howl echoed through the forest. “What was that?”
“Coyote, probably. They get everywhere.” Being the outdoor type, Michael knew that sort of thing.
Taking Michael’s hand, Christ let himself be dragged into the forest.
Despite the full moon, it was pitch black beneath the trees.
“Should’a brought a flashlight,” Michael commented, after trying the torch app on his phone only to find the battery was dead.
“Nothin’ works in here,” Chris replied. “Even my watch has stopped.”
“Yeah, mine too.”
“Maybe there’s no time in here. I mean, a whole goddamn forest popped up outta nowhere. Could be it exists kinda outside time.”
Michael laughed. “You watch too much Sci-Fi.”
“Doesn’t mean I’m wrong.”
Maybe they should have turned back, but the further they went beneath the trees, the easier it got to see, like their eyes were adapting to the gloom. Everything seemed to be in shades of black and silver, but crystal clear.
After walking for perhaps an hour, they came to a clearing, at the center of which was a pool, the water silvered by the moon. “Hey!” Michael’s grin widened. “Wanna go skinny-dippin’?”
“Michael! We have no idea how deep that is!”
“It’s fine. Lifeguard certified, remember? And it’s not like you can’t swim.”
“Not as well as you.”
“I won’t let you drown. C’mon, lover!” Michael shucked out of his clothes in double-quick time and was naked, diving into the water, before Chris could even move. He surfaced some distance out. “Man, this feels amazin’!”
“Okay, okay, I’m comin’!” Chris undressed as quickly as he could before plunging into the water, and it did feel good, just on the right side of cool. It was like silk against Chris’ skin, almost as if he could get out and find himself completely dry…
The rest of the night passed in a blur, neither man could quite remember afterwards what had happened, but they woke as the sun came up, lying naked in a wheatfield, their clothes scattered nearby, and all around were pawprints that looked like those of a large dog. The forest was completely gone, as if it had never existed.
They dressed quickly, made their way back to the road, and eventually found their car where they’d left it, but when they made it to the next gas station, they discovered they’d somehow lost three whole days.
It didn’t matter, they weren’t on a schedule, and they’d never felt better, but they were never quite the same afterwards…
The End
The sun had just set when they’d stopped, deciding to sleep in the car for a few hours then get back on the road, but when they woke around midnight, a full moon was riding high in the sky. That was the first thing that caught their attention, because the previous night, the moon had been in its first quarter.
The second thing they noticed, because it was impossible not to, was the fact that instead of being parked alongside a wheatfield, or whatever, their beat-up old Chevy was sitting in the shadows cast by massive trees with thick, gnarled trunks. Trees that had to be hundreds of years old at least. Trees that hadn’t been there when they’d parked.
“Whoa!” Chris clutched at his boyfriend’s arm. “Okay, that’s… Are we dreamin’?”
“How should I know?” Michael peered through the windscreen, trying to see between the densely growing trees. “Turn the headlights on, would ya?”
Not wanting to run the battery down so far from civilisation, Chris fired up the engine, or tried to; it made a sad whining sound, but refused to turn over. Nothing happened when he tried the headlights either. “Well, that’s just great! Looks like we’re stuck here. Hey, where’re you goin’?”
Michael had the car door open and was halfway out. “Gonna take a closer look.”
“What the hell for?”
“Because there wasn’t a forest here when we parked, and now there is. Probably a dream anyway, so why not?”
“You’re crazy!” That wasn’t exactly news; it was Michael’s craziness that had attracted Chris in the first place. Michael was up for trying pretty much anything, anytime, except for drugs; he was the athletic type, fit, blond, muscular, gorgeous, an athlete whose favourite hobbies were parkour and surfing. Chris was more into rebuilding old cars, but somehow something had clicked the night they’d met, halfway through their first semester, and they’d been inseparable ever since.
Michael glanced back over his shoulder, grinning. “Yeah, but you love me!”
It was true, and Chris wasn’t about to sit there in the car while Michael pulled another crazy stunt, out here with nobody else around. “Hey, wait up!” He scrambled out, locking the car doors and pocketing the keys. “You’re seriously thinkin’ about going in there? Alone?”
“Well, only if you’re not gonna come with.” Michael’s grin was a flash of white teeth in the moonlight.
“Fine, but I want it known I’m doin’ this under protest, ‘cause it is INSANE!”
“Duly noted.” Michael held out his hand. “C’mon, babe. Let’s explore, see what this forest deal is all about. Thought this would be right up your alley. You love all those ghost-huntin’ and paranormal shows.”
“I like watchin’ ‘em, that doesn’t mean I ever wanted to take part in one. There could be anything in there! Wild animals, monsters, ghosts, ghouls…” Chris trailed off as a distant howl echoed through the forest. “What was that?”
“Coyote, probably. They get everywhere.” Being the outdoor type, Michael knew that sort of thing.
Taking Michael’s hand, Christ let himself be dragged into the forest.
Despite the full moon, it was pitch black beneath the trees.
“Should’a brought a flashlight,” Michael commented, after trying the torch app on his phone only to find the battery was dead.
“Nothin’ works in here,” Chris replied. “Even my watch has stopped.”
“Yeah, mine too.”
“Maybe there’s no time in here. I mean, a whole goddamn forest popped up outta nowhere. Could be it exists kinda outside time.”
Michael laughed. “You watch too much Sci-Fi.”
“Doesn’t mean I’m wrong.”
Maybe they should have turned back, but the further they went beneath the trees, the easier it got to see, like their eyes were adapting to the gloom. Everything seemed to be in shades of black and silver, but crystal clear.
After walking for perhaps an hour, they came to a clearing, at the center of which was a pool, the water silvered by the moon. “Hey!” Michael’s grin widened. “Wanna go skinny-dippin’?”
“Michael! We have no idea how deep that is!”
“It’s fine. Lifeguard certified, remember? And it’s not like you can’t swim.”
“Not as well as you.”
“I won’t let you drown. C’mon, lover!” Michael shucked out of his clothes in double-quick time and was naked, diving into the water, before Chris could even move. He surfaced some distance out. “Man, this feels amazin’!”
“Okay, okay, I’m comin’!” Chris undressed as quickly as he could before plunging into the water, and it did feel good, just on the right side of cool. It was like silk against Chris’ skin, almost as if he could get out and find himself completely dry…
The rest of the night passed in a blur, neither man could quite remember afterwards what had happened, but they woke as the sun came up, lying naked in a wheatfield, their clothes scattered nearby, and all around were pawprints that looked like those of a large dog. The forest was completely gone, as if it had never existed.
They dressed quickly, made their way back to the road, and eventually found their car where they’d left it, but when they made it to the next gas station, they discovered they’d somehow lost three whole days.
It didn’t matter, they weren’t on a schedule, and they’d never felt better, but they were never quite the same afterwards…
The End
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