It was a typical Tuesday when dark clouds moved in from the south, covering the clear blue sky with a blanket of mist. The sound of sirens from police cars could be heard in the area, along with the chatter of police officers responding to yet another missing person report.
"Ahaha... At this rate, we should just shut down this whole park. It would save us a lot of trouble!" complained one of the policemen as he marched through the dense forest.
"We can't legally yet do that, as there is no evidence directly linking the park to the missing reports", another policeman replied as the crunch of leaves echoed throughout the forest.
"Look at this," the younger officer said, pointing to a rotting park sign barely visible under thick layers of moss. "This place looks like it hasn't been touched in years. How is this even part of the same park?"
"It's not just that," the senior officer added grimly. "Look around. They stopped maintaining this area a long time ago. No tourists come out this far." He hesitated for a moment, then spoke more quietly, as if afraid the trees might overhear. "They don't want them to."
The deeper they went, the more apparent it became that the park was hiding something. The landscape grew stranger and more unsettling. The trees here were twisted, gnarled, and seemed to grow in unnatural patterns, their branches intertwining like a cage overhead. Faint trails of slime led from tree trunks to the ground, as if something had recently oozed through the area.
And then they found it.
"Guys!" one of the officers shouted, his voice laced with fear. He stood over a patch of ground covered in a sickly, viscous substance that shimmered in the dim light. It looked like oil, but it wasn't. It clung to the earth, bubbling slightly as if it was alive, and it corroded anything it touched—grass, bark, even the rocks seemed to dissolve on contact.
"What the hell is this?" the younger officer asked, pulling out a stick to poke at the substance, only to see the wood sizzle and begin to melt away. He dropped the stick in horror.
The senior officer crouched down, inspecting the scene with a grim expression. "This isn't the first time we've found this… stuff," he said quietly. "But every time, it's dismissed. Too many people have a stake in keeping this park open." He stood up, his eyes narrowing. "No one wants to hear that something's wrong here. Too much money involved."
The younger officer frowned. "Money? What are you talking about?"
The senior officer shook his head. "You think this is just a missing person's case?" the officer whispered, glancing over his shoulder. "This place... it's owned by people who don't want you to ask questions. You'll find out soon enough if you're lucky." He lowered his voice further. "But it better to leave thing as they are there is nothing we are able to do rather then fill out some documents"
In another location Howard had Awakened from the abyss of unconsciousness, Howard found himself entangled in the grasp of the forest, a prisoner of its suffocating darkness. His body throbbed with pain, every breath a reminder of the relentless pursuit that had led him to this desolate place.
Howard's ears rang in the silence. The wind had stopped, and the leaves were still. Even the usual hum of the forest had died. It was as though the world had held its breath, waiting for something. The only sound now was his own heartbeat, pounding in his chest.
Clutching his flashlight like a lifeline, Howard surveyed his surroundings with mounting dread. The forest, once a sanctuary, now loomed around him like a prison of twisted branches and whispering shadows. Fear gnawed at his insides, a primal instinct warning him of unseen dangers lurking in the depths.
As he struggled, Howard's mind echoed with the haunting memory of the light that had beckoned him, a beacon of false hope in the abyss. But now, it seemed that even that fleeting glimmer had abandoned him, leaving him adrift in a sea of darkness. Desperation clawed at Howard's chest as he groped for his radio, his fingers trembling with urgency. But the device remained stubbornly silent, a chilling reminder of his isolation in this forsaken realm.
With each step forward, Howard felt the forest closing around him, its oppressive weight pressing down like a suffocating embrace. Shadows danced at the edge of his vision, whispering secrets too terrible to comprehend.
But Howard refused to succumb to despair, to engulf the darkness that threatened to consume him with gritted teeth and determination burning in his veins, he pressed on, guided by a flickering flame of defiance that refused to be extinguished.
For the heart of the forest, where nightmares prowled and reality blurred with illusion, Howard knew that his only chance of survival lay in confronting the darkness head-on. And so, with every ounce of strength left in his weary body, he plunged deeper into the abyss, ready to face whatever horrors awaited him in the depths of the night.