An old man in the forest

"What's a lonely boy doing walking through the woods at this time of night?"

"You should be careful, some shadowy creature might surprise you."

I was asked by an old man with a mysterious tone in the middle of the road via Pennsylvania that cold night , the truth I have always been a young disbeliever , a young man of science . I do not believe in fantasies , road tales or ghosts , I have never been afraid of the dark and my life manual is the big bag theory , so that night that hunched old man with dark eyes and pale skin did not instill any fear in me . My only fear at that time was that the GPS on my cell phone had turned off because of my low cell phone battery and I couldn't find the exact address of my parents' new farm . Plus my old car had broken down and apparently there was no other person near the road besides the unknown old man and me .... So I decided not to be hostile to him and ask him to help me locate my parents' farm .

"You are right I should be inside the house, but my car and my phone are not working so I guess it will be up to me to wander along the road until I reach my destination."

The old man stared at me without blinking , and suddenly I perceived a slight smirk on his wrinkled face . His eyes went from dark as night to have a faint reddish glow that I had never seen in an ordinary person , but still he did not inspire me with any fear .

His appearance was somewhat disheveled , he wore a yellowish shirt and gray plaid overalls somewhat worn , he had in his right hand a thick and long stick of firewood that he handled as if it were a scepter of some king and on his head a straw hat that surrounded his hundred . He was standing right next to a tree with a somewhat confident pose for his age .

"Cars were never to be trusted , I prefer animals , they are easier to ride and never break down , if you want I can take you to my farm it is not far from here and there I will help you find your way ."

Hearing the words of the old man I felt persuaded to accompany him in the middle of the dark night with the beacon of the moon guiding our paths. My heavy suitcase and the fatigue of the long road trip were already beginning to take a heavy toll on me so I didn't reason the situation any further and decided to trust, besides what can a bent old man with a stick of firewood in his hand do to me.

The old man took a couple of steps and quickly moved to my side. With difficulty I could see his face illuminated by the faint rays of the moon , his skin was pale and prominent expression lines denoted that he had lived for many years and his eyes had such an intense glow that I stood for a few minutes admiring his splendor .

"May I ask your name and his residence, it seems he doesn't frequent this forest much, I don't remember seeing his face before?"

I was asked by the old man who was looking at me carefully as if he was studying my every move, almost graphically. My smell, skin, hair and he stopped to look at my particular way of walking.

"My name is Christian. Christian Hall , my parents live on a farm that I hope is near here , I just arrived from Southern California , I study Science , I returned to the town where I was born to be with my family."

Suddenly upon revealing such information to the ears of the old man , I looked closely at the bright eyes that stood out in the darkness of the night , I felt a sudden shiver run down my spine all of a sudden .

"Interesting to return to the place where you were born, just out of personal affections."

" How long do you plan to stay in town?"

With slow, controlled steps, the old man asked me what plans I had to do in town, as the road grew lonelier and colder.

"I plan to stay only a couple of weeks, I'm waiting for an answer for temporary employment in California to start getting work experience in a science lab before I graduate."

The old man seemed to ignore my comment about employment in California , and continued his leisurely but steady pace .

" Pennsylvania is often a bleak and inhospitable place."

He exclaimed , and I said nothing about it . The truth for me was just the place where my parents lived , I never stopped to meditate on the time I had spent here as a child . It was too enclosed and I hated going outdoors , I was always a child of having my head stuck in a science book , going out to explore the weather and look at trees was never my thing , even though my parents and grandfather were farm people dedicated to the land .

"I like the shady and hidden places , I think that makes it a place to keep many valuable secrets , which elsewhere in the world could not be kept , the mystery always embraces a touch of mysticism that seduces any tourist "

Commented the old man, pausing his steps on the dry branches of the forest.

I stopped for a moment to look to both sides of the road , ignoring the fantasy comments of the old man , I hoped we would soon reach the farm he had told me , but as much as I walked I could only see loneliness and barren land around me . Apparently many steps back , we had lost sight of the road where I had left my car stranded , hoping to call a tow truck the next day . I watched for a moment in the darkness of the forest the old man who walked beside me in an elegant and upright manner, which left me perplexed, his skin was almost translucent, but had a bright and healthy quality, the lines of expression that I had seen before had disappeared . And if her skin was like moonlight, then her hair was like the night shadows. There was no trace of gray tones that made him look old , from one moment to the next he dropped the stick of firewood letting it fall on the floor , he took the straw hat and skillfully threw it to the wind unveiling his true identity gloomy and tenebrous .

I could accurately appreciate his hair, it was long to the nape of his neck and elegant, so black that it made him look paler. If the first time I saw him his age was between seventy and eighty, now he looked fifty or younger.

It was a strange, frightening contrast that I could not explain. How is it that an innocent old man can change his appearance out of nowhere , I completely refused to believe that he was a mythical creature , I thought maybe I was dreaming and it was all a lie of my brain a hallucination of my tiredness . I looked desperately at my phone but it was out of battery , it was obvious that in the middle of the lonely forest no one could ever hear me scream , so I swallowed saliva and decided to cry for my life . After all I did not know the plans of this character who was in front of me.

There was something intimidating about this deceptive man that made him seem a bit stern, even though he appeared to be kind. I immediately felt for him what most people feel when it's sunny outside in the middle of the night. The darkness may seem reassuring at first, but the more one studied it and stood in it, the more vulnerable and dark it became. The scariest part of the night, after all was not being able to tell what dangers might be lurking around.

I averted my gaze once again deeper into the woods and realized I was too far from the road or any residential area to call for help , I rubbed the goose bumps on my arm and focused on the right words to avoid being slit , robbed or strangled by this menacing character .

"Nothing is what it seems isn't it ?"

Exclaimed the man now with a somber demeanor , and calculating in the pose of his body .

"I must admit that I was deceived , despite being a young man of science , I could not persuade the deception in which I am involved , I just hope to get out of all this alive "

The man's eyes focused on my throat as he spoke , in my mind came clearly a memory of the old stories my grandfather used to tell me about the mythical creatures of the forest , who devoured his cattle by the jugular and then piled the heads on the land near the farm . I never believed those farm tales even as a child , but right now I feel like those helpless cattle being watched like prey , about to be shrewdly devoured .

"Let's just say that over the years I have become an expert on the subject of deceiving others to achieve my ends , I guess a good meal deserves a good theater before it is hunted ."

Murmured the man as he slowly approached towards me , and terror and anxiety gripped me . My pulse was racing and panic overcame me , my knees could not stand up and without measuring my movements I collapsed to the ground .

"i Please , I want to live , I don't want to die in this dirty forest . I have a lot of things to do , science is very wide I need to learn a lot about this world before I die .

I scream in desperation , trying to modulate the words hoping for mercy from my predator , but this one only smiled and in the depth of his fiery red eyes I could see that mercy was not a known pablara in the jargon of his dark soul .

"I can't promise it won't hurt but I'll be quick and precise" .

I heard his words and glimpsed as he leapt towards me swiftly and mercilessly . A dark shadow covered me and I felt I was like a cattle captured in the moonlight in my grandfather's old farmhouse , an intense pain was beginning to strain my nervous system and all the vertebrae in my neck seemed to be drained in a continuous fast suction , it took a couple of minutes for me to fade and losing the sense of the situation I surrendered to the arms of death that was calling me warmly .