(Ben’s POV)

My body trembled from what I saw. 

I can’t move my body.

But my fear snapped when I heard another voice.

“You idiot! You should be careful! Look at the mess you’ve made!” A very familiar voice who I trusted the most…

Ms. Joan.

It’s clear to me now why she didn’t help me find Jenny. Now, I know that she knew everything but she kept silent about it. 

I slowly and carefully returned to my place inside the tree. I went inside the box that Jenny opened. 

It reeks of her blood but I didn’t mind the smell. Then, I saw the paper on my side and the words she left for me. 

I read it again and again and again until the tears flowed down my eyes. 

‘They fooled us.’ 

I silently cried inside that box, fearing that they might hear me.

But I stopped when I heard a lot of voices echo throughout the forest.

“BEN! BEN!!”

That’s the adult's voice. 

‘I don’t know if this is a trap for me by using the voices of the adults who helped me. I’m scared that if I go out, they will come after me too.’

In my fear, I remain inside the box holding the letter Jenny gives to me. 

“Are you sure he’s here?” I heard one of the adults say that.

“I’m sure of it! Remember that this is Jenny’s only memory for him. So I’m sure he’s here.” I heard Mrs. Abby said

My doubts got clear when I heard Mrs. Abby said that. It means they are real!

I was about to go out to the box when I saw the big shadow of the monster. 

I went back again inside the box. 

My instinct says that I need to stay inside the box but I am also worried about Mrs. Abby and the others. They will die if I don’t warn them. 

I tried to calm myself down inside and think of what I should do to escape and get the others too. 

I took a peak again and I saw that the monster’s shadow was gone. I need to sharpen my senses to avoid being noticed. I carefully and silently went out to the box. After I successfully went out, I crawled through the bushes. While crawling, I heard the adults talking and took a peak if it’s really them. When I confirmed it’s them, I was about to rush through them but I saw the monster hiding from the tree looking at them. 

‘Oh no.. I’m too late to save them.’

The monster jumped from them and slashed the two male adults. The four remaining run separately through the forest. I’m lucky that Mrs. Abby is turning her way to me. I grabbed her hand and she fell from the ground. She looked at me and I covered her mouth. We hid from the bushes and took a peak on the monster.

We saw it eating the two male adults. 

“W-Where did you go? D-Did you know that thing too?” She whispered to me while trembling.

I nodded.

I saw the fear on her face. We both know that we will die if it sees us. We didn’t know how to get out of this place.

“Ms. Joan.. Ms. Joan knew about them.” I said to Mrs. Abby while crying

Mrs. Abby was shocked and tears fell from her eyes. 

She hugged me tightly and said “we have to run from this place”.

I nodded while crying.

She wiped my tears and hers too.

“Let’s get out of this forest.” she said

I nod in response.  

We slowly and carefully crawled to the bushes but I stepped on some branch that caused noise.

We looked at the monster and we saw that he got alerted. 

The monster stopped eating and jumped through the bushes. It slices the bushes into pieces and finds nothing. 

We were lucky that we got far away from those bushes and we hid from the tree. 

Our hearts are thumping like crazy. 

We wished that it wouldn't catch us.

Suddenly a noise was heard from far away. The monster didn’t hesitate to follow that noise. That is our chance to escape. 

We run faster and faster but we don’t know where to go. The only thing we wanted was to get out of this forest and seek help outside.

We have been running for a long time and my legs were starting to hurt until I stumbled and fell from the ground. Mrs. Abby turned around and helped me stand up. But my legs were shaking and it wouldn't let me stand up. 

“Are you tired, Ben?” Mrs. Abby asked while catching her breath.
“I’m sorry Mrs. Abby. My legs give up.” I said while crying.

“Don’t cry Ben. I won’t leave you. Here, hop on my back.” she said and turned her back for me. 

I hopped on her back and she carried me while running. I know Mrs. Abby was exhausted too but we didn’t spare to rest. We were too scared if the monster caught us. 

After the long run, we saw a fog on our way. 

“Is that the outside of the forest?” I asked

“We don’t know. Let’s find out.” Mrs. Abby said

We went inside through the fog. Mrs. Abby was slowly walking to avoid any danger we might face. As we reached the end, we saw the sea. Mrs. Abby turned pale when she saw the sea.

“What’s wrong Mrs. Abby?” I asked

“No way…” she said

“Well well… Looks like another escapee wished to be eaten.” said the voice inside the forest.

We looked back to see who it was. 

We saw a shadow human form..

The fog was too thick to see its face. 

Mrs. Abby walked backwards when we saw that the shadow human form was turning to something different. 

Mrs. Abby attempts to run to the sea. But before we reached it, a long yet sharp tentacles sliced Mrs. Abby’s leg and it stumbles us down. 

“Ben! Are you ok?” Mrs. Abby said while crawling in pain. 

I sit up and went to Mrs. Abby.

And I looked at the forest to see that creature. 

My fear went high when I saw Ms. Joan in her monster form.