The Meadow

Taking a deep breath I hitched my backpack up higher on my shoulders as I trudged down the forest path following behind my dad and little sister. The trees towered above us we walked along in silence, branches swaying in the slight breeze, the cheerful sounds of birds and insects in direct contrast to our own more solemn mood. As the path continued and we moved steadily forward towards our destination the trees began to thin and I could see glimpses of a large clearing up ahead.

Dad stopped and turned to us before speaking in a low tone, face set in grim determination. “Remember what I told you: As soon as we set foot in that meadow do not look at the Watchers. Keep your eyes on the ground and keep moving forward, no matter what happens.”

My sister and I each nodded in understanding having been through this discussion before at the start of our journey. Dad stood there watching us in silence for a moment before turning back to the path and starting forward again with us trailing behind.

I sneaked a glance sideways towards my sister, trying to gauge her current mood, and saw that her face mirrored Dads own grim look of determination. I wondered if I was the only one feeling anxious or if they were just better at hiding it then I was. “Most likely”, I snorted under my breath. She turned her head towards me and I quickly looked away. I was sure that my nerves were showing as plain as day on my face so I tried to school my expression into something that, hopefully, resembled cool confidence.

A confidence that I was sorely lacking.

Sparse moments later and the three of us stood at the very edge of a clearing, the shadows cast from the trees still around us providing some small relief from the heat of the mid-day sun. The meadow before us was large, falling just short of being more of a field then a meadow, and was filled with knee high grass and brightly colored flowers. There was an old car, obviously long abandoned, missing parts and covered in rust that stood alone in the midst of the meadow. Its presence felt eerily out of place for all that it had already been reclaimed by nature and was covered with creeping weeds and vines.

A sudden chill shot up my spine and I shivered in the heat.

I shifted uncertainly a step behind my dad and sister, hesitant to leave the safety of the forest now that the moment had come. “Remember,” Dad said, already looking towards the ground with my sister closely following his example, “Eyes on the ground, keep moving forward, no matter what.”

As he was talking there was a shift of movement in the meadow and to the left of where we stood, and I felt my gaze being drawn hypnotically towards it. It was as though I had no control, my mind screaming at me not to look even as my eyes moved to take in the sight before me.

I could only assume that this…thing…before me was a Watcher.

As it stepped forward into the bright sunlight the first thing that registered was its height. It looked to be about the size of two tanks stacked on top of each other and almost twice as long. I couldn't understand how I hadn't noticed it before then, and that was just the beginning of its otherworldliness. My mind struggled to find something I could compare it to, something natural that it could resemble, but the closest I could get was if someone had crossed a coyote with a ferret and then made it a giant, just for fun. It was covered in matted dark brown fur and its body was long, thin, its legs appearing to be stunted for all that it still towered above everything else. Its tail and facial features were more canine but with an extra sharpness to the nose and ears that was decidedly unnatural.

Faintly, I decided that I hated the creatures eyes the most because they were pitch black and looked like bottomless pits of emptiness. Nothing was reflected in them, not even light.

I had no idea that the worst was yet to come.

As I stood there, frozen in fear and staring at this impossible creature, it looked right at me. Meeting my eyes its black lips curled up on a mouth packed with needle sharp teeth in something akin to a grotesque grin. Then its mouth opened wide and…just…kept…going.

Wider, and wider still, its face rolled back in on itself as its jaws expanded past points the laws of nature would ever dictate. Then, from the darkness of its throat, another, smaller, version of the creatures' face appeared. The facial features were identical to the first but when the new face opened its eyes there was nothing there but flickering tongues of red and orange flames.

Those…eyes…pierced me where I stood and filled my heart with so much fear that I thought for sure it would fail and stop beating at any moment. I felt as though my entire life was laid bare at this creatures’ feet. Every thought, action, and regret exposed for it to render judgement upon, and I knew that the punishment would be worse than death if I was found lacking.

Disoriented, I stumbled back a step and the fortuitus sound of a twig snapping beneath my foot jolted me to sudden awareness. With what felt like Herculean effort, I managed to wrench my gaze away from the creature and down towards the ground just as its lips curled back up in another disturbing leer that showcased too many sharp teeth.

Staring at the ground with glazed eyes, I gasped desperately for breath. Shaking with the force of the chills running from my head to my toes and feeling like I’d just ran ten miles, I realized belatedly that my dad and sister had already started across the meadow. They must have been a good way ahead of me because I couldn’t see their feet with my limited range of vision and their steps sounded farther ahead.

Clenching my hands tightly around the straps of my backpack so that my fingernails were cutting into my palms, I took a shuddering breath and forced myself to take a step forward while chanting Dads words in my head, “Eyes on the ground, keep moving forward, no matter what.”

One step turned into two, then turned into three. I continued in a straight line forward into that tall grass, praying as I did so that I would get across the meadow quickly while also desperately trying not to think of the creature that was now standing mere feet away.

That proved to be an impossible task as I could hear and then track its movement through its large thudding footsteps, moving both to follow and circle around me. I shuddered, my progression faltering, as an unearthly laughter, like a mix between a hyena and a cougar, filled the air suddenly. I could still hear the creature circling me, sometimes moving so close that it cast a shadow over me, and I could glimpse its paws occasionally in my peripheral vision, obsidian dark claws flexing sharply into the earth.

At one point I caught a glimpse of the old car, paint faded and spotted with rust as I walked by, and I took comfort in the thought that I had at least made it halfway through the meadow. I continued moving forward, slowly, steadily, chanting “Eyes on the ground, keep moving forward, no matter what” under my breath and with every step I took.

After what felt like an entire lifetime, but could only have been a few minutes, I came to the opposite edge of the meadow and the footsteps stopped as the grass around me grew shorter and thinned. I kept walking though, eyes still glued to the ground, not daring to look up even to see if I could glimpse my dad and sister ahead of me. Just as I passed into the shadow of the first trees and was inwardly rejoicing and crying in relief, a voice whispered from behind me.

“We’ll be waiting for your return.”

I froze.

It felt like my feet had become rooted to the spot and my whole body started trembling again, breath coming fast and teeth chattering inside my skull as my heart accelerated to a dangerous pace.

Did…

Did that thing…just talk?

My mind couldn’t process it. Stumbling forward into a shaky walk I moved further into the forest, eyes starting to water from where I was staring unblinking at the ground, watching as the grass and flowers turned into tree roots and foliage.

Eventually, I bumped into dad where he stood in the middle of the path and realized with an immense amount of relief that I had managed to catch up with him and my sister. He put his hand on my shoulder and squeezed in quiet reassurance, although none of us spoke and I still didn’t dare to look up from the ground just yet.

A few more minutes passed as we continued forward in silence before I had finally gathered the courage to lift my head and peer around me. The familiar and comforting sight of trees greeted me as I looked upward to watch a woodpecker fly to his nest made inside of one of the trees. As my panicked breathing gradually evened out and my heart stopped thumping a painful rhythm inside of my chest, I allowed myself to slowly relax.

We then came to a slight curve in the path that I could see would lead around a hill and take us out of sight from the meadow. As we rounded it my eyes were drawn unwillingly back behind us and, through the trees, I caught a glimpse of three large shapes.

They were watching us.