The Last Visit

Nancy lay in her bed, completely still.

She and her best friend had returned to the accommodation not long ago. Outside, the night was clear. And quiet—far too quiet.

Rolling onto her side, her thoughts spiraling, loud and chaotic.

The man in the bar had told them about the forest.
The forest that didn’t just swallow people’s lives—
but their very beings.

Nancy turned again, the sheets twisting around her legs. A groan slipped from her throat as she thrashed restlessly, arms and legs moving in short, frantic bursts, as if she could physically shake the story from her body.

She should have been glad—full of happiness.
But she wasn’t.

An uneasy shiver crept up her spine, spreading through her entire body. Every instinct screamed at her to stop. To stay. To forget.
Still, no chance.

She didn’t want to give up—no, she couldn’t. If she didn’t go into that forest, then her admiration, her quiet obsession, would be nothing more than a dirty lie.

And with it, her entire identity.

Nancy had to go.
Right now. Tonight.

Slipping out of bed, her hands reaching for her old backpack—the one stuffed with the books she loved. For a single heartbeat, she hesitated.

Then she ripped it open and let the books spill onto the floor, grabbing a flashlight. Water. A bit of food. A jacket.

And a knife.

Just in case.

What the hell was she doing?
Had she lost her mind?

Urgency drove her forward, ruthless and blind, as if she were possessed—
not by something else,
but by herself.

“Tanja,” Nancy whispered.

No answer.

When Tanja slept, she did like a rock—completely unreachable. The only exception was her snoring, loud and relentless, as if a combine harvester were running right beside Nancy’s bed.

“Tanja!” Nancy called again, her voice a little higher.

No answer. Only deeper, louder snoring.

“TANJAAAA!” Nancy screamed, pouring all her energy into it.

Tanja shot upright like a vampire rising from its grave, her head slamming straight into the wall.

“JUNG KOOK, WHERE ARE YOU?!” she screamed.

She really was a freak—obsessed with K-pop almost as much as she was with abnormal, terrifying stories.

Tanja was fully awake now, her gaze locking onto Nancy.

“Nancy—what the hell is going on?”

“I need to go,” Nancy said, her voice low, trembling despite her effort to steady it. “Right now.”

Tanja’s eyes widened. The last traces of sleep vanished from her face, replaced by sharp awareness.
“Go where?” she demanded. “It’s pitch black outside

“I want to see the monster,” Nancy said.

The words surprised even herself. The fear was still there—but it was burning now, swallowed by excitement.

Tanja’s eyes widened.
“What?!” she blurted. “Have you completely lost your mind or what? The one that creepy old man told us about?”

She swung her legs out of bed and stood up.
“Did you even listen to him?! He said everyone who enters that forest never comes out alive!”

“I just have to see it,” Nancy insisted. “Just once.”

Her begging was a rare sight—ultra-legendary rare.

“Please,” she added softly. “Come with me.”

“No way!” Tanja shrieked, her voice shooting up an octave. “Absolutely NOT! I still have trauma just from the story!”

She waved her arms wildly.
“I am NOT going into a creepy-ass forest in the middle of the night! Midnight or not! No! Never!”

A pause occured between them.

“Fine,” Nancy responded calmly. “Bye, then.”

The door was opened and Nancy walked away.

A few minutes passed.

Then she heard it.

“Wait!”

A shrill, ragged voice cut through the silence.
“I can’t let you die alone!”

They slipped quietly out of the house, running down the dark street.

The town felt completely empty—like ghosts had replaced its residents.

An unfamiliar sigh drifted through the night.
It wasn’t like the town at all.
It was as if no one had ever lived here.

They crept down the darkened street, the houses looming like empty shells. Windows stared blankly at them, shutters rattling gently in the cold wind. Every step echoed too loudly against the cobblestones, as if the town itself was holding its breath.

“It’s… so quiet,” Tanja whispered, her voice barely carrying.

“Too quiet,” Nancy agreed, glancing around. “Like no one’s lived here for years.”

The street lamps flickered weakly, their light trembling over cracked walls and abandoned gardens. Shadows stretched unnaturally, twisting in corners, and a distant, unfamiliar sigh drifted past them, carried on the chill night air.

She shivered with a mix of fear and excitement. “This is it… the forest is just ahead.”

Tanja hesitated, swallowing hard. “Nancy… maybe we shouldn’t—”

,,Too late,” she answered, already moving forward.

Hand in hand, they stepped off the edge of the last street. The trees swallowed the path, and the forest seemed to reach out for them, dark and silent, alive with unseen presence.

They moved forward, the air cold and heavy, each breath rising in misty clouds. The ground squelched beneath their feet, deep wet sounds echoing through the trees. The trunks loomed around them, gnarled and lifeless, like the forest itself had been waiting for them.

“I-… I’m really scared,” Tanja whispered, her voice trembling. “Please… let’s just go back.”

“Come on, Tanja. You watch a lot of horror movies, right? The main characters never get killed that fast, right?”

A Little laugh escaped her throat. “That would kill the vibe of the movie and make it boring—and we’re prepared, so—”

She turned her head—and froze.

She— she was gone.

Tanja was gone.

Completely.

The girl who had been there just seconds ago, clutching her hand, whispering her fears… vanished. Nancy was alone.

Just standing there, frozen, unable to process what had happened. She couldn’t believe it.

Then her voice returned.

“TANJA!” screaming, relentless.
“This is not funny! Come back!”

She yanked the flashlight from her backpack and switched it on—only darkness. Nothing but twisted, lifeless trees.

“We can go back to our accommodation, okay? But please… come out!”

Her hands trembled as she raised the flashlight, the beam shaking wildly. Not a single sound answered her, only the oppressive, suffocating silence of the forest.

Behind her, a high-pitched shriek tore through the forest—brutal, piercing, and unmistakably non-human.

Her whole body went rigid with fear—pure, raw terror. No thrill. No excitement. This wasn’t a game or a story anymore.

“HELP! GOD, NANCY, HELP ME!” a voice screamed.

Tanja.

No thinking. She sprinted toward the sound.
“Hold on!” Nancy yelled helplessly. “I’m coming!”

But then her foot caught on a hidden root. She slipped, tumbling over dirt and dead leaves, crashing into a gaping hole between tangled grass and jagged roots.

The forest swallowed her scream as she fell.

She looked down at herself—covered in dirt, scratches forming thin lines on her arms, a trickle of blood running down her cheek.

But there was no time to care for herself. Tanja needed her. She had to help.

She brushed aside the tangled undergrowth, heart hammering—then froze.

A sound like the forest itself tearing open made her head snap up.

And there it was.

A shadow, twisted and impossibly tall, moved between the trees. Its limbs were long, angular, and far too thin, bending at impossible angles. Pale light—or maybe none at all—clung to it, draining every color from Nancy's world. Its head tilted unnaturally, a grin stretched too wide, too sharp. And its eyes… empty pits, black as if swallowing everything.

The forest held its breath.

Her legs went weak. Her stomach churned. She could barely pull in air.

The creature stepped forward, and every instinct screamed at her to run—but the voice of Tanja, trapped and screaming somewhere above, anchored her in place.

Then she heard it again. The scream.

It wasn’t Tanja.

It came from the creature.

“HELP… NANCY… PLEASE… IT HURTS SO MUCH…”

The voice—exactly like Tanja’s. Same tone. Same desperation. But it wasn’t her.

Before she could even react, it vanished—in the blink of an eye.

No sound. No breath. Just silence.

Tanja. That was the only thought in Natalie’s mind.

Nancy didn’t want it to be true—she truly wanted to forget it.

She should have been smarter. More careful. More mature. She had spent her whole life imagining stories, shaping them in her mind—but this… this was nothing like what she had pictured.

Pretending not to see it—but she did.

Tanja’s blood coated the creature’s mouth. Sharp teeth glinted, and its body was twisted, unnatural, grotesque in form.

And now… it was her turn.