2nd Of July, 2011

Cassandra had gone on a hike in the mountains of Bell Forest, it was a difficult hike, especially by herself but she was experienced and perfectly equipped, the two weeks long hike wasn't worrying her.

She had already traversed half of the distance needed for her to complete this particular hike, which has since been closed off completely for it quickly became a hub of strangeness after Cassandra's experience on it.

The trail was arduous but straightforward, the path was indicated as best as it could be, as long as one didn't willfully step off the trail, getting lost was pretty much impossible.

As per usual, once night fell on the 2nd of July, Cassandra stepped off the trail and set up her camp, pretty much right next to the path, it had been so the whole way, without any problem, she had no issues with any wild animals, only seeing some from afar and she hadn't seen or heard any other hikers either.

Her hike had been calm and serene until then, which was exactly what she had wanted from it and any other of her hikes, to be far from civilisation and people.

However, that particular day, as the sun of steadily falling from the sky and night was claiming reign upon Bell Forest, she noticed something thanks to the last remnants of sunlight, further into the forest, on the side she had decided to set up camp on, she felt like she saw something shiny.

Not quite alarmed yet, she squinted her eyes, curious about what it was, further in the woods, it was already quite dark but she could indeed see two round, shiny eyes staring at her.

Her first thought was that it was an animal and if it was, it would be best to set up camp further, especially if it was a predator.

She couldn't make out any shape, only its two, perfectly round eyes, which looked forward without blinking at any point.

She reached for her flashlight, not managing to get it in a swift movement and once she was about to shine light on the animal, the two shiny eyes were gone.

She looked around but there wasn't any sign of an animal having been there, it had left without a sound at the perfect moment, this fact didn't bother Cassandra, she could expect an animal to be able to know when it was and wasn't being looked at, however, the more she thought about the 'eyes' the more she felt like something was off.

They seemed abnormally round and big and the way they shone wasn't normal either, she had first thought it was due to the last streaks of light, which made it seem like its eyes were glowing but it didn't have any particular color to it, it seemed like it was just reflecting light and nothing else.

Suddenly feeling concerned and very anxious, she moved her camp further down the trail, walking at a quick pace to get as far from where she had seen this strange animal and setting up her camp on the other side as well.

She quickly went inside of her tent, feeling her heart beat like crazy, this wasn't a normal reaction to something unusual, it was like her body was telling her that something worse was going on.

She didn't have much of a choice however, she was still a week away from the end of the trail and moving at night was inviting trouble.

Though, she made the decision to start running from here on out, she just didn't feel comfortable anymore.

The night outside her tent was dimly bright, not utter darkness but still not enough to be certain where you were walking.

For the first few hours, she struggled to fall asleep but as nothing strange happened, she slowly felt herself falling alseep but as if on cue, the sound of a branch breaking was heard.

It didn't sound like an incident though, she heard the two pieces of the branch fall to the ground, as if it had been ripped off a tree further where she couldn't here and only broken into two pieces now.

Then, she started hearing footsteps, a persons's footsteps, that much was clear, especially since they weren't just walking, they were stomping on the ground each time, slowly and loudly getting closer to the tent, where Cassandra was laying, frozen with terror.

Someone was deliberately making as much noise as possible, as if trying to get a reaction out of her.

It was incredible how easy she was able to tell what that person was doing by the sound of their footsteps, they were incredibly expressive with them, conveying so much emotion, as if they were a professional actor.

Suddenly stopping a meter away from the tent, she could make out their disappointment as they stopped the heavy stomping, stopped for around ten seconds and then started walking normally to another side of the tent.

They walked to the side the moon was shining on the most, leaning over the tent and imprinting their shadow on it, they lightly pressed their hands on the fabric of the tent and moving their face closer, their muffled breathing becoming greatly audible.

After what felt like a whole hour of it, the person, which was definitely a man by their breathing, suddenly stood back up but didn't move away, Cassandra shuddered as she realised he was right in front of the entrance to the tent, it was closed but the man outside started running his finger alongside the zipper.

She heard the sound of bone popping and then, his voice.

"Hey lady, I know you are awake, what is your name? I don't think I've ever had the opportunity to see you around here" spoke the man, inviting Cassandra outside of her tent.

She, of course, didn't respond at all and just stared intensely at where the voice had come from without moving a muscle.

"One, two, three..." he started counting everytime he took a step away from the tent.

"...Twenty! I am far now, come on out, I don't bite" he said, his voice indicating that he was, in fact, far away but Cassandra still didn't move.

Instead, she suddenly felt free from the fear paralysis that had taken a hold of her and she grabbed the handgun she was keeping with her, cocking the gun loudly enough for the man outside to hear.

She didn't hear anything else from him for minutes on end.

She felt tense all over again.

"BOO!" he yelled from right behind her tent, the opposite of where he had been last before he ran off into the woods laughing like psycho as Cassandra pretty much had a panic attack.

She wouldn't see or hear from him ever again, he had come along, terrorised her and left without explanation.

It goes without saying that she didn't come back to Bell Forest and didn't hike by herself ever again after that.

Bell Forest is enormous and her story took place nearly five hundred kilometers away from where Jacob had his own intense scare.

Still, it is believed by some that the same man was responsible for both, as well as many other stories of Bell Forest.