Spirits
Our world is full of people. Yes, yes, I know, this truly is a revolutionary statement, but what if I told you that not all of those people are alive? Haunted Forest in particular is full of the souls of the dead. But who are they, you may ask. As everyone knows, the dead in our world pass on to Hell, gates to which are located just beyond the Haunted Forest. They are taken there by Sliver Man and Woman, with no exceptions, so who are the ones left behind?
Who are they?
There are a few theories about who these souls may be, and let me tell you right now that all of them are probably correct.
First of all, we have the souls of ancient humans, the one who died in the apocalypse, and possibly even some from before that. It’s really hard to tell, because after thousands of years many of them have lost their sense of identity and most of them don’t remember much of who they were while they were still alive. By now, their human identities are lost in time, and they survive as nameless faceless spirits with no concrete sense of identity, beyond being a spirit floating around this forest.
Others are very likely victims of killers that live in West T@Ö#Å3. Being literally West T@Ö#Å3, and with Haunted Forest so near, murder is a perfectly valid response to conflicts here, to a much greater degree than anywhere else in the world. To avoid getting caught, killers often dispose of corpses of the dead right here in the Haunted Forest. Some of these are still found just fine by Silver Man or Woman who are quite familiar with the forest, having to pass it frequently because of the nature of their work. Some however remain lost forever. Being dead, their bodies will perish leaving the soul behind homeless. Their souls will then have no other choice but to make their home here in the forest. Death can be quite a traumatic event, leaving one disoriented and without many memories of their life, which is why they are more likely to stay here than try to leave the forest and find their home.
Dying, of course, can be a traumatic ordeal even for those who didn’t die violent deaths at the hands of killers, and Hell doesn’t seem like a pleasant place to go to. It’s probably gonna be in Haunted Forest when the reality of their situation will really hit people, and they will try to escape. Obviously, the main job of Silver Man and Woman is to get you to the gates of Hell so they won’t let you escape, but still, it’s not impossible to do so. However, if you do manage to escape them, you are now left all alone here in the forest. The only other people you will meet here are the spirits who will do anything but help you. They are known to try and trick people all the time to keep them here and accept them as one of their own.
Which brings us to the next point. Some of the spirits here aren’t the ones who died outside of the forest, but the ones who were either lured into the forest by spirits, or dared to enter the forest on their own. Yes, of course, everyone knows that you should never go into Haunted Forest, especially not alone, but you, reader, might just be a human yourself, and if you know anything about humans, the ancestors of the very species living in our world today, you know that there were, and still are plenty of those always ready to tempt fate. Well those tempting fate here might just come back alive, but are more than likely to end up as one for these spirits haunting the forest.
Anguished Existence
But what is life as one of those spirits like? So you see, if you really think about it, a lot of one’s identity is tied to their physical body. You may introduce yourself by the name your parents gave, describe gender, age, hair or eye color of your body, tell you about the place you live in and so on. But as a spirit with no body, all of these things become irrelevant. Sure, right after death many may still refer to themselves by all of the characteristics of their physical body, or some might find themselves free to completely reinvent themselves. But for how long can this really go on? As a spirit you really have nothing to hold on to other than just - being a spirit. I mean just look at those old spirits from the apocalypse - in thousands of years they have already forgotten all about the physical body they had or the place they lived in. After thousands of years of living like this, this is all they are now - a spirit of Haunted Forest. There’s really not much to do here either, other than wander around and taunt those who find themselves here - either the ones being escorted through by Silver Man and Woman, or the ones coming here willingly, or unwillingly. Luring in the people and hearing their stories about the outside world is really the most fun these spirits will see. As such, I think you can see that being a spirit in the Haunted Forest can be quite depressing, being trapped here in a dark forest with no sense of purpose or identity, just floating around and trying to make it through each day that’s the same as the previous one, getting no closer to any kind of escape or and to your misery.
But that's not to say these spirits are always just depressed. On the contrary, they are known to be quite extremely emotional. Of course, they are now nothing but pure energy and emotion, with no brain to think things through. They can go from absolutely ecstatic to completely depressed, to enraged or to any other extreme emotion possible. As such, they are seen as unpredictable and dangerous, especially if they somehow make it into your home. Oh yes, it’s very rare for this to happen, but it absolutely can. It is more likely to happen to houses near Haunted Forest, but a stray spirit may wander deeper into town.
Hauntings
Just as the forest is haunted, the houses may get haunted as well. This will happen when a spirit will take residence in someone’s home. Some, especially the ones who died recently, might still try to make their way back into the world of living and spend more time among the living. But as you know, they are very different from the living people - they don’t have physical bodies so they can’t always effectively interact with their environment, but they can get extremely emotional. It’s that pure extreme emotion and energy that can sometimes interact with the environment in unexpected ways, such as interfering with electronic devices or sometimes even moving objects. The spirits will try to interact with people as well, trying to touch or grab them they might leave marks or bruises on one’s body.
For the most part they mean no harm, but are only trying to make their way back into the world of the living and interact with the living world the best way they can. Not being able to, they are more likely to become desperate, frustrated, or otherwise extremely emotional, leading them to such extreme and often terrifying outbursts. Needless to say, people often don’t like having these spirits in their home, and it’s things like this that make the living people more distrustful and afraid of them. But getting rid of them may be tricky, and you have to seek help from the people who are trained in talking to the spirits.
People who talk to spirits
Though many people prefer to avoid Haunted Forest and its spirits, there are those who will seek them out intentionally. Many believe it’s a gift, but many feel that it simply only takes someone open minded and compassionate enough to get in touch with these spirits. In any case, it’s not that easy for just anyone to do it. The people who talk to the spirits have often been special from a young age and started interacting with the spirits when they were children. If they only have a supportive and open minded family around them, they will grow up together with the spirits, talk to them and get to know them as they grow older. Some will even make friends with these spirits, though for the most part even they are advised to keep their distance. By the time they grow up they would already develop a relationship with these spirits, which will make it easier to talk to them.
So if your house is haunted, your best bet is to find one of those people, preferably one from your area who might already know some of these spirits. They will then be able to talk to them and convince them to leave your home. But things aren’t just that simple. You gotta understand that these spirits are tortured souls who can’t just be told to leave what they chose as their home. They will require a lot of patience and compassion from all involved before they will be ready to pass on into Haunted Forest.
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