I confusingly answered to the voice of a stranger. I knew not of who he was but, his voice was gentle and warm like a mother's hug. My body was numb and my eyes were fused shut but, I felt comfortable with him as if we had met in another life. I had previously lost most of my memory but, it was slowly coming back to me. What I once tried to forget, I was forced to remember. "I am ready". I said. The man softly spoke and said, "tell me everything you can recall about the hiking trip you and your friend took".

We were hiking in the mountains. It was beginning to get dark.

"We must hurry! The weather is getting worse!" I said. "I don't know where we are . We must have taken a wrong turn." replied my friend.

" Isn't that a building over there? I think I saw a light." I replied. Knowing that there was no other nearby house, my friend insisted that we travel up the hill toward the house.

The rain was getting heavier with every step we made. Our main concerns were that we were lost and our phones were either dead or had absolutely no reception.

We glanced at each other before proceeding to the door. The front door was dark and heavy. We pulled the bell. We heard slow footsteps. A thin man dressed in black opened the door. He silently led us into a room full of books and then left us.

"He's kind of cute." Said my friend. I gave her a look of disgust and picked up a book. The book was filled with many people whom had lost there limbs. I quickly placed the book down when I heard footsteps approaching. The man came back and handed us towels to dry ourselves with and two glasses of water. He had not said one word since our arrival.

"Do you have a girlfriend?" asked my friend. He handed her a glass but did not answer. The man stared through our wet clothes

as we finished our glasses. Once we were finished, he man left the room once again. This time, I couldn't help but to notice that he was missing a leg.

"I think we'd better leave now. This place makes me feel shivery." I said.

"No, let's look around. There's nothing to be afraid of." replied my friend.

"What's that noise? It sounded like a wild animal in pain." Said my friend.

" I think it's coming from behind that door." I said. As we walked toward the door, the cry grew stronger. My friend twisted the knob and when she opened the door the man was standing over a wild boar cutting off its limbs. This was no ordinary butcher for meat.

I looked around. Was the room growing smaller? Was I getting bigger? We looked at each other and saw fear in each other's eyes. We dizzily rushed to the door. It was locked. The lights went out. There was a terrible scream. Was it my friend? Was it me?

That was the last memory I had of that strange man, his house and my best friend. I paused for quite some time after that. I remember the cold wet ground against my feet as I ran toward a nearby dirt road. I remember being blinded by the lights of a car and it stopping as the driver spotted me out. When asked for my name, I couldn't answer, for I had forgotten it. I blacked out once more.

The next day, I woke up to bright sunlight. I was in this hospital bed. I looked at my hand. My middle finger on my right hand was missing. When I glanced at my left arm, it was wrapped. In curiosity, I unwrapped a small section of my arm.

My arm was severely scarred. Till this day, I have no memory of how it happened.

When the police arrived, the man was no where to be found.My throat enclosed as I fought back tears. When the police entered a small room, they found my best friend's body. Or at least what had been her body. They said that all her limbs had been dismembered and burned. The cops also found body parts of others whom had also gotten lost. The same was bound to happen to me, and I am the only to survive.

The detectives made the inference that the man tortured people because, he had a horrible past. They pulled his records and it stated that he was pressured into going into a butcher house and his leg got stuck in a machine. The teenagers who pressured him into going inside all laughed and left him there to die. He hadn't been the same since that day.

" Thank you so much, Maggie." Said the soft spoken man. I finally gained the strength to open my eyes, and when I did, I was horrified to see the man from the woods standing over me.