I had this reoccurring nightmare when I was younger.

 When I was younger. I had to go live with my grandparents for a time.  We had this nice house out in the middle of nowhere and it was largely surrounded by woods. To most kids, this would've been the dream and it certainly sounded that way to me at first. But, something about those woods. something about that night. First, let me back up for a second. 

When I say this house was surrounded by woods. I mean it. For miles and miles. This house was surrounded by nothing but a sea of trees. It stretched on for miles and miles. At least, it seemed that way when I was a kid. I remember playing out in the woods one day and getting lost. It seemed like I would never find my way home.  Even if I didn't have this nightmare, I  definitely wasn't playing in the woods anymore. 

The Nightmare that I kept having revolved around me getting lost in the woods. Most of the time, I was chasing something or trying to find something. There was something else in those woods with me.  Something tall. Something uncanny. I never got the chance to see its face. it was always up to high. Sometimes it would hide amongst the trees and sometimes it would be out in a clearing. I could tell that it wanted me for some reason and it filled me with fear. I don't know what it would've done if it had caught me, because whenever it got close, I always woke up.

I have no doubt that this nightmare was just that, a nightmare. But, these reoccurring nightmares seriously distorted my view of those woods and any forest/woods I have ever come across. 

One time, I got farther than I ever have in one of these nightmares. I managed to evade the creature just enough to spot a place to hide. It was an old house in the middle of the woods. One built out of concrete. I think I've seen it before in some old newspaper.  I never got this far again. After a while, I stopped the nightmares and I never played in those woods again.