The shrines in the forest

First of my "Have you ever wondered" serie short stories. Horror short story that is more unsettling that scary.

Have you ever wondered why are there shrines forgotten deep inside of the forest? Are those remains of old religions? Or maybe protections for the mortals who end up lost in the forest? Perhaps even simply old buildings from a previous era?

To you, those shrines were places to host the spirits that help the lost travellers to go back on the right path, you know, those stories of person who gets lost at night deep in the forest and suddenly ends up finding the path again after stumbling upon one of those lost shrines and submitting a short prayer. Living in a small, isolated countryside village, this kind of story was a common occurrence, even your neighbour’s daughter spoke about finding the right path after praying at such a shrine.

Well, that was what you used to think at least, until you yourself ended up lost in the forest, and stumbled upon the said shrine, a small traditional shrine, that was still in a good state despite being covered by the vegetation, the only troubling detail being the cracked statue it holds. Well, the only troubling detail if you omit the nauseating smell of carrion that was attacking your nose as soon as you saw the shrine, as well as the pile of mutilated and half eaten bodies that had long since began to rot behind it. And as if the gruesome display wasn’t enough, you quickly noticed the striking red dress on one of the bodies, the one your previously-mentioned friend used to wear, and the one she wore when she left the forest that time she got lost, or so you thought.

Your blood froze in your veins when you heard a voice coming from behind you, it was your friend’s voice. “Hey! Are you alright?”. You turned around in an instant, only to be faced with what you would only think was your friend, her usual cheerful smile and carefree tone the one you always knew, wearing her iconic red dress, however, what you were not expecting, was for her mouth to showcase a smile way too wide for a human as she spoke her next words, her voice bloodcurdling yet barely audible. “You shouldn’t be here you know”. As her body began to show signs of melting, slowly turning into a monster you couldn’t even find words to qualify, you felt a hot breath in your back, the smell of rotten flesh that followed almost making you throw up both in fear and disgust.

As you slowly turned your head to face whatever was breathing on your neck, everything happened in a flash, all you could see was a wide row of sharp teeth mounted on what looked like a shapeless pile of mud, before you even knew it, you were slammed into the ground by that terrifying being as its teeth sank deep into you, the pain only making you scream as your blood gushed out while you were being devoured alive.

As your strength began to leave your body and your consciousness began to fade, your hazy thoughts were directed at the question you now had the answer to… Have you ever wondered why are there shrines forgotten deep inside of the forest? Now you knew, it was not here as a memento of the past, nor as a mean to protect and help the unlucky passersby, it was the house of the spirits who lived in the forest, and fed upon the travellers who chanced upon this shrine, before replacing them with dolls to keep the legend of the helpful shrine going, a scheme of man-eating monsters perpetrated from the dawn of times.

Author's Note

This is my very first work so i hope it is at least somewhat good, if you have tips to improve my shortcomings on top of the reviews it would be great, thanks in advance.