[ WP ] You 're alone in a forest with a camera . As you are walking you accidentally turn on thermal mode , and you can see the heat profiles of hundreds of people surrounding you .

Clutching the camera in both hands, I scanned the perimeter around me holding the screen close to my face as a guide. The digital window into this unseen world was overflowing with heavily saturated blobs of human figures, some warmer than others but all filled with a topographical gradient of red, yellow, blue, and green. I cradled the camera in my arm as I closed my eyes for a moment before opening them again. Unsurprisingly, nothing changed. 
 
 There were no indicators in my naked field of vision of where these figures resided. No rustling of tree branches, no leaves crunching, no difference in the environment at all until the thermal view unveiled their existence. I opened the portal again by bringing the camera up to eye level to inspect further. There was nothing to be scared of, no threats to be seen. My heart was not pounding, and my lungs continued to passively exchange the damp forest air with my own. The figures continued to slowly shuffle through the foot-trodden path in the woods. Regardless of the direction their bodies were moving, all seemed to stare in the same direction as I was heading. 
 
 Continuing on, I kept the camera pointed ahead to use their fixed gaze as a compass. What were they staring at? After a few minutes of a steady pace, the muscles in my legs began to cramp, beads of sweat forming along my forehead. It was n't warm out, I should not be this exhausted. I kept moving forward. One of the figures beckoned to me from inside the viewfinder. They waved their arm as a motion to quicken my pace, and I complied. 
 
 The air started to feel heavy, a moist blanket weighing down my limbs. My scalp was dripping, but my mouth was dry. What was happening? 
 
 I needed to rest. The colorful blobs near the tree to my right parted the way as I turned to face it. The camera fell out of my hands as my fingers stiffened, bouncing on the wet leaves and landing safely with the screen still on. 
 
 The bark felt spectacular against my weary back as I propped myself up against the wide trunk. I pulled my left leg next to my right and stretched them out in front of me, wiping away the moisture from the camera screen before setting it on my lap. I could see the legs and feet of the others still shuffling along the forest, but my own extremities remained unregistered. I would have found it strange, if I was n't too tired to care. 
 
 With every blink, the effort to open my eyelids increased. The figures on the screen that were closest to me turned to face where I was sitting as they dropped to their knees and bowed their heads in my direction. Rest was needed. Rest was now.
