Of the Shadows

Chapter 5: Oh Deer

My car may have been beaten up but she ran smoothly. The battered metal rattled on its frame: the sound mixed well and melded  with the punk rock music that blared through the speakers. The lyrics were beautifully melancholy and the instrumentals were riddled with angst. Sorrow and rebellion. The vocalist would sing the verses with an angelic baritone then scream the chorus  I glanced over at Angie. She bounced in her seat to the song that played and bobbed her head to the drums causing her short cropped hair to whip in all directions. Smoke seeped from her lips in smooth wispy strands as she passed the joint to me. Hotboxing in the middle of the day may have not been the best idea but it felt right.
We drove for over an hour on backroads. These roads were what I was used to and I whipped around curves and flew over hills just because I knew the area.  Two joints in and I still failed to keep my mind off of the waitress and the fairies. I couldn't help but to think continuing on with my life like nothing happened was a bad idea. I was driving more cautiously now, the pungent herb clouded my thought and reaction time. I slowed the car down more as we approached a familiar, quaint , pale yellow house with a dark grey shingle roof.
"You bitch, this is my grandmas house." Angie said, disappointment heavy on her tone.
"Yeah. You'll be safe here." I replied. I honestly hadn't meant to go there. I knew she needed to be somewhere away from Chris but I had full intention to let her get her belongings first. My mind just spaced out on our smoke ride and we ended up here. I knew deep down that I did not need to spend too much time with her, it would be dangerous. Going on with my life is not what I needed to be doing. I needed to run. Not for my sake but for the people I love. All I could think was what if the creatures came after Angie or my mom or my dad or his new wife. Angie must have read the panic in my face because her glare softened.
"Fine Mar, I'll stay here for a little bit at least." Angie agreed half-heartedly. I could picture her fingers crossed out of sight. "Come inside and speak to Gran at least please, she was asking about you the other day.
"Thank you. And of course I'll come say hi to Gran! I wonder if she's cooking!" A flutter of excitement rippled through my stomach. The munchies were back and we had been away from the diner for less than an hour.
"We just ate!" Angie laughed and led the way past Gran's blue Cadillac into the side entrance under the carport.
The stench of burning food hit us as soon as we opened the door. Angie called out for Gran with no response. The television blared in the livingroom so Angie headed there to search for her grandmother. I switched the oven off and opened the door, releasing the smoke within. Realizing I might have made a mistake, I ran to open some of the kitchen windows. What could have once been a roast or meatloaf sat charred in a cracked glass baking pan. The bottom of the oven was littered in ths burnt black remains of whatever had bubbled out of and seeped through the dish. I knew it was too hot to pull out so I left it there to smolder.
"She's not in the house." Angie was back in the kitchen, "back door is open I hope she hasn't fallen somewhere." She pulled me along with her out the back door to the back yard. It was similar to Mum's yard. About an acre of quasi-cleared land bordered by dense woods. Angie and I had spent many days back here just hanging out or helping Gran with yard work. Angie hollered for her grandma. We searched the garden bed to make sure she hadn't fallen amongst the towering sunflowers or the lush greens that could have hidden her from view. We checked the little shed where Gran kept her tools and searched along the laundry line where sheets brushed the ground. We couldn't find her.
"This doesn't make any sense, Mar, her car is here. She's in her right mind I talked to her a couple days ago and seemed fine." Angie  walked along the edge of the woods.
"Maybe call her cell first before you give yourself a heart attack?" I suggested. She nodded and took out her cellphone, tapped it a couple of times and held it to her ear. The shrill rhythmic ring tone Gran had referred to as her "cha-cha" ringtone cut through the forrest. A chill rolled down my back as I followed Angie to the sound. Several yards into the foliage, the ground dipped. Not enough to catch either one of us off guard but enough that an elderly person could've easily suffered a nasty fall. At the base of the dip next to the stump of a once large tree was Gran's phone.  Connected to the navy blood-spattered brick of a device was a severed hand. I assumed it was Gran's. Wrinkles carved mountains and valleys in the pale flesh of the hand; veins like raised azure streams  branched through the landscape. The fingers were narrow and weathered. This was the working hand of a kind soul who lived a full life.
Angie dropped to her knees and reached toward the phone, fingers hovered ever so slightly away from the device as if a small forecefeild encased it. A strained sob escaped her throat before she hugged herself and screamed "Gran!" I gently placed my hands on her shoulders and pulled her away from the mangled hand. The rest of Gran was no where I could see. Blood painted the trunk and the surrounding ground. A few hoove prints stamped the ground but they just looked like deer prints to me. No claws to rip an old lady apart. Even if the footprints belonged to a buck, surely there'd be a trampled corpse nearby. I couldn't see any other pieces as I dragged a wailing Angie out if the woods. I could feel eyes on us. A doe had emerged from the trees and had stopped to stare at us like we were oncoming traffic. It looked like a normal deer, brown fur and long legs. Instead of a white or brown tail it had a blood red one. Its gaze terrified me. Goosebumps raised on my skin and my arm hairs stood on end. It held us there in its gaze for several long moments before it  ran off into the deep recesses of the forrest.