Kestramore: One of them dies at the end

Chapter 1: Meadow Dunlap

It was a dark and stormy night,

In her attic bedroom Meadow had just finished drafting her essay, she finally shifted her focus to the alarming hurricane outside.

Meadow, ever since she was a child, she had always enjoyed rain, rain is an ambient noise, and that's what she was, just a background noise that no one listens to.

On this stormy evening she could not help but feel extremely uneasy.

At last, she decided to take a bath to get her mind off the edge. She climbed out of her den and that's when she heard a loud thud coming from outside, she looked out of her window and saw the brightest light coming from the "prohibited woods."

Everyone in town knew that unless you had a death wish, those woods where the last place you would ever want to be anywhere near, especially at night.

She desperately tried to ignore the urge to find out what exactly caused that ray of light, she took a deep breath and called it a day.

She woke up the next morning, surprised to find out it had been raining all throughout the night.

She arrived at school early to get ready for the test she had later that day, the students, and teachers all seemed be on high alert as if something bad was about to happen; she decided to ignore it. As Meadow walked down the hall, she could feel everyone's eyes on her.

"Do I have something on my face?" she thought.

When she finally got to the library Mrs Kelley (the librarian) had a glum look on her face.

"Is everything OK?" Meadow asked whist carefully approaching her. When Mrs Kelley turned around to find her there, her face morphed into her poor attempt at a smile. She decided to ask again "Is everything OK Mrs Kelley?" She flinched as if snapping back to reality and said, "yeah I'm fine."

If it were anyone else Meadow was sure they would not have noticed, but Meadow was always exceedingly good at reading people and that day she was almost certain Mrs Kelley was hiding something...

She went and sat at her usual table reading her newest book, she caught Mrs Kelley glancing at her a couple of times, which she found peculiar. She felt extremely uneasy, so she decided to leave the library and go grab a coffee.

On her way there she could feel all eyes of her, she didn't know if she was just imagining it all, since she had dealt with severe anxiety in the past.

Suddenly a thought surfaced her mind, "no one had called her today."

Well, it was not like she had many friends, but it was strange that not even her mom, who insisted so much on checking up on her every morning hadn't called.

Her mom was a strict woman, but Meadow knew she loved her dearly, so it was strange she had not called. Maybe she was busy?

Meadow started to worry but decided to brush it off. When she got to the cafe she asked for 'her usual', like she always did, but the barista seemed to pretend she had no clue who Meadow was or what she was talking about.

She then told Meadow to 'follow her to the back' so she could save her order on her notebook. Meadow was a bit skeptical but followed her anyway and as soon as she closed the door the Barista's faced switched from that clueless and innocent smile to a look of absolute terror. She looked her straight in the eyes and whisper her one word "RUN", the look on her face gave Meadow chills. Meadow was confused and had so many questions but the look on the Barista's face told her, without saying a word, that she had to time to explain. Meadow ran.

She ran till she could not feel her legs anymore by the time she got tried her whole body was shaking and her feet felt numb. She didn't even know where she was going or why she was running, but she was certain something strange was going on and if she didn't get away from that town, she would end up right in the middle of it.

She looked in the distance and saw a man that seemed to be staring directly at her. He got closer and closer until he was only one meter away from her. He was a tall, tan man with a strong built and yellow golden eyes. He had a long white beard that did not match his appearance, he looked to be in his 40s, in his hand he held a sweaty piece of scrap paper.

He offered her the paper, she tried to refuse but he shook his head as if to tell her he wouldn't leave unless she took it. With a trembling hand she reached out for the paper.

She glanced at it to find out it was a map. On the very top there were the words "safe place" written in bold and clear handwriting. She noticed the map was of Kestramore (the town she lived in), a point was clearly marked on the map it said, "go here," nothing else, no explanation, no reason just "go here." Meadow was getting tired of people telling her what to do without telling her why she had to do it. She looked up to question the man, but he was already gone...

She looked closely at the map and noticed that the point marked was right in the middle of the prohibited forest. "Just great!" she thought. The only place she promised herself not to ever step foot in was now her "safe place," how ironic! She reflected on it and decided that following the map was probably her best and only option. She desperately fought the urge to just take a bus.
She walked for about 35 minutes before she got there, as soon as she looked at the forest, she felt a chill run down her spine. Everyone in town had been warned several times to not enter this forest but now here she was, confused and scared about to face one of her worst nightmares...