The Madness Within ✓

IV.

I closed the front door behind me and followed the three women into the living room. When I walked in, they were looking around the living room, especially eyeing the photos scattered on the walls.
„So you didn't take them off?" one of the women - in a long, white dress and a pearl necklace - asked. Meanwhile, the other two sat down on the comfy couch.
„Oh, no, I didn't," I quickly responded and walked over to the couch, „would you like anything to drink?"
There was silence for a few seconds, then the lady that threatened me a while ago responded: „Your grandmother always served us tea. You'll find it on one of the counters in the kitchen."
„Got it."

I nodded and stormed off into the kitchen. And surely enough, a set of teabags was there, sitting on one of the kitchen counters in a neatly wrapped package with grandma's name written on it. I took out three tea bags from the set and began preparing three cups of tea.
Once they were all done, I took them all to the living room - first I only took two cups, just to be safe, and then returned for the last one. By the time I arrived, the three women were all sitting on the couch, discussing their families.
„My husband is slowly beginning to lose faith," one of the women said, to which another responded: „No wonder. We've lost a really important person, it could make everyone feel terrible.

I put the last cup of tea on the coffee table and sat down in the armchair. The women stopped talking and all turned to face me. There was more awkward silence once again. I straightened my posture and leaned closer to them, trying to remain calm in such an uncomfortable situation.
„Did you come here to talk about something?"
The woman in the white dress took the cup into her hands, took a few sips from the cup, and after she was done, she looked at me.
„We came here to see who the owner of this house is now. Are you the new owner of the house, dear?" she asked, the blank expression on her face not changing. I couldn't tell what any of them were thinking whatsoever. But I still tried to be as polite as possible.

„Ah, yes, I'm the new owner," I nodded.

„How unfortunate."
The third woman - that hadn't said a word since they arrived until now - mumbled to herself and looked down at the ground.

„I'm- I'm sorry?-"

„I'm sure you're curious about the photos on the wall, aren't you?" the woman that previously threatened me interrupted me and turned to look at the photos.

„Oh, yes." I responded and nodded.

The woman nodded back and stood up, then began circling around the living room. The woman in the white dress continued sipping on her tea, while the third woman continued staring down at the ground without any other word.
„Your grandma took these photos. She enjoyed taking them. She liked what she saw in them. Which is why she always framed them on her wall in the living room," the woman explained and walked towards one of the photos. I stood up and followed her.
She stood by the photo of the forest, with the extraordinary shadow.
„This one was most likely her favorite, which is why it's in the middle of the room."
I nodded as I played with my hands, then I took a step closer and pointed at the shadow in the photo.

„Do you by any chance know what this is?" I asked and turned to look at the woman.

Her eyes widened and her mouth slowly opened. Her eyes were fixated on the shadow and her finger slowly rose up to point at it. She stayed like this for a few seconds, then closed her mouth and looked at me. Her eyes expressed rage, but also fear. Her pointed finger started shaking as she slowly moved it towards me to point it right at me.
„They knew all along," she mumbled, her voice getting more shaky after each word. Then she suddenly yelled, „She's a traitor!"

„I'm a traitor?!" I exclaimed and backed away from the woman. Was she blaming me for something? I just asked if she knew something about the photo!
The two women sitting on the couch both looked over at us. The woman in the white dress put down her cup of tea and stood up, the other woman followed. They both walked towards us and stood next to the woman in front of me, who was still shaking from anger.

„Your grandma betrayed us all! And now she sent you in here to do the exact same thing! Traitor!" The woman continued yelling, aggressively waving her arms around, almost hitting me in the face a few times if I wouldn't dodge them.
„I'm sorry but I have no idea what you're talking about!" I responded back defensively, backing away from the women even further. „Now please stop attacking me before I call the police!"

The woman backed away and scoffed, then turned to the other two women, whispered something, and all three left to the entrance. They grabbed all their belongings and walked away, then forcefully shut the door behind themselves.

I let out a long sigh and looked out of the window to make sure that they're actually leaving and won't cause any more trouble. They were slowly walking on the trail and distancing themselves from the house while yelling at each other about something.
I slightly opened the window to get some fresh air in and looked at the forest while breathing the fresh air in to slow down my beating heart.
What just happened? Why did she call me a traitor? How did my grandma betray them?
Yet again, I was left with even more questions that I had no answers to. I was hoping that these three women would at least answer some of my questions that I had, but instead they just confused me even more.

I looked through the forest once more, when I suddenly noticed something in the distance. I squinted with my eyes to try and see it better. In the distance was something long, skinny and white, stretched out from one tree to another. It looked so out of place with the other trees around it, almost as if it wasn't originally meant to be there.
The trees looked like they were somehow connected with this long, white.. thing. The tree on the left looked normal like the rest of the trees, but the tree on the right had something sitting on the tree's trunk. It looked like some sort of bug, except it was three times bigger than normal. It was pitch black, darker than anything I've ever seen before. It wasn't moving, just resting on the tree.

The wind was getting colder, so I closed the window and looked back again to focus on the strange bug on the tree. But when I looked back, it was gone, along with the long, white thing. Where did it go? Did I imagine it again..?

Enough.
I sighed and shook my head. Ever since I've arrived here, I can't help but feel like I'm slowly going crazy. Everything about this place, this forest, this house, is weird. Something about this whole area is off. There's something that I don't know about, and I need to find out what it is as soon as possible.

These secrets and unanswered questions need to stop.