The Madness Within ✓

X.

I parked my car in front of a small, cozy house near a closed off souvenir shop. Frequent raindrops tapped against the front window of my car, then slowly slid off to the bottom. I stepped out of the car with the book in hand, then walked to the house's entrance. I looked around the area first, to see if there's someone around that could tell me if someone still lives here. But the streets were empty, rain was the only thing accompanying me. I turned back and knocked on the door three times, then took a step back and waited for someone to open. The raindrops continued falling on the roof of the house, then began sliding down and falling on the wet grass.
There was no response from the door. I took a step closer and rang the doorbell this time, hoping that someone might've just not heard my knocking.
Still no response.

I sighed and looked down, wondering about what to do next. Did the club disband? Or maybe moved to a different location?
I turned around to my car and began walking back towards it. But as I was about to get inside the car, I heard the door behind me make a loud creaking noise as the door opened. I swiftly turned around to check who opened it.
By the door stood a short, old lady with a wide smile on her face. The first thing that caught my attention was that her left eye was covered with an eyepatch.

„Hello, young lady. How may I help you?” the old lady said, then shoved her long, grey hair that was getting in the way of her sight to the side. Her voice was sickly sweet, it almost sounded as if she was faking it just to seem like the sweetest lady ever, when in reality she hoped she could get rid of me as soon as possible. But at this point I found the hatred of the villagers towards me normal, since every single encounter with the villagers resulted in them getting mad at me for no reason. Or at least no reason that I'm aware of.
„Ah, good evening,” I smiled back at the lady and walked closer to her.

The lady glanced at the book that I was holding in my hands, then looked back at me.
„If you came here to join our wood carving club, then I'm sorry, it was disbanded a year ago. My husband, who managed the whole club has passed away, since he broke the rules. That's why it had to be disbanded," the lady explained, then shook her head and looked down at her feet.
I frowned and slightly tilted my head to the side.

„I'm sorry for your loss, but.. what do you mean by 'he broke the rules'?"

The lady stood still for a few seconds, then looked up at me and gave me another one of her sweet smiles. This time it was wider and more forced, which made it look more creepy, rather than sweet.
„You're not from around here, are you, dear?”

I took a step back and scratched my neck, „Oh, um.. no, but my grand-"

„Then I suggest you either leave or you stop asking these kinds of questions.” The old lady suddenly interrupted me, her smile fading as she said that. The way she was staring at me gave me goosebumps.
My eyes widened and I froze in place. The old lady glared at me for a while, then turned around and began walking back inside.

„I'm sorry, please wait!" I quickly exclaimed and reached out my hand towards her to stop her. She stopped in her tracks and turned back around to look at me, then crossed her arms and waited for what I'm about to say. She definitely got even more annoyed after the question that I asked her. Is it a sensitive topic for her?

„I wanted to ask about a few statues that were made by the people who visited the club."
I quickly ran back to my car, then took out one of the statues that I brought with me and left the book inside. When I was back by the entrance of the house, I showed the statue to the old lady.

„This one."

The lady inspected the statue for a little while, then shook her head again and sighed.
„How unfortunate, I didn't know these still existed," the lady said, then looked up at me, „Are you sure you want to know more about this statue?"
I nodded.
„Fine. I'll show you then. Come inside."

•

The old lady led me through her house into a small living room area. The whole room was decorated with all kinds of wooden creations that were most likely made by the people who frequented the club. In the middle stood a few bookshelves with books in them. The lady walked towards one of the bookshelves and took a book out, then put it on the table near it and began going through the pages.
She stopped at one of the pages and pushed the book towards me.

„This is an old tale of our small village. Whether you believe that it's true or not is completely up to you."

I walked closer and looked at the book. On the beginning of the page was a large, bold text that read, 'The Curse Of Willowlake Village.' Under it, the story followed:

'Once upon a time, a young man wandered into the humble village that goes by the name of Willowlake Village. The man was arrogant and believed that he knew everything about the world around him. Whenever someone tried to correct him, he would get furious. He would yell at everyone, break things around him and explain how he's the only one who knows what's true and what isn't, because he knows better than anyone else.

Whenever the villagers talked to him, he laughed at them and told them that what they were saying was nothing but a lie that was meant to scare him off.
„I know my enemies way too well,” he said, „and one of the things they try to do is get rid of me the same way as you."
The villagers continued to warn him for a few days, but when they wouldn't get any different response from him, they would eventually stop and ignore him.

But the young man was not happy with this result. He enjoyed seeing people get annoyed by him, it made him feel superior to them. One day, he went up to the center of the village and declared to the people around him: „To prove that what I'm saying is correct, I will listen to your stupid tales and show you myself that what you're saying is a big lie. I will go to the forest, all alone, at exactly midnight, and I'll return without a single scratch on my body!"

The villagers shook their heads at the young man's naivety, but they knew very well that he wouldn't listen to them, no matter how many times they'd try to warn him. Rumors quickly spread and soon enough, the whole village knew about the man's plan. The residents of the village all met up by the side of the village, where they could see the beginning of the forest. They were curious about the man's fate, even though all of them knew exactly what would happen.

The man stood by the forest, proudly looking at the crowd of people who came to watch him. He was so ready to show them all just how right he is. Without any doubts, he walked right into the forest. The villagers watched him closely until he was way too far away. And then they waited.
Ten minutes passed. The villagers talked and gossiped about the man, discussing all the possibilities that might've happened to him.
Twenty minutes passed. The villagers were now getting impatient, some decided to go home, others stayed and watched a little while longer.
After thirty minutes, everybody left. They already knew the boy's fate.

The young man was never seen after this and the village continued to function as it did before his arrival.'