The Woods

Chapter 23

As I stand here in total darkness, I begin to realize that there might actually be a complete ending to my life. Something about being up here has changed the way I see life. No matter what I do, nothing will change the fact everyone dies in the end. Whether you die of old age or anything else, life is living and death is dying. I turned around and looked down at the floor at the bottom of the stairs. I could not hold the urge to pull up the stairs and stay in here... Forever. I stared at the stairs for such a long while with a devilish smile on my face that made me feel weird. Something about this room made me feel... Joyful and... I guess this room made me feel happy. I even turned back around to look at the wall. When I did this, I had nothing on my mind. There was nothing to think about in the first place. I felt so calm in this room, like if I tried to do anything I would be invincible and unstoppable.

I stood there in the attic for what felt like hours until something urged me to look at the boxes. When I turned my head to them, I felt extremely dizzy. It felt like someone was trying to stop me from feeling good and happy. I did everything I could to resist the feeling of happiness. I would get nowhere if I kept stared at that damned wall. I felt like I was about to fall over, the entire room was spinning the more focused I became on the boxes. I was about to touch one of them until I fell. I fell onto the floor unable to control what my body was doing. I had no idea what was going on. Somehow I got back up, went into the corner of the room -the corner that was farthest away from the door- and then sat there. I had my legs against my stomach and my arms were wrapped around them. As much as I tried to blink, I couldn't. I wasn't able to do anything, I was panicking in my mind. My body was rocking back and forth in a terrifying way, almost like at a steady pace. I reminded myself of a metronome. I was freaking out. I tried to yell as loud as I could in my mind but, the volume of the little voice in the back of my mind didn't change. I could feel what my body was doing. I could feel a horrifying smile form on my face. I still had never blinked, my eyes never closed once. After just a couple of minutes my eyes were watering and felt extremely dry and itchy. I don't want my mom to see me like this. If she did see me, it would probably be terrifying. Mostly because I was sitting in the corner of my attic, rocking back and forth, and smiling like a maniac with my eyes watering.

I was sitting there for about an hour until I created a plan to get out of this position. I stopped thinking, that's all it was. I stopped thinking and I calmed myself down by telling myself everything was going to work out and I would be free. I kept thinking and the more I did, I noticed that I could control my body. I was able to control more and more parts of my body. This was amazing. I could move my face and legs. I slowly began to take control of my arms. I could finally get free, I could leave and never come back here again. Wait. Never come back here again, echoed in my head over and over until it didn't even sound like my voice anymore. Though, in my mind I did mean the attic but, something made me think more about it being my house I didn't want to come back to. I slowly became sadder and I didn't do anything about it. It was time that I actually started to listen to myself and not to what others have to say about something. I can finally speak to myself. The encouragement I had in myself caused me to break out the biggest smile that I have ever made in my entire life. I began to get up from the floor. I pulled my wrist up to my face and looked at the time. It was late. I have to go downstairs before my mom sees that I'm still up here. I suddenly remembered that I had silenced my phone. I pulled it out and turned it on. There was a one over the top right corner of the message app. I went into the app and saw Jordan's name first. The message read "Brian, something's wrong". There was nothing else, no other texts from Jordan after that. My heart started to pound.

"When will all of this just stop?" I shouted at the top of my lungs. Right after I had said that I heard footsteps walking toward me. They were loud, they weren't coming from downstairs. I took in a deep breath, closed my eyes, and turned around. Expecting to see something as tall as me or even taller, I tilted my head up. I opened my eyes to see nothing but the ceiling. I then looked down and saw the little girl again. I smiled because I hadn't seen her in a while.

"It's nice to see you again." I told her. She nodded with a smile and began to speak. It truly was nice to hear her little child voice, even though she spoke with the knowledge and education of a 30 year old.

"What happened to you after you were taken?" She asked nonchalantly. I then began to tell her what had happened. It took a long 30 minutes of explaining. She didn't say anything the entire time. She just nodded and looked around the room like she was thinking or almost like she was examining what was in all of the boxes.

"So, you know everything now, like everything you wanted to know?" She asked with a concerning voice. I thought about her question for about a minute.

"To be honest, I don't think that I know everything now. I don't think I ever will, I don't think anyone ever will." I answered. A moment of silence passed until something broke it. My phone was ringing and it was Jordan. I decided to answer it. The other end of the call -Jordan's end- was full of static.

"Brian! You have to help me, please! Get over here now!" Was the only thing I heard until the call dropped. I looked back at the little girl and told her what I heard Jordan say. Now, my heart was really pounding hard. She rushed me to Jordan's house. She told me to go down stairs and see if my mom was awake. I went down and she was in the kitchen making dinner. Tell her that you think you forgot something at Jordan's house, she told me. It had in my mind and on a loop. I tried to sound as calm and collected as I could for my mom. She said to 'make it fast' because dinner was almost done. I told her that I would try. The little girl was right behind me the entire time. I grabbed my jacket and ran out the door.

"Not now." I told the spirits that were outside of my house. They were more terrifying at night than during the day because sometimes I didn't see one or two and I would get freaked out when I noticed them. Plus, they do just stare at me and no matter where I go the will always be facing in the direction I'm going in. I got to Jordan's door and heard screaming. Bloodcurdling screams came from inside. I opened the door to see my worst nightmare.