The Dark

Kash

Jordan's POV:
We're walking down the old road, and I'm tripping each couple of steps,
"So where are we going? Exactly?" I decide to break the silence. Kash walks along as if his old working boots are heavy with weights, but he smiles that crazy smile again and replies with,"Honey, we're going where she won't find us," That wasn't exact. Who is this 'she'? I don't ask. He cackles so all his front teeth are visible and it almost makes me puke. There's what looks like old pieces of food stuck in between his rotting teeth and his breath is actually the most disgusting thing I've ever smelt. He swaggers down the rocks, stumbles and goes slightly red, but he acts like it didn't happen when I clearly saw. My feet are absolutely killing me as the sweat on my forehead begins to drip. Kash hands me a small dirty towel.
"Here take this, you'll need it if you don't want those pretty little clothes getting stains," he laughs as he says this but I just glare at him. Who does he think he is? I wake up in a gross looking room, to only see a gross man, with gross breath and gross teeth. I hate this. He continues to laugh and whistle as he walks down the road.

Swoosh.

There's no wind here, what was that sound? Suddenly I'm grabbed by Kash's gigantic hands and I'm being carried over his shoulder down a steep hill.
"WHAT IS GO-G-GOING O-O-ON!??!" I struggle to yell since each step bounces me up and down. I catch a glimpse of the woman he's been talking about. Her face is visible now, but her eyes still have that eerie glow to them. I remember how it has only been three or so days since Matt was sleeping at my house and that 'thing' was in the living room. Just staring. It must have been looking for something since it ripped the entire room apart or it must have been pretty angry. Kash comes to a halt and I almost go flying off his shoulder. He flips me back over and onto the ground.
"That was a close one..." he says in between deep breaths of air.
"Why did you do that?" I ask curiously,
"Didn't you hear the mad woman, she nearly had you back there!" he yells in my face, with little pieces of food splattering onto my forehead and cheeks. I take a step back.
"Sweetheart, you've got to be kidding. I'm telling you, I'm not the one you should be scared of, it's the mad woman. She's after you and none of us know why. " he says, apologies written on his face but not said in words,
"None of us? Who are you talking about?" I'm really confused now, what is going on?
"That's where we're going girly, see these people, my mates, they look out for people like you and they try and get rid of the 'things'," he punches me as he says this. I throw a hard punch back and he pushes me over. I get up and dust myself off and he just says,"You're not like the other damsels in distress you know? Usually they don't have the guts to even talk." With this statement I am really confused. What others is he talking about? I remain silent for the rest of our journey.

We arrive in a small town, everyone everywhere is smiling and laughing, saying hello as they pass neighbors. Then there's us two; Kash has a happy expression on his face as he bounces along, but me on the other hand, I'm slouching and trying to keep up with a deep expression of sadness. I'm never seeing Matt again and I'm stuck with this giant, fat, bushy eyebrowed, bad breathed, rude mouthed monster who is going to apparently take me to his 'mates', which I'm assuming are exactly like him. Kash looks over to me with a look that says c'mon, cheer up, but it's really not working. He signals that we've reached the place that we're supposed to be by nudging his head forwards before walking in.
"EYYYY GUYS!!" He yells as he walks through the door, with me following behind. There are several grown men, two young children and about five or six people who look about my age. The large group of people become excited as I walk through the front door slowly. There is a bar with a teenage boy behind it, a lot of bar stools and a pool table. There are also many dark, smaller tables surrounding a microphone hanging from the roof. The two young children sit in a corner, playing with what looks like empty beer bottles, and the people my age kick cans around the small pub and laugh at each other's jokes. But at this moment the grown men stand up, with arms outstretched and call to me.
"Jordan! Jordan!" they are yelling loudly, like they already know who I am. Well I'm guessing they do know who I am judging by the fact that I'm suffocated by hugs around my face and kisses on the cheek. These are full grown men, what are they doing? One of them holds his hand out to greet me properly, "Hi, my names Crabs here, I'm probably the smarte-"
"No I am!"
"No it's me!!" They're all yelling again until I stop them by screaming really loudly. I suddenly realize I'm the only girl in this room.
"Crabs, nice to meet you. I am Jordan, and I'm not sure how you all know me?" I question them. A roar of laughter fills the pub and I look around at every pair of eyes in the room. Silence falls again.
"How do you all know me?" I make sure I say the words slowly.
Crabs starts to speak, "Now you see, when you were about this tall," he pauses to indicate how tall I was at the age of five, I get distracted by his wild orange hair that seems to cover his face," You were crazy as ever and you went out into the bushes on your own one day and met my boy Kash over here," he pauses again and punches Kash in the shoulder," You used to have the wildest conversations with him about a woman you could only see in your dreams..." I stopped listening and tried to remember those dreams," Those dreams were about the Mad Woman and we knew you were going to end up here some day!" he exclaimed enthusiastically.
I remember the dreams. I remember the woman, just standing there and staring at me every night, maybe they weren't dreams.