A Dark Descent

The Cabin

Alex went up the path to the treehouse. He stopped in front of the treehouse and looked up. The only light was the moonlight. He climbed up the treehouse and took the matches and a few sticks with him and stuffed them into the bag. He went down the ladder and walked down the path. The trees had less leaves on them than before and they looked like staggered, thin hands. Alex made sure not to get too close to them. He continued down the path for a while, the moon watching over him. The light from the moon was enough to make Alex not feel the need to light the matches.

He walked for a long time, and Alex noticed it. It was a much longer walk than the one to the cabin, yet he felt like he was on the same path that he was on before. He stopped and looked around. It looked like he was at the same place he was before when he started but he knew that he wasn't. He took the blue stone out of the bag and talked to it.

"I don't get it." He said. "I've walked at least a mile, but I'm still here?" The stone didn't even shine. "Fine."

He put the stone back in the bag and continued walking. He heard tiny dinging of a jingle bell. He looked around but saw nothing. He looked down and saw a glowing blue light in his bag. He looked inside and took out the stone. The ringing became more rapid from the stone and Alex looked around frantically.

The dinging stopped. And Alex saw the hands in the sky.

The hands flew down from the sky and charged at Alex through the trees. He screamed and ran as fast as possible through the forest. The stone began singing again.

"Oh now you have something to say!" He said as he held the stone to his face.

The stone felt like it grabbed onto Alex's hands as it pulled him backwards. He was facing towards the hands when the stone blew a gust of wind towards the hands. Alex flew backwards and slid on the ground. The hands stopped and spun around in small loops.

"Oh my god." Alex said to the stone. "You should do that more often."

Alex looked back over to the hand and they quickly soared back into the sky. Alex got up and watched the sky, waiting for the hands to come back.

"Where'd they go?" He looked down to the stone. "You know what. Nevermind."

He continued down the path, a little faster than last time. He looked up again and it was still night time. He kept walking when he saw another shadow. He looked up and saw a cabin. He ran up to it and grabbed the door handle and shook frantically. Alex's eyes widened when he saw the door creak open slightly. He opened the door slowly and looked inside but saw nothing.

"What?" Alex said.

He walked forward and saw a gold key with a mirror on the top. He examined the key and put it in his bag. He took one step out of the cabin when a droplet hit his head. He looked up and saw other pieces of water falling from the sky. He figured that it was a long walk and if it was gonna rain, he might as well stay in the cabin for the night. Alex went back and made himself comfy on the shelf where he got the key.

Alex opened his eyes again and he was still on the shelf. He sat up and saw his friends sleeping around the cabin. Alex smiled and carefully walked towards the door. He opened the door and looked down, but there was no ground to hold his feet. He quickly backed away and closed the door. He looked around and made himself comfortable next to the cat and fell asleep.

He woke up on the shelf but didn't feel that tired. He got up off the shelf and picked up the bag he used as a pillow. He got out of the cabin but it was still night. He walked slowly and looked around, but he didn't see anything out of the ordinary. He kept walking but decided to go down a different path.

"Will you ever talk to me again?" Alex sighed to the stone. He didn't get a response. "It just doesn't make sense. You wanted me to find your family but you're not even helping." He looked away and a tiny part of him felt like the stone was gonna respond. "It was a nice thing you did to help me back there." He still waited, even for a little ding. "I appreciate it, even if you can't actually hear me." Alex stopped. "Hmpf, if you can actually hear me, then ding or whatever." The stone dinged a few times, Alex gasped loudly. "So you can hear me!" Alex continued walking. "So if you could hear me this whole time, then why didn't you just pull me back to the cabin! I mean I assume you and that stone or whatever are connected so what gives!" The stone didn't do anything. Alex grunted angrily. He then calmed down and sighed. "Look, I'm sorry for getting angry. But could you please just give me a sign?" Alex kept walking but the stone didn't budge. "Fine, whatever." He kept walking and didn't say anything to the stone, until it dinged again. "What?"