Prisoners of Prophecy

Prologue

Melany - Friday, June 3rd, 2016; 4:00pm

The day was beautiful, just as a June afternoon should be. This part of Oregon was known for its rainy weather, so on the rare times when the stormclouds parted and the blue sky was exposed, I made sure to enjoy it. The Sun shined through the bright green leaves canopied above us, creating a dappled pattern of light on the usually shaded forest floor. I had managed to convince Ashley, a good friend of mine, to take a walk with me through the stretch of woods behind our school. The untamed wilderness was becoming familiar; as I'd often cut through it to the neighborhood beyond, where I lived with my grandparents.
Ashley was compliant enough, but she trodded behind me, not bothering to take in her surroundings and occasionally groaning a complaint under her breath. Now, I hear her footsteps slow and then stop altogether. I turn around to see she had halted a few feet behind me, arms crossed over her chest. The unfiltered sunlight turned her hair gold and made her green eyes glimmer like emeralds - as bright and vibrant as the foliage around us. She was glowering at me. Even with the disgusted expression on her face, she was stunning. She looked like she belonged out here, if not for her obvious distaste of the nature around us.
     "How far are we going?" she asked impatiently.
     "I don't have a particular destination." I spun around on one heel and continued deeper. "Why?" I threw the question over my shoulder.
     Ashley groaned again, but a moment later I heard her soft footfalls once more as she continued to follow. "Then what's the point?"
     I smiled to myself. "Does there have to be a point? It's a pretty day."
     Behind me, the sound of a twig snapping and a heavy thump broke the silence that had fallen upon the forest as Ashley had debated on how to respond. I turned around to see her catching her balance by leaning against a nearby tree. It appeared she had tripped over something.
     She scowled at me. "I've never heard anything good about the woods. The woods are full of bugs, and bears, and... and cannibals. Why can't we go to a park or something?"
     I chuckled. "Cannibals is a little far. Plus, parks have too many people on days like this. I do this all the time, alone. We're safe. Wait - " I took a step forward and pointed to her shoulder. "I think I see a spi - "
     I couldn't get the word out before she squealed and started slapping at herself aimlessly, running her fingers through her hair and jumping from one foot to the other, trying to dislodge the nonexistent spider. "Get it off me! Dammit, Melany, don't just stand there! Help me!"
     I couldn't hold back my laughter at the comical expression of fear on her face. "Good thing we are safe here!" I exclaimed. "You wouldn't know what to do if we actually managed to run into some danger."
     Ashley stopped thrashing abruptly, the lines etched between her perfect eyebrows slowly fading as realization dawned on her. She shoved me hard enough to make me stumble back a step. A smile teased at the corners of her lips, chasing off her fear - inspired anger. "Don't fuck with me like that!" She tried to sound upset, but that facade fell quickly and she laughed along with me. "You're an asshole, you know that?"
Suddenly, her words sounded distant, as if she were shouting at me from the other end of a long hallway. My mind had become foggy, like my skull had been pumped with some sort of nauseating gas. Thoughts that felt like memories threatened to surface, and it felt physically draining to fight them off. Something was eerily familiar about this feeling. It brought my past forward. I wanted no part of my past.
     When a deep and gravelly voice reverberated in my mind, demanding my attention, I had almost expected it.
      You aren't just going to let her do that, are you? The strange voice growled. And even though it was only a figment of my imagination, it sent a fear through me that I hadn't felt in a long time; a fear I did not want to remember. There was some sort of hunger in its tone. Hunger for what, I had no desire to know.
     I winced, my heart pounding erratically. How could words hissed inside my own mind seem so real? It was nothing really there, I knew that from the concern on Ashley's face, her head slightly tilted in confusion as she studied me. I wondered briefly if I was losing it, but the thought forced more fear into me, feeling like a hot blade being driven into my chest.
     "What is it?" She asked. The question seemed to echo all around us. I hadn't noticed how still, how silent everything had become. Even the calm breeze had stopped. I had never realized how loud the sounds of crickets and birds and the wind rustling through the trees actually was until now, when they all quieted at once.
     "Nothing. I..." I paused, noticing how badly my voice shook. Taking a deep breath, I tried again. "I'm okay. Maybe we should get out of here, though." I added, trying to sound nonchalant, but behind that false bravado, all I wanted to do was run until I was back behind the school's large building and out of these woods.
     "Yeah, it is getting dark." Ashley agreed. Then, she looked around us, her expression doubtful. "Wait, it's getting dark. How long have we been out here?"
     Only then did I notice the shadows surrounding us. They moved fast, growing from the roots of trees and stretching across the clearing we had found ourselves in, reaching for us with skeletal fingers. A darkness was quickly falling upon us, even though it couldn't be later than five o'clock. The air grew steadily colder, as if night was coming. But that was impossible.
     You're alone with her... That terrible voice in my mind muttered, and it faded into whispers that I couldn't understand, though they hinted at something sinister. The stranger invading my thoughts was trying to put malevolent intentions into my head. Images flashed by so quickly I could hardly comprehend them. For that I was grateful - what I could see was so horrible I instantly forced myself to forget them. Where had they come from? Where had that voice come from?
     "Let's go," I said in a weak whisper, grabbing Ashley's hand and beginning to pull her toward the way we had come.
     I was stopped instantly in my tracks. I wanted to scream, but my voice had failed me. My throat was constricting in panic.
     There was someone standing in a cluster of trees a few feet away. I was sure I had never seen her before, but still an odd recognition lit up in my mind like a neon sign. She was a woman around the same age as us, from what features I could see that weren't hidden by her long, black hair. The dress - which appeared to have been white at some point - as well as her face and arms - were stained with what I could only assume was mud or clay. She stood still, facing us, but I was unsure if she was actually seeing us.
"What?" Ashley practically ran into me. "What's going on? I'm scared, Melany."
Don't you want to? That voice again, trying to convince me to do horrible things, so horrible I could not even put a name to them.
I pointed to the stranger draped in shadows. "Who's that?"
"Who?" I felt Ashley's hand tighten around my arm.
She tilted her head, and her dark hair fell away from her pale face a little. Her eyes were wide, as if she was shocked. I managed to finally utter the scream that had been caught in my throat. What I had mistaken for mud was dried blood. She was covered in it. Fresh rivulets of blood poured thickly from the slashes in both of her cheeks. The wounds gave the appearance of a gruesome smile that stretched ear to ear.
I tried to convince myself I was going crazy, and that offered more comfort than believing she was actually there.
The darkness waiting at the edges of my vision finally pounced, and everything went black.

Mrs. Fuller - 4:52pm
There was a shriek from the woods behind me that turned my blood cold. I froze in the middle of climbing into my car, on the way home. For a few moments, I hesitated, head tilted toward the source of the noise, waiting for something else. There had been so much fear in that scream. Guiltily, I shied away from the sound.
     After a moment of doubt, I pulled out my phone and dialed nine-one-one. The police would come. They would know what to do.
     "Nine-one-one, what is your emergency?" A pleasant voice answered immediately.
     "Hey." My voice trembled. My hands shook so hard I was afraid I'd drop my phone. A sense of dread fell over me, feeling like a stone in my chest. "I'm at Gloomsdale High. I just heard screaming in the woods."
     There was the sound of fingers tapping rapidly on a keyboard, and then the dispatcher spoke again. "I have some nearby officers on the way to check things out. Did you happen to see anyone going into the woods?"
     "Probably some kid after school. But they sounded real scared." I had begun pacing across the parking lot without being aware of it. I kept glancing at the thickly packed trees as if I expected them to start coming closer to consume me in their shadows.
     Another scream echoed through the forest, this one filled with not just fear but an agony I could not begin to understand. "Help me!" A woman yelled right after. Her voice was already considerably weaker. Chills wracked my body.
     "They're calling for help," I say as I stop pacing and head straight to the woods, even though terror made my heart race. "I need to help them."
     "Ma'am, just stay there." The woman spoke more firmly now. "The officers will be there shortly. We don't want you putting yourself into any danger."
     I was already beneath the shade of the tall trees. I dropped my phone to my side. I could faintly hear her speaking, but I did not care. That last cry dug painful claws into my heart. I swallowed my fear and pursued.
     The sunlight seemed to dim the further that I went into the forest. It was suddenly eerily quiet. Even the birds had silenced their singsong chatter. My old joints ached with the effort of stepping over fallen logs and under low - hanging branches. Still, I continued.
     I came to a clearing and found a scene so horrific that for an instant I was sure it could not be real. But it was. God, it was real, and those screams for help would never be answered. I clutched at my chest as if it would slow my heartbeat. My breath came in whistling gasps. I did not notice my phone drop from my clammy hands to the ground and strike a root.
     I wanted to turn tail and run, run as far as I could from this image, but I was frozen to the spot. Even if I could escape this terribly dark and cold forest, I knew that this would haunt me, and that I would see it every night when I closed my eyes. Blood soaked the grass, crimson against vibrant green. I had never seen so much of it. A rope soaked in blood draped the tree in front of me.
Further inspection of it made me realize something that made my stomach churn.
      Those were not ropes but intestines hanging from the limbs like some sick version of garland, dripping blood.
      Beneath the morbid decoration was a torso, split open from the navel to the ragged skin of its throat, a splatter of blood against the tree trunk where the disemboweled body's head should have been. An arm leaned against a large rock, the other not far behind. A single shoe was tipped over only a few inches away from me. I could see the bloody stump of the ankle inside.
     I shut my eyes tight and forced myself to move, to at least turn away from the gruesome crime scene. You should have listened to dispatch, I chastised myself. Oh god, that poor girl... I need to get away from here before whatever got her got me, too. How could it have happened so fast?
     "Gloomsdale police!" A deep, male voice yelled. The sound seemed a million miles away. "Anyone out there?"
     I couldn't find my voice, I could hardly take a deep breath to prepare to drag myself out of these woods. My heart was now skipping beats, and my hands and feet were going numb. I opened my eyes and took a step forward.
     "I'm sorry."
     I would have run into her if I hadn't of instinctually jumped back at the sound of her voice. I hardly recognized the student. Melany was covered in gore. So was the head that she cradled in her arms.
     The head fell from her hands with a disgusting thump, and rolled towards my feet. I groaned, bile rising up my throat. My racing heart stopped.
     And all went dark.