Hidden Gem

Arrival

My head spun as I fought down the urge to be sick, clinging to my seat as the plane went through turbulence. I closed my eyes for a moment, thinking about the past week. It had been chaos, my eyes stung thinking about it, and my parent’s death was still fresh. At the reading of the will I had had to deal with the lawyer, he was cold and had shown no sympathy to my situation.

My parents had been buried at a small funeral, I had no other living family and my parents had few close friends. My body rocked and I clenched my jaw as we finally left turbulence. The only reason I was on this godforsaken death trap in the first place was because in the will my father had specified that if both my mother and him were to die before I was eighteen I would be sent to live with his close friend-whom I, of course, had never met-so I had no idea what to expect.

And naturally this ‘close friend’ happened to live across the world in the United Kingdoms. The plane was on course currently to the London City Airport, where a driver would take me the rest of the way on land. I sighed looking out the window; I could see my reflection in the glass. My naturally straight brown hair looked scraggly and disheveled, and bags shadowed my dark grey eyes.

The pilot’s voice came onto the intercom, letting us know we were halfway to our destination. I groaned rubbing my temples as a few rows ahead a baby started crying. Only four more hours, I chanted to myself silently.

Bending down I picked my bag up from the ground. As I rummaged through it looking for my headphones, I heard a clink as something fell from my bag and landed on ground. I leaned forward and picked it up, my breath caught in my throat as I saw it was the silver necklace from my father. It was the first time I had really looked at it since… since my father had given it to me.

Looking at it now I saw that, instead of a charm, which I had originally thought hung on the silver chain, there was a ring. It was old and the gold was dirty, in the middle of the ring encased in gold was a brilliant green emerald. Inspecting even closer I could see something engraved into the gold band, “ζήσουν και να ευδοκιμήσουν”.

I pondered over this in my head wondering what it could mean, it sounded Greek but I had no idea what it said.

I weighed the necklace in my hand, it wasn’t too heavy. My dad’s words kept coming back to me “you must take this and never let it out of your sight. You must wear it always.” It had been haunting me all week, yet still I hadn’t had the courage to put it on. Now though, I slowly lifted it over my head, the ring rested gently in between my collar bones. I felt no different, but I couldn’t help the cold feeling that spread up my spine as I wondered, not for the first time, about my father’s last request.

Thankfully the plane made it safely to the airport, and I rushed quickly to get off. A short time after I found myself waiting by the entrance with my bags holding the precious few possessions that weren’t burned into ash. I looked at all the people bustling around the busy airport, and I was beginning to wonder how I would know who was here to drive me when someone tapped me lightly on the shoulder. I jumped and spun around, it was safe to say I was a little on edge.

In front of me stood a rather tall man, he had a black coat on, greying hair and he held a wooden cane. “Miss Eadon?” He questioned his accent thick.  It took me a second to find my voice, “yes.” He nodded his head as if conforming he had been right all along. “I’ve been sent ‘ere to drive you, m’names Ackley.” I nodded finding it hard to understand his thick accent, “oh, yes ok, will we be going then?”  He began to turn towards the entrance, “yes, right this way miss.”

As we exited the airport I saw that the sun had begun to set and a light drizzle came down on us. Ackley led us towards what looked to be a black taxi. “‘Ere we go miss,” he said as he opened the door for me, putting my bags in first. I sat down on the leather seat and Ackley made his way to the front of the car. “Best get comfortable miss; we got a two hour drive ahead o’ us.”

I tried to listen to Ackley’s advice and get comfortable, but I couldn’t help fidgeting in the extremely uncomfortable seat. In the end I settled for staring out the window. As the skies darkened I could see vast country sides and forests scattered here and there, as it got darker the landscape proceeded to become creepier.  My eyes began to droop and I was just about asleep when Ackley’s voice woke me up, “ten more minutes miss.”

I sighed sitting up straight I ran a hand over my messy hair trying to make it at least moderately presentable. During the ride the rain had gone from a slight drizzle to a full out downpour. After a couple more minutes the car came to a stop. I peered out the window, I squinted my eyes trying to see out the streaming water. From what I could see there were no houses, or even buildings for that matter, anywhere near.

The car was stopped on the side of the road and the area around was literally deserted. I could see a forest that looked dark and sinister, why in the world had Ackley stopped here.

“Umm Ackley, why are we stopped,” I questioned. “This is yer stop miss,” he replied. “What? It can’t be there’s nothing here!”

He turned and looked out the window his eyes looked uneasy. At last he pointed, “do ya see that path miss?” He asked. I looked hard out the window and could just make out a path winding into the forest. “Follow that path and you’ll be fine,” he said this assuredly but I could see doubt on his face. “What!? You expect me to walk into a forest, at night, in the rain?? I’m certain the car could fit on that path,” desperation crept into my voice. He couldn’t be serious, he had to be joking.

He looked at me gravelly serious, “I ‘eard stories ‘bout that forest, Epping forest it’s called. Murderers and such hidin’ in those woods, people gon’ missing and their bodies found cut to pieces scattered in the forest. This’s as close as I’ll e’er go.” My body went cold and I started to shiver, murderers, bodies? He must be insane, Ackley must be mad. Though, as I looked at the forest it didn’t seem that hard to believe.

“Please miss get out, you’ll be fine, I’m certain of it,” but I could see in his eyes he wasn’t certain, not at all. I didn’t like my options, stay in the car with this crazy old man or go out and face the forest. Suddenly Ackley swung open his door, he came to the back, took my bags, and threw them out on the ground. He then swiftly re-entered the front of the car. He looked at me “I’m sorry miss, please get out of the car, you’ll be fine.” I looked out at my bags lying out on the mud getting soaked; I couldn’t just leave them they were the only things I had left in the world. Begrudgingly I got out of the car and picked up the two bags, slinging one over my shoulder.

The rain stung my skin and a pulled my sweater tightly around my body. Through the pounding of the rain I could hear Ackley reach back and slam the car door shut, the locks clicked, and he sped off down the road leaving me in the middle of nowhere. My blood ran cold as I turned to face the forest.

A/N Hey guys! Thanks for reading let me know what you think. I did some research for this and yes there is an Epping forest in the UK and it is a notorius burial site for murder vitims. Vote vote vote!!! Hope you liked it!! ~Haley :D