Hidden in the Woods

Chapter 4

     I was walking down the path, deaf to everything around me, and then, I tripped. I tumbled down a hill and landed with a splash. A very cold splash. I had landed in the stream that ran through the middle of our woods. There was two good things and one bad thing about this. Well, one of the good things was, I had finally realize I should pay attention. That had lead me to realize that I was lost. Now that was the one bad thing, I WAS LOST! But then I realized that I could just follow the creek to find the bridge. Ok, I know I said there was only one bad thing, but I lied. After I realized that, I had to find which way to go to find the bridge. The problem was, I had no idea which way to go, but that wasn't the worst part. I had lost all my confidence and was soaked from head to toe. Oh, I almost forgot. I lost my flashlight too.

     I stood up and climbed out of the river. I was very happy that it was summer, or I'd be frozen. I looked around, not seeing anything. It was too dark. I was about to chose a random direction when I heard a bloodcurdling scream. It came from behind me. I whipped around and started to freak out. I knew that that was NOT my imagination this time. I stared into the darkness and almost screamed as well. I saw 6 dark shapes in shadows. A seventh was lying on the ground, unmoving.

     I backed away, but I tripped over a root. I fell on the ground and the figures whipped around to see me staring back at them. With their red eyes glowing, the shapes glided towards me. I screamed and crawled away.

     They caught up to me, but I still couldn't see their faces, for they were shadowed in darkness.

     "NO! Please don't hurt me!" I tried to say, but I couldn't say the words. One of them learned towards me and whispered, "Don't worry little lamb. I would never hurt you."

     Now, I should probably wonder how he read my mind, but, I had fainted. I knew that voice... It was none other then that freaky guy who froze me to the spot a few hours earlier.

~~~~~~~~~~

     I rolled over and woke with a start. What happen? I looked around, expecting to find myself in heaven or still in the forest, but, strangely, that was not the case. I was laying in my bed. I jumped up and saw I was in my Pj's. I lifted my pants leg up and saw scrapes and bruises. It proved that I had been in the woods and had fallen last night, plus my hair was wet. It was drying very weirdly. I sat back on my bed. How was I in my bed and in my pjs... if the last thing I remember was HIS face and HIS voice whispering to me. Could I have imagined that part? I shook my head. No. It was too real.

     I suddenly had an idea. I could just ask him. Then I remembered the 7th un-moving shape and the scream... could... no. It was definitely NOT my mom... right? I looked at my clock. 10:43 A.M. She hadn't woken me up this morning... what if I was right? What is she was... dead?

    I got up and ran to my door. I tripped over a pile of clothes. What... When did I put that there. It was my clothes from yesterday. They had rips in them and they were covered in mud. They also had a few grass stains and leaves stuck to them. It proved that I had indeed been in the woods that night. I still didn't know, though, if the scream and black shapes were real or not.

     I got back up and changed into a dress. Now, I am NOT the kinda girl who love wearing frilly dresses or does makeup. I don't really care about that kinda stuff... I mean, if it were up to me, I wouldn't even own this dress, But is is not up to me, so I own this dress. And I had to wear it.

    See, my mom and dad started this thing when we bought this inn. Every Saturday, we had to dress up like olden-day people. We had talk, walk, and act like them. EVERY SATURDAY! Okay, so when I was little, I loved this. Sometimes we would do it for the whole week. Sometimes, we would do it on Sundays too. Anyway, I thought it was the best thing ever... until I got older. Don't get me wrong, I still like to do this. It is quite fun, but, I started to get a little embarrassed when kids my age would come to the Inn on Saturdays. I begged my mom to stop it, but she, of course, refused. She say, 'Your Daddy come up with this, you know. What if he came back and saw we had stopped this tradition. What do you think he'd say?' When I got older, She started to say, 'Your Dad loved this Inn. That's why we bought it. HE came up with this tradition too! He loved it's history and wanted to recreate it every Saturday. If we changed it now, we would break his heart. He's watching you from heaven, you know, hon. He sees what goes on. He is always with you. Now, we aren't going change this tradition. We have to please your father. Now, run along and play.'

     So, that was probably very unnecessary, but don't worry, it relates to me putting on a dress.

     It was Saturday. It was the day I had to act like a person from the renaissance. I put on a long, black dress with hanging red sleeves. It had a cloak that was red with black fringe on it. It attached to the dress. The dress also had a red corset on the outside and two, red strips of fabric that dissented from the corset and was attached to the dress. The sides of the dress was lined with silver rhinestones. It was very pretty.

     I combed through my hair and just let it be down. I smiled at my reflection and walked down stairs, carefully not trying to break my ankle in the black high heels I was wearing. I got down the stairs safely and out the door, when I pause. I was not looking forward to walking through the forest again, even if it was during the day. I shivered and made myself walk into it.