Into the Woods

Part 1

I remember the day it started perfectly, fresh in my memories as if the event had only just happened. It was the beginning of the end. The day my soul died but my body lived on. Every time someone asked the question that had undoubtedly possessed the thoughts of many, I froze, paralysed with a large mound of terror. They always asked the same thing, their façade of concern was nothing more than a brutal curiosity. They all wanted to know what happened the day four silly teenagers ran into the woods and only one came back. Their minds itching to know more than everybody else. It made me sick, but, unfortunately, I feel that this tale cannot be left untold.

It is in my final moments of life that I will reveal what happened that daunting summer, almost sixty years ago.

It was a grey morning, no colour was able to shine through the heavy clouds, no matter how brightly the sun fought to burn. The rain from the previous night making us suffer the miserable consequences. Everything was devoid of iridescence, like the place had been set in eternal grief. The wind was dormant and the woeful trees sat bare, worn out statues sitting in a worn out world. The environment seemed almost scared to disturb anything, fleeing from a small clearing that was surrounded by an army of ancient trees.

Everything was eerily quiet. The birds didn't sing their morning tune and the branches of trees didn't dance with the luring rushes of air. A great tragedy had once occurred there.

Unbeknownst to four unlucky souls, they had trespassed the property of the dead. Our laughs ripped at the veil of silence that curtained the area. We couldn't hear the low growl that hung in the air. Only when I brave through the unwelcome memories do I notice things that I hadn't before. I didn't notice how unwanted our presence was, not until too late.

We were blurs, my friends and I, sprinting as fast as we could. We had been racing each other, putting our limits to the test. Where we were heading, only Daniel knew at the time. He had found an urban legend online and demanded that we check it out as the story was built around the very town that we lived in.

Daniel was the oldest in our small group of friends. I still remember how proud he was of himself when he came out as gay to everybody, he said that he felt the most free he had in a long time. I remember his hilarious sense of humour and how intellectual he was. I remember his screams of horror and how an abhorrent mix of blood and salty tears painted his face. I remember how I could only scream as I saw the light of life leave his dark blue eyes.

By the time we had stopped running we were all gasping for breath, the previous smiles on our faces had long since vanished as we all focused on regaining the air in our lungs. Minutes of silence passed with everyone bent over, hands perched on knees and nothing but the sounds of heavy breathing filled the air. I think someone had collapsed to the floor, but if they did I don't know who.

I have memories of thinking that the way my tongue felt like sand paper and how my throat had gone dry and the pain I felt in my lungs and legs, the way it felt like everything was on fire and covered in ice and my muscles cramped up leaving my body almost inactive, was the worst pain I could experience. I was wrong.

For a short second, I thought I heard the sound of cackling laughter tear the air in two, sending the hairs on my skin to stand to attention. It was the kind of laugh that sounded manic and sent unpleasant shivers to your very core, but it was gone too soon for me to be sure of what I heard, so like the naïve idiot I was, I dismissed it.

Finally, amid the silence, someone spoke out. Maria.

"Whose idea was it to run again?" Her voice, though naturally soft-spoken, came out as a growl. Her anger of the pain she was in clearly shown in her tone and the deathly glare plastered on her face.

Maria was the baby of the group, but only in the sense of her actually being the youngest, she was by no means the actual baby of the group. She had a ferocious personality and was probably the most daring of us all. She had a troubled history with her family and scars that littered her skin as reminders, but she tried not to let her past ruin her future. She was strong, that was definite. The only time I saw her show any weakness was as she was being torturously coated in maroon blood, both hers and our friends.

As soon as the question left her lips, as if on cue, everyone wore a matching scowl pointed towards a boy who was still breathing heavily, fumbling clumsily with his asthma inhaler. Henry.

Henry was the actual baby of the group. He wasn't fussy or whiny but he had a shy and very preserved nature that made all of us want to protect him from the evils of the world and mother him. Although always annoyed by the fact that we shield him from almost everything, he was an all-round positive person. Henry was the most reluctant to go through with the adventure. He liked sitting indoors and reading.

He was the first one of us to take his final breath, we could only watch.

A few seconds after Henry finally managed to use his inhaler, our glares still held strong and he muttered out an excuse, sounding a lot more like an apology.

"I thought I was getting faster, besides, before the aftermath, it was actually fun. We were all laughing and stuff, so, yeah..."

Although the end of his explanation trailed off pathetically, it was hard not to see his reasoning and agree with it, and just like that he was forgiven.

After we had quickly collected ourselves was when we finally realised where we were. We were standing just outside a small clearing that was clouded with a mournful air. The trees encompassing it stretched tall, like they yawned an endless scream. The joy that once surrounded us seemed to be sucked away and replaced with a deep sorrow.

We all looked at each other, our faces sombre and suddenly uncertain. Maria was the first to take a step forward but as soon as she did so, the trees sprang to life with macabre creeks that had printed themselves into my mind ever since. The haunting noise made my heart thud faster and made me want to run all the way back to my house, like it was warning us not to travel any further.

It seemed I wasn't the only one hearing things this time as I looked around and saw everyone else petrified with fear.

No one dared move a muscle, even after the noises had stopped, too spooked of what had just happened.

I was the first to act. I took a hesitant step towards the small clearing and thus I set everything into motion. With my little movement, everyone snapped out of their terrified trance and we all shared a quick glance with one another, giving each other the courage to carry on, and so, we all walked into the clearing together.

We waited with baited breath for something to happen, anything, a scuttle in a bush, the whistle of the wind, but nothing happened. Nothing happened. Not one bug flew past and not one bird sang. It was creepy to say the least.

The fact that nothing bad had happened seemed to be a weight lifted off my shoulders. Relief ran throughout me and I let my body sag slightly as I relaxed. I relaxed too soon.

Almost as soon as everything seemed okay, a giggle cracked the air, coming from all around us, not really having a source. I twisted my head around frantically to try to and find where the noise originated from but I had no luck. Going to take a step back, ready to flee from any danger, I found that I couldn't. My feet couldn't budge from their spot on the earth, glued to their location. I looked around and saw that my friends had discovered that the exact same thing that was happening to me had occurred to them.

Time seemed to have sped up, but every time this memory surfaces it was like everything slowed down. Then I saw something that would never leave me.

A flash of three transparent people, eyes widened with lunacy and baring their teeth with childish grins. Blood was dripping from every single one of their hands, like they had dunked them in a bucket full of red paint. They waved, then vanished.