100 theme challenge

12. Insanity

"In that village, there was an adage that always been adhered," the old man said to us. "If you saw something strange, asked two of your closest friend whether they saw it too. If they didn't see it, then you better shook it off,"

"What the... did you tell us that village was full of spirits or what?" Mike said confusedly. Yes, he was an honest man for he always spoke about every little thing that popped up in his mind. "You're just trying to scare us, right?"

"As I told you, young man," the elder smiled, put more wrinkles on his ancient face. "Do not believe in your eyes alone. Ask for another opinion, or you'll get lost,"

"Oh, come on, Dad," our guide protested. He took his backpack and walk through the door. "We need to hurry. The forest around that abandoned village full with nocturnal creatures. It is dangerous at night,"

"Be careful," said the elder as we moved our luggage from his terrace. "Take a good care, and get back before night,"

"He always said terrifying things about that abandoned village to all travelers who were willing to go there," our guide sighed. "It somehow decreased our exploring spirit,"

"Tell me, why did this village abandoned in the first place?" I walked beside the guide so we could chat easier. "for what I've read before, this village was built by an important ancient public figure and was mean to be a royal escape place, a holiday resort for the king and his family members, looking from the rubbles of its ancient palace,"

"It supposed to be like that," our guide spoke. "Until one of the king descendant went crazy and turned the palace into a torture house,"

"Jeremy, the unborn slayer," Rohan snorted. "Dashing his appearance was, alas! Pure evil his soul be,"

"He sounds almost like a villain from the middle age roman tale," I gasped. "But really, what have he done for titled as 'the unborn slayer'"

"He killed pregnant women in order to drink their babies' blood. He believed it was the only way to preserve his time," our guide said. There was sadness in his voice. "And at that time it was considered as witchcraft. But, as one of the king descendant, he was invisible by law,"

"After several murders, the people couldn't take it any longer," he continued. "They raised a revolt. They killed everyone in the castle and burnt it down. After that, everyone moved out from the village and no one dare to come back,"

"No one dares to come back," I was a little bit uncomfortable with our guide words.

"Yes ma'am," he continued. "There was a rumor that said before his death, the unborn slayer casted curses on the villagers. It said that even his body was destroyed, he would continue his life as darkness, and fed on their children. In order to save their children, the villagers agreed to move out. Ah, we're here already,"

I must admit, those were one of the most beautiful ruins I've ever seen. The scenery was so calm and beautiful that even I couldn't believe the story our guide told earlier. Even though there was a little clue about burnings on its wall, most of its scars were covered by moss and mushrooms. I took a lot of photos around the castle, and by noon we gathered on the village's gate, prepared for getting back into our base.

I was sitting on a stump near the gate, checking pictures I've been shot when suddenly I found something weird on my camera. It seems the entire pictures I took were blurred, no matter what object I shot. All, except one picture of a burned tree on the backyard of the ruins. There, I saw a body hanged on the tree, even though I was sure enough I saw nothing on it when I took the picture.

I freaked out and grabbed Mike's arm, showed him the picture. "Do you see anything strange in my pictures?"

"Hmm? No," he said. "Yeah, I know you're a professional photographer. You took those shots beautifully, you make me jealous,"

"No, look at this picture," I showed him the picture with a body hanged on it. "Do you see that body? The one that hanged on the tree?"

"Are you ok?" he asked me. "There is no body in there, just a burned tree with the castle's rubble as its background,"

"Ok then," I remembered what the elder said about seeing things and keep it low if no one see it, so I shut my camera off and put it back into my backpack. It had to be some reasons about it later.

"Yo! Sorry, I was taking too much pictures on the far side of the village. Honestly, they had a great urban planning, and I was having some urge to documented it all,"

"It's ok," our guide said. "We still able to reach our base before dawn if we hurried,"

"Let's move then," Mike lifted his backpack.

Suddenly a strong wind came and flew foliage around us, slap our faces with dry leaves and small branches. My friends were swearing while tidying their hair up and put back their glasses on. No one seemed to notice the raging whispers that murmur among the wind. Those whispers that sounds so vicious that freaked me out for the second time. I looked around, trying to find the source, but seen nothing, so I pushed my friends to speed up. I just wanted to get back as soon as possible.

"You can run, but you can't hide..."