Newsflash: it's dark in the woods at night. Even darker than the darkness outside the trees. Darker than you would think possible.
Max had spent the night at Rowan's house, going over everything that they were allowed to go over again and again and again.
The lack of information was what scared Max the most.
Like taking a test with no study guide, and hardly any notes. Just winging it, hoping she was circling the right answers. Hoping she passed.
They had slept until 12 PM. Well, Rowan woke up, groggy and grouchy, and proceeded to punch Max in the arm until she woke up, groggier and grouchier and bruised.
Rowan dressed in a Lilah-style dress- loose, hitting mid-thigh. Plain black, and covered in intricate silver flowers. She wore a long silver chain, and on the end of it sat a small sapphire, precisely the same color as her light. She noticed Max staring at it.
"You'll get one too, when you make it," she said, smiling soflty. When, Max noted, not if. So much confidence. It made Max nauseated. When Max put on the outfit, the tank top Rowen had picked out fit her like a glove, its low neckline showing off more than she ever personally chose to. She pulled the shawl tightly around her shoulders. Rowan tugged her in front of her full length mirror, with a smile on her face.
"You look beautiful," she smiled softly.
Max thought she looked eerie. The black material made her skin look paler, and her eyes look grayer. The skirt floated around her, making her look as though she were floating. Like a ghost.
"Thank you," she had said despondently. She was too anxious to care about how she looked.
Rowan drove to the park, making quiet chatter the entire time about Dan, and something about his mom's cookies. Max didn't care. Max was too focused on the task at hand.
And now, here she was. In the woods. She kept looking up at the sky, or where the sky should be. Instead of stars, there was only foliage. It was early autumn- the leaves were just starting to change colors, the temperature still reaching the 90s at times. Stores were selling Halloween candy all ready.
Rowan and Lilah both had told her that once she was in the woods, she would be able to find the coven. That some innate part of her soul would just be drawn there. She wasn't so sure...what if she got lost? What if she never found the coven? What if she spent the rest of her days wandering aimlessly, lost in the Alabama woods, forever? Her eyes fluttered shut. Somewhere to her left, she heard the highway. Cars rushing by, people going places. Mostly kids going to parties- it was nearly twelve on a Saturday night. She exhaled. She wasn't lost. Or atleast, if she was, she could always find the highway.
She walked without a goal in mind, just letting her body pull her behind it. Instead of focusing on the anxiety at hand, her brain focused on things she was comfortable with.
H.H Holmes is considered America's first serial killer, she thought to herself, he built a "murder hotel" during the world fair, and lured women in. There was chambers full of acid, torture rooms...
As she thought of the facts, the cold, familiar facts, her body relaxed. Her brain began recounting everything she knew about H.H Holmes, and then Ed Gein, and then Ted Bundy-
And suddenly, she was surrounded by people.
Everyone around her was shrouded in thick black robes, hoods pulled up. Sort of cheesy. The robes shielded every person's individuality- gender, faces, body types. One of the shorter robed people shot Max a thumbs up.
YOU ARE READING
Malefica
Teen Fiction"Can't you see...it's this town...there's something wrong with it. It's like a poison, and once it gets inside of you...you're gone...it takes all of the good, and twists and twists until there's nothing left. It's this town." Malefica, to...
