Inside Evil

Chapter 17 - Part III

*Inside Evil and its sequels are available on Amazon, Kobo, B&N, Smashwords and iBooks*  

Roberta had been running for what seemed like hours now and she was panting heavily. She had long since lost her entourage consisting of Martha, Susan, Sam and Karl, and she was also fairly sure that she had lost her way. Try as she might, Roberta couldn't find anything that even slightly resembled the path that she was supposed to be following. She'd been climbing uphill, towards the sky, but there had not been any indication of a clearing anywhere. She was going to die after all, out here, in the woods all alone, just as Barry had done. Roberta didn't believe that he'd entered Gathin at all, and the tales that Mrs Peacock had told her seemed like huge fabrications in the darkness of the night. As Roberta slowed to a subdued pace, she realised that, probably, the only thing that had happened to Barry Wittle was that he'd simply followed his path straight into the woods and endured a lonely, solitary and terrifying death.

Roberta continued to follow her uphill climb and reached a small rocky peak on the forest floor. She stopped momentarily, sweating, exasperated and bleeding from the odd lower branches that had whipped across her already beaten face. Above Roberta there was a small break in the canopy and she saw that clear sky was allowing the dim moon to shine down over the landscape. It was nowhere near as bright as the full moon had been, but enough silvery illumination lit up the trees and patches of bare rock at the top of mounds. The rocky outcropping was low, and Roberta did not have clear line of sight by any means. However, she could tell that there was no cliff, no bell, nothing that resembled what she'd seen in Gathin.

It dawned upon Roberta that she may have interpreted her riddle wrongly. She'd been assuming that the clearings were her path to follow but, thinking back to her trip through the mirror, Roberta realised that Mrs Peacock had said that she had to find the way to Gathin from her own world. If she'd stepped through the mirror into Gathin, then it was quite feasible that there were no half moon clearings in these woods after all. That what she'd seen in the mirror was Gathin itself, and no such path existed in Ridgewood. She was climbing uphill, but she should have come across a clearing by now, even if accidently. In a cruel twist of fate Roberta became sure that the only reason she'd been urged into the woods was to stop the spread of the curse and decompose amongst firs and pine cones.

Behind her, lower down on the slope, Roberta heard the shouts and cries of the others who were looking for her. She was surprised that they hadn't given up after all. She knew that Sam would search all night, but having attacked Susan on a number of occasions, the voices of Martha and her victim calling through the air were a surreal sound. The beams of flashlights illuminated the brown woodland floor and bark of the trees briefly as her followers gained ground. Susan, who seemed undaunted by Roberta's viciousness as she searched for a conclusion to her daughter's death. Martha, whose husband had endured this very fate a decade ago and seemed caught within Mrs Peacock's grasp. Karl, who must've known something from the start and who had tailed her consistently from the day he'd arrived in Ridgewood. And, Sam. Sam, who had journeyed to Ridgewood to write a thesis on myths and had become involved in something quite unexpected. Roberta smiled to herself. At least he'd have something real to write about now.

Through the trees Sam stopped and waited as the others caught him up.

"What's she doing?" Susan whispered, as the group looked ahead to where Roberta was standing atop a small rocky outcropping.

"I don't know, do you think we should..".

"No," Karl grabbed Sam's arm as he began to climb towards Roberta. "Just wait here. I don't think any of us should go near her."

"But she needs our help, we have -".

"But nothing," Karl said as he interrupted Sam. "Let's just follow at a safe distance."

They looked up to where Roberta stood on the peak, bathed in moonlight and gazing slowly around.

"Is this the path?" Susan asked "Is she even going the right way?"

"No," Sam said as he shook his head. "We have to help, she said there were clearings, she said there was a vast cliff. None of that's here. We haven't got time to be standing around."

"I have a feeling help is on its way," Martha said serenely from behind the group, her voice strangely calm for their present situation.

Taken aback, the others turned and looked at her. "What do you mean help is on the way?"

Without saying a word Martha simply pointed to the sky above Roberta's head. A ball of glittering green creatures floated in the air, mixing with the limited moonlight to cast a silvery green upon Roberta's calm face.

"Roberta!" Sam shouted through the trees and saw his friend turn. "Look up!"

The moths were much bigger than the ones that Roberta had seen before. When she had entered the mirror, the insects had been tiny and to create the light, there had been thousands of them. These, however, were almost the size of a golf ball, and their green light was far more effervescent than before. The forty or so insects descended upon her, twirling around Roberta's body creating a vortex of glowing light and energy. They then slowly unfurled themselves into a line and set off purposely down the hill and into the trees. Roberta beamed and looked to Sam who was edging carefully through the trees towards her. He grinned at her and broke away from the rest of group, racing towards Roberta, bounding over the rocks and throwing his arms around her.

"I knew it would be ok," he said into her ear as he embraced her. "You're gonna be OK."

Roberta's pocket, which was squashed between the two of them, wriggled and both Roberta and Sam laughed as a small white head appeared with a disgruntled look upon its face. The blue eyes of Faithful shone sleepily in the sparse light, before he mewed once and retreated from the cold air. Sam took Roberta's hand tightly.

"Ready?"

Roberta nodded and stepped down from the peak upon which she'd stood, moving silently through the trees following her glowing guides.

Being led through the forest it was clear to Roberta that she'd run in completely the wrong direction. After several minutes of circling back in the direction from which she'd come, the moths suddenly veered off to the left and finally started to lead them back away from the town and into the thickening woods. It was only after about five minutes that Roberta realised that she knew exactly where they were. The group, with Roberta and Sam in front, passed the spot where the figure had approached her, where its drawling voice had first been heard and where she'd first heard the word Gathin. Another few minutes passed until Roberta felt rising delight and ran forward into the first clearing. They were here, they were in Ridgewood after all, but she'd just failed to find them. Now empty of the creatures that had attacked her before, the only link with the mirror was a small dark and black scorched circle on the earth, directly where Vanessa had stood.

"This is it! This is it!" Roberta called out. "This is where I saw -". She stopped as Susan emerged from the trees, and looked at Sam who knew exactly what and who she had seen that night.

Roberta's pace quickened as the line of glowing moths hastened off into the trees on the other side of the clearing. Roberta was led through another three clearings, not that she needed to be guided as she knew exactly where she was. Then, in the same fashion as had occurred in the mirror, the moths emerged on the cliff edge and spread themselves out thinly, creating a curved line of glowing beacons along the precipice.

Roberta looked to her right and gazed along the cliff edge but, though the moon was still illuminating the scene before her, she could see no great bell. Behind her, Susan, Martha and Karl appeared, and Roberta was sure that upon each individuals face she saw glints of recognition.

"What now?" Roberta asked, turning to face her followers. "What am I supposed to do next?"

"You wait," Martha said, walking out onto the ledge." We all wait."

*I will be posting one or two scenes a week as the story builds. However, if you can't wait that long, Inside Evil is available on Amazon, Kobo, B&N, Smashwords and iBooks.

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