Don't Go Into The Woods

Chapter 28

After paying for our dresses and shoes, Carmen and I decided to have lunch at a nearby local diner.

We enjoyed lunch together, talking about the ball and the secret room. We were so absorbed within our conversation that neither of us took note of how bad the weather was starting to look outside.

It was only once we were having to make our way back to the taxi place that we could physically feel the snow falling heavily over us. Then the winds begun to blow, smacking us with all the falling snow. Carmen and I rushed to catch a taxi out of town and back to school. With the weather looking so bad by the time we had managed to reach a taxi, I could only hope that we arrive safely at the school.

I sat at the back of the taxi with Carmen beside me, trying not to show the bad feeling I had in the pit of my stomach about all of this. If we could have, I would have suggested we stay the night somewhere in town. Unfortunately the school would most likely punish us severely for breaking the rules. That was something I could not allow to happen. Not when we had come so farThe driver kept reassuring us that everything was alright. Everything was going to be alright. I wondered who he was really reassuring here. Us or him? The snow falling just blanketed us completely as the driver pursued to drive further and further down this long stretching road towards our school. I wasn't sure if this road was absolutely deserted or if the snow fall was just too thick for any of us to see even a headlight of another vehicle. The further we drove, the more nervous I became till eventually I started struggling with how I currently felt and Carmen begun to notice my behavior in the taxi.

"Is everything alright Savannah?" Carmen asked.

"I don't know." I replied.

I wanted to lie and say that everything was just fine, but for something or other reason, I could just not bring myself to doing that. Not when I felt so increasingly nervous and worried about this drive.

Then it happened.

I stared up at Carmen just in time to see this massive gust of snow come shooting towards us. It hit the taxi with such force that the taxi was flung completely over onto its side. The taxi rolled right over. Glass shattered all over me as I clutched my seatbelt with both hands. Besides the sounds of the glass breaking and the taxi slowly being dismantled and destroyed with us in it, I heard screams. I was screaming. Carmen was screaming. The taxi driver was screaming. And then it all stopped.

Upon opening my eyes, I found myself seated upright, still very much held in place by the seatbelt I had put on. Fortunately we had all been wearing a seatbelt during this accident. I looked beside me. Carmen was seated there next to me still. Her head was slanted to one side. I grabbed hold of her by her shoulder and shook it. She groaned, but did not open her eyes. I searched for the buckle of the seatbelt. When I finally found it, I had to really yank and pull on it forcefully before it released and I was freed from its hold. I wasted no time in checking Carmen's pulse. She was breathing normally by what I could tell. I moved over to the front of the car. The driver mumbled and groaned when I moved him. Besides a few cuts from the shattered glass that had fallen everywhere, he too seemed fine, but I was not stupid. It was extremely cold and I knew that we were going to freeze to death if we didn't find help. By the looks of the things, I was the only one who could move and go anywhere. Although my body felt sore, I knew I had to go get help somehow. I tried to open a door to climb out of the car. The door wouldn't budge. There was only one way out. I climbed through the window of the back seat where I had been seated. Careful not to cut myself on any of the broken glass, I slid out and landed with a drop in the snow below rather roughly with a thud. I didn't get hurt at least. The moment I was outside and standing up on my own two feet in the snow, I decided to pull out my phone and try and call someone. My hands had already begun to tremble from the cold as I started to dial the emergency services number. I managed to get hold of an operator and told them to urgently come. I wasn't sure on our exact location and the GPS on my phone refused to work.  I had to just give the operator our estimated location before my phone suddenly lost signal. The wind and the snow got worse and I was forced to tuck my phone away before dropping it. I thought about climbing back into the car to try and keep warm, but I knew I had to stay outside in case any cars came passing us by. It was difficult for me to see much except for snow and more snow. I fought back and made my way towards the other side of the car, following the car's tracks to what I believed was the road we had practically been thrown off of. The wind and snow was so hectic that I had to keep my one arm in front of my face in order for the snow to not continuously hit my face, stinging it each time it did so. I had just managed to reach the road when suddenly I felt everything stop. There was no more wind and when I lowered my arm I saw that the snow had completely stopped too. This eerie silence filled the air around me. Then suddenly these whispers started to surround me to the point where they were all I could hear. But where were they coming from? I turned around, drawn to what ever was behind me. That is when I saw it. In the light of day, stood the woods. I could not believe how close we were to the edge of the woods. The whispers stopped almost immediately the moment my eyes fell on the woods. I started to feel and believe that the accident was not quite an accident at all. These woods had brought me here for a reason. I tried to keep it together and remain calm, but I found that extremely difficult to do as I felt myself being pulled towards the woods. I tried to resist the pull and tried to turn and run away. I could not escape this pull as easily as what I thought I could. Before I knew it, I fell to the ground in the snow. Some type of invisible force started to drag me across the snow covered ground towards the woods. I screamed and tried to scrape and kick my way out of this in order to free me from this invisible force. It all seemed so entirely futile as no matter what I did, I continued to be over powered by this force. Each lump of snow I ended up within the palm of my hands only enforced the fact that I was totally helpless and not going to be able to free myself from who ever and what ever had me. When I looked up again, the woods were standing glaring over me before I was swallowed whole by it.

Through the brush and into the darkness I went. Silence fell once more. I laid there, still, waiting to hear type of noise. I heard nothing. I decided to open my eyes and have a look around. I found myself laying in snow staring straight up at these massive trees that just looked like they grew forever and ever. I sat up and looked around. I could see nothing but trees and snow and more trees. The light here was also so dim. All I could see were a few rays of sunlight here and there which provided me with enough light to be able to see what was around me. I stumbled up to my feet. These woods were rather thick and it appeared that I had been dragged into the woods further then what I had expected to have been. It felt just like the last time I was here. I took one step inside and it seemed like I was currently standing in the middle of the woods and far from its edge. I called out to see if anyone could hear me. My voice echoed and trailed across the snow into the trees around me. I heard no response. Was I truly all alone here? I heard what sounded like a twig or stick cracking somewhere nearby. I spun around and could swear I saw a shadow move pass the trees that surrounded me. What was that? I got a bad feeling about this. There was another snap of a twig or a stick. It was coming from behind me. I spun around again. This time I saw no shadow. Instead I found a full figured pitch black wolf standing there. It's eyes glowed a bright familiar yellow. Its teeth flashed in my direction. Drool dripped from each corner of its mouth. I was no wolf expert, but this wolf seemed larger then any wolves I had ever seen, especially the one I had seen a couple of weeks back when on a break. The wolf snapped at me. I jumped backwards from fright. It looked like it wanted to rip my throat out and have me for dinner. Either I was going to allow my fear to defeat me here or I was going to overcome it and save myself from the predicament I was currently in. I knew I needed to get away. I knew I needed to act fast in order to do so. If only i knew where to go! Still. I could not allow that to stop me. I bent down, grabbed a fist of cold snow and threw it at the wolf. The snow hit the wolf in its eyes, blinding it for a moment. I took the bit of time that my stunt had bought me and started to run away through the woods from the wolf. It let out a an angry growl before shaking the snow off its face and taking off after me. I had definitely managed to pissed it off but at least it appears I got a head start. If only I knew where exactly it was that I was running to. For now, all I knew was that I had to get away from the wolf. I really did not want to be on its menu today. No matter how fast I was going, I could hear the wolf chasing after me through the snow. It sounded like it was catching up to me. I screamed for help, but I knew no one could hear me. These woods were absolutely deserted when it came to any form of human life. Suddenly I found myself tripping over a root that was buried under the snow. I hit the snow quite forcefully, using both arms to cover my face. The hit had knocked the wind right of me. I could not allow this to keep me down for too long. The wolf was right behind me somewhere in the woods. I stumbled up so that I was sitting up on my knees in the snow. A shuffle of the snow in front of me and I was instantly alerted that I was no longer alone here. I looked up immediately to see what looked like a shadow figure of a man standing amongst the trees a few feet away. As it drew closer to me, the shadow figure lowered itself so that it stood on all fours. Out from the trees it walked. A black wolf with what looked like grey and white stripes running through its fur. Its yellow eyes shown right pass me. I looked back to see the other wolf had finally caught up to me. I was now situated between two massive wolves. They both started snarling and snapping their large teeth around. Though I wasn't sure if they were snarling and snapping at me.

Suddenly they both simultaneously charged and sprung forward towards one another with me in the middle of them. I ducked and covered my head with both hands. It all happened so fast. When I looked again, the wolves were wrestling and tackling each other in the snow. There was snow flying around everywhere. I wasn't going to stay here. That was for sure. I scrambled across the snow on my hands and feet in the opposite direction of the two wolves that were going at each other. Once far away enough from them, I flew to my feet and took off. Running through the woods, I knew I had to get away. I had to escape. A loud wolf's howl in the distance distracted me and when I looked again, my foot had hooked into another root just barely sticking out of the woods which again I had failed to see. I was sent crashing to the floor. This time I landed on my back and it felt like my head hit something hard. The wind was knocked out of me once more, but that was not all. When I opened my eyes again, I was seeing double. I could not bring myself to stand up. I remained laying there in the snow, drifting in and out of consciousness. Was I about to die here like this? I had not even gotten Carmen or the taxi driver to safety. They were strangely enough my main concern. At least I knew that if this was my end then I would die not thinking of myself. My father would be proud.

I heard a noise somewhere nearby. A large shadow appeared over me. I could not make out what it was. My eyes were still unable to focus on anything or anyone. One thing I do recall was staring up at its large yellow eyes before it all went dark around me. Silence fell yet again.