The Other Side of the Door

Chapter 3

I could not find the carriage after 30 minutes, and I started freaking out. Why couldn't I find it?

 I started to feel lost. Where was I? I didn't really know my way around the forest, so I wasn't going to be able to make it out just by following whichever path I wanted. For all I knew, at the fork in the road I should have chosen the other way to go.

"Mademoiselle, is that you?" I heard someone call from the trees. Marriette.

"Marriette! Are you all right?" I ran towards her. Her dress was ripped, but other than that I saw no cuts or blood anywhere.

"I am fine. Mr. Bellerose looks okay, I think. He doesn't look as sick as he did. I think sleeping helped him. The horse broke a leg, I think. She won't stand, so something is wrong," Marriette replied, leading me to the horse. I took one look at the poor horse, and I knew it was helpless. The horse was going to die.

"Where is my father?" I asked her. She pointed in the direction of a few trees, and I turned to see Papa crouched over, twiddling his fingers nervously.

"Papa! Are you okay?" I ran over to him. His face instantly brightening, but it still looked nervous.

"Alayna, I am so glad to see you. What happened?" he said, grabbing my hand. I sat down next to him, and told him everything that happened.

Marriette came over to us with an expression of sadness drawn over her face. "The horse has died," she started crying.

"Marriette, I am so sorry," I stood up and grabbed her hands. She hugged me, and I let her cry for what honestly felt like an hour.

After some time, my father stopped looking so nervous, and Marriette was done crying. We started walking down the path, hoping we could find a cottage or something.

The path was gorgeous. Flowers lined the path, and the trees were tall and leafy. Birds chirped all around us. Of course, the bugs were a bit distracting from the beautiful song of the birds, but that was a minor thing.

"Did you hear that?" Marriette grabbed my arm, looking all around.

"No, you probably just heard your own footstep on a branch or something," I dismissed her worries. 

"Okay, I'll believe you," Marriette shook her head and looked down at her feet.

I continued to admire the beauty of the path, when all of the sudden I heard a scream. Marriette screamed back, and my father turned pale.

"Wait here," I commanded them, and ran in the direction I heard the scream.

I believe I went as pale as my father.

I saw an older woman, who normally would look innocent. However, she had her finger pointed at a man who was clutching his throat, as if he was choking.

I saw him take his last breath. I turned to run away, but I stepped on a tree branch and it snapped in half. The woman turned her body in my direction and snarled. It was as if she wasn't human.

I started running, and went back to Marriette and Papa. They gave me a funny look, but I just told them to follow me. Papa was coughing loudly, wheezing every few steps. I turned to look at him, and make sure he was okay, only to notice that he was far behind us. The woman was no where to be seen, however.

"Papa, we need to get you somewhere fast. I think Marriette and I might be able to carry you somewhere. We have to be close if we've seen people..." I said, nodding to Marriette to join me and try and lift him.

We finally got him in our arms, but it was really hard to walk and lift him at the same time. "I don't think we can do this, Miss. I'm sorry..." Marriette said, dropping her half of my father.