Hollow's Grove (The Revised Version)

Chapter Eleven: Hunted By An Unseen Force

The high pitched whine of the many mosquitoes swarming me was not a pleasant sound. I swatted at the unseen pests as they bombarded me. I could feel their little proboscis' piercing into my skin. I had been walking for hours, the forest just seemed to carry on and on. I wiped away the droplets of fresh sweat that had slowly dribbled down off my brow and onto my face. My legs ached, I was parched and exhausted. All I wanted to do was to fall flat on my face and give up. Surely, I had managed to get far enough from the school not to be found right away.

I deserved a rest, I needed one. There was a ton of new information to take in and my brain was really not in thinking order. I took a quick glance at my surroundings, the forest had evolved from thick pines into measly looking birch trees. The ground had also transformed from soft dirt into sharp rocks. I tried not to think about the pain that pierced through my feet as I headed onward. As I walked on, I dared to take a look back. Behind me, lay the darkness that the pines had created with their thick and gnarled branches.

I turned away from the eerie sight, something about that place had really unsettled me . Maybe it had just been from earlier on, but I still had an uneasy feeling that seemed to be clinging on to my shoulders and would not let go. I quickened my pace, I decided that I wanted to get as far away from that certain part of the woods as I could before I chose to rest. I tried to not think about anything scary as I walked on, it was funny, a werewolf who was actually scared of something.

I was sure that not too many people would be that impressed if they found out a werewolf was actually frightened by things. Yet, here I was, making my way out of there as fast as I could. The soft sunlight that danced playfully across the many birch trees leaves finally came down onto the ground, I felt relieved as the sunbeams washed over me. They made me feel at peace, no longer was the eerie feeling wrapping its clammy hands around me.

I carried on with no more worries for another hour or so. As I walked, I was glad to find that the forest was slowly ending. The trees were becoming less common and the ground had gone back to soft dirt. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I was heading towards a something that looked like a large grassy meadow. I began to jog towards the place, my hopes high. I left the trees behind with a smile, the full warmth of the sun embraced me. I stopped in my tracks, I found myself standing in a large clearing.

My smile widened, it was a nice feeling to be out here. I was out of the darkness, I was back out into the light. The soft buzzing of honey bees passed me by. I sniffed the air, the sweet smell of honeysuckle wafted over to my nose. The meadow was beautiful, the grass was a deep green, almost an emerald colour. The grass was splattered with many different colours, soft pinks, deep blues, vibrant yellow, there were many different flowers here.

I was ecstatic, I knew that this was the perfect place for me to take my rest. It was far from the darkness of the pines and it was out of the rocky lands. I made my over to the center of the glade, here there was a patch of brilliant red tulips, the buzz of the busy bees was a welcoming sound. I lay myself down and closed my eyes, it didn't matter if I fell into a deep sleep, I was just content with dozing. As I napped, I thought that I could hear something moving nearby.

At first, I paid no attention to the noise, it was probably nothing more then a bunny or a squirrel. Yet, as I lay there, the sound seemed to be coming closer towards me. Now I was worried, I just lay there, making sure not to move a muscle, hoping that it was nothing. Was it merely my imagination? Had all of my previous experiences from earlier on in the day manifested themselves into my subconscious and created something?

Whatever it was, I didn't want to find out. The sound was getting closer with every breath I took. I was beginning to feel my body tremble. What if it wasn't my imagination, what if someone from Hollow's Grove had followed me? I found that quite impossible, no one had seen me leave, the person behind the door hadn't been able to get my door open in time to see me jump out of my window. Yet, the sound was close and I could now hear that whatever it was, walked on two feet. I opened my eyes slowly, expecting the worst.

To my shock, I found myself completely alone. There was nothing to be seen, I pushed myself upwards. As I got to my feet, I swore that I heard something. This time the sound no longer reminded me of human footsteps. This noise sounded like it definitely came from some sort of animal. I stood my ground, ears perked for any other noise. Nothing, I heard absolutely nothing. I could only hear the light rustle of leaves as the cool breeze flitted by.

As for the footfalls, they had vanished. With that in mind, I decided that I had enough rest to move on from the meadow. I didn't know how far I had until I managed to find something that seemed like it would take me to civilization. I hoped that I didn't have far to go, I needed to get help as fast as I possibly could. Something was going on at that school and whatever it was, those poor teens were stuck there. I thought back to the boy in the cage, what on earth were they doing there?

Whatever they were doing, it just didn't seem natural. I sighed, I couldn't do anything for them by myself. I had a feeling that if I tried anything, I would definitely be defeated. No, I needed to find a town, find an authority figure of some kind, I couldn't do a rescue mission on my own. With that, I started to head through the meadow, I no longer had any intentions of heading back into the woods. I just had an odd feeling about that place, it made my spine crawl...

I had been hiking through the tall grass for hours. The meadow seemed to stretch onward for miles. I was far from the forest now, my surroundings had evolved into plains of green grass. The sun was beginning to set now, that was how long I had been walking. I hadn't stopped to rest in a while, I couldn't, I just had this eerie feeling that if I did stop something bad might happen to me.

I couldn't explain it, but I still felt as though something or someone was following me. Yet, every time I took a glance back, I still saw nothing. A shiver ran its icy fingers down my spine. I didn't like the feeling that I was getting. As night fell across the plains and wrapped the earth in an eternal darkness, I felt myself shudder. This though was not a shudder from fear, no, it was a shudder of pain. I frowned, why would I be in pain?

I carried on, as I made my way farther through the grasses, I noticed that the pain was steadily becoming worse. I tried to ignore it, but it grew unbearable with every movement I made. Finally it become so agonizing I fell to the ground, my entire body writhing. As I struggled to keep myself calm, that was when I noticed it. The soft, wispy light that shone down upon me. My eyes widened as the terrifying realization dawned upon me. It was the full moon...