The Curse

Sophie's POV

Sophie's POV (Before she died):-

I don't know what happened. I only remember seeing the big alien brandishing a gun like thing in its hand. Then we ran. We couldn't find Filip, Anthony or Jillian anywhere. We ran without even discerning our surroundings. We ran like the wind - before we stopped below a huge tree. It seemed like the aliens weren't following us anymore. John, who was heavier than us was so out of breath that he flopped down on the ground.

"Are they gone?" Jackson whispered. I nodded. I couldn't even speak. Sweat dripped down my forehead, almost blinding me. Hunger and thirst were making me dizzy. Jackson sat down beside John. It did not seem as if anyone of us could walk even a few steps. I wanted to sit and take rest....but something kept telling me we were being watched....whether it was my sixth sense or not, I don't know.

"We don't have any water on us, do we?" I asked the boys.

We didn't. In our hurry to get away, we had probably left all our stuff there.

We sat silently for quite a bit of time, trying to catch our breath. "I think we should go away from here," I spoke in a muted tone. "Why?" Jackson demanded, his voice growing hoarse from exertion.

"I kind of feel like we are being watched....It just doesn't feel safe...."

"Well, where do you propose we go?" John finally uttered something since the time we arrived here.

I honestly didn't know where to go. Heck, I didn't even know where we were. The forest looked the same wherever I focused. We were so, so lost. I was worried sick. But I didn't want them to panic even more.

"I DON'T know where we are, BUT we can try and retrace our steps if we try. Does anyone seeing anything while running here that can help us get back?"

"That's the dumbest question ever," Jackson snorted," Do you honestly think we were in that state of mind to actually keep a look out while we were running for our lives?"

I obviously knew it was a dumb question.....but I couldn't think of anything else to do, or say, for that matter.

"We can try searching for Filip.....or Anthony," John suggested. THAT was actually a pretty good idea.

"Yeah, we could do that. Let's make a plan. We could start off in that direction," I began, pointing towards what I felt would be our north, "It would be of great help if we could somehow mark our path, so that we can reconstruct our way back if we get lost....."

"Aren't we already lost?" Jackson muttered.

"Yes we are," I was losing my patience. "But we cannot just give up," I continued. Jackson didn't say anything. I guess the poor guy's at the end of his tether.

"I have a pocket knife," he suddenly spoke up, "Maybe we could use that to make markings on the trees."

I could almost hug him then! John said that he was in favour of everything that could get us out of that godforsaken place.

We started walking northwards, treading carefully. This part of the forest was strangely a bit more lit up, although the ground was strewn with leaves and whatnot. Maybe we would get lucky at last....or maybe not, it wouldn't do to let my hopes so high right now. Everything was so quiet. Not even the wind blew through the leaves. Everything felt so unearthly, every shadow looked like an alien, ready to pounce on us. Jackson was armed with his pocket knife. But, that wouldn't be able to protect us even if we were attacked by a titchy alien. Finally, we came to the edge of the forest, again. But we didn't even catch a glimpse or a trace of Filip or Anthony. And wait.......this doesn't look like where we started either. This looks like a dried up canyon. Dusty.....and dark. So frightfully dark. It wasn't the normal kind of darkness at all. It looked as if somebody had painted the whole place with various coats of deep black paint. From the distance, I could see certain structures here and there. A closer inspection sent shivers down my spine. Those structures were made of bones......huge animal bones. They were white as pearl and shone brightly even in that darkness. I backed away.

"Let's go," said Jackson and put a step forward. John followed suit. But I was unsure.

"I don't think we should go in there," I mumbled.

"Why?"both of them stared at me.

"There could be more aliens hidden in there......I don't trust this place," I stammered.

"We can't go back into the forest.....We don't have any other option," Jackson came up and squeezed my palm. "You were courageous enough to come all the way here. In fact.....you led us here. Why back away now?"

I gave in. As we passed beneath those bone structures, we noticed a cave nearby. I also noticed something else- the soil was all reddish in colour, just like we had studied in school about red soil. To our wonder, the cave was a stalagmite and stalactite one. It was so beautiful, way beyond anything we could think of. We had never, ever imagined something this beautiful could exist out here. It was so..so ....pretty. Hundreds, maybe thousands of icicles hung from everywhere. But at the same time, I don't know why, it looked so frightening. The breathtaking beauty of it all seemed to freeze my blood and render me speechless at the same time.

Suddenly, there was a noise.

Something was stirring inside the cave. We stopped dead in our tracks. "Run," I hissed to Jackson and John. But it was too late. That thing had already seen us - it was standing right in front of us. But what was it? it didn't look like the other aliens. It was at least 16feet tall and was extremely hairy. It had ginormous claws instead of nails and ...and it's face didn't quite look like a face. There was a hole where the mouth should have been. It's eyes were huge and red, as if fire danced in its pupils. Every breath from his enormous nostrils seemed to blow dust off the floor of the cave. It charged towards us and we tried to get out through the opening of the cave. But its thundering steps caused a horde of boulders to fall, blocking the only exit. We three scattered here and there, thinking it would distract the monster and buy us some time. I was thrown towards the back of the cave. I landed flat on my face, blood dripping from my cut lips. As I gazed forward, I saw something....and my heart almost missed a beat. What was that box doing here???? But I didn't even get a chance to ruminate about it. I heard John's muffled screams. I turned round......but alas! It was too late.

The monster ran its great claws through John's throat. His mutilated face rolled over towards me. I didn't want to look at it, but my eyes were transfixed......the horror of it all. Jackson lay in the distance. But was it even Jackson? All I could grasp was a body which looked like it had been run through a shredder lying in a pool of blood. The red ground of the cave turned a kind of murky brown as it was invaded by fresh human blood. I somehow gathered myself and ran from there. I could that creature's breath on my neck as I ran. By God's grace, there was a small exit at the extreme end of the cave. I could somehow fit through it.

I escaped. I had left my soul, my heart in that cave. What was the use of escaping when none lived? God heard this prayer as well. I kept looking backwards as I ran and I tumbled into a puddle, or rather, what I thought was a puddle.

It was quicksand.

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