As soon as her mother goes missing and the only clue pointing to her whereabouts is her search history, Elise Newman has packed her bag and boarded the first flight to Japan. Having both lost somebody, Elise fears for her mother's safety and for her...
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"OH, THANK GOD," Elise whispered, the tears finally coming. "Thank God it's you."
The figure did not respond. It seemed to be breathing very hard, shoulders heaving, just standing above her.
"...Kaito?"
Elise sat up, eyes adjusting, and realized the figure did not belong to Kaito. Before she could react, it was coming at her, and Elise fell backwards, hitting her head hard. Sobbing, she barely was able to get back up, only to see she was alone in the clearing.
Completely alone.
"Mom? Mom!" Elise scrambled to her feet, feeling a sense of deja vu as she whirled in circles, scanning the clearing.
That figure, whoever it was—it had taken her mother.
"No, no, no—" Elise pounded on her head until the panic dissolved into something else: fury. White-hot fury that tainted all else, numbed the pain that made up her entire body, inside and out.
She was not letting her mother leave her again.
She'd die before letting that happen.
As she raced back through the darkness with no rhyme or reason, she desperately wanted Kaito. Even if she'd only known him a few days, Elise realized she saw him as a friend. Truly the best friend she had. He'd gotten her this far—and maybe if she'd only listened to him, maybe she wouldn't be in this predicament.
Why hadn't she listened to him?
She tripped again, and it sent her flying forward. The ground beneath her gave way to open air, and her body spiraled through it and into a free-fall until she hit ground again, knocking the air from her lungs. Elise rolled over and over, once, twice, three times, before colliding with a tree.
Spots of color danced before her eyelids. The anger had burned away already, and she felt she was made of fire, fire that was eating away at her flesh and turning her into some burning, bare thing.
Choking on her own tears, she called out to Kaito.
When she would finally spot him, he was hovering above her. She cried out for him, but he stayed there. Elise remembered him shouting back at the clearing and wondered if a sort of insanity had possessed him, too.
Then the spots cleared from her vision, and she saw why he was above her. Kaito was hanging from a high, thick branch, totally still. Seeing him there was the last straw, and Elise could almost feel the last thread of sanity in her breaking away.
Rain began to fall then, fat warm drops splattering from above and dripping off leaves and branches onto her face. Elise jerked on the forest floor, sending aches throughout her body as her legs spasmed out of her control, as she imagined it was blood raining down. It was only water, she realized, panting, but now imagined the sky was crying, crying for her.
Through the canopy, Elise could make out a single star in the otherwise black wedge of sky that was visible. It seemed to wink at her. She relaxed into the foliage, the rest of her energy fleeing her. Her limbs stopped thrashing, her thoughts slowed to a crawl and finally a halt. She tried apologizing, to her mother, to Kaito, to Jack back home, but only a sigh left her lips before her eyes slipped shut. Behind her lids she saw the star winking at her, and then she drifted into a peaceful nothingness.
-
THEY FOUND HER at sunrise.
Just yards from the trailhead, Elise Newman was curled around the base of a tree, under the hanging body of a man no one had seen for some time, which was obvious why. He had been reduced to strips of clothing hanging off bone, only small shreds of grayish rancid flesh still clinging on. The noose seemed to be hastily made and at an odd angle. Elise was unresponsive, seemingly in a catatonic state, only muttering, "It wasn't real."
The search team was shaken upon finding the body, not because of the gore itself, but since all the men were sure they hadn't seen it on the last two days of their search. As for the American girl, she couldn't be charged with any crime (though some of the search men argued amongst themselves she must have been the one to string the body up at the trailhead). Her boyfriend was called and brought to Japan to take her home, where she is now receiving treatment and kept on close watch.
Whatever happened in the woods, the locals decided, was something none of them were meant to find out. They all were only left with their speculations, and a small fear that steadily rose above them, becoming a voice in the darkness behind them when they were alone, begging the question...
What is real?
Some things, it was agreed upon, were best left unanswered.
-
Author's note—
Okay, there are two things I must note:
1. I originally left this open-ended. It finished just like this, open (and encouraging) your own theories rather than giving a solid answer. And I want to hear those theories!! Gimme. Right here right now.
2. I decided to write a second part to this tale. It gives the chance to add more background that didn't make it into this first part. Now, I know sequels tend to fall short of their predecessors, and that this may take the mystery out of my open-ended-ness, but if you're down for taking another adventure with me, continue to the upcoming parts.
You know you want to.
Go on.
Go forth and have fear.
Edit 3/24/18 Decided not to post the second part until it's finished...so until next time, my friends.
