Into the woods I P U B L I S H E D

17.

„Everything you told me was a lie,

how could I trust you now when I know the truth?"

- Elizabeth

Elizabeth

I have never been more scared in my life than now. My steps were short, quiet, and my eyes were glancing at everything that was around me. I tried to process everything in this tunnel. Every rock, every flare and every drawing on the ceiling.

I strengthened my grip on the flare as a rat ran in front of me through the water. Placing my hand on my heart, I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself down. I have been walking through this nightmare for God knows how long, and yet, there wasn't any sign of a door to the outside world.

Everything was dark, wet, majestic and creepy at the same time. The drawings on the ceiling were the most interesting thing in this tunnel.

Every line, part of the drawings was telling a story. Each line was unique in her own way. I guess it was the story about this town and his owners – the Nightclaws. The story flows down the ceiling as I walked deeper into the tunnel.

„Please, let me find an exit," I whispered to myself. I needed to be strong in this situation.

A twinkle of light appeared behind the corner and I smiled in excitement.

Finally, a door to the outside.

I threw the flare on the wet ground and ran with a smile on my face to the light that was giving me hope, but I immediately lost my smile as I only saw an open ceiling and not a door.

The light that was coming from the ceiling was actually the moon and a few trees. I stared at it for a few seconds, trying to hold my tears in. It was already night and I was still trapped in this tunnel.

A wolf howled and I jumped in my place. Scared, I started walking down the tunnel again. At least I was safe here.

Walking deeper and deeper without a flare in my hands, I reached a two pathed tunnel. One was leading left, and one was leading right.

I stood still like a rock, not knowing what to do, which tunnel to take. After a moment of thinking everything through and listening to my gut, I had decided to took the left tunnel even If I didn't know what was going to wait for me at the end of it.

I walked further into the tunnel, carefully listening to every sound that I made. I checked my phone If I had magically got a signal here, but nothing, not even one line. Throwing my phone into my bag, I took a few deep breaths, trying to calm myself down again, and trying not to have another panic attack.

Everything about this day was so wrong. I wished that I could wake up in my own bed and tell myself that all of this was just a bad dream. But I couldn't. All of this was a reality and not a dream.

After hours of walking and searching for an exit, I finally saw a door in front of me. Slowly walking to the door, I tried to be calm as I could. I had to be prepared for everything. Maybe the door was closed and I was trapped in here forever, or if it was open, there was a possibility that I would end up being trapped alone again, or worse, captured by some insane man.

I closed my eyes and prayed that the door would open as I slowly pushed them. They did open, and I couldn't describe how happy, relieved was I right now.

Walking through the iron door, I didn't expect that I would end up being here, in someone's garden. The garden was full of black roses, trees in all sizes and shapes. Bushes were placed all over the garden, and between them, there was a path, full of angelic sculptures. But all of them were different, creepy.