The Woods

Chapter 10

(Night 4, Madeline)
     I stared at her in disbelief. Why? How? When? Passed through my head. I couldn't find the words to ask her. My voice was caught in my throat and I stood up, backing away from the couch. She reached out and grabbed my hand, pulling me close to her.
"When?" I asked.
"I cannot tell when or why, only how."
"Where?"
"It was outside. There was snow and leaves. There was a man. He stabbed you without hesitation."
"It was him! He kills me?"
"What is his name?"
"I don't remember, after I fell off the cliff I..."
     She pulled me into a hug, holding me tightly as she told me it would be okay. Mary then stood and helped me upstairs to my room, assisting me with laying down. She pulled the covers over me, and with tears in my eyes I fell asleep, exhausted from the terrible news that had been spoken before my ears.
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(Day 3, Diane)
     "No!"
     Amber shouted loudly into the empty police station. The darkness loomed overhead and I felt weak lying in Parker's arms. He held me up and spoke back to Amber for me. I stared blankly at the ceiling, waiting for my strength to return.
"What else can you tell me!?"
"Calm down, she feels weak. We can speak later."
"But Madeline doesn't have long, she's been missing for days already and if her visions are right, that psycho is still looking for her."
"We care about her too, just calm the hell down."
     Parker stayed calm and Amber appeared like she was going to explode, but took a deep breath, sitting down as she exhaled. She was holding a textbook close to her chest, hugging it for comfort. My strength began to return and Parker helped me stand on my own.
"Who is Madeline exactly? Why do I have visions of her?"
"I don't know why you have visions of her."
"Okay, I probably should've guessed you didn't have that answer, but who is she?"
"She lived alone with her mom, her father died in a fire when she was younger." Amber started and then hesitantly added, "She also felt like she wasn't an only child. She was always talking about how she just felt like someone like an older sister was watching over her."
"That's odd." Parker piped in.
"That is odd, could you take us to her old house? Is it possible?"
"I mean, I could, but it is all burnt and I don't know if you could find anything there, why?"
"I want to see if anything remains."
"Are you sure? I don't know if anything is still there."
"Yes, we need to go there."
     Parker looked at me and then at Amber, nodding his head in agreement as Amber looked down at her textbook, debating the question. I knew I needed to push a little more to get her to take us so I spoke up.
"I might be able to get a stronger connection to her."
     Amber looked up before nodding in agreement, finally deciding that she would take us to the old house. Amber grabbed her bag and we headed out, leaving the police station devoid of people, which was the usual for Everport, but now it was for a different reason.
"So what are you studying?"
     I asked curiously as I offered Amber the passenger seat, Parker climbing into the driver's seat and starting the truck. Amber climbed in cautiously, trusting us even though we just met.
"I love herbology. I was supposed to study it with Madeline that night, but then she never showed up, didn't text me, didn't call to cancel or anything, it was so unlike her, I knew something was wrong."
     I saw tears form in her eyes and found myself in that situation, losing someone you had known and cared about for years. I suddenly remembered Madeline's mom. I'll have to talk to her later. I pulled myself into Parker's truck and buckled myself, staring out the window as Parker began to drive away from the police station, following Amber's words.
      I watched as snow began to fall to the ground. The need to check the weather filled me, but I remembered that I didn't have my phone to check. I looked up front at Parker and Amber, conversing with each other about which roads to take and I decided I didn't need to interrupt just to check the weather.
     I just watched the snow lightly touch the ground turning to water. It wasn't snowing hard enough to cause snow to build up, it was more of just a light flurry. My mind was pulled away from the beautiful snow by a watchful presence. I could feel their eyes watching me from somewhere.
     I looked up to see an old, burned house and I could feel the energy coming from inside, it felt like multiple people were watching, staring at me, waiting for me to go inside. I began to have second thoughts, but the truck stopped and everyone began to exit the vehicle. I unbuckled and stepped onto the sidewalk, approaching the house slowly.
"This is the house? Where her father died?"
"Yeah, it's kind of depressing really. And mysterious."
"What do you mean?" Parker stepped up next to us after locking the truck.
"Her father got really protective of them, wouldn't let them leave without him there. Then one day, the house burned down and he burned with it."
"This town is not the quiet town everyone makes it out to be, is it?"
"It really isn't."
     I took a step toward the building, Amber following close behind me. Parker stood, staring into the upstairs window, only following when we reached the front door. I felt like something was off, but didn't tell the others as I led the way into the abandoned house. I turned to look into what used to be the kitchen and looked the other way, finding a living room. I continued down the hall, finding myself at the bottom of the steps, screaming as I saw the body on the ground.
     Parker rushed next to me and stepped back slowly. The sound of movement was upstairs and our heads snapped up, staring at the ceiling of the first floor. My eyes traveled back to the body. A worn jacket and jeans, a grey beanie, covering his brown hair. On the floor near him lied a knife.
"I think someone is upstairs."
     Amber whispered to no one in particular as she stepped forward. We all began to move towards the steps, the floorboards creaking and groaning due to our combined weight. Low, hushed voices could be heard upstairs as well and we were all wondering different but similar thoughts. As we reached the top of the steps a girl suddenly popped out, holding a gun to us.
"Who are you?" She asked boldly.
"Take it easy." Parker said.
"I'm Diane, this is Amber and Parker. We are looking for a missing girl, Madeline." Something seemed to click in her head.
"You aren't the police!"
"No, but I'm her best friend and I'm worried sick." Amber said, managing to find her voice.
"I, I'm sorry, I had an incident last night with the squatter down there. Come on up."
     Her voice had a saddened tone, a depressed broken tone. I knew she didn't want to kill anyone, but was forced to. The girl walked away and I followed, finding her comforting what looked like a nurse. We were all confused by what we were seeing.
"Are you okay?" Amber asked rushing over, the nurse looking up and speaking.
"Just frightened."
"Who are you two?" I asked curious.
"I'm Victoria, she's Janet."
     Victoria stood next to me and looked me in the eyes. She carried a sense of strength, but underneath lied weakness. My senses were overcome when I heard screaming. I looked around, expecting someone's mouth to be open, but no one was screaming. The pain from the scream brought me to my knees and Parker hurried over to my fallen form.
     Fire erupted from the walls, reaching for the night sky. Large flaming boards fell from the ceiling, surrounding me, trapping me inside. I heard the sirens, the shooting. I fell to the ground, the feeling the soft touches of concerned hands on my side and forehead. The quiet conversation of indecisiveness, uncertainty.
     My eyes fell upon that of Janet's. Her stare instilled a sense of calm, but the tears that slid down her face told another story, a story of trauma. I wanted to comfort her, in fact all of us needed some form of comfort and we were trying to find it in each other.
     After a moment of lying there I felt compelled to stand, the need for movement, action, speech. I couldn't bring myself to talk, so I sat up, lying my head on Parker's shoulder as I stared at Victoria. Her long, black hair was pulled to the back and side of her head, so it covered her ear horizontally. From my angle it was on the right side of her head, which meant her left. I moved to meet her bright blue eyes, a strong but comforting type of blue.
     Her light grey hoodie had blood on the front and her jeans were covered in dirt. I looked back up at her face and noticed her eyes were watery. She was crying. I moved away from Parker carefully and approached her, slowly sitting next to her, wrapping my arm around her shoulder. She turned and hugged me tightly, her face buried in my neck as she cried, her tears running down her cheeks and onto my neck. She's been through a lot.
     I looked around the room. We all have. I wanted to say something, but my voice still wouldn't work and I looked up at Parker who sat with Amber and Janet, talking in a hushed voice about the events of each other's recent lives. My heart ached to join them in the small chatter, but I still held Victoria tightly. She felt like a younger sister, something I would never know if I had and part of me hated that fact, that I would never know.
     I had been adopted and raised by people who were not my biological family, for some unknown reason it disgusted me and part of me loved them for being good people, Then. I thought in disappointment. They stopped caring, left me to rot in the world alone. I peered in the gaps in the ceiling and my feelings came flooding in like a river that had breached a dam.
     A single tear first and then more tears, falling onto Victoria's soft hair. I wasn't still completely sure what had happened or who she was, but she needed comfort and I wasn't going to deny her that.
"So what do we do know?" Amber spoke.
"Look around for some kind of photos, some kind of item that belonged to one of Madeline's family members."
     Amber and Parker stood as Janet made her way over to me. She crouched down next to Victoria and pulled her away from me, trying to comfort her, herself. I looked on with concerned eyes as I moved back to Parker. We have no right to be in their business, but they are in trouble. I was unable to decide on what to do and Parker grabbed my wrist, standing.
     I pulled away, my reflexes kicking in. I gave him a "leave me alone" look and backed away. He returned to the ground, sitting silently next to Amber. A large gust of wind sent my hair blowing and I listened in terror as the entire house began to move, the sound of wood snapping. The sound filled my ears and was the only thing I could hear, only thing I could register until Amber's scream broke through everyone's stunned state.
"The house is falling!"
     A large snap signified the final break in the building's supports and the floor beneath us gave way and we all fell, screaming as we fell to the floor below. As our bodies connected with the first floor, it collapsed as well.