Voices From Beyond

Chapter 22

Fingers snake around the edges of her screaming face and pull her into the darkness. My heart is racing so fast as I hear her angry scream fade off into the small closet. I scramble to the doorknob and yank the door open, tripping on my way through. I crash down to my floor, my bones ache as I kick the door shut. It slams as I push myself to my feet and bolt across the room.

I'm breathing heavily, my heart is racing. I feel my palms sweating as I nervously clench my fists. This stupid ass board is really playing games with me. It's taunting me, knowing full well that I won't survive this anyway.

It's a weird feeling, knowing that I don't have much longer to live. I don't know why I'm not holding out hope anymore, I've just come to accept that this will all be over soon. I don't let myself take the time to reflect on life or all of the things I could've said or done but never did. I don't want to think about my family, or how much they will miss me when I'm gone. I'd worry about my friends, but most of them are dead. The ones who never played the game, well they have more than just me to miss. They'll have to miss all of us, everyone who carelessly gave their life to this board the night we played. I wonder what it will feel like, if anything. Honestly though, I don't really care.

I crawl back out of my basement window without telling anyone where I'm going again. Chances are, I won't make it home. I fiddle around with my sweatshirt sleeves as I wander off into the woods. Twigs and leaves crunch beneath my feet, I decide I'm never going to stop walking. If I just keep walking straight forward away from my life, I can die in the woods somewhere when the voices of dead strangers inevitably track me down. Maybe nobody will find my body, I'll decompose or animals will just finish me off.

I'm walking still, I'm winding around trees and stepping over rotting logs. If I weren't positive that I'm going crazy, I would say that I hear footsteps behind me. I swear that I do, I hear them all around me. I hear something running every now and again, sometimes I'll hear a laugh in the distance. I'm sure that I'm deeper into the woods than I've ever been before. At least there's daylight. I feel like I'm a kid all over again, hoping to avoid the darkness as if a simple light could fight away all of the evil held within the shadows.

I'm tired, it's been at least two hours of walking. I sit down and rest my back against a nearby tree. I grab a pile of leaves and scrunch them into my hand before letting them blow away with the wind. I find it ironic that I'm somehow bored right now, knowing that there's most likely something following me nearby. I scan around my surroundings, I look to see if I'll find anyone watching from behind a tree. I don't see anything. I let out a sigh and close my eyes as I rest my head against the tree.

Just as I shut them, I feel cold fingers wrap around my neck. I open my eyes suddenly, I gasp for air as the grip painfully tightens around my windpipe. My hands desperately struggle to pry the fingers away, they won't budge. My feet are kicking in the dirt in front of me, the person strangling me is reaching from behind the tree. I decide to stop struggling, there's nothing left to fight for. Just as my vision begins to blur, I faintly make out the shapes of countless people forming from behind the trees. They're everywhere, I'm surrounded.

I wheeze with every passing second, I hear whispers in the wind of voices I can't understand. I can't see any of their faces, nobody looks recognizable. Just as quickly as they had come, everything stops. The hands disappear and my vision clears to reveal that I'm alone once again. There's nobody in the trees as I frantically gasp for air. Oxygen has never felt so good. I rub my neck and wince when I feel it bruising.

Kennedy steps from behind a tree first, and soon the rest of my dead friends follow in her lead. One by one, they each emerge with sadness etched in their tired eyes. I use the tree I'm leaned against to help me to my feet.