Leyland Adventures

Fooled By Affection

Leyland Adventures Chapter Ten: Part Seven

With the attempt to soften his footsteps as much as possible, Tysashi scanned the ground to prevent any branches while keeping his breathing still. Every passing step seemed to result in more powerful laughter. The figure loomed closer, causing his body to completely stop. The sound of crunching leaves grew louder...until it eventually froze. Peeking his head out, he witnessed the gloomy atmosphere of the forest before returning to view a indistinct figure with a devilish grin glued on its sinister face holding that same knife. His body automatically crawled backwards, knocking himself into a convenient tree as the figure stepped forward.

"Stay back!" He yelled with a dangerous glare in his eyes, forming fists.

"I want to play a game..."

"A game? What kind of game?"

"Find out her name...my mother...you have one minute. If you don't answer correctly or run out of time...you'll end up like...her..."

"Wait, but how am I supposed to-"

Just then, he began counting while dragging his knife against the scared trees. Tysashi forced himself up as he ran frantically to find the answer, accompanied by laughter.

With unhealthy amounts of stress, his panicked eyes scattered around without a clear target until a peculiar mark on the bark of a tree was picked up. The letter 'm' was etched on the tree. With a fresh understanding and an improved state of mind, he searched for more letters to complete the riddle.

"Twenty-five...twenty-six..."

As the time pushed forward, so did his legs. Just in case if he failed the task, the young hero would have no other choice but to fight back so if time was up, he would locate himself as far as he could to prepare.

"Thirty-eight..."

The disfigured corpses and marks of blood around the trees failed to distract him, though he felt sorrow for the poor beings, it wasn't enough to shift his attention.

"Fifty...fifty-one..."

Such a paranormal and echoing voice would cause an earthquake of chills to run down many spines though it was just another thought to be ignored. The final letter continued being timid, refusing to be discovered.

"Fifty-nine...sixty. Time...is...up..."

Holding the knife steady, the figure began to hunt for his prey just as Tysashi spotted the last letter before another object was detected, the silver blade. He pulled his side away before shouting, "Mabel!"

The man stood stationary, as if whispers were severely flooding his broken mind.

"That...is...correct...just as I thought. Mabel...why did you have to come with me? Why did I have to see your rotting corpse hanging from a decaying branch?"

Finally being able to breathe, Tysashi clutched his hand close to his chest.

"I know how it feels to have your family taken away, it happened to me but it will get better," The light and forgiving tone of his voice was a definite change from the ordinary cries of insanity.

"Thank you...it is time to join the family...please take this."

Tysashi was handed a key.

"Wait...what do you mean it's time to join the family?"

The man only chuckled before thrusting the knife into his throat, blood rushed down his neck before his body collapsed. His heart jumped as a scream was swallowed. Grabbing leaves and dirt to bury the body, he sighed.