Chapter 216: The erlking never leaves The his children
The Erlking never leaves his children
I wasn't a bad kid. In fact, if my parents had been just a little more patient with me, they might have considered me the perfect daughter. I always tried to please them, no matter how hard it was.
I never meant to cause any trouble. It just sort of happened somehow. It was like I always acted before thinking and no matter how hard I tried to improve, it just wouldn't get better. The countless times I got hurt while playing outside made my parents almost go crazy. They picked me up from school every day, I wasn't even allowed to set foot outside the house on my own anymore. I was under constant supervision and to be honest, it made me feel like I was trapped.
I grew more silent and shy as I slowly forgot how to reach out, how to play and make friends. I spent my days studying and trying to entertain myself indoors. I drew a lot, watched a lot of tv, that sort of stuff. I was bored though. I didn't really have fun doing any of it.
And then we found out about my father's affair.
All those lonely nights in which I would be lying awake, unable to find rest due to the sounds of my parents screaming at each other left me feeling crushed and empty. I think the lack of sleep contributed to my already worsening state. I felt like nothing around me ever truly happened *to me* anymore. It was like I was watching it all as a passive viewer, unable to interact with whatever transpired on stage.
Worse yet, I couldn't even talk to my parents anymore. My mom had held off on kicking my dad out, but the atmosphere in the house was never calm. It was cold; icy, yet filled with anger to the point at which just one spark could set off another wildfire of arguments. Dad bought me a lot of toys during that time. He tried to coax me into talking to him, said he might be moving out and asking whether I wanted to come with him. I really didn't want him to leave, but whenever my mom would catch us talking by ourselves, she would go absolutely livid.
She would constantly ask me who I loved more, her or *that pig*, as she called him. Even at this young age, I knew what my father had done was wrong, and yet I couldn't help but want to stay close to both him and mom at the same time. It's hard to describe, but I felt *guilty* for it. Like I wasn't allowed to love him. I didn't want to be torn like this; I didn't want to have to choose.
But then, one chilly autumn afternoon, the choice was taken from me.
Ever since my parents had started fighting more, they had become inconsistent with picking me up from school and keeping a close eye on me in general. That's how I ended up standing outside the school building by myself after classes had ended, waiting for my mother's car to pull up in front of the entrance. A fleeting glance at my watch told me that over an hour had passed. I didn't have a phone at the time and being tired of waiting with nobody else around, my only option was to walk home.
It wasn't too big of a deal. I knew the way, and I figured if I'd just be careful enough, I wouldn't break a leg or something. This would also be a great opportunity to prove to my parents that I wasn't completely helpless. With all that in mind, I got on my way.
To get back home from school, I would have to either walk along a rather busy road for at least ten minutes or take a shortcut through a slightly wooded area. Seeing as it was starting to get dark by then, I chose the shortcut. While the large, imposing trees with their thick, dark leaves throwing shadows on the ground might have frightened me, it was safer than to risk being run over. In my mind at least.
The sun had almost set as the paved street gave way to soft, earthy ground. I kept looking over my shoulder, trying to keep an eye out for both the path ahead of me and the part I had already left behind. There was nobody in sight, yet I found myself overtaken by an irrational sense of dread. Before I knew it, I had already started to run. My small purple backpack was flopping against my back with every fast step I took. Eventually, the inevitable took place. The ground underneath me was bumpy and there were stones and roots sticking out in places. Even in broad daylight, it wasn't an easy path to run on.
Not having spotted the jagged edge of a rock right in front of me, I tripped and fell, letting out a scream of both shock and pain as I felt my ankle twist under my collapsing weight. Whimpering, I pushed myself into a sitting position. When I tried to stand up however, I instantly crumbled and found myself back on all fours.
I was panicking. I had no idea what to do. I was all alone and walking seemed to be completely impossible. My knees were already aching, but I had to try and *crawl* home, or out of the grove at the very least. Tears were already streaming down my face and I was sobbing hysterically. I raised my head only to let out a shriek when I noticed the pair of legs right in front of me. I backed off as best I could, pulling myself away from the person towering above me, but the pain in my foot was quick to remind me of the futility of trying to move.
"There, there."
The voice that spoke to me was deep and warm. Still trembling, I watched as the stranger bent down to get on eye level with me and extended his hand to me.
"Here. Get up."
My gaze was glued to him. His face looked normal, his smile was almost pleasant even; it was his clothing that threw me off. He wasn't dressed like anyone I had ever seen before. I can hardly describe it. The images of him in my memory blur everytime I try to get a hold of them. I do remember a dark cloak around his shoulders though. Even though I was shaking and the pain in my foot was enough to make me want to weep, I somehow managed to answer him.
"I can't," I uttered.
He raised a brow, glancing down at my lower leg. "Is it your foot?"
I nodded wordlessly, my face scrunching up as I started to cry again. The stranger let go of a soft breath, a mixture of a sigh and a chuckle, before getting down on his knees and reaching out, his large hand hovering over my injured ankle. "May I?"
I nodded again and he leaned in to examine it. I winced when his fingertips met with my skin. He then hummed and pulled away, only to rise to his feet once more. He beckoned for my backpack and I, not wanting to upset him, took it off and handed it to him. He then carefully wrapped his arm around my shoulders and legs and, still holding my tiny bag, hoisted me up onto his shoulder. He kept one arm on my side to keep me from falling when he began to walk.
"Are you going to take me home?" I asked quietly, still in utter disbelief at what had just happened.
"Yes," he said.
"But you don't even know where I live," I argued.
"I'll find the way," he replied, craning his head to look up at me. "What were you doing out here all by yourself? Don't you know it's dangerous to run off?"
"I didn't run off. My mom and dad forgot about me."
The stranger stopped in his tracks and gave me a wide-eyed look of concern. He caught himself rather quickly though and gave me a wavering smile. "They did, did they?" he murmured. "Is it nice where you live?"
"Not at the moment," I confessed.
He hummed and nodded. "That's a shame. You're a child, you should never have to fend for yourself."
We marched on in silence, but it was the comfortable kind. I felt weirdly at ease in his arms. There was something so welcoming, so fatherly about him; I almost felt a twinge of sadness when we had reached my home and he ever so gently sat me down on the porch. He placed my backpack beside me and bent down one more time to look me in the eyes.
"I will see to it personally that you'll never be on your own like this again," he said, sounding very stern and solemn like those words were a sincere oath.
I watched as he rang the doorbell. My gaze drifted off to the window for a split second only to find him gone without a trace when looking up again. It took my mother an entire minute to answer the door, but as soon as she laid eyes on me, she let out a startled cry. Showering me with apologies, she picked me up, got us in the car and drove me to the hospital straight away.
My ankle was twisted but according to the doctor, it wasn't too severe. I ended up having to wear an ankle support brace for a few weeks or so and was told to put as little pressure on it as I possibly could. My mother never questioned how I got back home after my fall, but since I didn't tell her where exactly I got injured, that's probably not too surprising. For all she knew, it could have happened right on our doorstep. I was relieved–this meant I didn't have to tell her about the strange man from the grove. He had shown me nothing but kindness, yet I somehow didn't want to bring up the encounter with him. I could sense that it had been something special, something way too special to share with anyone else.
I still thought I needed to thank him. The doctor who had examined my foot had recommended I stay away from school for two or three days so it could rest properly. At that point, my father had moved to a nearby hotel and my mother was very busy figuring out the legal procedures connected to filing for divorce, meaning she was in and out of the house most of the time. This left me and my twisted ankle sitting around on the couch watching tv for the majority of the day. I often imagined what I would say if I were to meet the strange man again. In my head, I was working on a lengthy speech telling him how very grateful I was.
I was curious, too. His sudden appearance, the weird clothing and him vanishing into thin air had sparked a thought, namely that–no matter how outlandish that might have seemed to me at the time–he might not have been human at all. I told myself that if I ever were to come across him again, I would ask him all about it. This however would happen a lot sooner than expected.
My mother wasn't home and I had been dozing off on the couch when a high-pitched noise startled me awake. I sat up and looked around. It didn't take me long to spot the man standing outside the living room window, tapping on the glass pane. I recognized him immediately. It was the stranger from the grove.
He gave me a questioning nod as if asking if I would let him in, but I pointed at my foot, tilting my head apologetically. For one, I wasn't supposed to get up and walk around with no one else in reach, but I also didn't want to just open the door to someone I didn't even know. He simply smiled and waved as if trying to tell me it was alright. Pressing his face up against the window, he peered into our home, attempting to get a better look at it. I was a bit ashamed since the living room was one huge mess at the moment. No one really cleaned up there anymore.
The man looked a bit displeased at the sight, shaking his head in disapproval. He shot me a pitying glance before waving once more, and then, in the blink of an eye, he was gone again.
A week later I came down with a fever. My forehead appeared to be aglow with my way too high temperature, yet I remember lying in bed and shivering from how cold I felt. My mother gave me the same medication as she had countless times before when I had caught the flu, but it only got worse as time progressed. When the coughing started, I couldn't really sleep anymore and instead drifted in and out of consciousness. When I dreamed, I was plagued with oddly abstract nightmares.
One night, the coughing got so strong I could hardly catch my breath anymore. Upon hearing my wheezing screams, my mother came running for my room. She took my temperature and appeared to panic when looking at the thermometer.
"We need to get you to the hospital," she explained as she pulled me out of bed and quickly helped me put on some clothes. She then picked me up and carried me over to the car, guiding me onto the backseat and wrapping me in a blanket she had taken with her.
Driving along the dark road, I trembled under my covers. I was feeling incredibly weak, even keeping my eyes open was exhausting. I felt myself slowly drifting off into a light slumber. And that's when I heard his voice.
**"Don't be afraid."**
I winced. My mother glanced back at me from the driver's seat.
**"Aren't you tired?"**
"Yes," I whispered.
**"Don't worry. Come along and I'll put you to bed."**
"What do you mean?" I uttered.
**"Come home with me."**
"Where's your home?"
**"I'll show you."**
"Who are you talking to, honey?" My mother's voice cut through my haze, the deep concern in it audible even though she tried to suppress it. I didn't respond.
**"Come now. I'll put you to bed and once you've rested, we can play some games together. I'll take good care of you. I'll have you meet my children. You'll get along well; I promise you'll never be on your own again."**
My fever had me light-headed and confused. I was barely conscious anymore. "I can't meet your family like this… I'm bad at making friends and they'll hate me."
**"Don't say that. We already love you. I'll dress you up like a princess."**
I remember smiling into my blanket. "I can be a princess?" My head was throbbing in pain. "Can I have a crown too?"
**"You can have anything you want."**
"What about mom and dad?"
**"What about them?"**
"They'll miss me, right?"
I saw my mother looking over her shoulder at me with wide, worried eyes. She appeared almost frightened. I hadn't realized that to her, it must have sounded like I was talking to myself. "Everything's gonna be okay, sweetheart," she assured me.
**"Don't even waste a thought on them. Maybe we should teach them to miss you. As of now, do you really think they appreciate you? They don't care. They don't love you. Not like I do."**
I hummed, sinking deeper into the car seat. His voice had a way of warming me up. It fought the cold; stopped me from shaking. I began to relax a little, the tension leaving my cramped body. "Will you come and pick me up?"
**"Yes!"** He sounded elated. **"Yes. I'll see you soon."**
With that, his voice disappeared and my eyes fluttered shut. When I woke up, I found myself standing on swaying legs, surrounded by very familiar looking tall trees. I was too stunned to even gasp. I had no idea how I could have possibly ended up in the grove again. The ashen clouds in the sky obscured the shining full moon. Suddenly, I felt large hands wrap around my shoulders, steadying me on my feet. I didn't have to turn around to know that it was the man in the dark cloak.
He knelt down behind me and extended his arm over my shoulder to point at a tree ahead of us. I felt his breath against my ear as he spoke. I remember being surprised at how cold it was.
"Right below this tree is the entrance to my home," he whispered. "Can you hear the voices of my daughters? They can't wait to meet you."
I squinted, trying to spot the entrance he was talking about. I strained my ears in an attempt to make out his daughters' voices, but all was silent, except for the rustling of the slight breeze in the autumn leaves. I took a step forward, towards the tree, reaching out to touch the bark. Everything about it looked normal. I turned around, meaning to tell him I couldn't see a thing, only to find that he had walked up behind me and bent down, his nose only inches away from my own. He laughed when he pushed me, sending me stumbling backwards.
I expected the back of my head to painfully collide with the tree trunk, but instead I just kept falling. The scream I had wanted to let out died in my throat and my eyes widened when I saw the man sweep up after me, the wide grin still on his face.
The world seemed to turn upside down as we fell.
I staggered when everything came to a halt again, the man in the cloak however stood firm on his feet, laughing as his cloak flew up and fluttered around him. He straightened it out and smiled, gesturing to our surroundings. This new place looked just like the grove we had just left. There was the same tree through which we had fallen, the same rocky path, except it all was lying in broad daylight.
"Welcome," the man from the grove said. "To my side of the world."
I was amazed. The sunlight was soft and warm and just bright enough not to sting my eyes. There was a gentle breeze blowing; it shook the leaves of the trees around us and caressed my skin. Before I knew it, I was surrounded by dozens of other girls. Some looked a bit older than me, some a bit younger, but each and every one of them was strikingly beautiful. They were smiling and giggling, tugging curiously on my arms, shirt and hair like they had never seen another child before.
"My daughters," the man from the grove explained curtly. "Take good care of her," he then told the girls.
He followed as his children led me away, laughing and talking excitedly. It was strange. I hadn't played with any kids my age in a long time, yet these girls were so nice to me. I couldn't help but enjoy myself. We started with a game of hide and seek. Their father watched us play from afar, casually leaning against a tree. I was the first one to seek, and while I was apprehensive at first, I soon found myself lost in the thrill of the game.
A sliver of blond hair here and a suppressed giggle there and in an instant, I had spotted one of the hiders behind a bush. I ran towards her and tapped her on the shoulder. "Found you!" I yelled. She squeaked and laughed as I pulled her to her feet. "What's your name by the way?" I inquired. The girl however shook her head and raised a finger to her lips, winking at me. "All names remain unspoken here," she said in a secretive tone.
Once I had found all the other girls as well, we went on to play tag. Our games lasted for hours it seemed, although I could hardly keep track of time with how much I was enjoying myself. The man's daughters' company was quickly filling a void within I had been ignoring for a long time. Eventually, they sat me down and began to take off my clothes. Their father kept his eyes on us, on *me*, but for some reason I felt no shame. They dressed me up in garments that resembled their own, picked flowers to weave a crown which they placed on my head. After they were done, the man in the dark cloak called us to his side.
He sat us down, his children gathering around him as he pulled me close. Sitting next to him felt oddly natural. Like he wasn't just *their* father, but mine as well. I felt like I belonged with them, *to* them, like I always had. I felt at home.
"Look at you." He nodded at my dress. "Are you having fun?" he asked me.
I told him I was and asked him if he would play with us sometime. He laughed. "I'm too old for that, don't you think? It makes me so happy you like it here."
Staring up at the sky, I blinked. The sun hadn't shifted its place at all. It was weird, I was certain a few hours had passed since we had arrived here. The man in the cloak followed my gaze and he chuckled. "You should know… the sun never sets on my side of the world."
It was this sentence that tore me out of my mindless bliss.
"Wait… when did we get here?" I asked.
A hint of anger washed over the man's face but was quickly replaced with the same pleasant expression as before. "A while ago," he replied.
"Like, how long?"
Again, he scowled at my prodding. He didn't respond. I swallowed, a bit unsettled. "I think I'd like to go home," I muttered carefully. The man in the cloak let out a high-pitched, forced sounding laugh.
"Nonsense, you only just got here." He reached out and pulled me onto his lap, running his fingers through my hair. "Besides, you're with us now. We are your new family, and you wouldn't just leave your family behind, would you?"
I shifted my weight uncomfortably, trying to slide off of his lap. "I really wanna go back to my mom and dad," I said quietly.
"Your mother and father don't care for you though," he answered in a low, sharp voice.
"Please, let me go back," I repeated, growing more uneasy by the second.
"But you *don't have* anywhere else to go," he hissed, his grip on my hair tightening as he pulled back my head. I let out a shrill whimper of pain and he reluctantly let go.
"Please!" I cried out, glancing around at the girls for help only to let out a gasp of shock. The formerly pretty, smiling maidens had turned into something else, something abhorrent. Their skin had turned gray and scabby, their eyes having narrowed to tiny, venomously shining slits and their small hands had hooked into claws. My head whipped back around to face the man holding me. There was nothing normal or pleasant about his face anymore.
I somehow managed to scramble to my feet, backing off as fast as I could. The man stood up, his cloak blown up by the wind as storm clouds rose to cover the bright sky. Driven by pure fear and instinct, I lurched forward and started to run.
"Where do you think you're going?"
The man's voice seemed to be coming from all around me, loud and booming.
"Leave me alone!" I shrieked, racing through the grove.
"You have nowhere to go! Come back here!"
I didn't talk back this time and only let out a wheezing sob in response. Gasping for air, I finally arrived at the tree we had fallen through, but before I could run towards it, my pursuer appeared out of thin air, blocking my path. The scowl had vanished from his face. He looked calm now, almost sad.
"So you really want to leave?"
I could only nod and stare at him, tears in my eyes and my chest heaving and falling rapidly.
"Do you think I'll let you? Didn't I promise you I'd never leave you to fend for yourself again? Do I need to employ force to keep you here?"
"Please," I uttered, my voice trembling almost as much as my hands.
He let out a howl of fury, a sound I cannot fathom to this day, and swept up to me, grabbing me by the neck and yanking me towards him.
"You want to abandon me, after all I've done for you? I offered you a home, I offered you a family, I offered you friends, love, and you dare to refuse?" he growled through gritted teeth. White foam had collected in the corners of his mouth and was now running down his chin.
"Please," I whimpered once again.
His heavy panting made me hold my breath. He raised his fist like he was going to bring it down onto my face, but opened his hand at the very last second and pulled away. His face stayed uncomfortably close to my own as he began to speak in a very low voice again.
"You're going to listen very closely to what I'm about to tell you now. I may be inclined to let you leave, but that doesn't mean I'll forget about you. Or that I'm going to let *you* forget about *me*."
He straightened up and gestured towards the tree. "Run along now, brat. Pray that I don't change my mind."
A group of kids found me in the grove on their way to school the following day–a little girl in a torn golden dress with petals tangled up in her hair, unconscious on the ground. The same girl who had been reported missing from her hospital room three months prior.
It took me a long time to learn to live with what had happened to me. It didn't help that when I told everyone my story, they chalked it up to a child's way of reacting to severe trauma. I don't blame them to be honest, but at the time, it wasn't a comfort knowing that nobody believed me. While my therapist would listen to me recount everything in detail without prodding or telling me outright it was nonsense, I could tell she was just as sceptical as the police and my parents had been.
I never forgot about the man from the grove, his daughters or his side of the world. I had frequent panic attacks and even hallucinated him standing in darkened corners or outside the house come nightfall sometimes, his cloak wrapped tightly around his shoulders as he eyed me from a distance. At least I prayed they were hallucinations.
It was only today that it happened. It's been twenty years since then.
Phil and I got married not too long ago and we're actually newly expecting. His job requires him to be on the move a lot, but last week was the first time he had to leave after our wedding. It was weird, having the house all to myself. I work from home so I didn't have much reason to go out despite maybe shopping for groceries or the occasional meeting with a friend. I spent my lonely hours watching tv, cleaning and sleeping a lot. Phil thankfully arranged for this to be his last trip before the arrival of our child so he wouldn't leave my side from the moment he'd return home. We were both really looking forward to our time together.
This morning, I basically just got up, had breakfast and laid back down. I almost jumped when I felt a hand snake its way around my hip. I whirled around to find Phil next to me in bed, grinning awkwardly.
"Hey. Sorry I startled you. I just wanted to surprise you."
"You're back already? I thought you were gonna be away for another day or so."
My husband gave me a weary smile. "I got some things done sooner than expected and caught an earlier plane. How have you been?"
"Lonely," I confessed.
His smile grew wider and he moved up to wrap his arms around me. "Well, I'm here now. I'm so glad. I couldn't have left you on your own for another day. Or well… you two."
"We're glad to see you again," I answered jokingly.
There was a soft, warm look on his face when he murmured, "I can't wait to meet our baby."
"Me too," I replied, snorting. He laughed quietly and I smiled and buried my head against his shirt. "I missed you," he muttered.
"Don't ever leave again, okay?" I said jokingly, running my hand through his hair.
He chuckled, shook his head and winked. "Never."
After a little while of resting in each other's arms, I excused myself for a quick shower. Phil blew me a kiss when I walked out of our bedroom and I giggled. When I returned from my shower however, a towel wrapped around me and still busy drying off my hair, he was gone.
"Phil?" I called out, expecting him to shout back from somewhere downstairs. But all was silent.
"Honey?" I tried again. Still nothing.
Suddenly, I heard my phone ring in one of my nightstand drawers. I rushed to answer it, only to find that it was my husband calling.
"Phil?" I began before he could even say a word. "Where are you?"
When he answered, he sounded a bit confused, but generally very regretful. "Hey baby. Yeah, because of that… things are going a bit slow and I might not be able to catch the plane tomorrow. I'm really sorry, but hey, I'll make up for it! How about when we get back, I take you out for dinner to that nice little…"
That was the last thing I heard before my phone slid out of my trembling hand. I followed soon after, crumbling to my knees as my head began to spin and I started to cry.
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