Chapter 8: She's Done This Before
The leaves began to fall from the trees and my two and half mile journey home was somehow melancholic. My grandmother was a gentle woman with more love to give than anyone else in my family. My mother and I weren't on speaking terms because of the relationship I had with my Grandmother. I was the favourite and my mother a disappointment.
The lack of relationship shared between my mother and I caused a rift in the family. My older brother moved in with my mom, leaving my sister and me in the care of my father. He was a troubled man, but did what he could to keep us fed.
I believe my melancholy stemmed from my Grandmother's health, she had become very sick within a matter of three days and hadn't improved since, that was six months ago. The doctor visited every week to check her blood pressure and top up her medication. They started intravenous pain relief last month.
I asked my dad for a ride the first few times I visited my grandmother because of our bond, she personally asked me to be her carer and come by a few days a week. I walked to and from her house three to four times a week and spent my spare time reading.
On my walks, I followed a long road and after two miles took a sharp right and walked five minutes through my neighbourhood. A back road which truck drivers and families on vacation often utilized to cut their trip by thirty to forty minutes.
My Grandmother worried about the idoit teens who broke the speed limit on that road and made me call home before setting out on my journey. It was always my sister who answered the phone during the day. Dad worked from seven to ten, five days a week. Which was why I wasn't worried when a car, similar to my uncle's pulled up beside me.
I was under the impression my uncle had stopped by when I called. He might've offered to pick me up and save me the lengthy trip. However, my sister typically answered in one word statements and hung up. Naively believing the hypothetical situation, I conjured up, I didn't hesitate to lean on the passenger door.
Once the window was rolled down, I never had time to react. The back-passenger door slid open and a man in a black mask attacked me; dragging me into the vehicle.
My Grandmother lived in a quiet neighbourhood with little to zero crime. These men were a part of the one-percent and I was the unfortunate soul they'd set their sights on.
I fought and screamed. The masked man cupping my mouth with a cloth soaked in chemicals. My wrists hurt and knees were pinned. It didn't take long for my body to become heavy and my eyes to uncontrollably flutter shut.
I awoke in a chilly room. The windows misted with condensation and my clothes muddied. The curtains were brown and mouldy. A thick scent of grass or moss lingered in the air; something I remembered distinctly from my first middle school trip to the Wyvern Forest, home to Wyvern Whale Camp.
I'd never gone to the woods for a camping trip or family adventure. I wasn't wilderness savvy, and I frequently got lost in supermarkets or the city mall. Which was why I was extra scared to go outside, although, it was better than waiting for the men to follow through with the rest of their plan.
I crept out of bed and looked in the closet. There was nothing warm, only a woman's dress and some tiny old shoes. I pulled the black gown over my clothes and attempted to unlock the bedroom window. It was sealed shut.
I had to be brave and open the bedroom door. I knew I had to be extra quiet, they wouldn't let me try to escape again if I was caught. The light click of the doorknob was the equivalent of a bomb going off.
I almost couldn't bring myself to open it out of fear of being faced with my captors; the driver had dark hair which had started going grey, he must've been late thirties to early forties. The backseat passenger was a blur, like a dark shadow blending into the night.
Every floorboard that didn't make a sound made my heart sink deeper into my stomach. A single croak could seal my fate; this prompted me to take medical precision when unlocking the wooden framed window.
The window slid open with worrisome ease, limb by limb I climbed out and silenced my groans of discomfort.
"There ain't no other way to go about it, she's going to put up a fight." a gravelly voice spoke loudly.
"Shit." I fought against the terrain on my hands and knees. Throwing myself through the trees.
Turning my head, I felt their eyes following me, my gut instinct telling me to get to the edge of the forest. I knew, regardless of where I'd been taken, someone would see me frantically waving my arms in the middle of the road or, at least, drive to the nearest police station and report what they'd seen.
"Agh!" I whined.
A branch caught my laces as I twisted on my toes. The ground was an ocean of protruding roots. I could barely believe my eyes when I crawled towards the largest bump and discovered a person. They were bones, nothing but pure white almost crystallized bones.
The trees were ancient; the bark had moss and flowers from the base to what I could see of the tree tops; if someone had died here, they were long before my time. I feared there'd be more bones to uncover.
The trees were abnormally large, as if a magician had cast a spell and expanded them by two to three metres. I was lucky that my body was just slim enough to slip through the gaps.
The distance from the cabin and the outside world made doubt to creep into the back of my mind, especially when daylight started to fade. I feared I would be permanently locked away in this forestry maze of overgrown roots, sticky vines and nettles.
Nature was a deadly mistress, if the men didn't capture me, she'd surely devour whatever was left of my exhausted being. I didn't want it to get to that point, to be bones welded between tree trunks. I wanted to survive and see my grandmother's smile again. A small part of me wished my Dad would come find me, he'd never acted like a parent but, I loved him nonetheless.
I walked until sunset. I could barely see in front of me, the darkness was making the trees merge if the moon's light hadn't slipped through the cracks; I wouldn't know my left from my rights.
I used my hands and feet as safety detectors whenever I wandered through a dark patch of trees. My gut telling me to follow the moonlight that sieved through the trees in a somewhat wonky line.
'Blonde hair?' I believed my eyes were deceiving me. The anomaly statue stiff.
I took three steps and waited a few seconds before venturing closer. I hadn't seen anyone or anything since escaping the cabin but it didn't look like the back of a man's head, the 'hair' was too shiny.
"I have a weapon, if you let me pass through, you won't be bothered by me again. Raise your hand if you understand me?" I called out. Grabbing a medium sized rock, I held with both hands.
The figure slowly turned to look at me, the light hitting her face as she turned, it was a little girl no older than ten. I dropped the rock and hurried to her side. She had no identifiable marks but she was muddy on her hands and feet.
"Hey. I'm sorry if I scared you, are you alright? You must be freezing." I tore off the bottom of my stolen dress and wrapped it around her neck loosely.
She remained silent as I tucked the DIY scarf into her dark red dress. The lack of emotion in her eyes unnerved me; what happened to this little girl?
"How did you end up here? Do you remember?" She didn't respond.
I tried to get a word out of her for what felt like ten minutes. I thought she might've been mute or deaf. Until she half-smiled at me when I asked if she would like to join me on my journey. I held out my hand and she stared at me. I brushed it off with a smile and walked alongside her.
We weren't disturbed for what, I believe, was an hour; the lack of conversation only added to the uncomfortable ambience. My curiosity subsided when I hit a mental wall.
She didn't need to tell me why, how or when because she was a child. She was meant to be far away from this horrifying place which saddened me to think she might have been abandoned here or, my captors were to blame.
We reached a drop in the terrain, which thankfully flattened out. When I went to lift the little girl down from the ledge of dirt, I heard something.
"Wait?" I whispered.
My eyes attempted to pierce through the darkness. It sounded similar to shoes scuffing on stones or twigs. It could've been a deer or heir. This was their territory although I hadn't seen or heard any animals since the cabin.
At first, the light breeze was the only bothersome sound until something lightly crunched to the east. It was far too subtle to be a fawn or deer. I immediately grabbed the girl and sprinted through the trees.
The terrain was still plagued with protruding roots. I slowed my sprint to a jog and held the kid in my arms. She held tight, her head resting in the curve of my neck.
I took a sharp turn to the left and hid in a small hole in the dirt. I held my breath, rubbing the girl's back, every footstep turning my stomach. The girl started to fuss in my arms, her icy hands gripping my shoulders as she attempted to get comfortable. I let her fuss because she wasn't making any noise but I was worried about her.
"Are you okay?" I whispered. Her breath heavy against my neck.
She remained silent. The men ventured in the opposite direction and disappeared into the darkness. We momentarily embraced, knowing we'd escaped their clutches filled me with newfound hope. I diverted my attention for five seconds and it happened. Something from the nine circles of hell shattered my version of reality.
"What the fuck!" I shoved her off my lap and compressed my neck. My porcelain skin was soiled by blood. "What did you do?" I screamed.
Her doll-like features remained but her mouth, it was no longer plain and void of emotion. She was smiling, her cheeks had puffed up her eyes, she was grinning that hard.
The little psycho inched towards me, her hands relaxed, and twisted expression remained unchanged. I was scared, more scared of her than the men chasing us. She had ripped into my neck with her baby-teeth.
'How can a child have that much strength?'
She was tiny, like a Russian doll, as if she would tip over with the slightest push and shatter into a million pieces. I wanted to believe she was a figment of my imagination because there was no way she'd actually torn through my skin.
"I'm sorry if I frightened you… let's get out of here? I bet your mommy and daddy are looking for you." I tried to de-escalate the situation.
She was only a child. How hard could it be to convince her to follow me? There was nowhere else for her to go and I'd keep her safe from our kidnappers. I wanted her to stop freaking me out before I lost too much blood and died in this terrible place.
I tore off part of my dress and tied it around my neck. The nod of her head caused me to sigh with relief. She held out her hand and I took it. The surface was slightly warmer than before, which unnerved me because she was cold until she consumed my blood.
Turning my head, I looked down to see her eyes glued to mine. She was smiling from ear to ear, I loosened my grip as she opened her mouth, her teeth ripping into my skin. My screams echoed throughout the forest, she sounded like a wounded creature with perforated lungs; the wheezing loud and whistling.
"Get the fuck off me!" Stumbling to the ground, she climbed my legs and went for my jugular. Her teeth were the human equivalent of a shredder.
Tossing and tumbling into a ditch in the trees, there was a light thump. My eyes were heavy. I turned onto my side and threw up my breakfast. I hadn't thought about food since I left my grandmothers, she must've been terrified when she heard the news. I knew she cared about me, she might have called her friends and got a search party together.
I trusted her with my life, which was what gave me the strength to climb out of the ditch and start running. I knew the trees would thaw out. I just had to hold on until then and make sure I stayed away from that vampiric-child.
The time I'd spent in this godforsaken place had become fuzzy, although the moon was still high in the sky, its white hue was brighter than ever. Every time I thought the sky had lightened, I was deceived by a wild star sparkling through the atmosphere. I wanted to go home and see my sister. I missed her laugh and super cheesy, unfunny jokes which always made her snort.
To hear those wonderful things would bring tears to my eyes. I wouldn't give up. My body numb in obvious places and my hand wasn't working. If I had to climb my way out, I'd be doing it in agony. It didn't depress me that my hand was unsalvageable. If a doctor were to look at it right now, they'd amputate without hesitation; that shark-faced kid had ripped my hand in half.
"Arghh!" a screeching roar pierced my eardrums.
Turning on the spot, a stomach high shadow came sprinting towards me, her features blacked out by the darkness. Her movements were animalistic. I ran as fast as physically possible, it felt like I was being hunted by a rabid dog.
I wailed out in unimaginable pain. My calf muscle ripped off the bone.
Whimpering during my struggle to crawl from the child, I pleaded and prayed for the angels to save me from this nightmare. My body was leaking blood like a water fountain and the girl sat at my feet eating the first of my muscles.
I pushed myself up against a tree, the moonlight hit my mutilated limbs. The sight was almost peaceful, I was seeing double and my eyes were becoming heavy.
The saddest part of my last moments was the ironic feeling of gratitude for the kid being the one to hunt me down and end my life. The men would have committed many unthinkable crimes before putting me out of my misery. As twisted and deluded as it sounds, I wasn't angry with the girl, she was cursed with a disease.
Realistically, I was only frightened by her. It was true that I didn't want to die, not yet at least, however, my fate was sealed the second I was dragged into that van.
I attempted to sit up straight, the girl crawling towards me as I opened my arms to her. She climbed onto my lap and rested her head on my chest. She was warm. I was at ease knowing she wouldn't freeze to death, however, the reason for her condition improving, was no more horrifying than before.
I let my eyes close and rested my head. Humming a soft song while holding her close, the cold faded and my body relaxed. I could feel my breathing slow and heart beat.
I was at peace knowing the men did not find the little girl even in death, she was safer in my dying clutches than their soiled confinement.
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