Chapter Two

When I awoke, the light of the room peirced my eyes, my head throbbed, and my stomach was as if I had swallowed nails. I looked around myself; I wasn’t very sure where I was. From the couch I was laying on, I could see there were bookshelves, a chair, and a table. A living room maybe? There was no TV, I couldn’t be exactly sure. I sat up straight, holding my forehead in both my palms; I felt terrible and I was barely awake. Sitting up helped me to focus a little more, however that’s when I noticed the tapestries with weird language on them all around me. True terror began to settle in.

My head quickly pieced together what was going on and my memory refreshed; it must have been my neighbor that walked up to me in the woods after falling from the tree. They must have brought me here, and the thought that a stranger took me into their house on their own had the nails in my stomach spinning once again. My head spun so bad already from being drunk, but now panic also started to settle in. I shook badly. The only thoughts going through my head were that I was in my sketchy neighbor's house, and  I needed to get out. 

    I stood up, still holding my head with one hand. My heart pounded so hard, I could see it in my vision and hear it my ears. Looking around now, I could see a hallway to my right that led to a door. I barely smiled to myself and thought “EXIT!” as I began to quickly, but quietly head to the door. Just as my nerves were slightly calming, and I was beginning to breathe again, I heard footsteps from behind me and voices I couldn’t make out whatsoever. I felt my whole body shake again as I turned around, seeing a staircase to the left of the couch. 

As two shadows came down the stairs I had somehow managed to not notice, I bolted to the door. I had never felt fear like this in my life, I just wanted to leave this house; to go home. Though I felt confident in running away, I was still sick; wobbling as I ran, knocking over a coat rack next to the door trying to use it for balance. 

I swung the door open, hitting the wall as well as knocking down whatever was hanging there. I didn’t care at all, because as I left that house I saw the two people coming my way. I yelled, slamming the door back shut, now actively sprinting back to my house. My front door was locked, but we always kept our cellar door unlocked for our dog. Running around the back, reaching the door, opening it, getting inside, and hauling it closed only took about 20 seconds; but every second felt as if it were an hour. My shaky, sweaty hands didn’t help. 

Catching my breath for a second in the basement, I went back upstairs into my house, quietly shutting the door inside and locking it. I glanced around MY living room, so thankful the situation I was in was over. I even started laughing out loud when I realized how truly mortified I was only minutes ago, and the how relief I felt was almost cleansing. I ran up to my room, taking off my shoes at my door. Crawling into bed, I decided this would stay with only myself, and no one needed to know about it right now.

The next morning I woke up around noon was very relieved that it was Saturday. I could hear Mark in his room playing video games, and it smelt like my mother was cooking lunch. I laid in bed and looked out my window over to the house. I relived last night in my head, my heart pounding at the thought of how scared I was. The whole thing felt like a dream; especially because it didn’t seem like the neighbor’s told my parents this morning. When I finally got up and out of bed, I realized I never changed from my dirty clothes the night before. Changing into my bathroom, I headed down to the bathroom. “Good morning Miss Mila!” My mother almost sang to me as she saw me walk past the kitchen. I just smiled waved, heading into the bathroom to get ready for my day. 

“Do you want to eat anything, Mi?” my mother asked me. My stomach was still off from last night; whether it be from the alcohol, falling out of the tree, or being so frightened. “Nah, not today. I think I’m just going to wait until later.” She gave me a look, but nodded. I walked back up to my room, I needed some time to relax today, my head was so full of confusion and fright, not to mention my stomach killed. I laid on my bed watching TV when I heard sirens fly by the house; cops and ambulances. Mark ran into my room repeatedly saying “Turn on the news!!”. After fumbling around for the remote, he took it and changed it to the local news. We sat and listened. 

“A Parent's Worst Nightmare: Local college student John Camball was home visiting his parents with his girlfriend, Mary Kathleen, when both mysteriously vanished late last night walking home from the diner on Broad Street. Their bodies were found merely hours ago by authorities, mangled almost beyond recognition, in the woods not far from Ramlock. Police say they have yet to discover who or what could have done this…” 

I reached over, snatching the remote back, turning the TV off completely before letting my head fall into my hands. They were found in the woods! Right down the street from where I fell out of the tree! I felt chills going down my back. Maybe if my neighbors hadn’t brought me to their house, I would of been found in the woods this morning. I almost felt thankful they got me, before I remembered the terror I felt waking up in a complete stranger’s house.  Mark sat in silence at the foot end of my bed, staring at me. I could see confusion on his face; he was probably wondering why this had upset me so much. “Let’s go see if mom knows.” We went to speak to her downstairs, but she held her hand up in our direction for us to be silent, as she was watching the news. We had no choice but to listen as well. 

“..police also say that the two survivors from the cliff falling disappeared around the same time the college students wents missing. No evidence can be found at this time as to what could have happened to the missing men, nor what could have possibly caused such a horror on theses two students but...”

I was already in such a fragile mood that this news story put me right back on my nerves again. That could have easily been me last night, while I was stupidly and drunkenly trying to spy on my neighbors. The landline rang and made us all jump. My mother was quick to answer it. “Greg can you believe this? I was just talking to Donn a about John’s graduation next semester. How could this happen; why did it happen..?” her voice shook as she spoke to my step-father on the phone. I sat on the couch balled up and holding my legs crossed to my chest, thinking of how thankful I was to not have been lying alone in the woods all last night. I could have been one of these people on the news. My mother was crying in the kitchen talking to Greg on the phone. Imagine how upset she’d be if one of them were me? I vowed to not go out at night anymore, especially for something so immature and sneaky. 

Greg came home from work a half hour later. He and my mother just sat in the living room. Not speaking, just watching the news. I leaned on the archway between the living room and the kitchen, watching the news while reading about it online. I saw that dozens of people went on search parties on the mountains either to look for the two men that also went missing, or to find answers to the two students that were brutally killed. I scrolled down the article only to find pictures of the students. My stomach turned and I dry heaved slightly, closing the app and locking my phone. What was happening here and what could cause such utter destruction?

Author's Note

Please let me know how you feel about about this chapter, ignoring any bad grammar or spelling. This is a first, rough draft. I welcome any new ideas on future chapters, and I'm very open to constructive criticism. Thank you all! (currently working on chapter three, so it may take awhile!)