Life is easy and life is simple. A loud thud from the bedroom door hitting the wall had jolted Jinar awake. He looked around the room and saw nothing of interest, nothing to suggest the door had been opened by anyone recently, maybe it was open all along, at least that would have been Jinar’s first thought if it were not for the sound of muffled laughter coming from the hallway.
Jinar sat up slowly, still being careful to hold his blanket in one hand while using his other to prop himself up and begin to drag himself out of the bed. “I know it’s you Ivan! Quit playing around!” Jinar thought he sounded so brave, but his voice wavered, his chattering teeth betrayed him revealing how close he was to crying. Singing began washing into the room in slow waves before the room was brimming with cheer and warmth.
While Jinar was first filled with fear and annoyance his mood had quickly changed to a big smile slapped across his face. His family had begun filling in, one by one. First it was Ivan, his older brother, who was trying to get a laugh out of Jinar but failed. Next his mom, Danica, who was holding a camera, ready to capture every moment of this significant day. Then it was his dad, Albert, and Thomas who walked in with a towering cake that had 12 bright candles atop it.
The cake was a three-tier cake, the first layer was a white vanilla, the second tier was pink strawberry, and the last but biggest layer was rich brown chocolate. It was clear that Albert had been the main designer of the cake since Jinar had told him the chocolate was his favorite only after learning that it was Albert’s favorite.
At first it was not clear and a bit strange to why Ivan had a wired half smile while singing. Once Ivy and Willow walked in the room with some neatly wrapped presents it was clear, Ivan was just trying to look his best in front of Willow.
The last note had begun to fade, but Jinar’s focus was not on the cake. It was on his friends and family. “Make a wish son!” Albert said, his voice was bubbling with glee. It was the gentle reminder that he needed. Jinar’s eyes passed over all the people he loved in his life and focused on the 12 lit candles. He took in a sharp but shallow breath and blew out the candles.
The warm embrace in the shape of cheering filled the room. Jinar would tear up just from the thought of expressing his love in the moment so instead he just laughed. “What did you wish for?” Willow asked as she placed her present on the edge of the bed. Ivy, while being overwhelmed by all the loud noises, still wore a big smile for Jinar. She followed Willow’s lead and put her present down next to the other and grabbed Willow’s hand which was already instinctively held out for her.
“You know I can’t say!” Jinar laughed as his gaze softly shifted towards Thomas. He used the convenient rule as a cover. How could he say that his wish was for her to stay here forever, for her to be his big sister.
Albert and Thomas waddled out of the room with the cake to put it on the kitchen table. “You know it would’ve been a dumb wish for like candy or something, right?” Ivan laughed a little too hard at his own dumb joke, he was sure to watch Willow as he made the joke. Willow gave him a pity chuckle before returning her gaze to Jinar as she shook her head. Danica flicked the back of Ivan’s ear; she then made him grab the two presents on the end of the bed and escorted him out following the cake. Jinar, Willow and Ivy laughed quietly as the lecture Ivan was receiving could still be heard.
Stacks of dirty paper plates and shredded wrapping paper filled the table. All the kids were huddled on the floor around the T.V. playing on a game console Jinar had received just moments ago. This gift was in gold wrapping paper that reflected Jinar’s eager face for he knew that gold ment this was the big gift this year.
Albert and Ivan had just made it back to the house from their daily one mile walk to check the mail. Albert held a thick stack of letters in one hand and a few more in his other. “Someone’s really famous.” He said jokingly placing the enormous stack next to Jinar. By the way Ivan strutted into the room it was clear the walk took little effort but when Albert shuffled into the kitchen it looked like he needed a minute to recover.
“This is that racing game yes. I heard it’s fun!” Ivan said taking a seat between Jinar and Willow. It was clear Ivan took the walk well but still let off a steady stream of BO which made Jinar’s nose recoil.
“It really is! Here why don’t you try!” Jinar said handing his controller over to Ivan. Ivan took the remote and instantly started to get into the game. Even after Jinar got up Ivan refused to move any further away from Willow, there knees were just inches from touching and that thought was what Ivan was really focused on.
With the thick stack of letter Jinar walked over to the table and stacked some of the plates and cleared a small space for him to open the letters. The first few were from people he expected his grandparents from both sides, of course were on top of all the others because they would send them out earlier. Those were followed by more family sent letters that were sent more out of obligation. Jinar froze and stared at one in particular. It was from his uncle, Stein, the return address was smeared and all that could be made out was it came from somewhere in Russia.
Jinar opened the envelope and stared at the off white, folded up piece of paper that had several stains that almost looked like blood. ‘Hey kid, hope it’s a good day. Hope to see you soon. -From Stein’ Was all it said on the inside. After seeing that the writing was also in red Jinar passed off the earlier stains as the pen leaking and left it at that.
“Hey mom.” Jinar called out not taking his eyes off the letter. Danica sat up from her nap and walked hazily towards the table. Her mouth swung open as she peered over Jinar’s new letter. She quickly snatched the letter from him and rushed into the kitchen.
“Mom...” Jinar began before his words quickly shrank until they could not be detected anymore after Danica slammed the letter on the counter in front of Albert who was still reading the other letters he separated. Albert was startled at first but the way he reacted immediately after it was clear he understood what the problem was.
“How did your brother’s letter get here?” Albert asked, Danica shoot him a look that made him take the words back instantly. By this point all the kids were staring at the adults, the game running in the background causing everyone to get in the last four spots of the race.
“It was in the stack you gave our son. You are supposed to filter his letters out! We made it clear to my brother he was to have no contact with any of us anymore!” Danica huffed as she furiously ripped the letter to pieces before throwing them in the sink. She ran water over them as they filtered into the now running garbage disposal. The sound the machine let out could not match the fury that was behind Danica’s voice.
The next day Jinar was running through the woods with his friends, Willow, Thomas, and Ivy. The woods were all theirs and no one else’s, Jinar’s parents owned the land the forest was on, so this was their safe space. So much so they built a tree house, a base of operations for all their games or just a safe space for them. They would call it a ‘treehouse’ but in reality, it was planks pulled from a barn deeper in the forest that was halfway collapse, that were then thrown into the tree. The forest and a little bit of child force were the deciding factor to which planks stayed in the tree since they were not allowed to use any tools. There was luckily a row of thick branches that led up to the tree house that they were able to use as a ladder.
This house and forest used to belong to someone else, Jinar’s dad said they were something like tree doctors. They would work with trees in the area that were getting sick, and, on the side, they grew a whole forest to sell trees.
When Jinar first heard about the previous owners he thought of an old married couple in matching scrubs ready to collect the trees insurance or an old man going to the gas station down the street with a sign saying saplings for sell like someone would do with puppies. More recently Jinar was extremely disappointed to discover that they were only normal looking old people who grew trees and the customers would come here to pick the ones they wanted.
Sure, the towering pine trees had some deliberate space between them but imagining a lot of people walking through this forest was hard because of how overgrown the rest of the plants were and how many roots were reaching out of the dirt as if they were trying to grab your feet.
Jinar just turned 12 yesterday, he was still wearing the biggest smile he could since his parents got him the newest gaming console and had allowed him and Thomas to stay up to the extremely late time of 11pm the night before to play it. Ivy and Willow had to leave yesterday around 7pm to get home before sundown. Their house was only 3 miles away and their bikes would make that seem short but there have been a lot of wild animals coming out lately.
“To slow!” Willow exclaimed as she was the first to reach the base of their tree house. She had her tongue out and half of her face was scrunched up like she just ate something sour but that was her best attempt to make a funny face to taunt the others.
“These two were slowing me down, that’s not fair!” Ivy pouted crossing her arms. Ivy was the youngest out of all of them so the two oldest boys were usually put in charge of making sure Ivy was safe but since Willow was the oldest, they could not dream of trying to contain her.
“Ivy, you heard what my mom said. There was some animal my dad saw running back here last night on one of his walks so we’re lucky to be able to come out here today.” Jinar tried to reason with Ivy but all he managed to do was make her cling more to his side out of fear.
“My brother said he saw one of those animals before when he was taking out the trash. He said it was a big mountain of fur and claws and teeth and had almost ripped him apart!” Thomas said lifting his arms in the air pretending he was a bear or something. Jinar shoot him a look to stop talking and once Thomas heard Ivy softly crying, fighting bravely to not let one tear loose he understood.
“I’m only kidding Ivy; my mom screamed at him for lying and scaring me with that story. After being grounded he admitted it was just a small thing like a deer or a few raccoons. If we’re lucky it can be a puppy!” Thomas said trying to name off a buzz word that he knew would make Ivy smile, a ‘puppy’ and it worked. She cracked a smile and loosened her grip from the back of Jinar’s shirt that had fresh snot on it.
Willow interrupted everyone by jumping in between all of them and poking Jinar in the shoulder. “Alright Jinar, you’ll be it first!” She said laughing and grabbing Ivy by the hand and started to run from the tree. Ivy didn’t know why she was laughing but she was always considerate to laugh at everyone’s dumb jokes.
A snapping twig filled the air with silence. No birds dared to chirp and even the squirrels, that would normally dart out of the corners of children’s eyes stealing any amount of anything they can find, were gone now. The air grew stale as the wind had stopped blowing, the deafening silence made it so each child could hear their heart trying to beat out of their chest. With each of their heads recoiling at the same time it was clear the smell, so revolting that it could only be rivaled by a moldy PB&J, hit them all at the same time. Willow froze mid step and turned her head towards the other two, the noise came from behind them. Jinar didn’t have it in him to turn around, all he could do was watch Willow’s face and see what her reaction was.
Willow’s face was at first pale white from the initial shock; it contrasted so well with her short, jet-black hair that it looked as if she was a ghost but then was quickly flush with color again once she caught the culprit of the sound. “There’s a deer right behind you Thomas.” She whispered trying not to scare the animal. Out of the corner of his eyes Jinar could see Thomas was still frozen in fear. Jinar took a slow and deep breath gathering what courage he could. He loosened his muscles which were still flexing out of fear and began turning his head, slowly.
Jinar cracked a half smile when he saw Willow was right. The deer was about the size of Thomas. The deer was light brown with speckles of white around its sides, it had small antlers that looked pencils. Its eyes were so big it was hard to believe he couldn’t see any white in them even though the deer was three feet from him. The deer was nibbling on the back of Thomas’ shirt.
“What’s wrong with its stomach?” Ivy asked in a not hushed voice causing the deer’s head to shoot up. Jinar followed the deers eyes but after hearing something about the deers stomach his eyes started to trail down the deers body. She was right, something was wrong with the deer.
Three long, dark red, things were hanging down between its front two legs. They were reflecting what sunlight that was brave enough to enter this forest. Jinar’s eyes must’ve been deceiving him because he could’ve sworn, they were moving around as if the deer had an octopus on its chest that is trying its best to borrow its way into the deers chest cavity only getting halfway deep before we interrupted it. Before anyone could get a better look the deer bolted away off into the distance disappearing in seconds. As if the deer were the cause of the suffocating silence and the eye watering smell all the sound returned at once like a flood and the smell lingered just a little longer before it to vanished. Thomas still was frozen in the same spot not daring to move but relaxed when Jinar placed his now shaking hand on Thomas’ shoulder.
“Wait! The rules are ‘Whoever touches the tree last is it.’” Jinar said crossing his arms not letting any bit of emotion form from his mouth, but he knew he had them since his hand was placed firmly on one of the branches they used as a ladder to get to the tree house. Jinar knew that if he smiled at this triumph that the flood of other emotions he was holding back right now would be unleashed. He just had to keep a confident face and eventually what just happened would disappear from his memory. This made Ivy visibly upset since everyone saw Willow next to the tree when she beat them all there and now Thomas grabbed the next closest branch to Jinar’s, his hand was still shaking uncontrollably to the point where Thomas couldn’t keep his hand up for long.
“That’s not fair!” Ivy screamed, shaking off any bit of fear she felt while stomping her feet, kicking up some dirt. Ok, to be fair, it wasn’t that fair. Ivy was always it since the two in charge of her would never let her run ahead of them.
“Sure, those are the rules. But you’re in charge of her, so you’re it. Besides you’re never it anyways.” Willow said grabbing Ivy’s hand once more and disappearing from view behind the underbrush within seconds before Jinar could try and argue.
Jinar let out a sigh of frustration as he placed his hands on his hips feeling that was all he could do. After a few seconds he turned around to face the tree and count down when he realized Thomas was still there by the tree. Thomas was staring off into the distance so intently that it seemed he was trying to count the number of pine needles in a tree. “Hey Thomas.” Jinar said gently, causing Thomas to violently jerk awake.
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“Why don’t you hide, ok? I’ll be it first and I’ll be sure to find Willow first, so she has to be it next time.” Jinar tried desperately to remind Thomas he is ok. Thomas nodded his head and without a word he began walking in the opposite direction Willow and Ivy went. The direction he took was more open and Jinar could see him even after a minute of him stumbling away tripping over every root and rock that was in his path. After he finally took a random left and vanished from the path Jinar turned to face the base of the treehouse and covered his eyes and began counting down from ten.
“Ten…Nine…Eight…” Jinar started. Once he started, he was confident and consistent with his numbers but as he continued, he stopped and took longer pauses than normal since a whispering was very distracting for him. “S... Seven?” He continued.
“The ruins… the red moon...” The voice whispered causing all the hairs to stand on end.
“Wait. Who’s there?” He asked uncovering his eyes and looked about but just saw the still forest, the wind had stopped, and a shiver was running up his spine. He knew he heard someone. Maybe it was Willow trying to mess with him but her over confidence will lead to her being found first.
“Six…Five…Four…” Jinar started again gaining confidence again knowing Willow was going to make this round go quickly.
“Three...” As soon as those words left his lips the whispering came back but this time louder. As if someone was standing right next to him screaming in his ear.
“The body becomes the mass, and the mass fuels the cause… but why is it so cold...” The voice asked.
Without a word this time he whipped his face towards the voice but still there was nothing. Jinar then had the brilliant idea to just keep his eyes open as he finished counting since he only heard a whisper when they were shut. It really must’ve been the wind playing tricks on him. It’s not really cheating since everyone should be out of eyesight now. “Two and one. Here I come!” Jinar screamed not leaving a single breath or space in between his words now.
Jinar took one deep breath and stepped away from the tree house into the darkness that were the shadows casted by the other trees. His feet almost gave out from under him as he tripped over rocks, he usually was careful and would watch where he was walking but his eyes were fixed on the horizon.
“Ivy...” The same voice from before was whispering in Jinar’s ear. But this time it was different, Jinar could determine a direction it was coming from now. Just over there to the left was a small ditch that had a circle of trees surrounding it, that’s where Ivy was hiding.
Jinar crept closer one step at a time. Now that he had his destination in sight he didn’t have to watch where he was heading, he just had to make sure he didn’t step on anything or make a sound.
“We gotta be quiet Ivy. It will find us if you don’t.” A hushed voice filled the air. That must be Willow, they didn’t want to hide alone so they must be sticking together. Snapping back to reality Jinar let a smirk crawl across his face as he took bounds towards them. They were making this too easy for him. They knew he was close on their trail but there’s no hiding now. This is Jinar’s forest, he knew every hiding spot and that was why he was never it.
“But I don’t want to play anymore. Can’t we just go back to the tree house?” Ivy whined breaking all the silence that remained. Something was wrong, Jinar knew Ivy was older, but she wasn’t dumb. Why was she being so loud?
“Hey guys, I found you so it’s ok to come out. Are you ok?” Jinar said but heard no words in response, just dirt being moved around. Now he was really worried. Ivy wouldn’t ignore him like that.
Picking up the pace Jinar began stepping on roots and snapping them under his boots to maybe get a reaction out of them. Maybe they just didn’t hear him. The place they were hiding was just behind this tree. He placed both hands against the trunk and leaned to the side to look over.
“Ivy...” Jinar said but the word froze halfway out of his mouth and shattered against the ground to a thousand pieces. There he saw Ivy curled into a ball laying in Willows lap; they were both shaking. None of them noticed Jinar, their eyes were fixed to something off to the right.
“Is that...?” Jinar said as he watched what seemed to be the deer from before but now it was climbing one of the near by trees, just 20 feet away, as if it were some man in a costume. Its limbs were snapping like thin ice as they bent into impossible angles. Just then the loudest crack filled the air followed by little but still sharp cracks as the deer turned its head slowly, scanning the area and its gaze was heading towards Jinar. Before the two could lock eyes Willow jumped up and pulled Jinar down into their hiding spot.
Willow didn’t say a thing; she just had her finger pressed firmly against her lips that paralleled with the fresh tears rolling down her cheeks. A thick thud followed by a loud scream that sounded like a man came from the deer as it fell to the ground from the tree it climbed. The smell of the rotting PB&J started to come back in a slow roll, but after taking in a few more quick breaths between Jinar’s fingers that were sealing his mouth shut, he could feel it getting worse. Jinar had only smelled something so wretched once before when him and Thomas went into the barn when he first moved here, it was in the summer. At first, they weren’t sure what the smell was and only was able to identify it when the sun moved into the right position and the shadow of the door stretched just barely enough to display a dead raccoon at the other side of the barn. Half of its face missing and the other half covered in a blanket of ants.
Ivy was close to throwing up from the overwhelming smell and she probably would’ve covered Willow if it wasn’t for the sound of heavy footsteps just feet away from them now. It sounded like how a man would walk, one step and then another step. The only reason no one was relieved by this was the fact that they could still hear the limbs of the deer snapping into place just before and right after each step. The snapping and the occasional ripping sound, of what could only be described as someone accidentally ripping their strap to their backpack but louder, continued until they faded. With each step that was growing quieter Jinar’s breaths became slower and deeper.
“We need to go home and tell your mom!” Willow shouted in a hushed manor. The sound that escaped her lips was barely any louder than a toilet being flushed and was drowned out by the sound of Jinar’s heart that was now trapped in his throat. All he could do was shake his head a few times in agreement as he stared in the direction the deer went but couldn’t see much since he had no courage to look past the tree that was blocking his view completely. The sound of liquid hitting the ground violently, coming from Ivy, was the only thing to steal Jinar’s attention from the tree trunk.
“We have to go now.” Willow said patting Ivy’s back trying to sooth her after she had just thrown up her lunch, a pizza. Before Jinar could confidently take the lead, he had to get his bearings, but he lived in these woods, so it didn’t take long, only a few more deep, deliberate breaths and he was ready.
“Come on, this way.” Jinar said taking a slow pace in a direction he decided was right. Jinar’s hand felt cold for just a second and then wet, he found out it was just Ivy cleaning her lips with the back of his hand. This was the only option Ivy saw since Willow was holding her other hand. Jinar brushed some chunks of half of a pepperoni and some slivers of cheese off of his hand with a quick pass across the back of his jeans. Jinar forced the thought of throw up being on him away with every bit of attention he had to spare.
“Wait. Why are we headed towards the tree house? Your house is that way!” Willow said stopping dead in her tracks causing the train she helped make stop as well. Her body was stiff, and her feet were slowly turning back in the opposite direction from where they had been going. Jinar could see Willow’s whole body twitching away from the others direction seemingly uncontrollably, it was like her body was wanting to move in the direction it knew we needed to go but Willow needed someone to guide her. Ivy was swaying back in forth and could barely tell which way was up anymore, they both knew she was going to blow again.
“I know... but Thomas is out here still. We can’t just leave him out here.” Jinar plead with watery eyes. Willow and Ivy didn’t need convincing that none of them should be left behind, that they will always be there for one another. But this time was different, this time they were in serious danger. They needed to tell Jinar’s mom and his mom will call his dad or the cops or someone who would be a better option to actually help Thomas. But Willow pushed what she knew what to be right when she felt Ivy tugging onto her hand quickly.
“Thomas will be ok, right?” Ivy said with a half cry floating above her voice that faded in and out of soft crying. Willow tightened her grip on Ivy’s hand and nodded, tears were building all along the bottom eyelid of Willow and somehow, they were being held back until she took one long, deep blink sending the tears free to slide off her face and crash to the ground. The children trampled the tears as they marched towards the tree house. Each step they took towards the tree house seemed to make the shadows between the trees grow. The squirrels that remained in the area could be seen fleeing into the light, away from where these brave but naive children were heading.
Jinar retreated into his mind hoping to find the best memory he could to give him the courage he needed. The one memory he found was of that same day him and Thomas found the decaying raccoon in the barn. Jinar can still recall with great confidence how sad he was when they saw that dead animal. He may try and play it off as the smell was what made him so upset but Thomas knew it was seeing something dead. He knew Jinar cherished every life like it was precious and would try his best to make Jinar eventually smile and then they would later that night have a funeral for the raccoon, its head stone, that was made out of an extra shiny rock, would lay next to the barns entrance since they couldn’t drag the thing any further since the wind would cause them to almost vomit.
“Why is the flesh so cold...” A whisper slithered its way into Jinar’s ear, causing his shoulders to twist violently. The whispers were the only thing that could and did make Jinar stop. He quickly but sloppy looked around as this was becoming too much for him, his first glance at Willow and Ivy told him he was the only one that heard that.
“What’s wrong? Why did we stop?” Ivy’s words were slurred and shaky fighting through her nausea. Jinar raised her hand with his and placed it on the first rung to the ladder to the tree house.
“You two will wait up there, I will grab Thomas, and we will all run like hell out of here. Ok?” Jinar said lifting Ivy up to make her climb the tree faster. Ivy was ok with being able to not move so she slowly climbed the tree swaying left and right.
Willow knew Ivy would just slow them down and probably would get them caught by the deer by throwing up or crying aloud but she also knew Ivy couldn’t just be left behind alone. The words she wanted to say got caught behind clenched teeth so instead she did what she knew her body wouldn’t argue against and wrapped her arms around Jinar and she buried her face in his shoulder leaving Jinar’s shirt, yet again, with a new stain of her tears that she wouldn’t dare let anyone hear.
“His blood is so loud...” The voice screamed once again in Jinar’s ear causing him to peel Willow from his shirt giving her one last hopeful but worried look before he pushed her towards the ladder and nodded at her while he silently continued his march alone.
The whispers continued more in number with each breath Jinar drew. “I need his body for the masses... the red moon needs to rise tonight...” They continued to try and borrow into Jinar’s ears but were being slowed by his fingers blocking the way.
“There!” The whisper gained more weight causing Jinar to rip his fingers away. “I found him!” The now clear, withering voice chocked out. The voice was as if someone took the sound of silverware being purposefully dragged an already cleared plate.
“Wait!” Were the only he screamed as an automatic response. The voice couldn’t mean Thomas, can it? “Wait!!” Jinar screamed louder hoping the sound of his voice will stop whatever cruel fate was happening. Hoping for just a moment his mom would hear the scream and know instantly something was wrong but there was no noise or urgency that was returned. Only a hushed whisper from the ear bleeding voice.
“Such a loud one.” It said and then it became clear Jinar wasn’t hearing the voice in just his head, he could feel the owner of the voice’s breath breathing down the back of his neck. A slow and exaggerated inhale causing all of Jinar’s blood to rush in overdrive, but he couldn’t move his head to look. A slow exhale of sewage, blowing Jinar’s long brown hair to become messy and sending a flood of pine needles deeper into the forest. Jinar had it, he had to run. With adrenaline filled motivation he took one foot off the ground and then immediately froze once more when his gaze met the deers. It was peering over the side of the tree like a man would when it’s stalking its next meal.
The deer was ten feet away, staring straight at him. It was peering from behind a tree and silently twitched its way behind the tree it was using as a shield. The deer was clearly in front of him and there definitely was something behind him. Is there two now? Jinar still felt the breath on the back of his neck and turned with a new urgency knowing the deer wasn’t the one causing it but was horrified to see a mass covered in shadows slithering away leaving a trail of wet blood behind it. The sound of twigs and roots being snapped in two drew in Jinar’s attention. Jinar bravely tried to follow the blood trail before his body reacted causing him to look back towards where he had just seen the deer knowing that was the immediate danger. The tree it was using as a hiding place now had the mass and fresh blood trail continue straight up it getting lost in the darkness, but Jinar couldn’t accept that. He knew where this thing had just gone so if he just kept staring at it he would know when it was on the move.
His eyes were fixed desperately on the tree as he circled it. Jinar then began to back up towards the direction he saw Thomas head last. ‘Just down this way and to the left, right?’ Even his own memory was betraying him now. Something big fell, with such great speed and force that it seemed to cause the ground to let out a very low roar, from the tree he was watching. Jinar stumbled behind the closest tree and then the sound of the man screaming once again rang, echoing more than it should’ve off of each of the trees. The silence after was quickly followed by the smell of death and the cracking and ripping of the deers flesh as it treaded towards Jinar. The deer was at best 15 feet from Jinar but with each step it took it was clear the deer would reach him within a few more steps. Silence was followed by a strong snap of muscles tearing with the raise of its leg, followed by the constant cracking of its bones until it suddenly stopped after one final crunch sent chills down Jinar’s spine as it took its step.
“T… Th…” Was the only interruption to the massacre of the deers body. Jinar’s eyes widen as he recognized that as Ivy’s voice. He was quick to stop any manor of thinking when a hove, that was fractured like it went through a paper shredder, wrap around the trunk next to Jinar’s face. Breathing wasn’t even an option for him now.
“Thoom...Thhommas… willl be. ok?” It mocked as it snapped its body continuing its stride past Jinar. The creature, that was towering over Jinar, was blissfully ignorant to him. After it had gotten two long strides away from Jinar it stopped. Its hips began to twitch, and it began to raise its knees past its chest and even past its head.
“There...” It whispered using my voice now. It ran, ran like it was in a 100-meter dash and crawled impossibly fast. It ran straight into a tree with a thunderous thud followed by the sound of the tree it hit begin to crack as if it would fall over any minute now and the deer then began to mock Willow’s cry’s as it crawled away like a spider would towards where Jinar saw Thomas head last.
Jinar’s eyes began to swell with tears as he sobbed quietly. Hand on his chest, he tried his best to calm himself to be able to take a step while in full control of his own body, but it was no use. It dawned on Jinar perhaps a little to late but now he knew these woods were no longer his. This perversion of a creature was its new ruler and like a tyrant it was ready to stomp out anything it wanted, it didn’t even need to provide a reason.
Jinar thought back to his memories with Thomas, Willow and Ivy. Those are the reasons he was doing this; he needed to get his head straight and find Thomas and grab the others and leave this forest forever. With white knuckles and a muffled scream behind his sealed lips Jinar was now ready. Jinar could not bear the thought of losing a friend. His body was still shaky but at least he can take a step towards Thomas.
“The key…” The voices continued, at first, they Jinar jumped at them but now fulled by his new determination Jinar pushed on not giving the voice any of his energy. As Jinar watched the floor as to avoid stepping on anything he began to notice something and stopped instantly before stepping in it. At first it was a big splatter like an artist dropped a brush that was soaking in red paint. It was another of those blood trails like from before, it was fresh, and it followed the path he was on currently and headed to where he was going like it knew where to guide him.
Jinar looked up to see where the thing had fell from and saw the tree house. “Wh... what?” Jinar panicked looking behind him. The tree house had to be 30 feet behind him, concealed now by shadows and branches he had no proof.
“Willow... Hey Willow... Ivy...?” Jinar called up to the tree hoping that somehow, he could be mistaken and that there was another tree house this close to the old one this whole time. But there was dead silence. There was no mistaking it, this was the same tree house that he had made with his friends.
“It’s in the ruins...” The voice screamed. Jinar took this as a hint to just keep walking, maybe Ivy and Willow couldn’t wait and left already. Who could blame them after all?
As he stepped around the blood pool a single sound was what made him freeze once more, dripping. He paused giving it time to see if it would happen again and it did. Jinar looked at the blood and saw it rippling with each drop. He followed the dripping trail up and noticed blood was now dripping from the edges of the tree house, growing in volume with each second.
“Willow...” Jinar said, his voice felt like a weak spirit being overtaken by the wind. There was nothing, no sound except a heartbeat and a desperate inhale. With a crack of what should’ve been the floorboards a hand fell against the edge of the tree house, its palm was facing the sky reaching for heaven. Jinar recognized that hand.
“Willow!! Ivy?” Words erupted from Jinar’s gut. The sudden contrast of the silence was haunting and sent goosebumps over the hand that was suspended by laws of nature. He exiled the silence, not giving a care to be revealed or found because that was his friend, his family, his world.
With the silence gone from existence it was clear the heart beats Jinar heard were growing louder. They weren’t coming from the ground. The blood pool was pulsating. With each beat the blood rippled, it ripples grew in size and frequency seeming to match Jinar’s breaths. But all he could do was stand there, frozen with despair.
Ivy’s voice, flooding over the dark unknown of the treehouse, it floods down like a water fall and washed over Jinar. It all didn’t hit him at once but rather it affected him in first the heart and then his legs and then his eyes bringing each one alive before the rest of the body. Ivy’s voice snapped Jinar awake, sparking some sort of hope that maybe he hadn’t lost everything, that he can still save someone. That is until he realized she was whispering “Thomasss... Thomass will be the key...” It whispered before more multiple snapping sounds buzzed in Jinar’s ear like bees.
Jinar’s eye slowly started to look back up at the tree house focusing on the hand that was turned palm up. The snapping continued as he saw the hand and arm twitch and bend down towards the ground. White splinters erupted from the skin in varying lengths, some resembling toothpicks and others the size of a finger. The arm kept bending and snapping in a wrong direction until it bent back around and the palm rested on the bottom of the treehouse.
“Where have you gone doctor?” It asked using my voice, it was no longer whispering. My voice bounced off all of the trees and trailed deep into the forest in all directions. The sound of dragging was next sound to come from the treehouse. A cocked head covered in shadow was barely visible from the treehouse. It. It could’ve been any part of the body, but one shiny eye made it clearly a head. An eye that was depthless and big like the deers was still halfway covered by the floorboards. It was staring at Jinar.
“Did you come back for me… doctor?” It said sinking further back to the tainted treehouse, its arm snapping back into a right position and slithering with it. Jinar bolted. Sprinting straight ahead, anywhere would be better than here. Willow’s crying could be heard slowly being turned down as he got further. Followed by what could only described as a small, localized earthquake and a man screaming.
Jinar had found an oasis and was the only thing he could see as he tripped over every obstacle having to catch himself on trees. A beacon of light was straight ahead, a part of the forest where light finally seemed to exist. The sound of something wet and heavy followed by low rumbles and cracks followed Jinar closely. That only seemed to slow down the further he got. Jinar knew if he looked back to see what was chasing him down, he would trip and fall. All he could do was take careless bounds in the darkness towards the blinding light.
With one final stride Jinar pierced the light and crumbled to the earth. He had made it to his oasis, a clearing in the woods. All the sounds from before melted away and were replaced by birds chirping and real wind whistling through the trees. The weight of the sunlight was so heavy, so unearned, he couldn’t stand under its weight. He curled into a ball in the dirt. He became increasing sore as each one of his muscles began to relax but he didn’t dare complain about that. He had no right to while his friends were still out there.
