Into the woods I P U B L I S H E D

„Everything you told me was a lie,

how could I trust you now when I know the truth?”

- Elizabeth

Elizabeth

I have never been more scared in my life than now. My steps were short, quiet, and my eyes were glancing at everything that was around me. I tried to process everything in this tunnel. Every rock, every flare and every drawing on the ceiling.

I strengthened my grip on the flare as a rat ran in front of me through the water. Placing my hand on my heart, I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself down. I have been walking through this nightmare for God knows how long, and yet, there wasn’t any sign of a door to the outside world.

Everything was dark, wet, majestic and creepy at the same time. The drawings on the ceiling were the most interesting thing in this tunnel.

Every line, part of the drawings was telling a story. Each line was unique in her own way. I guess it was the story about this town and his owners – the Nightclaws. The story flows down the ceiling as I walked deeper into the tunnel.

„Please, let me find an exit,” I whispered to myself. I needed to be strong in this situation.

A twinkle of light appeared behind the corner and I smiled in excitement.

Finally, a door to the outside.

I threw the flare on the wet ground and ran with a smile on my face to the light that was giving me hope, but I immediately lost my smile as I only saw an open ceiling and not a door.

The light that was coming from the ceiling was actually the moon and a few trees. I stared at it for a few seconds, trying to hold my tears in. It was already night and I was still trapped in this tunnel.

A wolf howled and I jumped in my place. Scared, I started walking down the tunnel again. At least I was safe here.

Walking deeper and deeper without a flare in my hands, I reached a two pathed tunnel. One was leading left, and one was leading right.

I stood still like a rock, not knowing what to do, which tunnel to take. After a moment of thinking everything through and listening to my gut, I had decided to took the left tunnel even If I didn’t know what was going to wait for me at the end of it.

I walked further into the tunnel, carefully listening to every sound that I made. I checked my phone If I had magically got a signal here, but nothing, not even one line. Throwing my phone into my bag, I took a few deep breaths, trying to calm myself down again, and trying not to have another panic attack.

Everything about this day was so wrong. I wished that I could wake up in my own bed and tell myself that all of this was just a bad dream. But I couldn’t. All of this was a reality and not a dream.

After hours of walking and searching for an exit, I finally saw a door in front of me. Slowly walking to the door, I tried to be calm as I could. I had to be prepared for everything. Maybe the door was closed and I was trapped in here forever, or if it was open, there was a possibility that I would end up being trapped alone again, or worse, captured by some insane man.

I closed my eyes and prayed that the door would open as I slowly pushed them. They did open, and I couldn’t describe how happy, relieved was I right now.

Walking through the iron door, I didn’t expect that I would end up being here, in someone’s garden. The garden was full of black roses, trees in all sizes and shapes. Bushes were placed all over the garden, and between them, there was a path, full of angelic sculptures. But all of them were different, creepy.

Each sculpture was different than the previous one. Some of them didn’t have a head, a leg, an arm, or a wing on their back. A lot of them were already dirty and old. But under the moon’s glow and fog, they looked equally beautiful no matter the differences that they had.

I walked through the garden, admiring all of the dark beauty that it had.

„Who is there?” Someone said from somewhere. I looked around, searching for the person, but I couldn’t see him under the fog that was surrounding me. What if he was some maniac trying to kill me?

I hid behind a bush, my arm was on my mouth and I tried not to make a sound.

„I know that you are here, little girl. I can smell your fear,” The man flashed his flashlight at me and I screamed as I saw him standing behind me, his jaw clenched and fists tight. He looked like he was about to kill me.

„I’m lost and I need...” My voice cracked as I was about to make a run for my life. „I didn’t know that someone lived here and...” Before I gave him another chance to make a step forward, I ran as fast as I could through the garden, next to what it looked like a small lake to light on a top of the stairs.

The man suddenly disappeared as I made my way through the balcony. The light wasn’t just a regular light, it was actually coming from a big, beautiful house. Slowing down, I knocked on the balcony windows, hoping that someone would take me in and help me and that I could escape that crazy man.

An old woman appeared with a confused look on her face. I looked at her with tears in my eyes. She quickly opened the balcony for me. As I stepped inside the house, the old woman caught me, pulled me to herself and slowly sat me on a red chair next to the balcony.

„My dear child, what happened to you?” She asked, her fingers going through my half wet hair. Pulling my hair away, she took a long look at my dirty face. I didn’t answer her as I tried to catch my breath. My whole was shaking from the running.

The old woman was talking something, but I didn’t listen, I looked everything around me. There was a red couch, a few red chairs just like the one I was sitting on, a fireplace with a giant portrait on top. The lights weren’t so bright. In a matter of fact, the only light in this room was coming from the fireplace.

„Who are you?” She asked again, and like before, I didn’t answer her. The old woman took my shaky hands, leaned down and massaged them for a couple of minutes. „You must be cold, huh? We will get you some blankets to warm you up and then go get some help from the masters.” Helping me to get up, she took my grey coat off, and from the couch, she took a blanket and wrapped it around me.

The blanket was warm and cozy. Probably the thing that I needed the most right now. She took my hands again and we both made our way from the room.

As we walked down the hallway, I didn’t pay much of an attention to everything that was around me, but I couldn’t miss the steerings that I got from the people around me.

We stopped in front of a giant, golden door. The old woman turned to me, placing a piece of my hair behind my ear. „Everything will be okay, my child. Don’t worry, okay?” I nodded at her question. She smiled sadly at me, opened the door and took my hand again.

As we entered the room, every person that was at the huge table stopped what they were doing. My head was bowed down and I couldn’t see their faces, but I could definitely feel them.

„I’m so sorry to bother you, but we have an unexpected guest,” The old woman smiled at me. „Come on. Don’t be shy.” Lifting my gaze up, I looked at the people sitting at the table. Some of them were not familiar while some of them were. Tyler was one of the familiar ones.

My eyes moved all over the table until they ended up at the person that was sitting on the end of the table.

„Henry,” His name came like a whisper as a tear slid down my face. He stood up, his gaze traveling all over my dirty body. I didn’t know how to feel at this moment. I didn’t know If I was happy that it was actually him and his family, or that I was angry because he lied to me who he actually was.

„Elizabeth,” He walked to me, trying to make me look at him, but I couldn’t. I hate him so much right now.

„Please look at me,” He said it again, but this time, I looked at him with hatred in my eyes. Lifting my hand up, I slapped him across the face. The older woman from the table gasped, and Tyler and some older man stood up from the table.

„How could you?” I pushed him with everything I had, but the only result I got was him stumbling a little and not actually falling down.

„Brother,” Tyler started walking to us, but Henry lifted his hand up, telling him to stay away.

„I got this,” Henry took a deep breath, straightened his back that made him look much taller than he actually was.

Everyone went silent, they didn’t make a sound.

He looked at me int he eyes. „Are you finished?”

I shook my head. „ No,” I started hitting him again on his chest. He took every hit that I gave him. „Why did you lie? Why didn’t you tell you are one of them, a Nightclaw?” Tyler came to us and pulled me to him, saving Henry from me. Henry stared at me and didn’t say a thing. He was speechless.

„Elizabeth, calm down. We don’t need to make a scene in front of everyone,” Tyler whispered into my ear and somehow I managed to calm down in his arms. I couldn’t believe that I didn’t trust him when Henry was the one whom I shouldn’t have trusted.

„Don’t touch her, Tyler,” Henry growled at him, made a step forward, taking my hands and pulled me to him, but I threw his hands away from me.

I didn’t want him to touch me. The man from the table took a glass and threw it on the floor. The glass broke into million pieces and all of them flew all over the room.

„That’s enough,” The man said. The door opened, reviling Nicklaus with a horror look on his face.

„What’s going on?” He asked. His eyes traveled to me and he let a relieved breath. „Thank God you are alive. I thought someone had killed you.” My head started to spin and everything around me was a blur.

„Who is this girl, Henry?” The older man asked Henry.

„That’s my mate dad.” Mate? What does that mean?

Closing my eyes, I tried to stand on my feet with everything I could, but the darkness was taking over my body again.

„Tyler,” I whispered before I passed out in his arms.