A young woman stepped into a small pastor’s office looking for her older sister. They had both volunteered for a community event being held at the local church several weeks ago, but things were winding down now so Katlin’s help was no longer needed. She had decided that it was time for her to go home and the director of the event had said that it was all right.
“Hey, Amanda!” Katlin called her sister, “…Amanda?”
No answer.
“Amanda!”
“I’m in the back!” Came the muffled reply from a storage room in the back.
A woman about a year or two older then Katlin stumbled out of the over stuffed little storage room, muttering something under her breath as she tripped over the corner of a cardboard box.
“What is it?” Amanda asked Katlin.
“Uh, well… I’m not really needed here anymore… So I thought I’d just head home.”
“Alright.”
“Well, see you later.”
“Yup.”
Amanda started looking around for something, eliciting a raised eyebrow from her sister.
“Uhhh… Are you looking for something…?” Katlin finally asked.
Amanda looked over at her, a surprised look on her face.
“A clipboard.”
Katlin looked around. After a moment she spotted one under the desk.
“Is that it?” She asked, pointing to it.
Amanda looked.
“Yes! That’s it. Thank you!”
“Uh-huh… Well, bye.”
“Bye.”
As Katlin stepped out onto the sidewalk she checked her watch; 3:31 pm. An odd feeling came over her that it might be a good idea if she waited for the event to end and her sister to come home with her, but she dismissed it and started heading home anyway.
She was a block away from the church when she saw the air or perhaps the light… Wobble.
Gah… I must be more tired then I thought…
Either that or she had something weird on her glasses. She stopped for a moment and took them off, using her shirt to clean them. After a couple of go-overs she held them up for inspection and made a face when she found that she had only succeeded in getting streaks all over the lenses. She started cleaning them again. Katlin paused as a feeling she couldn’t quite put a name to stole into her.
She looked up and glanced around, squinting in a vain attempt to make her eyes focus better. What she was feeling was not a physical sensation, it was just… A feeling, almost a knowing, that she set aside when she didn’t see anything and went back to cleaning her glasses. She held them up for inspection again. The streaks weren’t completely gone, but she decided that it would do until she got home and used some lens cleaner on them. She put them back on and started walking again.
It took her five turns and seven blocks before she noticed that something wasn’t right. She should have been at Fifth Street by now… Katlin looked over her shoulder to help get her bearings, and was shocked to see the church where the event was being held. It should have been too far away for her to see by now…
What in the…? Katlin wondered with a frown, I must have taken a wrong turn, she decided.
She checked her watch again – 3:15 – and stared at it confusedly for several moments before tapping it with a finger. Deciding that it was definitely broken she ignored it and started walking again. A shadow on her peripheral caught her attention. She stopped and turned to look at it, only to find that there was nothing that could have made it. Kind of strange, but not uncommon.
Especially when you’re tired. I need to get home and lay down for awhile, she thought as she took off her glasses to rub at her temples.
A headache was starting to build behind her eyes. Katlin reflexively checked her watch and was a bit startled to see that according to it she had left three hours ago. She snorted and shook her head, reminding herself that it was broken.
Another shadow appeared at the edge of her vision, but this time at the top. She looked up – and stumbled back with a curse as an amorphous shadow reached a hand out, as if to touch her. Terrified, she fumbled her glasses back on to get a good look at whatever it was. And then it was gone.
Shaking, she stood up and started power walking.
She soon found herself back where she had started. Again. Confused and a bit frightened, she looked over her shoulder, and sure enough, there was the church that she was convinced she had left only a half hour ago. She jerked her eyes away from it. This didn’t make sense. No matter how many turns she took she just kept ending up back here. She turned on her heel, saw another shadow on her peripheral and bolted for the building at full tilt.
She ran the same seven blocks three times before she gave up and sank to her knees, gasping for breath, her legs burning and shaking. There had to be something that she could do, she couldn’t be stuck… Wherever she was.
An odd idea came to her; go sideways. Or, more precisely, take the nearest turn to her left and keep going that way, but she dismissed that idea, thinking that it wouldn’t work. A shadow came into the range of her peripheral, then disappeared as it came in front of her, only to reappear on her other side, either bigger or much closer then it had been. She whipped around to face it and skittered away until her back was pressed firmly against the fence behind her.
Her heart pounded like deafening thunder in her ears as she tried fruitlessly to calm herself. The shadow slipped into the bottom of her vision. Without moving her head she tracked it with her eyes, correctly guessing that her glasses were somehow blocking her vision. This shadow thing came to rest it’s cool, soft body on her chest, right between her breasts.
Panicking, she screamed and pushed it off of her before running away at full speed. It was a terrified, blind flight, one with no twists or turns to skew her path. And then she stumbled into a park. Katlin looked first one way and then the other, but she couldn’t see anything; she had lost her glasses at some point. When she brought her gaze back to the central path someone was standing on it quite calmly a short distance in front of her. She squinted, trying to see him or her more clearly.
“Hello.” He greeted in a distinctly masculine voice.
She tentatively waved, then remembered the shadow she had been running from and nervously looked over her shoulder. It was hovering just outside the arched entrance. A little whimper of fear escaped her. Just as she was about collapse two strong arms wrapped around her shaking form and kept her mostly on her feet.
“Is something the matter, dear?” The man asked, his voice near her ear.
“C-can’t you see it?” She stuttered, slowly pulling her eyes away from the shadow to stare up at the ageless looking man still holding her.
“Yes.”
“Yo-you’re not scared…?”
“He won’t come in here.”
“…Oh…”
“Would you like to go home?” he asked gently.
Katlin nodded vigorously.
He helped her to stand and turned her in the opposite direction that she had come from. In front of her, at the end of the path was a wall of trees with a single entrance into what she could have sworn was a forest right out of one of those fairytale stories she liked to read.
“You see that?” He asked, pointing.
She nodded, giving a quiet “Yeah.”
“That is the only way out. But once you start walking down that path you cannot look back. And whatever you do, no matter what you hear, or think you hear, do not stray from the path; that area is very dangerous.”
“Why?”
“To which question, my dear.”
“Both.” Was her immediate answer.
He looked her straight in the eye and said, “If you don’t do as I say, you will never leave here.”
Her face paled.
“Oh…”
An icy chill spread through her body, making her feel strangely numb.
“I will walk with you if you wish.” He offered, not unkindly.
Another vigorous nod.
Taking her by the elbow he walked her forward until they reached the forest edge – where she hesitated. Beyond the portal there was nothing but a black abyss, and it just so happened that she is afraid of the dark. Taking a deep breath she held it in for a moment then released it. When that didn’t work she bit her lower lip until it bled. There was no way she was going to stay in this place. Even if it meant walking through that… Nothingness.
Finally, she was able to take a step forward – and found herself in a mist cloaked forest painted in shades of dusty blue. She almost looked around when the man’s voice at her back firmly commanded her, “Eyes forward.”
She did as told and steeled herself to take the first step home. She started walking. It took all the self control she had to resist the urge to squint in what she knew would be a fruitless attempt to see her surroundings clearly – and a great way to make her headache about ten times worse.
As she kept walking it slowly sank in that the trees in front of her weren’t getting any closer then when she had started out. Panic started to set in again.
“Don’t run.” He commanded her.
The need for flight melted out of her at the sound of his rich voice. Though it was surprising just how much effort it took to keep from looking over her shoulder at him – but she managed it.
“Kay.” She answered simply to fill the silence, her breath blooming into the air.
Somehow, her voice sounded colorless, distant and almost empty in the misty forest.
Weird… She thought.
“Halt.”
The command came as a complete surprise, but she found herself standing still immediately anyway.
“Take these.”
He pressed something cool into her hands. It took her a moment to realize that it was a pair of glasses.
“Walk forward.”
Against her own volition, her body did as he had commanded. One stride, two strides, three and four. And she stumbled out onto a city street, three houses down from her own. Blinking stupidly, she slowly lowered her gaze to the pair glasses she held in her hands, then brought them up for inspection. To her utter astonishment she realized that they were her glasses. She didn’t have to turn around to know that there was no forest path behind her. She did anyway.
Nothing but more houses lining the street. Absently, she brought her hand up to her lip. No blood.
“Right.” She breathed.
And headed for her house.
He stood in front of the child, hands on his hips and a stern expression on his face.
“Why did you bring her here?” He demanded as calmly as he could.
“I was bored… There’s no one to play with me anymore.”
Resisting the urge to groan, he rubbed at his forehead.
Despite himself a sigh escaped him. He looked heavenward, silently telling himself to be patient and brought his hand down to now rub at his chin.
“Look,” He finally said, “I’ll find someone for you to play with,” The child got excited, “But,” He added, “Don’t do that again, is that understood?”
“Yes sir.” The child answered a bit more subdued.
The man looked back the way he had sent Katlin and sighed.
At least she got home… He thought wearily, Now… To find this little one a playmate.
Katlin was about to brush her teeth when she noticed something in the mirror. She leaned forward to get a better look. On her lower lip were two scars next to each other.
“When did I get these…?” She mumbled.
“Some’ing uh ma’er?” Her sister asked around her toothbrush, giving her a curious look.
Katlin stared at her for a moment, then blinked and answered the question.
“No. Nothing.”
And went about brushing her teeth. The memory of her earlier experience already distant and hazy, dreamlike, within her mind.