Hide and Seek

A Short Story by Katie  

I was alone in the forest in the depth of night when I heard his accursed laugh.
            I was in my makeshift camp, curled in my sleeping bag. Sleeping
soundly in a dark sleep, I drifted in and out of evil nightmares. For the past five years, my
nighttime fantasies had been filled with blood red eyes and his laughing. The nightmares were unwanted windows into the horrors of my past.
            I woke up screaming that night, as I did the previous night and all of
those nights before. In the past when I have woken up from these nightmares,
I have woken up to find myself safe. Whenever I wake up, I look around and realize, with a giant wave of relief, that the laughing is nowhere to be heard, and those eyes are nowhere to be seen. But something was different that night. I could feel it. The air was deathly still, and the crickets that had sung me to sleep were silent, although they should’ve been at there height of there song.

           And that was when I heard it; a soft, cold chuckle. The laugh was far away, but still directed toward me. Before I could help myself, I screamed. As my scream whipped through the forest, I immediately knew that I had done the wrong thing, for I heard his laugh again, and this time, there came words as well, not spoken out loud but in my own mind. Give up girl.

           I shook my head to clear it, and stood up. My legs were trembling so badly, they could scarcely support my weight. I took a few bracing breaths and ran into the forest. As I ran, my mind raced with terrified thoughts. He had found me. The man who stocked me like a cat on a mouse, who wanted my blood to stain his fingers, wanted me dead. I quickened my pace, even though I knew no escape could be possible. I started sprinting.

           How foolish I was to think that I could elude this terror. A thing so evil that it had the same amount of compassion as the devil. I had escaped him before only by luck and help, but not this time. This time I was cornered and trapped. Suddenly I heard a bush rustle behind me, moved by some other force other then wind. I didn’t break pace.

          Then something happened that made me stop dead in my tracks. I felt the
sickeningly familiar feeling that I was being watched. A cold sweat broke out
over my forehead and I spun around, expecting to see him. Instead I saw a pair of green eyes staring out at me from the thicket. I gasped, and started backing away blindly. I fell to the forest floor, having tripped over a tree root which was sticking out of the ground.

          I shrank behind my hands, shaking uncontrollably. Suddenly a warm wet nose touched my hands, and I peered around it in utter bewilderment. I found myself staring into the eyes of a pure black cat. The cat was sleek and beautiful, and her fur glowed brightly in the cold silvery moonlight. I reached out nervously and stroked her back. I relaxed and continued to pet the cat, until finally a deep loud purr rumbled from her chest, and her leaf green eyes glowed with pleasure.  

          Suddenly the cat stiffened beneath my gentle touch. She arched her back, and hissed into the darkness. Her hiss was returned with his cold laugh, coming from directly behind a nearby bush. The cat bolted, and disappeared into the trees. I scrambled backward, only to be stopped by a tree, which stood blocking my escape. Then his voice spoke. It seemed to be coming from nowhere, and yet it came from everywhere.  

           “Your race is run, girl. Come to me now, and I will make your passing quick.”

           I didn’t move. All I could do was sit there, to petrified to even blink. Then he came. He immerged like a shadow from beneath the bush, drawing ever nearer. I shrank back, but the tree had not moved, so I could not get any farther away from those gleaming red eyes. His eyes were the only part of him that had any color.

           I buried my face into my sleeve and stared at the ground waiting for my vision to go black. That was when he reached me. I felt his shadow upon me, and I heard his putrid breath quicken with excitement. He bent over me, and a terrible, fiery pain erupted in my wrist. I screamed, and writhed, but my agony was answered only by a soft laugh and his voice that said, “Hush, my darling. The more you struggle the more it’ll hurt.” The fire continued to pound through my wrist, so I continued screaming. Suddenly, I felt the strength draining from me as if someone had pulled the plug of a drain, and left me there to slowly empty. My screams grew softer, until I lay there gasping for air.

           I knew the end had come. My breaths were getting harder and harder to take. After a few moments I could scarcely move. With one final whimper, I gave into the welcoming darkness and drifted into unconsciousness.

  

          When I came to, I found myself lying in a grassy clearing in the middle of a forest. I furrowed my brow in confusion, for I had never seen this clearing in my life. I sat up, and blinked a few times, my head spinning.  

             When I saw the clearing was deserted, and I was utterly alone, I relaxed. Although I didn’t know where I was, I was safe. I suddenly realized how hungry I was and how loud my stomach was growling.             

             I slowly stood up on shaky legs, and took in my surroundings. I was standing in a small forest glade. The grassy glade was completely empty and silent as death.  Not even the occasional butterfly flitted in between the dapples of shade.

              Realizing that there was no source of food in the clearing, I walked into the late afternoon shade of the tall pine trees. As I walked, I couldn’t help notice how silent the forest seemed. No birds sang, no undergrowth rustled with unseen mice, even the air seemed dead. I noticed how sinister the pines seemed to be, it was almost as if they were taunting me, daring me to fall into a sense of security.    

               My dark thoughts were momentarily wiped from my mind when I spotted a blackberry bush full of fresh berries. I gave a childish squeal of excitement and rushed over to the thorny stems overflowing with fruit. I picked a plump, juicy berry and popped it in my mouth. I almost gagged when I bit down, and the berry’s flavor rushed to my tongue. The berry, if you could even call it that, tasted like mold, decay, ash and death. I immediately spat it out, shivering with horror. Where was I?

             I suddenly heard a soft swishing sound behind me, almost like a snake slithering through dead leaves. I spun around, almost expecting to see some kind of monster. But it was no monster, it was a cat. I couldn’t help but feel ultimately relived when I recognized the black cat with green eyes that I had met the night before. Yet the cat seemed different, her head was bent on her chest and she stared at the ground with unseeing eyes.

             I crept forward, as silent as the stars, and extended my hand to pet her on the head. Just as I was about to touch her, her head snapped up, and her eyes locked with mine.  I screamed with terror. Her soft green eyes, which I had admired the night before, had turned to a shade of a horribly familiar red.

             “No,” I gasped. I sprang to my feet and started to run, where I was running, I knew not, all I knew is that I had to get away. When I looked over my shoulder, the cat was gone. Trees drew their spider like branches across my cheek, scratching flesh and drawing blood, but I didn’t stop. I couldn’t, I wouldn’t stop.

             Hours or minutes may have past until I finally collapsed on the cold ground shaking feverishly, and sobbing brokenly. When the tears finally stopped coming,                       I looked up at the starless night sky, getting lost in its inky blackness. My gaze was forced away from it when I heard a twig crack. I jumped, and scrambled to my feet. Moving slower then a slug, I turned around. My heart stopped beating with terror as I found myself looking into a pair of cold and triumphant red eyes.