Awoken (Ilea, Book I) (COMPLETED)

Chapter 4

As we got closer to the clearing a feeling of dread washed over me, I caught my toe slightly, stumbled and slowed down a lot. The other two reduced their speed to keep my pace, worried looks on their faces, I was the least likely one to stumble and they knew something was wrong.

            “What’s the matter Ilea?” Johanna asked me concerned. We slowed down to a stop and I sat down on a log, feeling what colour was in my face slowly drain away.

            “I don’t know, something feels wrong, but I don’t know why.” I mumbled, trying to understand the sudden feeling that had come over me, I didn’t know why I had stopped myself from running on the very path that led me back to my care free childhood.

            “Don’t worry about it; it’s probably a bit strange going back to this place after so long.” Jacob said, trying to reassure me, concerned enough to ruin the surprise for Johanna.

            “We’re going to the clearing aren’t we?” Johanna asked, finally understanding where Jacob was meant to be taking us.

            “Yes we are, Jacob was trying to surprise us, I worked it out a while ago, you know what I’m like with retracing paths, I’m sorry.” I looked down at the floor, taking deep breaths as quietly as I could and hoping that the other two wouldn’t notice.

            “It’s okay, don’t worry about it.”

            “Yeah, at least we can talk about it now. I’ve been bursting to talk about it!” Jacob said lightening the mood.

            I stood up, “Let’s go then, I’m probably just not used to running this far, I haven’t exactly done it in a while have I?” I smiled and started running, pretending not to notice the side glances that they gave each other.

            The other two caught up with me and started to talk about the games we had played in the clearing when we were younger, I smiled and commented in the right places but my mind was somewhere else; I didn’t understand why I was so worried about what we might find when we got there, it was a gut feeling that there was going to be something bad, and my instincts were hardly ever wrong.

            We kept going for about five miles further, it only took us half an hour, but it seemed like an eternity to all of us, the other two because they were so excited about it, me because I was dreading what we would find there, and hoping that my instinct was wrong for once... it wasn’t.

            We came to a stop in front of a wall of trees that were all too familiar, Jacob turned to me “You were right, there’s definitely something wrong here, but I can’t put my finger on it.” We stood there for a while, deep in thought.

            “It’s so quiet.” Johanna whispered. “It’s too quiet, there’s no noise at all, except for us, no birdsong, no rustling, no moving. Nothing’s breathing.” As she was saying the words the impact of what they actually meant came to me.

The clearing was always so full of life, to come back now and find it without noise was appalling. It had turned from a sunlit paradise into a place of the dead. I took a deep breath as I realised that something awful must have taken place inside our childhood sanctuary, so terrible we could tell from outside the wall of trees.

            Jacob looked at me, I could see the fear in his eyes as he realised that everything around and in the clearing was dead. “I think we should leave,” he said to me.

            “Yes, we should leave now,” Johanna said, I could tell she was scared; the fear in her voice gave her away so I didn’t even have to look at her eyes. I looked at Jacob, avoiding her gaze as I spoke to him,