Fog of Shadows

Part 18

Flinn woke up the next day with a jolt as if he had a terrifying dream; only he could not remember it. His back was stiff from the old mattress he was sleeping on, his eyes felt heavy from a lack of peaceful dream, and he had a bitter taste in the back of his throat. Looking out the window, he notices how the weather had not changed from the day before: the sky was gray, the air was heavy, and the fog seemed to press itself against the windowpane; as if trying to make its' way inside. Turning his attention to the old and mute grandfather clock in his room, he noted that it was far past the time he usually got up. Since he usually gets up at around five in the morning, now it was six thirty. Once in the Inn's kitchen, he realized that he was already late and that the others have already finished and had settled in the living room to wait for him. "Oh you are up, we were starting to get worried and thought we might wake you up." Said Alisea as she braided Willow's red curly hair, who looked as gloomy as the day before.

"I am sorry; I had a really hard time falling sleep. I guess I let the old lady's story of the grey man get to me."

"Don't worry about it, we all had trouble sleeping; Alisea didn't even sleep at all last night." Mentioned Shill, this earned him an angry look from Alisea, who had told him this hoping he would keep it from Flinn. Since Flinn would not have allowed a tired person helping with finding a missing person. Luckily, Flinn did not seem to mind.

XXXXX

After a quick breakfast that consisted of bread, salty butter, and a glass of milk, the group made their way into the empty streets. Willow had refused to leave the safety on the Inn and had retired back to her room. The group simply planned to continue without her, since they mostly needed her to get on the island. "Well, how do we go about finding Janet?" asked Myri, "Well, she is a citizen, so she must be registered at the town's hall." Flinn thought out loud, rubbing his chin as he pondered.

"But, where could the town's hall be?" replied Shill to his captain's thoughts

"Usually, town halls are located near the center of towns, so we probably should just follow the road; besides, if we can't find it that way, we can just follow the road back to the Inn." Suggested Alisea with a smile; part of her wanted to plea with Willow to be their guide, but she decided not to. Suddenly, the group's attention is taken away from their planning when they heard the faint sound of a child crying. Training their eyes to look through the fog, the group tried to find the source of the seemingly disembodied voice. In the distance, the figure of a small child comes closer and soon it came into clear view. The crying voice belonged to a little girl; her hair was blond and short, her long dress was the color of the fog around her, and her eyes were an eerie pale blue color. "She looks just like the Janet from the drawing." Whispered Myri to her captain as she got a good look at the child and Flinn, in response, pulled out the picture of the young girl they had set out to find. It was true; the girl had a striking resemblance to the Janet in the drawing. "Umm, little girl, is your name Janet?" he had to admit that his was of asking was not the best, but his brain hardly wanted to work. The little girl nodded her head, "Do you have an aunt and uncle that live and work on another island?" Again, he admitted to himself that his question was untactful and too brought but again the little girl nodded. The chance that two different girls had these specific similarities was too slim for this to be a coincidence. "We have been ordered from your uncle to recover you. Can you come with us?" Myri tried to take a step closer to Janet, but she only shook her head and took a step away. "Is something the matter, why can you not come with us?" Myri tried one more step and Shill chimed in, "Don't worry, we do not bite." Janet vigorously shook her head before running away from the group and vanishing in the fog from which she came. "Wait, come back!" shouted Flinn as he attempted to run after her; being closely followed by his friends and only stopping when they come to a fork in the road. "Looks like we need to split up, I'll go with Shill and you go with Alisea." Shouted Myri as she grabbed Shill and went down the left path, forgetting that Flinn is the captain and decision maker of the group. Flinn did feel worried that his friends would get lost in the fog, but he had a feeling that they would be all right; they always ended up alright. Running down the right path a thought came to Alisea, the thought being what if they had lost her earlier in the fog and were now running around like chickens with their heads cut off. Again, they came to a fork in the road. One road went up and, from what the fog was allowing them to see, looked like no one had used it in a while; even the town seemed to end there with the last house looking as run down as the rest. The other road seemingly went downhill and well-traveled. "I'll go uphill and you go downhill if we do not find her by the time we hit the end of the road, we go back to the inn." Suggested Flinn as he took a step closer to the path he intended.

"And what if we passed her? Or what if we hit the end of the road and she has hidden just a little further?" Alisea's questions were genuine and she stopped her boyfriend before he continued on the deserted path.

"Our safety is more important to me, especially yours. I know Myri and Shill will return to the inn on their own, but I know how you want to complete any challenging task; please do as I say." He had turned to her and looked her into the eyes to show how serious he was, more than he ever was and before she could say another word, Flinn ran off down the path. With a heavy sigh, Alisea quickly walked down the other path. The air got cooler, the fog got thicker, and her clothes and hair became damp with moisture. In the distance, she could see something that looked like trees, but the fog got thicker and thicker to the point where she felt like she had entered another world. She slowed her pace and looked around; looking down she could hardly see her own feet. "Oh great" Looking ahead, she saw something in the moving in the fog, "Janet?" she called and made her way to the area where she saw the movement, but something caught her foot and she fell hard onto the ground. The pain ran through her body as she hit the ground, unable to stop her head from hitting the ground with her hands. Over what had I tripped? Was the main question on her mind and looking down, she saw what it was.

An old and weathered tombstone.