Into the Woods

Blinded and Lost

As soon as my head hit the outdoors the rain came tumbling down, plundering onto my head, crushing my skull with sharp pains. I turn my body around, going slower than before to avoid slipping, although that seemed inevitable and of course I lost grip, my foot collapsed, I was hanging only by a single hand. I screamed at the floor, I yelled at Taylor for help who was shouting up to me encouraging words from the ground floor, nice and safe.

I bent my knee and moved my foot back up to the now damaged climber, inserting it gently but smoothly into the criss cross shaped piece of wood. I was close to tears, even if I did cry you wouldn't be able to tell as I was already soaked to my underwear, even through my long, waterproof coat. My foot pricked with pain as I carefully manoeuvred it down the wall. My vision blurry, my mind tangled in fearful thoughts, I eventually touched the floor. The grass had become squelchy and soggy curtesy of the never ending rain and my feat sank into the floor making it slightly more comfortable for my injured foot.

'Tomorrow!' Taylor shouts at me over the rain, 'we find the back door key and sneak out that way!' He yelled pointing towards the door.
We start to walk but my foot holds me back. Taylor asks if it's okay and I tell him it's probably just twisted badly. We continue on, me limping slowly whilst rain spews at our faces. The woods is extremely spooky at night and with the added rain there is a new type of eerie atmosphere lingering in the air.

The damp forest floor squelched after every step and was slowly starting to fill up with rain water creating multiple natural pools and rivers. Everything smelt of wet dog, the aroma ascending from trees and plants.

After walking for a while I ask Taylor whether we are definitely going the right way. It felt like we were heading in circles, everything was so hard to see with rain spitting into my eyes and practically blinding me.
Taylor replied, 'I don't know, I could have sworn this was the way we went before.' He looked around, 'or maybe it's not.' He said quietly just as confused as me.
'Wait.' I said suddenly moving my arm out in front of him holding him back.
'What-' I shushed him cutting him off. I tried to listen, I could have sworn. I waited for a second. There it was, a rustle in the bushes. I pointed it out to Taylor, he had seen it too. We froze dead still, rain hitting us harder and harder, our feet sinking into the ground as though the earth was trying to pull us under to drown. Then again the rustle continued moving down the bushes further into the woods.
'Is it a person or an animal?' Whispered Taylor as the thing moved away.
'I'm not sure, but if it was a person then what are they doing out here?' I shot a scared look at him.

Eventually after what felt like hours of exhausting trudging around the woodlands we found a check point. It was a dimly lit lamp vaguely shining from just inside of a tree stump. Inside the stump sat a shadowy figure, the lamp's angle enlarging the shape to a monstrous size. It's fingers crawled out of the cave like hole to welcome us. Slowly the figure became taller and more visible, its head lifting slowly up from the ground, a creepy grin upon its face. It edged closer to us with a zombie like walk, mysteriously not effected by the soaking rain blustering around and soaking the body in a matter of seconds.

He reached us. 'So.' He said croakily and suddenly he reached out his hand and grabbed my wrist. I let out a shocked gasp and tried to fight him away. He laughed slowly.
'You don't go without a warning pals.' He stared directly into our eyes. We fell silent and I stopped pulling back my wrist.
'This here is my woods. So don't play around. We do deals and stay quiet about each other, you tell no friends, no one.' He came closer to our faces. His breath stank of rotten food, I could even see the leftovers in his yellow, jagged teeth. I tried not to squint, the smell paining me.
'Otherwise you will be the last people to know about me and our games.' He spat and shoved my wrist away, I grabbed it and held it close to me rubbing it to stop it from being sore.

It appears both me and Taylor were taken aback and held with fear and shock. I wanted to instantly run back home to safety and cuddle my parents.

Slowly Taylor reached into the backpack he carried on his back and retrieved the canned food out. He held it out in front of him towards the figure who was Wolf, his hand trembling madly. Wolf made to go carefully grab it but just before he did Taylor snapped it back and spoke.
'No. First, the money.' He said in a defiant tone. He tried to make a serious face to hide his terror.
Wolf humphed and retreated back into his little tree den and rummaged around in it. He then came back out and thrust a £10 note into Taylor's hand. He instantly put it into his coat pocket to avoid the rain spoiling it. Wolf then snatched the food from Taylor and threw it into his den. He gave us an unreadable look and began to tred back into his small home.
'That's it?' I called back to him. He turned fiercely and shrugged at me then carried on without a care in the world.
'We want another task!' Taylor spoke out all of a sudden. I elbowed him, I did not want to be returning to these woods any time soon, we'd already been given a very clear warning we're not welcome.

Yet Taylor carried on ignoring me. Wolf thought for a minute. 'There's a black cat around these parts, bring it to me.' He said vaguely. He thought for a second, 'the reward will be based off how good your work is and how quiet you can be.' He added at the end smiling re-enforcing his first message of the night.
'Why would you want that cat?' Taylor questioned him. I could tell he was nervous as I knew he liked Tabitha. I liked her too.
'She will be my, let's say company.' He said smirkily. I did not believe him for a second yet I made myself believe it as I couldn't think of another good reason as to why he would want a cat.

I looked at Taylor wondering if he would take the job, I gave him a simple look that I clearly did not want to return. He thought for a moment before saying 'it's a deal. We'll get you the cat.' They didn't shake hands, instead Wolf just turned back around and finally made his way into his tiny den, only just big enough for him to crouch to get in.

Then me and Taylor embarked on our journey back home in the pitch black night. I could feel eyes watching us as we headed on home, this time the rain slammering onto our backs. My hobbling foot which felt even worse than before was taking back our speed, I felt panicky and scared. I looked at my burning wrist. Finger indent marks were now imprinted into my skin. I cannot come back.