I was there at the end of the world; I watched as all we knew burned before us. It was as beautiful as it was terrifying.
It was a grim night when my eyes stared back through a blood-smeared face eyes being a very deep and lively blue. The dirt-covered mirror added a layer of grime to the reflection. Long blond hair matted in a thin layer of blood covered part of my reflected face and for a long moment, the only noise I could hear was the water struggling to flow out of the old sink and the whining of the ancient pipes as they struggled to hold together.
“You really need to be careful.” Said a soft voice filled with the warmth of care and thick concern, a voice that over the last few years I had gotten used to.
“Hey, how was I to know that the prick had friends inside?” I replied to the concerned man who had become one of my closest friends. Memories of the fight a few hours before flashed behind my eyes.
We had been walking through town relatively late. Then I saw a man I truly despised like no other. He toward over me and due to the fact, I am quite lean the man was probably double my weight. However, I couldn't help but remember what that ass had done to one of my friends. The memories of what happened are hazy after all these years, all I can remember was seeing only red when I had run at the man. Granted at the time in my rage-filled brain I had been too busy pummelling the guy into the ground to notice that his friends had stumbled out of the pub that we were right outside of. It's a miracle my old anger didn't get me killed.
The warning that my friend yelled hit me simultaneously with a boot to the face. The resulting brawl gave me a cut lip and the blood covering that I was washing off that night.
“At least they didn't hit you in the fight, Lukas,” I said as I washed the last blood off my knuckles, starting to splash the ice-cold water over my face. I couldn't help but wince as the ice-cold water stung my split lip.
It's sometimes weird how some people join your life, a few years prior, not long after I had moved to this city, I had met Lukas. The partner of my ex’s friend. After my relationship failed, and his having done so a few months before we decided to keep our friendship, bound in the growth of shared relationship trauma.
“Well with the Insults you were hurling at them they seemed to mostly be focused on you, and the few drunken swings made my way were easily avoided,” Lukas replied as he leaned against the wall. “I won't lie you worried me today; I have never seen you like that and I don't want to see it again.”
That heavy almost silence filled the room again until I leaned down and washed the last of the blood off my face. I let out a slight hiss of pain again as the cold water struck the split lip. I could feel Lukas’ dark eyes on me, but I didn’t want to open my mouth and let slip what it was processing. He didn’t need to know that the anger that I had let out today was often there, that I often had to close my eyes and push away horrible intrusive images and thoughts. He did not need to know that I was a person who often had to fight the urge to be the man that I had been tonight, or maybe I just didn’t want him to know all that.
However, I could not lie to my friend, I could not tell him that I am not that kind of person, and I couldn't tell him that I was sorry for beating that man. For as truly horrible as it is, I loved every bit of it, and that made me feel sicker with myself than I ever had before. So instead, I let out a sentence as weak as my resolve.
“I am sorry to have scared you, that is not what I wanted,” I told him, now Lukas is not an idiot however he has always wanted to see the best in people. While when it comes to flaws that is most definitely one of the better ones, it means that he tends to overlook things like that.
He did not reply, nothing really needed to be said after all. After I washed the last bit of red off my hands I turned to him, taking the shirt he was holding out for me. I had tried to wash the blood off the red shirt before, now you might think that blood wouldn't show on a red shirt. However, the two different shades of red clash and the slight brownish tones of blood seem too almost peak out.
I begrudgingly put on the wet shirt as I took in my friend. His face is one that many would say is as pretty as it is handsome, his dark short hair smoothed back pairing well with the trimmed moustache. He had remained completely untouched from the earlier brawl, a small miracle I was actually happy for. Not only would I feel incredibly guilty if he had gotten injured due to me, but I think Silyva would have killed me if he was hurt.
Speaking of Silyva she looked at me with fear in her dark green eyes when I walked out of the old petrol station's restroom, and that hit me harder than any of the punches or kicks that I had received that night. I may have known her less time than Lukas, but I had few people I felt as close to as these two and knowing that my anger may have damaged that friendship struck me to the core. She quickly tried to hide it with a smile, but she was terrible at lying or hiding how she felt, like Lukas she was just too honest for her own good. The two of them made a great couple.
“I think you should know that Celeste isn't too happy with you, probably best for you to be prepared,” Silyva warned, she had managed to hide any fear from her voice which was the second thing I was thankful for within a few minutes.
“Yeah, I know, it was dumb and reckless. If it wasn't for the fact, they had been carrying with intent to sell I would be in a cell.” I replied, luck must have been on my side when a bag of some highly illicit substance fell out of the jacket of one of the bigger brutes. I had managed to use this to convince them not to report our fight to the police, not that I could really picture the ‘tough guys’ wanting to admit that they had been taken down by two smaller, fairly scrawny-looking men, it turns out I had always been a fighter.
“Yeah, it was. Jerome and Ezra are on the way to pick us up anyway.” Saliva stated as she watched the road “They have already packed the bags we left at yours and Ezra’s house.”
I nodded in response to her, and we stayed in that awkward silence until the light of an approaching car came above the hill, the headlights cutting through the dark on the quiet road. A black eight-seater pulled up beside the road, the three figures within appearing clear when the lights clicked on inside when Lukas slid open the door. In the front behind the wheel was the large figure of Jerome, a man as tall as he was muscular.
The giant of a man however was one of the kindest men I had ever met, his emerald eyes always showing the softness hidden under his imposing figure. Sat shotgun to him was the slim figure of Ezra, his own leaf-green eyes focused on his phone as he was adjusting the GPS. He gave a non-committal wave of hello as Jerome smiled at us all.
Lukas and Silyva very quickly got into the car, sitting at the back as Lukas gave me a very slightly apologetic look. This was because they left me to sit next to the third person who had been waiting in the car. I caught the eyes of Celeste; they were like emeralds shining in the sun and they seemed that they could pull anyone in.
Even though her face was filled with fury it struck me just how beautiful she is, a comment she often rolled her eyes when I made. She had a tendency to often change the colour of her hair and this time it was a dark blue that seemed to match perfectly with the almost mediaeval-like gothic clothes she was wearing. While not quite able to meet her eyes I got in and closed the door behind myself.
Have you ever been in a car for four hours with someone who has the right to be angry at you, when the others in the car are chatting and laughing other than the two of you? When you know full well that as soon as they have the ability to talk to you without the others hearing you will be getting an earful. Because I can tell you know, it makes the journey feel a lot longer than it actually is.
I did not know whether to be happy or terrified when we finally pulled up into a hotel in Shropshire. We had passed the signs pointing to our true destination of Wenlock Edge before we had reached the town, however, we were smart enough to rest up at a hotel before tackling the woods in the darkness of night. Though If we were smarter, we would have turned around and left.
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The group spoke amongst themselves and laughed as we unpacked and started to head into the hotel, however with how much I was thinking about the coming argument I cannot recall anything that had been said.
The joys of modernization meant that even though we had turned up in the early hours of around two in the morning we were still able to check into the hotel, the tired night staff member behind the counter taking our information and handing out our swipe cards as swiftly as they could, most likely to return back to the King book they had swiftly hidden as we had come through the door. It's always good to see another who enjoys horror books.
We had brought three rooms to last us the next few days while we went around the woods, two of us in each room. Obviously, the couple took one room, Lukas and Silvya bidding us goodnight as they retired into the room. Ezra and Jerome took the other leaving me with Celeste, now don't get it wrong there was nothing going on like that between the two of us. She just trusted me enough to share the room and as one of the people I trust most, I felt comfortable enough to share one with her.
This wasn't the trope where she is angry, but we have to share a bed, and something happens in the heat of anger and passion or anything like that. We opened the door to see that as requested it was a double room with two different beds. My hope that she would sleep on it and approach her argument in the morning was smashed when she closed the door.
“You are a fool.” She snapped as she walked past me, looking slightly up at me with her fierce, striking eyes.
“I cannot deny that one,” I said slightly sheepishly, scratching the back of my head awkwardly as I placed my suitcase beside the bed.
“Do I look like a fucking maiden who needs you to fight my battles, someone who can't look after themself? Or are you just an idiot trying to get hurt.”
“No, I didn’t do it because I think you needed me to fight for you or because I think you can't fight your battles, I… I don’t know why I did it, I just couldn't keep the anger in.” I replied, more honest with her than I had been with any of them
“What?! Do you expect me to believe that you just saw him out randomly and snapped like some rabid beast? Then what? should I keep you on a damn leash!” she asked harshly, however, her face softened when she looked at me. Something she saw in my own expression must have shown just how I felt.
“Yes. I told you before Cel I am not a good person.” I said, the exhaustion from the fight, tension from the drive and just general tiredness had sapped away my ability to filter my words. Then again for some God’s damn reason, this woman was always able to get more out of me than anyone else when it came to me opening up, and I don't think she realised that.
She let out a resigned sigh and sat down on her bed as she looked at me with a concoction of emotions, I could make out anger, sadness, and pity along with others hiding behind those three. I collapsed onto the bed that was to be my own and looked up at the ceiling, thoughts racing through my head faster than I could collect them.
“Well then maybe I really should get you that leash,” Celeste said after a few minutes, breaking the silence with a joke that made us both chuckle a little.
“Well don't tempt me,” I replied with a laugh and a smile.
“You are not a bad person you know; I refuse to accept it. You care for others too much; you care for me too much. I have seen you do things no bad person would ever do.” she stated, the humour had left her voice. In the corner of my eye, I could see that she had turned to look at me, but I could think of no reply. I gave her what was an attempt at a reassuring smile, however, we both knew it didn't make it to my eyes.
“Let's get some rest, we have a busy few days.” was all I could say to reply.
She took the bathroom to get ready for bed first, when she came out, she wore a set of comfy night clothes in a mix of black and grey. Even in those simple clothes, even with the terrible lighting of the cheap lightbulb that flickered every so often, even though my entire body felt exhausted, for a moment all I could do was take in how beautiful she was. Thankfully I managed to pull my gaze away and walk into the bathroom before she noticed.
A few minutes later I walked out freshened up and in a set of comfy clothes, this time I had the pleasure of hot water. Due to being the last one out of the bathroom, it was of course my duty to turn off the light.
My eyes were snapped open when I was shaken awake in a cold sweat, Celeste’s hands were on my shoulder as she seemed to be making soft noises. She wasn't shaking me roughly as many would but just hard enough to force my body to wake me.
She had pulled me out of hell, as the darkness of my sleep had been quickly filled with nightmares. My waking mind was desperate to grab some semblance of what I had seen in the dreams. I could remember trees, a dark room filled with death and decay, a familiar figure I couldn’t quite put together, and blood. So much blood.
“It’s okay, it's okay,” Celeste said in a soft and soothing tone that snapped me out of my thoughts, the strings tied around the nightmare snapping as the rest of it slipped away. Her arms had slipped around me, and she was rocking me softly as one of her hands started to stroke my hair, a move she knew would comfort me.
“What happened?” I asked, my groggy brain trying to catch up with the sudden awakening as it pulled reality away from the dream world. However, I couldn't help but tense as I saw a giant shadow standing at the edge of the bed, its figure not quite human as its body was shrivelled yet sharp. yet with a panicked blink of my eyes, it was gone, my heart racing as my mind tried to rationalise the image as hallucinations from a still-waking mind.
“I woke up to you making groans of terror, pleading with something to leave us alone. Then you started to scream in terror,” she said as she kept the soft soothing movements. My eyes finally adjusted to the light, the sun pushing through the curtains showing it was at least early morning.
“I am sorry to wake you, what time is it?” I asked with a sense of guilt, of course having a nightmare is never pleasant but feeling like you ruined someone else's rest as well as your own adds a large layer of guilt onto the already unpleasant feelings.
“Don't be silly, I'm not going to get angry at a friend for having a bad dream, I am just happy I was able to pull you out of it.” was all she said as she gave me a reassuring smile before she then got up and winked. “Besides, at least we will be up early enough to grab the hotel's breakfast now.”
I had made it clear that I needed a shower before I went down to meet the others, the warm water was almost ecstasy on my aching and bruised body, I had always been one who healed fairly quickly though. Most of the bruising that was covering my torso and legs had already started to fade, and my lip was nearly completely healed up already. However, the ache was still there under the skin. I had probably taken longer than I should have to shower. I knew that Celeste was waiting for me, but I always struggle to get out from under a hot shower, especially when sore.
It turned out to be just past eight in the morning by the time I got downstairs, Celeste was already waiting at a table for me and the others. She had used the shower before me so I had more time to process before dealing with others and so she had already gone down before me, heading down to grab a table while I was in the shower.
I had dressed in a set of grey jeans with a dark green shirt, my short leather jacket resting over my shoulder and my black walking boots silent with each step. I rested my jacket on the back of the chair as I sat opposite Celeste, who gave me a slight smile as she passed me a mug of tea and a plate filled with food.
“Oh, marry me.” I joked as my stomach let out a loud protest at my lack of eating that morning.
“Pffft you wish.” She joked causing us both to laugh, the nightmares already forgotten.
We sat there chatting about things that would be pointless for most people but kept us laughing and happy until the rest of our friends showed up over the next couple of hours. Once we were all full and content we finally started to go over the plan for the next few days.
“So, you said that a source of yours has discovered an abandoned house, off the main path in Wenlock Forest?” I asked looking at Jerome, who was at the time fiddling with the spoon. The giant of a man always struggled to sit still.
“Yeah, but for some reason, he refused to tell me where it is and said he was too terrified to even think about it. Something about how the ghost would find him if he thought about it too much,” Jerome responded, ignoring a snicker from Ezra. Ezra was the most sceptical of the group but always loved the excuse to use their cameras. That and the mix of a new camera to play with had gotten them to come along.
Jerome pulled out a map and a set of notes, he then gestured to see if anyone had a pen, giving me a nod of thanks as I handed one to him. He then started to draw some marks on the map of Wenlock.
“From what I can gather these are the areas that are most likely to contain the house we are looking for.”
“That still is about 8 miles of land we need to comb through though,” I stated as I took in the view of the map, my mind trying to commit as much of it to memory as I could.
“Yeah, and a lot of the land is steep slopes, so I think we should split into pairs while exploring and looking for the place. Obviously, if any of you find the place don’t go in without grabbing the rest of us.” Jerome stated. The giant of the man had paid us all to take time off work to be able to come and ghost hunt with him so of course if I saw anything I would contact him before going further and I trusted the others to do the same.
The group had decided to keep the same pairs for the sake of ease, and with an agreement to meet up back at the hotel for dinner, we split off as if none of us had watched horror films.