Chapter 1 – The Girl

Part 1 – Unrelenting Downpour

It’s raining.

The mud is sticking to my clothes and brand new shoes. The roots against my back are warm. Today was supposed to be a day without care. We just wanted to do one last trip together before he left. Today was supposed to be the day. I want to scream but that would be death. Today’s screams weren’t supposed to be screams of fear. Today was supposed to be special.

I want to see him laughing, his eyes full of confidence. I’m scared. I want to hear his voice again. I want him to wake me up from this nightmare and to hold me. I want to cry in his arms and for him to listen to my fears. I want to know that he’s in the room next door. I want to know that I’m not alone. Something’s moving in the lake.

Today we went to the amusement park. We wanted to make it the final trip together before he left. We wanted to make it special. We were going to ride the log ride together. We were going to eat lunch together. We were going to buy gifts together. Something is howling behind me.

We were riding the shuttle. It was supposed to be a short ride. We snuck away from our parents to go eat lunch at that burger place we both liked. I remember him laughing while trying to wipe out the bird poop in his hair. I remember trying to help him. We didn’t want to get off, we were hungry. The bus had just pulled away from the stop when that happened.

Today wasn’t supposed to be our final farewell.

It’s raining.

We were laughing and holding those dirty tissues when it happened. The bus tipped and suddenly we weren’t so worried about those tissues. We fell into that vat of darkness. I remember the cries, our hands struggling to find one another. I remember the fall, the screams. I remember the fear.

The shock when that dazzling light finally appeared, the pain of the impact. I remember waking up in the rain. The air was heavy and sticky, so unlike the dry dusty air before we boarded the bus. I remember the confusion, as thick as the air. The panic in everyone’s voices as phone services failed, when the bus failed to start. I remember seeing it.

The creature looks like something from a movie, it’s so colorful. It seemed so harmless from faraway in those trees. Then another joined it, and another, and then it didn’t seem so harmless. Cries of surprise, someone else noticed. Someone took out a phone. It’s noisy. The creatures are looking this way. I don’t like this. I want to get out. I want to run from these people.

Someone is trying stopping me. I don’t care. I don’t like it here. This must be a dream. I pushed my way out and into the rain. Someone is talking to me, grabbing me, lifting me up. The creatures are coming this way. Stay back. Don’t come this way. Someone is trying to pull me back. I run. Someone is calling for me. I don’t care. I don’t want to be here. I fall, the mud is slippery. It hurts. If this is a dream, why am I not waking up?

I hear something but I don’t care. I run. I don’t know why I’m running but I don’t care. I slip again, there’s a slope. I’m sliding down it, I hear something. I don’t want to know what it is. I don’t care. I just want to run. I just want to run. I don’t know how long I’ve been running. I don’t want to be here.

There’s a cliff, there’s a lake. I don’t know what to do. I can’t run anymore. There’s a tree. The roots are thick and there’s a space. I can hide. I don’t know why I have to hide, but I don’t care. I don’t know how long I’ve been hiding here. I don’t know how long it’s been raining.

I hate the rain.

Part 2 – Day Break

I don’t know when it stopped raining. I don’t know when I fell asleep. I just know when I woke up it was the middle of the night. When the clouds parted to the night sky, it was the deepest, brightest night sky I had ever seen. I don’t know how long I sat there staring up into the sky, even after the clouds covered those sparkling stars. When the sky brightens I can go back.

I don’t know when the sun rose, but I think it’s there. I struggle to stand, the mud is slippery. My clothes are caked in it. The sticky mud just smears when I try to get it off. I don’t want to injure my feet in this mud so I’ll keep my shoes on for now. I’ll have to find some place dry later and take them off. I heard bad stuff about leaving wet feet in shoes. I’m not sure what happens, but I don’t want to find out.

The mud makes me slip when I try to climb up. The lake is no good, the water is too murky. I can’t tell how deep it is. I try climbing up by grabbing the roots. They shift a bit, but the tree’s roots are deeper than I thought. I manage to climb up without any close calls and I crawl onto the cliff. Everything looks brown, not the sandy sort of brown.

There are dark clouds in the distance, time to move. I try to retrace my steps through the jungle. I don’t really remember what happened yesterday. When I try to look back, I only remember being afraid. I only remember running until I couldn’t run anymore. I don’t know why I was afraid. Aw…

Why did no one come looking for me?

No, that’s wrong. I ran away, I think they tried to stop me. Brother might have tried to follow but they would have stopped him. With the rain they would have trouble finding me. I just have to find my way back. Maybe they sent a search party. Maybe I’ll be able to meet with everyone. I just have to find my way back.

I remember seeing this rock, I ran past it. I think I came from that direction. It’s hot. The ground is slippery. I don’t know how long I have to walk. I don’t remember how long I ran. I’m hungry. Maybe I’ll be able to find something to eat when I get back.

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I’ve been walking for a while and I still haven’t found anything I recognize. Maybe if I climbed up somewhere high I’ll see the bus. Let’s do that. This slope is too steep to climb, the mud is too soft. Though there are some trees over this way…

The sun poked through the clouds by the time I climbed over the rocks. All I saw was trees, water, and mud. It’s pretty, in a gloomy unforgiving way. I don’t see anything though. I’ll try the rock on that hill. Maybe it’ll give a better view. This rock isn’t really high up and it just barely gets over the trees. For some reason being on this rock doesn’t feel safe. I confirm my direction, climb down and make my way through the jungle.

I’m thirsty, but I can’t stop. The leaves are sticky. Somehow I’m already at the hill. I climb up by using the roots of a tree. It’ll be hard getting down. It takes a while to get to the top but I somehow manage. There, on a hill, it’s a lot farther to the right than I thought. The bright white and blue of the bus can be just barely seen. The hill was so tall that I couldn’t have seen it from that last rock. Did I really run all the way from there? It’s far, really far.

I wonder if brother is alright.

Part 3 – Cold Wind

I got lost. After climbing down the rock I somehow missed the hill and ended up in a valley. There’s a small cave. I drag some wood into the cave and pick some berries. There are some really big bugs that seem to be eating them so maybe they’re good to eat. The sun is setting. I don’t want to go around at night. I don’t light a fire, I don’t know how. I tired but I think the wood was too soft and wet. The berries didn’t taste bitter or sour. They look like peaches, taste like grapes even though they have a weird aftertaste. I think I’ll eat more, they’re tasty. I make myself a bed, undress and go to sleep.

I woke up. Something is outside. I hope it doesn’t find me. I’m glad I didn’t make that fire. This cave is more like a hole in the wall. I’m only sleeping in it because it’s dry and somewhat hidden. If something wanted to get me, I wouldn’t be able to do anything. I sat there, listening, not daring to move. Whatever is outside, it sounds pretty big. It makes a twittering noise I’ve never heard before, almost like a bird. Eventually it moves away, I better get some sleep.

Morning comes, it will always come. I dress, eat what I can before setting out. I walk through the valley and find a stream. The water is clear but the ground soft and hard to walk on. Following the stream, I find a cave with an enormous lake. Following the flowing water, I escape the clasp of the valley and climb a tall tree. I climbed the correct side of the valley, the bus is closer.

Climbing the hill is tough, the muddy ground makes me slip and sometimes I slide down the slope. If I try to go through the jungle, but when I trip I get hurt more than on the rocks and even got stuck in a sticky plant. It takes a long time to find a roundabout and by the time I reach the top, it’s late afternoon. I haven’t eaten since morning… actually it’s a bit strange that I’m not feeling hungry or thirsty.

I finally reach the bus. And I notice something bad.

For starters, the windows are smashed, the bus is thoroughly smashed, and there’s no one in the area. Looks like a big animal came through and made everyone run away. I look around a bit more, wait, is that a corpse? It’s on the other side of the clearing and I walk towards it, why wasn’t it eaten?

The corpse seems to be pegged into the tree, what those stacks are, they’re white. Looks like a male with black hair. His clothes are torn and there are bite marks but he wasn’t really eaten. Strange, maybe he’s being saved to be eaten later. I probably should get out of here before whatever did this gets back here. Anyway, I think the stack would make a pretty good tool so I try to pull out one of them.

Ugh, the stack is really buried in the tree so I have to touch the guy. Wait, why is he warm?

I look in the corpse’s eyes.

Everything stops, my world drains of color, and my ears go deaf. Why? My feet slip and I fall down.

Deep down, I probably had already believed him dead but didn’t want to acknowledge it, but this… this is too cruel, too cruel.

It’s hard to breath, but it doesn’t change the fact that he’s there. I don’t want to accept it. There’s only one thing I can do.

I wretch out the stack and I finally cry after coming to this dangerous, unforgiving world.

- - - - - - - - - - Author Notes - - - - - - - - - -

I'm InfernoHades, an aspiring web series writer. I thank any readers for reading the first chapter of my work.

This is my first time posting here on Royal Road. Originally I didn't want to but the sad reality is that no one was reading my writing. Also I have a habit of working on 3 projects at the same time, but that's really no excuse for how slow I write. In fact most of what I've written hasn't been refined enough to be published (at least not in my eyes).

Anyway, I have a Wordpress where I'll post my other works to.  This will be the only series to be re-posted on Royal Road. (though at the moment there's not much on the site since I had to go back and rewrite the other series I originally posted there)