Worse Than A Wendigo

by Lady Lilith La Belle

Imelda felt odd feelings all her life. They ward her from danger, protect her from something dark. Her boyfriend Josh Washington is carefree and a pacifist, feeling no sense of danger until it is too late. The night all of their friends gather, Imelda feels like screaming, not from anxiety but she can tell something lurks in the mountains. No one listens and they all pay the price.

1. Chapter 1: Beginning

Imelda (Spanish for Powerful Fighter)

Abedabun (Native American for Sight of Day)

Xenophon (Greek for Strange Voice)

Honest 70%

Charitable 85%

Funny 40%

Brave 90%

Romantic 60%

Curious 70%

Beth 95%

Hannah 70%

Ashley 65%

Chris 65%

Emily 45%

Jess 45%

Josh 96%

Matt 80%

Mike 30%

Sam 95%

It started off innocently enough...us all being invited to the family lodge of our friends. My on again off again boyfriend Josh being the mediator to any tension between our friends. Hannah fawning over Mike. Everyone knowing of her feelings, including Mike. Beth trying to protect her twin by keeping her from Mike. A sinking feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach as the sun set that night.

Josh was ignoring my presence as I had been zoning out ever since we got to the mountain. I told him, Beth, and Hannah that going to the mountain felt wrong. Nine of them listened. Hannah wanted to find a chance to be alone with Mike. Josh wanted do hang out privately with everyone and get drunk. And Beth, well Beth was up for returning to their childhood vacation spot.

I don't know when it started really. My reluctance to go certain places at certain times. Everyone, including my parents, thought it was me being avoidant unnecessarily. My grandparents believed otherwise. They never asked what made me nor want to go places they just understood. They passed away they her years ago but the only solid advice they gave me was to stay away from places that made me want to scream. As time passed, a lot more places gave me uneasy feelings and now, so do people.

I can just sense it, evil and ill intent. I don't always recognize it right when I meet a person as all evil comes in different forms. But the entire way to this mountain, I felt nothing positive. My dreams were already confusing before I decided to come, now they are of strange shadows lurking in the tress of a mountain. The closer we got to the lodge, I began to have flashes of my dreams while awake.

My name is Imelda Abedabun Xenophon and I won't make it until dawn.