The soft mossy grass cushioned his feet as he stood staring through the trees. Early morning sunshine was bursting through the limbs and leaves, blinding him temporarily. Raising his right arm out in front of his eyes, he shielded the sun so he could concentrate on trying to see what was up ahead.
"Matt! Dude, so what did you find out about this place? Did some crazy woman set this place on fire?"
They were just returning from a fishing trip they'd taken in a rural area. They all enjoyed fishing together, but somehow they'd ended up here, gazing around a forest with gray stones scattered everywhere.
Matt couldn't help but chuckle at his friend's guess. "As a matter of fact, there were some pretty crazy things that happened here."
Clara giggled and jumped up with excitement. Many people couldn't help but think of her as a children since more then half the time she did act like a five year old not getting her way. No matter how much people told her to act her age, she did as she pleased whenever and wherever. "I can't wait to explore! I overheard my mother talking about it with my step father. They said that gothic people use to-"
"What's wrong with gothic people, chick? Not like they bite." Chris interrupted her, an eyebrow raised.
Clara narrowed her eyes, "have you seen them? You must be crazy because they are scary! One girl would not stop staring at me! It was horrid!"
"Just shut up Clara, no one has to pass your standards." Matt said, leading his group of friends closer to the ruins.
Crossing her arms over her chest, she pouted while she walked forward.
Up ahead, the ruins came into view gradually. With the dense forest surrounding the blocks of granite, it looked almost ancient. Sunlight protruded from the clearing at the top of the ruins and shone down brightly, creating crystals sparkling on the waters surface, but beyond the water, stone monuments stood strongly. The inscriptions below were written in a language Matt never knew existed. The etched symbols were engraved in a black paint over the washed stone.
"Wow this is incredible! Do you see those tall figures over there! Look at the mouth… it looks like…"
A shrill heart piercing scream echoed through out the trees, causing the birds to scatter in every direction.
Everyone's attention was drawn to the statues erected by the entrance to the ruins. Matt and Chris walked up closer, their bodies stiff with tension, and their eyes gazed up toward the mouths of the stone monuments. A dark red color dripped from the edges of the mouth. The dried substance indicated that it wasn't recent.
Matt jumped back in surprise, "that can't be what I think it is!" He gasped.
"I think its blood." Chris said, stepping closer to get a better glance. The crusted remnants were flaking to the ground as they all managed to get a better look. They were all involuntarily moving nearer to the monument. Clara stood at the back of the group, shaking her head.
"Well, this explains a few things," she said, giving a smug smile that didn't fit well with her childish persona.
"What do you mean it explains a few things? What are you not telling us? You still haven't-"
"You need to start talking about these ruins or I'm going home." Chris glared while putting his hands in his pockets. Matt could tell that his best friend was concerned over the new look of Clara. From behind them she gave a wry twist of her lips, an almost disturbing giggle bubbling from her. Matt tossed his brown hair, looking down at Clara from his significant height. He normally wouldn't have even made the eye contact, his shyness keeping him from doing so, but Clara was being almost dark in comparison to her normal childish behavior.
"Come on boys, let's just try getting inside," she said, dismissing the questions, her eyes still tinged in darkness. Matt nor Chris said anything, they just followed the bouncing blond ahead of them.
~*~*~*~
The opening to the ruins was at the very top of them, and it took Chris several minutes of pleading to get Matt to go up with them.
"If you stay here who knows what will come creeping out of the forest after you?" he teased, watching as the horror of that idea filled Matt's face. Clara had already found an opening by the time they both got up there. The opening was just about three feet across, but they couldn't tell what happened after about five feet into the hole. It was pitch dark wherever they were going.
"Is this really such a good idea?" Matt questioned the others, glancing slowly behind him at the steep decline to the bottom.
"Stop being such a baby Matt, I'll go first, just for you," Clara said, her excited tone back in place, no hint of the dark laugh from earlier. She slid her feet into the hole and slowly dropped herself down. Matt and Chris lost sight of her as she slid into the darkness. A dry sliding sound made it up through the hole to their ears. Chris looked up to Matt and nodded once before following Clara down. Matt stood there for a moment, listening for any sounds of pain or panic.
"Get down here!" Chris' voice floated up through the hole and so he too slid down, dropping lightly onto a stone slide and finally finding himself sprawled out on a cold stone floor. It was more then cold here, it was freezing. Matt glanced around and found Clara and Chris huddles over a lit torch, a lighter still in Clara's hand.
"It was so old it felt as though my bones froze!" Clara exclaimed, waving him over to them.
"I think I should have brought my jacket with me." Matt said as he walked behind Clara. "This place gives me the creeps though. I mean look at the walls, they have weird writing all over them."
Chris chuckled, "if you can even call if writing. It looks like scribbles done by a five year old."
Matt's eyes scanned over the doodles on the walls, but making sure to match his pace with Clara who was a couples steps ahead. The walls were completely covered with weird symbols, drawings of what looked like ancient Gaelic runes, and random scratch marks. He was surprised that some looked fresh and others looked like it had been centuries since they were created. Whatever they stood for, just glancing at them made the hairs on the back of his neck rise. Cold shivers danced up his spin as he walked farther inside the ruins. The farther he walked away from the entrance, the more he felt a bad atmosphere envelope him.
"Clara, where are we going?" Chris shouted from behind Matt.
"What are you talking about, we're here." Clara was the first to step into a large sanctuary room.
Up above, the ceiling stretched so far that Matt couldn't see the top. It was a large black hole, emitting no light whatsoever. "Where… are we?" He asked, eyes searching over everything within the huge space.
The doors shut behind the group of friends with a loud bang. A boom echoed through out the room and was followed by complete silence. Chris turned to Clara, his eyes wide with terror. "What the hell is going on?" He screeched, his voice laced with fear.
Clara lowered her head and closed her eyes, as if she was bowing to them. "This, my friends, is the inside of the ruins. Look below your feet."
Matt and Chris looked down at the stone floor and saw a big pentagram. It smeared over the entire ground in a single stroke, perfectly intact, and flawless upon the detail.
From behind Chris, a swooshing noise cut through the silence. It slashed the bitter air in half a forceful thud ended it in a heart beat. A cough and shutter came next from beside Matt. Looking over, he saw that Chris had blood dripping from the sides of his mouth. Taking in a short gasp of air, Matt watched in slow motion as his best friend fell to his knees, a small hand axe sticking out from the back of his head. Chris didn't even have a chance to scream from the pain, since he was taken by death within an instant.
Screaming at the top of his lungs, Matt turned stared at Chris' lifeless body lying on the ground. Before he could open his mouth, a heavy object from behind him, collided with his back, sending his face plummeting into the stone floor. The fat mass on his back held him down strongly as he struggled to get free.
"I've done my job! Now give me what I deserve!" Clara grunted angrily.
A shuffle went past Matt's ear and he turned his head to see a cloaked figure hobbling toward Clara. "You want your reward right now? Well, if you insist." A dark, sinister thread spiked the mysterious women's voice.
"Good, I've waited… wait, what are you doing?" Clara asked, while shaking in horror. "NO! You can't! I brought the two boys just as you asked! I won't be sacr-"
Matt watched as the cloaked woman whipped out a blade and stabbed Clara through the chest.
"The ritual calls for a female to be sacrificed along with the two healthy males. Since you weren't technically initiated into our family, we thought it would be fit to offer you up." The woman chuckled evilly and turned around, staring down at Matt. "Now for you, my lovely."
"No! You won't kill me!" Matt yelled. Kicking off his first attacker, he scrambled to his feet and dashed for the door. Whipping open the door as quickly as possible, he barely dodged three knives as they whizzed past him and embedded into the wall inches away from where his head had been.
Sprinting down the hallway, Matt felt his heart beating rapidly against his chest, close to burst free from his body. He felt his feet about to give out on him since they were shaking badly. His mind wasn't even beginning to process what had just happened. His best friend was dead and now-
He felt a sharp object pierce his back, making him stop in his tracks. The pain branched out from the foreign item and started a cold sweat over his body. It beaded out from his pores and his knees shook as if an earthquake was happening. Collapsing, Matt put out his arms to break part of his fall. Panting fiercely, he turned to his side, and watched as the woman who has killed Clara came bent down.
"No one ever escapes." She whispered her black eyes danced with unknown sins and malicious.
"I can't… no, I can't die… I'm only seventeen… too young to…" Matt wheezed roughly, his voice cracking before the pauses.
The woman before him smiled, "my dear, no one is too young to die. Remember that in your next life."
Matt watched as she unsheathed another knife from the inside of her black robe. Mumbling words he couldn't comprehend, she raised the blade above his chest and brought it down in one swift motion.
He didn't feel the pain, he couldn't. His body when numb and his eyes drooped. With one final breath, the last puff of air Matt would ever breathe, escaped between his teeth slowly.
~*~*~*~
The End