CHAPTER 2
Let The Hunt Commence
With wobbly legs, I found myself struggling to rise to my feet. I suddenly felt weak, most likely induced by fear, but after a few pitiful stumbles, I was quite surprised to find I was on my feet. I kept a sharp eye on the sliding door, curtains set aside by my hand. At any given moment, I half-expected an acute scream to shoot from my lungs, should the enigmatic owner of those venomous, lavender irises divulge themselves once more. But only this minute, had I not reassured myself that those eyes were merely an image painted by my dream-state and nothing more? Simply fabricated by my overly paranoid, sleep-deprived mind? That they were no more than a daunting image given life in my nightmares alone?
I heaved a sigh, miserably failing to shove aside this disconcerting thought. How could I possibly ponder anything but those two malicious pools? Such a nerving string of events had transpired in such a short period of time!
First, that terrible dream, burnt into my memory forevermore: the haunted house that, according to framed photographs I'd seen hanging in the camp's cafeteria, was extraordinarily identical to the rumoured-to-be-haunted house near this camp; then, there were those soulless eyes, which had mercilessly pierced my own...that insane laughter, capable of enthralling and immobilizing any individual ill-fortuned enough to hear it. Then, I'd awoken to find my camp mates had seemingly flashed from existence, their beds having laid untouched, as if they hadn't even occupied this cabin to begin with!
My green eyes went wide, realisation sparking to life within them. Perhaps if they'd never been in this cabin, their luggage wouldn't be lazily thrown about the floor.
Eyes clenching shut for a moment; so tightly they noticeably twitched, as if by tugging on my closed lids my fear would seize my attention long enough to beseech me not to look. But I had to learn the truth sooner or later; and I'd rather sooner, so I could work on overcoming this obstacle and erasing my fear, plus I simply needed to get the hell out of here!
I was sure the shrill scraping sound of my grinding teeth bounced through my mind like an exceedingly sharp saw sliced through weeping trees, and I finally overcame my fear, prying my desperately protesting eyes apart. I immediately regretted the action. Sheer terror engulfed me within its choking embrace, squeezing my near-hyperventilating lungs so harshly they seem to sting. I frantically scanners over the room in one final, but hopeless attempt to prove myself wrong. No luggage, aside from my own, was in this eerie room.
A shudder erupted from deep within and I struggled to swallow as I stole a glance at the sliding door once more. If this was so...if right now, solitude truly was my only company, then my first response should be to check out every other cabin here, to ensure this wasn't some substantial (not to mention insanely evil) prank my camp mates were pulling. I certainly prayed with every fibre of my being that it was!
I forced steady breathes in a vain attempt to ease my wailing nerves, but somehow it only made me feel worse. I struggled to force my trembling hand to reach out and grip the sliding door, its handle so cold I flinched slightly at a first touch. Freezing for a drawled moment, I gazed at my pale hand with panicked eyes. It shook violently...involuntarily...as it gripped the handle so tightly my knuckles ran white. Was I truly so frightened that I sought some insane form of condolence by gripping onto a mere handle? Was fear truly dominating me so drastically? I must be utterly insane, although after tonight, I doubt being diagnosed as such would come as a complete surprise.
After a lengthy and hushed silence, I inhaled slowly; unknowingly holding my breath as I unlocked and slid aside the glass door. An urgent, overwhelmingly shocked scream escaped my dry lips as, suddenly, a flash of silver lashed through the ebony darkness. Kni-Knives?
An agonizing wave of pain sliced through me, like a million abnormally oversized needles sinking into my skin with a sickening squelch. Clumsily (not to mention noisily) stumbling backwards, my eyes snapped down to scrutinize my sweat-laden body, and my blonde brows furrowed in bewilderment as my eyes scanned my trembling form. No evidence of that fresh experience was perceivable. Nothing at all.
Where...are the knives? Tears now clawed at my abnormally wide orbs. I-I was sure that...
I threw my head from side-to-side. I must be paranoid, I attempted to convince myself. Perhaps it was the wind; it could've been a gust of cold air from the outdoors, suddenly penetrating the warmth of the cabin.
A disturbed frown unwillingly tugged at my lips. Unless...someoneishaunting me, just like that supposedly haunted house. I bit my bottom lip quite reluctantly, failing to swallow the lump jammed in my stinging throat, dry from my previous near-hyperventilating. Maybe...someone is toying with my mind. Tricking me into seeing the terrifying...the things that should be sealed within the confinements of my nightmares and—
Without warning, a dry chuckle suddenly reverberated throughout the night. It was low and menacing; if voices were capable of being grated, this laugh would sure grate the cheese...so to speak.
I froze with horror-struck eyes (the only things I could move), desperately scanning my surroundings for the dark laugh's owner...but then again, did I truly wish to spot them?
I was taken aback by the surprisingly light landscape, and I needn't peek to be aware of the full moon hanging high amongst the blazing stars, which were veiled by the ominous, wispy clouds drifting overhead. Buckets of moonlight flooded over the sub-zero landscape below, where unseen crickets sung, unbeknownst to the utter terrors I presently endured. I was expecting...darkness...and a silence bestowed upon the night by the lethal Reaper himself. This night seemed no different from any other.
But perhaps that was just it. It seemed like any other night. What if this is a hallucination? That would explain my supposedly non-existent camp mates!
My eyes broadened in recollection. "And speaking of camp mates..." I breathed, thrusting my legs into motion as I began to rush along the lengthy deck for the cabin to the left of my own, the thumps beneath my feet seeming to stalk along behind me like some blood-curdling monster thirsting for my blood-spattered carcass. This daunting image only hastened my strides further out of fright, as well as my heaves for air. An eerie, gut feeling loomed over me, whispering in my paranoid ear like a chilling breeze with a sinister warning. It seemed to whisper that I was being chased...stalked...hunted.
A meek sob forced my lips apart. Why does the neighbouring cabin seem so far away? It's only about ten meters to the left of my own. Another pitiful sob. Why does it feel like I've leapt one hundred steps?
When the spine-chilling rustling of bushes hissed in my ears, I broke into an all-out sprint as a fiery adrenaline seized my slender body in its protective embrace. Midnight's icy breeze bit and whipped at my numbing skin, the cold stinging my eyes and a thick layer of sweat drying upon my pale brow. I could perceive my unsteady breaths amid the night's grim silence. The crickets no longer sung. The silence was deathly, and describing it as deathly certainly wasn't my most ingenious idea! That only evoked frightening thoughts—intuitions—that I would die tonight. I sure longed for this "intuition" to have been merely sparked by paranoia, and to actually possess no worth whatsoever!
After what one would believe a lifetime, I finally slid to a halt at the neighbouring cabin. To my surprise, the sliding door was unlocked, and I unquestionably took no time at all to urgently clamber inside, for in my opinion, the warmth and supposed safety of the cabin was far more superior than that of the ice-cold wilderness. That was when I lifted a numbing finger and flicked on the light…well, I tried to.
I gulped for air that fear mockingly denied me as I furiously flicked the light switch back and forth, but to no avail. Either it was broken, or…someone had meddled with it. I definitely preferred the first scenario!
After a quick clear of my throat, I heard myself whisper dryly, "…H-Hello?" I sounded dried than two week old toast, and my fear was oh-so-apparent. A second clear of the throat, before I repeated, "Hello?" My words were laden with unease as I ventured further into the darkness…the unknown. "Is any—Is anybody here?" I chewed on my wildly trembling lip. "Is anyone…awake?"
A foreboding chuckle suddenly rumbled through the dejecting gloom. The same subtle laughter I'd heard only moments earlier. I immediately knew this was my cue to run…to hastily flee the owner of this sinister laugh, but I—I couldn't; it was as if my feet would no longer obey my mind, terror manipulating them into remaining glued to the wood beneath them. I was frozen in pure fear. Fear that I had never before fallen victim to, nor did I deserve it.
Suddenly, an almost mechanical voice, possessing a horrifyingly poisonous edge, hauntingly spoke up from amidst the ebony gloom. "No one is here, my dear."
A sharp breath scraped my throat, unwaveringly catching itself there as I stiffened, back straight as I stumbled backwards, almost as if his mere voice had lashed through the darkness to strike me with an agonizing blow. It might as well have. His voice daunted me, gruesomely dripping with delight at my feeble expense.
"Perhaps I, myself, am not even here."
If fear hadn't painfully gripped me within its no doubt inescapable hold, freezing me where I stood, pale-faced and sweating with hopelessness, the deep snicker that soon followed the stranger's words would've surely induced a shudder that shook my body. And yet, although I was physically frozen, my thoughts were running wild, forceful thoughts like a raging flood that ensued the crumbling of a colossal dam. Who is this person?I thought, dizzy at the hands of my body's violent shivers. Their low voice proves their gender is that of a male, but what are their intentions?I shuddered. No doubt terrible; their mere voice is all one needs to answer such a question, and—wait! He says there is no one in this room, with the exception of me. That perhaps he, himself, is not even here; but how can—!
"You'll simply have to wait and see, little Kelsi," the man interrupted my thoughts. That really shook my insides out.
How—What the?My eyes flew wider than ever before as shock and horror swam deep within their green depths, like two strands of wire laced into one. I am…sure I wasn't thinking aloud, and how the heck does he know my name?
"This little game of ours has barely begun, my dear," the silhouette almost hissed, "but as it progresses, your questions will no doubt be answered—" He paused to snicker softly. "Although, I hold no doubt you'll find the path you must scale to learn these answers quite…distasteful." He chuckled once again, laugh low and cunning. "But I, on the other hand, know for a factI'll enjoy it immensely." His last words were cryptic, involuntarily erupting a shudder from me.
I swallowed hard, fear ensuring I was unable to think straight. A whirlwind of questions were flashing through my mind like a racing filmstrip, but before I could grasp one, another quickly took its place, much to my undying exasperation; however, my thoughts suddenly skidded to a painful halt as my ears perceived the four mortifying words the stranger soon spoke, their voiced etched with sick enjoyment.
"Let the hunt commence."
A petrifying ambiance began to choke me without mercy as the stranger's torturous laugh reverberated off the walls the cruel shadows of night had dyed black. Before I could so much as cry out in crushing terror, his silhouette amongst the shadows swept towards me, and a pitiful yelp pried my lips apart as a foreboding ring met my ears. As he swept through a tiny ray of moonlight, hissing my way, a silver object momentarily gleamed within the hand the light illuminated.
It was then that my mind fully grasped the dire situation…and it was then that I cried out in anguish as a sharp wave of pain shot through my upper arm. Instinctively, my right hand immediately gripped the precise wound slashed into my left arm.
"Silly, silly girl," I heard the mechanical voice murmur softly from behind. "If you think that miniscule strike agonizing, then this will certainly be far less entertaining than I'd first anticipated."
I would've surely whimpered something unintelligent if fear hadn't harshly lodged my voice within my throat; instead, I wheezed for air that fear yearned to deny me.
"Aww; don't tell me my little toy lacks claws," he hissed; a shrill sound that could evoke a shudder from even the most valiant.
I had to get away; I had to flee this madman's brutal wrath. My eyes narrowed with fear and bravery combined, like some insane chemical reaction of the mind. It was then that I reclaimed my voice. "Leave me alone, you demented psycho!" I roared as I suddenly fled for the sliding door...and no doubt for my life!
His insane laughter lashed through the room, although his rushing footsteps were nonexistent. I hastily stumbled through the door; and of all the times that one could trip over air, this was the worst of the worst! My piercing scream shot through the otherwise desolate night like a powerful tsunami shot through the sea.
I anticipated harsh waves of pain to puncture my nerves, but instead I was met by an icy grip. "It seems you do possess a no doubt entertaining fire about you." The ruthless shadow clutched my wrists in a vice like grip, a sinister chuckle escaping his lips. What in the—How the hell did he reach me so swiftly and silently?
"My dear Kelsi," he sneered, one hand leaving my wrist to reach for something beneath what I discerned as a cloak, billowing in the slight, eerie breeze. No sooner had he gripped this object did he suddenly thrust me towards him; and with an abrupt swish of his arm, a restricted choking noise spiralled from my lips as a sudden ice-cold object penetrated deep into my flesh. It felt as if my eyes had rolled into the back of my head from the overwhelming waves of pain…An almost unbearable pain that seemed to set my body ablaze, creating pitiful pleads within my mind directed at the Grim Reaper himself, to simply end my suffering. "You've no idea of what awaits," the wicked man whispered shrilly in my ear.
My breath caught in my throat as his index finger found my chin (although the hot, sticky liquid that crept up my throat could've also played a factor) and he harshly jerked my head upwards. Pallor pitifully swept across my face as my fading vision—quickly surrendering to the seemingly peaceful darkness—was viciously greeted by two daunting, lavender pools; the only feature of his that I'd seen…thus the only one I was able to picture now, through a blackening sight that was already influenced by the night's shadows.
Not even wrenching me limb from limb would heighten the pain that jolted through my body; and I'd finally reached the point of surrender. "Until we meet again," my vision faded to black as his final words faded into the far off distance, "my eternal puppet…"