Today's second prompt is a horror story. This is my first time writing something like this, so let's see what you think.
Phantasiae purpurea
Levi wondered how he ended up this way; he had been patrolling the barrack's surroundings since the early morning. But after neglecting his horse for a second, it ran away, leaving him without his bag pack and pretty much alone in the middle of the forest. At first he got distracted with a scary shout coming from the trees and when he went to check if there was someone hurt, his horse got scared and ran away.
Something similar happened to Petra as well. Lucky for them, they eventually met in the forest. They didn't have a map and decided to walk around, looking for the way back to the castle. After a couple hours, the sky got dark and rain started to fall. There was a cabin a couple miles away and they hurried to get some shelter from the rain.
"Hello?" Levi yelled, but nobody answered "It's empty. Let's go inside."
"I can't see a thing… do you have any matches?" Petra took of her Scouting Legion cloak and shook away the raindrops from her hair. Their clothes were wet, but at least they had a roof.
"No, they were inside my damn horse's bag…" he looked around "there's a hearth. There might be something to light some fire" he approached there and took two stones to make some fire. Then he lighted a little bunch of straw and put it under some wood "this will be enough for a while"
"Excellent!" now Petra was able to see the inside of the cabin "it looks like it has been empty for years. There is no furniture… oh, there's a table in the next room" she pointed out perhaps there's something else on the second floor" she went upstairs, very careful not to trip over a broken wood "nothing here either. Only some broken tables" then, the sound of a door opening was heard "there's a closet with a blanket!...and an ax"
"Bring the blanket. It's getting colder… wait, is it filthy?" Levi placed the wood inside the hearth and left some of them out, reserving them for later.
"It was just dusty. I already cleaned it. And we won't starve. I found some berries in the woods" Petra sat next to the Captain and looked at him with worry, while he put the blanked behind them "Sir, your jacket is wet. You should take it off or you'll catch a cold" he frowned and then took it off. The girl took it placed it in the floor, right in front of the hearth and next to the cloaks "this way they'll get dried faster"
"Petra… we are trapped inside a shitty abandoned cabin, in the middle of the woods and you are worried about dry clothing?... you should be thinking about a returning route instead"
"With all due respect Sir, it looks like we are stuck here for the night. We can worry about the route tomorrow morning… what I'm worrying about is those weird noises in the wood today. We didn't find anyone so…"
"Dammit… I know. Perhaps this is a thug house. We should take turns to sleep"
"You're right" she took a handkerchief from her pocked. It had some berries inside "but we should eat something first. I know is not much, but…"
"I'm not hungry, you can have them" he looked away, noticing the windows around them.
"Mm… not bad..." Petra said after biting on of the, and as soon as Levi turned to say something, she placed a berry inside his mouth, laughing in the process as she saw her Captain's disapproving face.
"… you're right…it's pretty good" a tiny smile appeared in the corner of his lips.
They kept talking for a while and the rain wouldn't stop. The temperature was lowering and some thunders were heard in the distance. Petra shrugged.
"Oh, come on, Ral. Don't tell me you're scared of some thunders!"
"No, it's not that… where I came from, there is a legend that says, on stormy nights, without moon in the sky, the spirits of the dead would come"
"Tsch… bullshit. I've been on nights worse than this and I've never seen a ghost. They are not real. You should worry more about the living than the dead" suddenly a cold air filled the room and Petra trembled "Use this. You need it more than I do" he put the blanked over her shoulders.
"Captain…" there was a pause and Levi put more wood inside the hearth, hoping to light up the fire so it wasn't so cold, but when he sat back again he felt Petra's arm around his shoulder and the blanked around him "it' enough for the both of us" she smiled and got closer to him, so the sheet would cover them. They stayed silent for some moments and Levi held a nostalgic glance.
"When I was younger I spent colder nights without a shelter and…" he felt Petra' head on his right shoulder; it was something without precedents but he didn't dislike it at all so he caressed her hair as he surrounded her with his arm.
They lost track of time as they talked about their time before the army and childhood stories, but suddenly Petra turned around, very alarmed.
"Did you hear that?"
"I can only hear the rain"
"It was like a whistle…."
"It's only your ima…" the woods creaked in the second floor and Levi stayed very quiet.
The Captain stood up, silently and tried to find his belt knife, but he remembered how he lost it earlier that day, so he cursed under his breath. Then me made a gesture to tell Petra he was going upstairs, and once in the second floor he looked for someone inside the cabin, but there was nobody. Then he figured that someone might be inside the closed, so he opened it, expecting someone attacking him… but nothing.
"There's nothing here! It surely is this damn old cabin" he went down again "don't put that look on your face…"
"It's just that..." he sat next to her.
"Tsch… I already told you, there is nothing. It's just the sound of the storm…" and suddenly the entrance door opened, letting in the rain breeze and heavy air. The fire was extinguished after that "Goddammit!" Levi stood up to close the door, but right in the moment when he looked at the woods he saw something moving… something with red eyes "Petra, move next to the wall" she did as told and he put the table from the next room in front of the door, so nobody could open it. Then he approached Petra, standing in front of her like if he was defending her from something "I saw something in the woods"
"Here, I still have my knife"
"Shit!… great day to nor carry the 3dmg with us" and then Petra jumped and grabbed Levi0s back.
"Something passed flying in front of the window… it was like a bird with red eyes"
"A bird you say?... come on" he took her hand and carefully approached to the window so he could see if there was something outside.
"I can't see anything. It's too dark" a thunder sounded, scaring them but the instant of light was enough for Levi to see some kind of mist outside the cabin.
"We better move, Captain..."
"Let's go next to the hearth. It won't be so cold there" they headed there, trying to not make any sound, but when they passed in front of the other room Petra screamed "Damn! What was that for?"
"it was… it.." she babbled.
"Calm down "he took her face between his hands and tried to calm her "listen to me… nothing's gonna to happen to you while I'm here. Now, tell me what did you see?"
"It was…" she was about to cry "like a handed man… he was hanging from the roof" then Levi checked the room and another thunder fell near the cabin. This time Levi saw what Petra had seen before and as fast as he could he took her hand and rushed to the second floor.
"Oh gosh, what's going on?!"
"Shit!" once they were in the second floor Levi looked down the stairs and hi eyes couldn't believe what he saw "Petra, get inside the closet now!" there was a small puddle of blood coming from the hearth.
"Captain... the ax that was here before… it's not here anymore…"
"What did you say?... fuck! Get inside the closet" she entered and he followed her, looking around before closing the door.
"Captain, weren't you holding a knife?"
"I… don't remember… I think I dropped it when we ran…shit!"
The closet was small, but they fitted in there if they stayed close. Some footsteps could be heard from the other side of the door and Levi put his index finger on his lips, trying to tell the girl to not make any sound. Slowly the footsteps went away and the sound of the rain changed. Then some disturbing screams were heard.
"I won't let anything happen to you…" Levi whispered as he held Petra tight and she cursed herself for not doing anything about her fillings for the Captain before all this. It could be her last night alive.
"Sir, whatever happens, I…" the sound of main entrance door breaking was heard and distorted voices came from the first floor. Then, Petra felt Levi's hand on her cheek and his breathing approaching. More footstep and voices were heard but for a couple instants they didn't care because their lips met, kissing each other as if it was their last night alive.
Meanwhile, someone was knocking on the door and Levi held Petra closer, putting himself between her and the door. When the door fell down a dazzling light blinded them and as terrified as they were, they tried to defend themselves, but consciousness left them and they fell down.
"Erd! Gunter! I need some help here!" Commander Ewin's voice filled the cabin and the special operations' squad boys rushed to the second floor.
Hanji was standing in the first floor, looking for a handkerchief in the floor, noticing some berried on it and she studied them with the help of her oil lamp.
"What the hell?" Oluo said as he saw his teammates carrying Petra and Captain Levi.
"I don't know what happened here, but they were inside the closet, as if they were hiding from someone… or something" Erwin was thoughtful as he picked up Petra's knife from the floor. "I wonder what happened"
"I believe I have the answer for that, Erwin" Hanji said smiling "apparently they ate this berries… phantasiae purpurea… highly hallucinogenic. They could have seen anything after eating this" and then a monkey carrying a the red painting from a flare came down the stairs.
"An... animal?"
"I didn't know there were monkeys in this part of the woods… and apparently they were messing around with a soldier's bag pack… he's has a flare in his hand" Gunter stood next to the door, still carrying Petra.
"I think I can imagine what happened now…" Erwin said with a disapproval voice "let's go back… they won't believe what happened to them when they wake up"
The next day Petra awoke in the infirmary and Hanji was sitting next to her, wearing a big grin.
"How are you felling?"
"…fine… but how did I get here?... and where's the Captain?!"
"Don't worry, Levi is fine. Actually, he might be doing some paperwork in his office. I suppose you'd like to know what happened" Petra nodded "you see… after what that little one told us this morning, we have a general idea of what happened. Yesterday when you were patrolling around the woods something scared your horses… that something was a rare kind of monkey… a very playful one… they make a very special noise, as if it was some crying, ad I'm sure that's what scared your horses"
"But the cabin…"
"Oh, that's the best part!" Hanji laughed "when we saw your horses coming back without you guys we feared the worst, so Erwin ordered a search party. By night we saw smoke coming from a cabin and when we got there, we saw your cloaks and jackets in the floor. Of course we didn't want to make any conclusions" Petra blushed and the squad leader was enjoying the moment "so we broke in the cabin and we heard the monkey's noise. Our horses were scared as hell but Oluo caught them. When we entered we couldn't find you guys anywhere so Erwin went to the second floor and found you inside the closet. When I entered the cabin, I found you handkerchief in the floor with some berries… those fruits are hallucinogenic so... I think that… whatever you saw or did… was because of the berries.
"I…" Petra blushed "so, there was nothing weird in the cabin?"
"Nothing… but what did you see? Levi says he can't remember anything.
"I can't remember either" Petra lied "I just remember someone chasing us"
"I see… so, are you ok? You should rest a little more"
"I'm alright…" Petra left the bed and headed to the infirmary door "I'd like to go to my room"
As soon as she was out she headed to her dorm, but she had to pass in front of the Captain's office and right before she could go down the stairs she hears him calling her.
"Petra… are you alright?"
"Sir!" she remembered what happened and was afraid of looking at him in the eyes "I'm fine, thanks"
"Good to hear that… I didn't think those berries would have that effect.
"Me neither… and I'm sorry! It was my fault"
"Don't worry, we were influenced by the environment… but I don't remember what happened" he thought for a while "do you?" he waited for her to reply.
"Me neither!"
"I see… well, I'll be in my office doing some paperwork" he entered the room and she was about to leave too, but Levi said something before she could go "And by the way, Petra… you're a great kissed" and then the door closed.
Petra blushed so hard and ran towards her room; after all, he remembered what happened as well.
