Rain Forest, the name did its justice. The sun only appeared occasionally. And rarely did the rain cease. One night, the humidity was immense. The wind was strong and the rain, of course, was falling hard.
"I loved the idea of the article. I hate the fact that we have to walk there."
Alisha's complaints were constant. The seconds of silence was no more than that. There was always a protest. If not the weather, it was the path. If it wasn't the umbrella bending due to the strong force of the wind, it was something else.
" It's about time you shut that muzzle of yours, don't you think?"
Jack's statement made Vixen let out a 'Tsk', but she made no sound. Nick, for his part, cursed to himself the rough road they had to travel. Besides being muddy, it was fickle. And twice his foot failed him, and he almost hit his snout on the ground. To help, the tripod was heavy. Luckily, the film camera was left in the office, and he opted to take only the camera, which also had a recording function. Which, for the purpose, was fine. Jack, in turn, carried a backpack. Inside, a notebook, another camera, and essential supplies. The idea was to go on the day and come on the day itself, so not much was needed. Judy, on the other paw, was carrying another backpack. In it, more essentials, a first aid box, and the folders with everything they had discovered so far about the lost village. On one of its paws, the folded map, but with the markings facing her. On the other paw, an umbrella.
"How much further is it?" questioned Jack, stopping and turning back, looking at Judy who stared at him and replied negatively with her head. Jack sighed and turned his attention back to the path in front of him.
A day earlier...
"I still think we will be going round and round," stated Nick, spoon-stirring the cappuccino in front of him.
They were on break and decided to go to the coffee near the office.
"Contradicting Jack is out of the question," said Judy with a shrug. "The story could make a great Hit. From what I've read, the plot is addictive." the coffee in front of her was untouched.
"Twin sisters cursed. A deadly ritual closed the gates of hell, and even though the village was left at peace, the villagers were all killed to pacify a monster from the darkness." Nick spoke with irony. "Let's face it, Carrots. The plot is addictive, but you have to give your imagination wings to put in a captivating beginning, middle, and end."
"It won't take much. You read the fat letters in bold, not the ones that matter. There was more there than the sisters and the ritual. Something is hidden in the darkness so it could kill everyone."
Nick said nothing and just sighed. He even read a little, but from the beginning, it was hard to understand what was there. The basis. Sisters and ritual. So, what about the rest? If you put the beginning together in the middle, it didn't make sense. Even adding the beginning right at the end made it more confusing. So, the absurd idea of going to a village was lost for centuries. On top of that, in the middle of the Rain Forest, where the weather is unstable.
"There's something else, right?" he questioned her, staring at her. She looked at him, but then looked away.
"The ritual pacified the village, but the price was the blood of villagers. Peace was supposed to be in the place. However, the news spread quickly, and the villagers of nearby villages came to visit. At first, nothing unusual happened. But after a year those who ventured there never returned. In short, centuries passed, but it took a long time before the village was forgotten. And the idiots went there thinking it was a joke and stayed there. Until the place was entertained to mammals and crossed off the map."
"The more reason you give me in the madness we're going to do." Nick sipped some of his cappuccino.
"If my calculations aren't wrong and about what I've read elsewhere other than in the documents Jack gave, the Village does exist. And a whole village doesn't just disappear out of thin air. If no order was given to demolish it, and I checked in all the court records that nothing there was demolished and built, the vegetation took care of hiding it." Judy shrugged her shoulders again and sipped her coffee.
Back to the present...
" Argh!" grunted Alisha after her umbrella had turned over for the thousandth time. The rain had slowed down a bit, but the wind was getting stronger and stronger.
Judy had her eyes focused on the map. Now and then she looked to her right side. The side where the coordinates of the supposed village were. Nick wondered if the left side was also possible when he reached her and noticed that the doe was only looking in one direction. Judy nodded negatively. Whether it was the coordinates or the map, inside she felt that the village was on the right.
"How much longer for this curse to end?"
They knew that Alisha's minutes of silence would be short-lived. So, they merely ignored one more wail and let the sound of the strong wind drift into their ears. At least the rain had called a truce, beginning to make room for the full moon in a very starry sky. The light provided greater vision than with flashlights alone. Improving not falling helplessly on the false, muddy ground.
"They will all die!"
Automatically, Judy's head turned in the right direction. And when her eyes set on the figure, she didn't win for the fright. All her fur shivered. Her paws trembled and her heart raced at an alarming rate. Judy recognized the figure her eyes reflected. Behind her, Nick became aware of his friend's sudden behavioral change. The shock was visible in her expression, stuck in nothingness as he turned his eyes in the direction she was looking. He moved a little closer, calling out to her, but she didn't react.
Still fixated on the image her eyes reflected, the evil laughter coming from her fellow figure aroused the contained fear. Not because the figure was a mammal-like her, but because this female had tormented her in all her dreams. That evil laughter woke her distressed in the middle of the night. The kimono, once white, changed to a reddish hue as her laughter increased in intensity. Blood. Judy knew it.
"They deserve it!" Those were her words, spoken in an agonizingly deep tone before she disappeared.
Nick, in turn, stood in front of the doe and brought his paws to her shoulders, shaking her gently as he called her name. Still, in a trance and sounding like a voice at the bottom of the well, Judy began to regain her senses and come back to reality. Her eyes glazed over, regained their sparkle, and Nick sighed with relief.
"Welcome back." He said with irony amidst the fear. "What happened?"
"The Lost Village. It's over there." And she pointed.
Nick turned in the direction where she was pointing and was shocked to see a non-muddy dirt path where it hadn't been seconds ago. A small bridge gave access to a clearing, keeping them from going through a small river that flowed aggressively.
"How?" the thoughtful words were spoken aloud.
Until then Jack and Alisha hadn't realized anything until Nick spoke up. And, like him, the shock was visible in their expressions. Seconds before, nothing there was but a dense forest. Now, an entire village filled half an acre.
To be continued…
