Chapter Two: Dan Russell
"Wait!" Leah called out, following the small crunching footsteps of the small girl she had seen only moments earlier. After a minute of running, Leah was forced to slowdown and catch her breath. Her situation had gone from bad to worse in only a mere matter of minutes.
Leah closed her eyes, trying to fend off the raging waves of pain that kept crashing against her skull from the headache she had been suffering. From here, she had two clear options. She could go back to her wreck of a car and wait and pray that maybe someone would come by. She could maybe try and make it up to the road and wait by herself.
Or, she could try and follow the path that seemed to lead through the woods in hopes that she'd find the girl and maybe some other adults. Adults who had a home with a working phone.
Leah looked up ahead, still panting a little and squinted. The forest around her was pitch black. In fact it was the perfect setting for some animal to jump out and scare the hell out of her. Or for the thing from the road to return…
"Knock it off," she scolded herself, feeling a cold shiver run down her spine from the thought. "It was probably just a dog…" she reasoned then caught sight of what she had been straining to see. Further ahead, much further, was a faint glow. Leah sucked in a breath of piney air and held it, saying a silent prayer that it was a flashlight and further more that it wouldn't go out before she could reach it.
Mentally she urged her legs to move and began a steady jog towards the light, her only beacon of hope at the moment.
She only paused once during her jog to listen attentively to a faint shuffle in the trees. She heard it a few more times and forced herself to keep moving. "Keep moving…keep moving. It's only an animal…keep moving…"she thought and kept running. The shuffling and snapping of twigs only grew more frenzied as she ran and as they grew Leah felt her legs move faster.
"Mmmrr…"
A moan.
Hard to hear but Leah had been sure it had been a moan and she knew of no animal that actually moaned. "Oh god…it's following me…"
Her mind did the rest for what her eyes could not see. In her head she had terrifying visions of some sick madman, following her. Watching her…
Perhaps it was some old hermit who hunted people for fun.
All were thoughts that propelled her to move all the more quickly. By now she was in a full on run for her life. The rustling was following her. It was all around her and Leah heard her breath exploding from her mouth in gasps as she struggled to run until…
All at once she had reached the source of the light. Her feet skidded to a stop, drawing up a very small cloud of dust and what she saw perplexed her and horrified her all at once.
Before her, built into a small little alcove and surrounded by trees was quite clearly some sort of mini altar. Candles were set out around its square perimeter and lit. On it were two candles on each side and in the middle was a clear, red symbol. Leah approached it though her mind screamed at her to keep away. "…Who in the hell…"
The flames danced in the cool night's breeze but Leah's gaze was fixed upon the symbol. It almost seemed to glow with life though it was only slathered on by cheap paint rather than blood as she had first feared. She curled a lip and backed away, shaking her head. "Sick…" she whispered and sick was how it made her feel. Just looking at the symbol gave her a queasy feeling. Like she was looking at something that was diseased and not to be touched.
She turned around, now even more nervous and afraid that perhaps whatever was out in the woods was the person who had put this altar here. Visions of axe happy wood dwellers and religious zealot cannibals danced through her imagination. Then she saw something she had not before: A tent.
Leah walked over almost positive that no one was inside for the tent itself looked older than anything she'd seen so far. She lightly kicked it as she passed and listened for any sound at all, if indeed someone had been taking residence. Silence followed and she was grateful to hear that even the rustling sounds from the woods had ceased for the time being. Her ease was short lived as it occurred to her that silence might not have entirely been a good thing. She swallowed and stepped around to the front of the tent. She kneeled down to get a better look inside and her knee brushed against something hard: A solid metal flashlight.
"Yes…" Leah whispered and almost could've screamed with joy, had she not been fearful that screaming would provoke whatever had been in the woods. Her hands seized the flashlight and shifted the small white switch so that it was on. By some miracle, it flickered once then came to life and shined a good-sized beam of bright light directly into the tent. Inside, as she had suspected, was no one and nothing except a stick and an old, ragged sheet of paper. She grabbed both and looked at the stick quixotically. The end was sharpened to a point, almost like a spear and etched into the bark was one word: "Henry."
"Henry…?" she asked aloud then picked up the sheet of paper, reading aloud.
"I won'T sHut up! I won't! ThEY may have exiled me, but you WaIt and watch! Everyone want to cLam up about it now! They want to wiLl it awAy. But I know better. I wiLL stay right here anD you'll stay wIth mE Henry. My frienD…we'll show them what happens when you abandon your belIEfs. Just me and you…Henry…we'll show them ."
Leah stared at the note for a long moment then grimaced. She almost felt tempted to just throw the stick away but as things stood it was her only means of defending herself and it'd come in handy if something did happen to make an appearance. She gave a little sigh of uneasiness and let the note drift to the ground. She gave one glance back to the altar and decided that she'd take her chance on the woods rather than stay and wait for the person who created the altar (maybe Henry's "friend") to return. With that she jogged off, back onto the path from which she had come.
Minutes passed like seconds and before she knew it, Leah had resigned herself to just being lost. The path she had taken had not led her back to the car and no car meant no clear indication of which way the road was. Leah cursed and kicked a tree, feeling all of her frustration come to a head. How had this happened? The path hadn't split the first time she'd followed it. It was a clear straightforward path from the car to the little altar sight. So how had this happened?
Leah grit her teeth and groaned, clenching her eyes shut. She hadn't asked to lose her memories and she hadn't asked to be left alone, lost, with only a stick named Henry as her defense. The whole hopelessness of the situation made her want to curl up and cry. She leaned her forehead against a tree and gave a little moan, dropping Henry against the tree and clutching her flashlight. "Maybe I'm dreaming…maybe this is all a bad dream and I'll wake up," she said softly, her head pounding with the remnants of her headache as she spoke. She winced and put a hand to her face, backing away from the tree.
It was then that something caught her eye. In the distance shone a bright, white light. Not the same faint glow from the altar sight before. This was a bright light.
Leah felt her heart jump a little in joy but then felt the familiar ball of dread drop into her stomach. "Light or no light. Remember the nice little surprise waiting for you the last time you saw a light?" she thought, remembering the eerie sight of the tent and altar.
"Well…at least I have you Henry…" she said, smirking a bit then suddenly shook her head to clear her thoughts. "What am I saying…? I'm starting to sound like that nut in the letter," she said on second thought and just picked up the stick, heading towards the second light with a renewed hope.
"I wouldn't go that way unless you're absolutely sure…"
Leah felt her heart stop and her reflexes kicked in faster than she would've ever thought possible. In half a moment's time, her flashlight was shining on a young man. He looked at her calmly though there was a faint gleam of suspicion in his eyes. He was fairly young, maybe no older than herself, but he was taller than she was by at least a foot. His hair hung in his face and he made no move to brush it away. It was a light sandy brown, almost the color of caramel. Leah wondered how long he'd been standing there.
"W-who are you? Are you who was following me in the woods?!"
"Relax. I came … from town you could say…" he said, pointing in the direction of the light. Leah followed to where he was pointing then drew her attention right back to him.
"You said 'town.' You mean there's a town…right over there?" she asked incredulously, almost unwilling to believe her luck. The young man nodded. "Yeah. That's what I said, are you deaf or something?"
Leah narrowed her eyes. "Look…I've just been thr-"
"I mean what I said. Don't go there unless you're absolutely sure," he interrupted and stepped closer. Leah didn't move but her hand tightened instinctively around Henry. "What do you mean by that…?"
The young man stopped and looked to his side, casting his gaze downward to the ground. Leah's eyes widened as the evident dawned on her. She thrust the stick forward and glared. "You! Were you the one who set up that sick little altar back there?!" she spat, gesturing behind Dan with the stick.
"Altar? No…" he answered, without hesitation.
"Well then who did…?"
The young man shrugged. "I don't know, but whatever altar you saw? Take that as a warning."
Lean tilted her head, genuinely confused and not entirely comforted by his answer. "Warning?"
"Look, this town over there…? You're not the first person to come here. Something is wrong with this town! People come here and they're lost here."
"Lost-?!"
"You'll be lost too if you aren't careful…" he said, giving her a sad, almost pleading look. "I don't want to see something like that happen to you…"
Leah stared at him for a long moment then shook her head. "Look, how do you know all this?! I mean who the hell are you?!"
"My name's Dan Russell."
Leah nodded, trying to clear her head, then leaned the stick against her leg and held her hands up as a calming gesture. She spoke softly. "Okay, Dan, how do you know all this? Do you live here?" she asked, trying to get clear answers.
Dan shook his head, confirming his answer. "No, but I just…know…"
For a moment their eyes locked and the look that Leah found there made her want to turn away. "Something is wrong with this town! " his words resonated within her head. Leah turned to look back towards the light and stared at it, her mind going blank. She heard Dan's words but didn't turn to look at him.
"If you must go, follow the path ahead of you. You'll find your answers there but they may not be answers you want…"
Leah took drew in a small breath before softly asking, "How…do…you know…?"
A gentle silence ensued except for the chirping of a few crickets she had not noticed before. Leah turned to Dan only to find him gone. "Dan…?"
Leah felt her heart sink. A very small part of her had hoped he would stay and accompany her so she wouldn't have to be alone. ESPECIALLY if what he had said about this town was true. The idea alone scared her. Suddenly she found she didn't want to follow that light. She wanted to find her car and go back to the road. At least there she'd stand the chance of someone possibly driving by. Here she was completely alone.
"No…" she thought to herself and she didn't know why. Things had led her here. Both the little girl and Dan. They sure as hell weren't apart of her imagination, so just who were they?
She felt her legs begin to move in a sort of timid shuffle. Whatever the answers, she had a sinking feeling that Dan was going to be right. She'd find them in the town ahead of her.
A/N: Just for reference Leah is 20. Also see if you can find the hidden message in the note. I'll give kudos to those who can figure it out without a hint (which I'll put in the next chapter).