Author's Note: Sorry for taking so long to write this. I got a bit caught up in some other things. Ready yourself for some darkness…
I held out the lantern in front of us as we walked down the path. We were all exhausted after two hours walking, and no end in sight.
"Damn it," Addie complained as she fell, skinning her knee. "Are you sure we aren't going in circles?"
"Pretty sure, yes," I sighed.
"Y'all look like you could use a hand," a voice came from behind us.
We all turned, basically in unison, to see an old man, smirking at us.
"We could," Enoch admitted. "Do you know the fastest way out of these woods?"
The old man sighed, and with a flick of his wrist, the path we were on lit up, glowing blue. "I'll give you a hint. The likelihood of any of you ever leaving the woods, much less all of you, is close to none. The path you're on has leaded you to… well, a place few return from. People don't leave here-"
"Yeah, yeah, we get the point. You won't help us," I snapped.
"Asher…" Sunshine started.
"What? He's…" then I suddenly realized something I'd been too tired to see before. The path was glowing… and we were in the middle of the woods… "What the…?"
"I don't think we should mess with this guy!" Sunshine hissed.
"I don't mind," the old man gave us an amused look. "It a natural reaction to finding out you're never going home."
I couldn't help myself. I have a very low tolerance for being told what I can and can't do, and this? This was crossing a line. I smacked the jackass across the face and began shouting at him. I can't even remember what I said… something about how he didn't know shit about us, and I was going to tan his hide… or something. The next thing I knew, my head felt like it was about to blow up, and I was on the ground, and it just hurt so much, and I…
Then it was over, and the man was just laughing at me. I got up, and raised a fist. I wasn't going to back down just because of a bit of pain. I was sixteen, and strong, and I thought I could take this freak down. At least I could make him leave us alone, if not help us. The man raised one eyebrow, and the laughter subsided into quiet amusement. I pulled back my fist…
"Don't," Addie said, grabbing my hand. "Asher, this is not a smart move."
I lowered my fist. Even I could see that. "Who are you?" I asked the man.
"Finally, you ask the right question," the man laughed at me again. "I am The Unknown."
"Great," Addie groaned softly. I gave her a look that said, hypocrite. "What? I didn't punch him."
"She has a point," the Unknown agreed. I glared at him.
"Look, why did you offer help if you aren't giving us any?" I asked, trying very hard not to start throwing fists again. The pain wasn't a great experience. Could I get up from it? Yes, if pride was involved. Did I want more? Um, no. I've never been a masochist. This guy was just pissing me off so much that I didn't really care about the pain.
"I didn't offer help. I observed that you looked like you could use it," the Unknown spoke lightly. Okay, now Addie looked as ready for a fight as I did, and Whisper's hands were noticeably curled.
Yeah, I get that this is monotonous. I'm just telling it like it is… was. It's not a fun story, I know. Also: I was an idiot.
"Can you leave us be, then?" Sunshine asked, looking upset. "Your presence in this environment seems to have a negative effect on all parties. Why have you come to mess with us?"
"I like messing with people," the Unknown shrugged. "I'll go… but I'll always be watching. This isn't the last time we will meet."
With that, he turned around and disappeared in a flash.
"That didn't just happen." Enoch was in shock. He had been, I realized, since the path lit up. "This whole thing must be a dream. It's the only rational explanation."
"Nah, man, whatever he did to me hurt too bad to be a dream," I said. "Maybe we're on hallucinogens or something…"
"We're not," Whisper said simply. "That was real. This whole thing is real."
Addie gave her sister a long look. "That's… Whisper, that can't be what this is…"
"You know what this is Addie. We both know. That was no man," Whisper tugged at the ends of her grayish-black braids, one of the few physical differences between her and Addie, who had dark brown curls that tumbled freely down her back… so I looked at Addie's hair sometimes, okay? What's the problem? She was hot, okay?
"What do you mean?" Sunshine enquired.
Whisper stared at us, and tears began to flood her eyes. "I mean we're not in the world we know anymore."
"Shut up!" Addie cried angrily. "You don't know what you're talking about!"
"Addie," I started.
"It's crazy! You're all crazy! It's can't be true! She was put in a psychiatric ward for a reason!" Addie continued screaming at her sister. "It's not true!"
She fell to her knees and began sobbing furiously. Enoch, Sunshine, and I all kind of stared at the twins. Man, fifteen-year-old girls are weird.
"I got this," I muttered to Enoch, and he and Sunshine backed off. I sat down next to Addie, and awkwardly tried to put an arm around her. "Hey."
She looked up, tears staining her cheeks. "What is it?"
"Um…" I tried to think what to say. "I'm sorry for blaming you earlier. I mean you couldn't have known what would happen."
"I don't care about that," she said. "I just… if Whisper's right…"
"About what?"
The others had backed off, giving us some privacy. Addie stared into my grey-blue eyes with her almost black ones.
"I just… I don't want us to be dying right now."