Muriel awoke to the whistling chill of a cold, sharp wind against her face. Suddenly aware of her surroundings, she attempted to get her bearings. How did she get outside? The last thing she remembered was being at a party just a few houses down from her own. Someone had mentioned the infamous cave up at Old Gorge and she had tried to put the thought out of her mind with a half-hearted chuckle. She brushed a strand of her auburn-red hair back behind her ear and avoided making eye contact with the odd stranger. "What are your afraid of?" he smirked and his eyes cut right through her. A chill ran up Muriel's spine.
With a sideways glance, Muriel's friend mentioned something to her about getting more chips and the pair glided away. A few steps away, and only slightly more comfortable, Muriel looked back over her shoulder to see the handsome stranger's eyes locked on hers. She quickly broke the gaze and brushed off the creepy feeling growing inside her mind. She told herself she was just getting worked up because it was close to Halloween and she'd watched too many scary movies last week. "I knew better than to let Jason talk me into watching his collection of old horror movies," Muriel thought to herself.
She smelled pine and the earthiness of freshly turned soil. Her hand found its way to her throbbing cheek and she pushed herself up onto her elbows to sit upright. She dusted the pine needles and dry leaves off of her face and hands. Her hair was a windblown tangle of leaves. She brushed a few stray wispy stands out of her eyes. She could barely see a few feet in front of her in either direction. Where were her gloves? She searched the pockets of her parka, but failed to produce something that would protect her delicate fingers from the cold. Instead, the tips of her hand brushed across something that she didn't remember putting in her pocket. She withdrew a small slip of paper with a note scribbled, "What are you afraid of?" Her heart thundered like the hoofbeats of a horse that had been set free after a long day of restraint. She pulled her knit hat down over her ears and wrapped her coat more tightly around herself. She had to get out of here.
Muriel pulled herself up and onto her feet. Her eyes followed the pillars of tree trunks to the blackening canopy they held skyward. Her boots softly crunched on the crispy autumn leaves as she fumbled her way through the labyrinth of shadows and tree trunks. She continuously suppressed the urge to be terrified.
She had been walking for what felt like hours. She kept replaying the evening's events in her mind and failing to produce an explanation as to how she arrived to be haphazardly stumbling through these woods. At times she thought she heard an accompanying set of footsteps echoing behind her.
She could faintly hear a blunt pounding that mimicked the sound of a hammer. She followed the direction of the strange sound hopeful for some sign of life in these forgotten woods. As she crested a hill, she came to a clearing where a small abandoned cabin came into view illuminated by the moonlight. A gust of wind blew sternly from behind her pushing her forward sending the strands of her hair spinning in tandem with the leaves on the forest floor. The front door she saw in the distance was slightly off kilter and repeatedly slamming in the wind against its frame sending out an ominous drumbeat into the otherwise silent night.
Her heart raced as she attempted a decision. Should she continue trekking through this forest that may never end in a patch of civilization or take her chances spending the night in what appears be a hunter's cabin that has been sitting unused for a few decades? Just as she had mustered up the courage to march toward the cabin she glanced what she thought was a shadowy figure running from the wood line toward the cabin's backdoor. Was it just the wind and her imagination or was something else winding its way through these woods tonight?
To be continued...
