CHAPTER 2 “The House in the Woods”
“The House in the Woods”
“There are many rumors circulating between the townspeople, some which are quite outlandish, if you ask me, but we all agree on one thing: the Bear Mansion is cursed!” Olga gasps as the words leave her, quickly covering her mouth with her hand, as if afraid that someone might have overheard.
“Its last residents had met the most unfortunate of fates, my dear. So tragic that I am not even one bit surprised that the remaining living descendants had vanished into thin air in the middle of the night, never to be seen again.”
She shakes her head, sorrow unfurling on her pleasant face.
“You see, Elena, the father had been impaled through the throat while out hunting one autumn’s day.
He had slipped on some mud and fell onto the dead animal’s antlers, killing him on the spot.
The mother,” she sighs, “had wandered off into the woods a few days later in search of some rare plants that she was prone to collecting, and never returned. Her body was found hanging from the branches of that very same plant, its thick vines all tangled up around her neck.”
“That’s terrible.” I lean in closer, my heart beating uncontrollably.
Olga frowns as moisture pools in her eyes.
“There’s more, I’m afraid. There were three brothers and a sister, her being the youngest one in the family and therefore the most cherished one.
She had been out hiking one day in the forest, and her foot got caught in between some rocks on the bottom of a shallow stream.
Unable to get it out, she sat in the water, waiting for someone to come get her, hoping that they would realize she was gone and come searching for her.
As night fell, she became tired and weak from sitting in the cold stream for so long, and so, unable to stay awake any longer, she fell asleep—and never opened her eyes.
Some say that the forest entrapped her. That its ancient trees wound their spindly branches around her limbs and tried to take her into the earth as an offering.
Her body was later found floating in the shallow waters, all bloated and pale, her tiny foot still lodged between those very same two rocks. ”
Taking a handkerchief from her small granite colored purse, Olga wipes the tears from her eyes.
“The oldest Bear brother had been the one to find all three bodies of his family members. That poor fellow had to bury them on his own. His remaining two siblings weren’t present when these incidents occurred, one having been studying overseas while the other had been gone on a business trip.
He was forever changed after that.” She trails off before suddenly exclaiming, “Oh, Elena! You should have seen how lovely he was mere days before everything transpired.”
“Yes, I can imagine.” I know all too well about the deep scars that unhealed wounds and trauma can leave on one’s soul.
My own somber history comes to mind, one where for years, I had been taking care of my bedridden mother until she eventually succumbed to cancer, only to be followed by my father’s untimely death shortly after that.
The coroner had said that he had died from a broken heart.
“What happened after?” I ask, forcing my grim thoughts back to the present. “Did they sell the house?”
“Oh, no, my dear, the oldest Bear wouldn’t hear of it.
He continued living at the place for some time while the other two were off to school and managing their restaurant business, not allowing even the real estate agent onto the grounds when potential buyers showed up.
He even got married, but his wife got into a terrible accident.
Poor fellow, bad luck seems to follow him around.
” She shakes her head, pity etched into her features.
“Lord only knows what happened to the brothers after that, no one’s seen them for years. We all just assumed they left, but—”
I jump back in my seat as a large object crashes into the window. My chest is on the verge of exploding when the said object turns out to be a huge crow. Its beak is completely shattered, its body plastered to the glass of our moving train, as if stuck to it.
I stare at it.
Its one eye—the one that’s still somehow intact—stares back at me.
Olga shrugs, undeterred, and stands as the train begins to slow. Her fragile limbs tremble from the effort as she limps towards the cabin doors, her personal belongings held tightly to her chest.
“Best stay away from that place, Elena,” she says.
“In fact, don’t go wandering off into the woods at all if you know what’s good for you.
There have been strange sightings lately near the Bear Mansion, I wouldn’t want you to get hurt.
Or worse.” She slides open the panels and before I can form a cohesive response, vanishes, as if into thin air.
I blink. Then again, wondering if I had imagined the whole interaction.
A flash of gold in the corner of my eye catches my attention. Curious, I inch closer to the object lying on the plush seat, its bright luster blinding me in the dimly lit space.
“Wait!” I jump, bolting through the cabin doors, the priceless locket clutched in my hand as my fingers strain against the intricately carved metal, careful not to drop it.
“Wait! Olga! You forgot your—” The words lodge in my throat when I see no sign of the elderly woman.
“Where did she go?” Rushing to the window, I halt in my tracks.
The crow is gone.
A vague blood smear of where its body was is the only proof that it ever existed and wasn’t something that was entirely conjured up by my overactive imagination.
I grimace in disgust while getting back to the task at hand of locating my missing co-passenger, and plaster myself onto the glass, squinting in an attempt to make out the familiar form of the old lady that I had been sharing the same space with for the past hour or so.
A thick veil of fog hovers around the train, making it almost impossible to distinguish between the many forms slithering around in the darkening day.
“Well, I guess that’s that then.” My gaze drifts down to the delicate piece of jewelry still wrapped up in my palm.
“I’ll just have to hold on to this until I see her again.
” I twirl the trinket between my fingers, head spinning with possibilities.
“Or, I could run after her and return it to her now. I mean, how far could she have gone? She’s barely capable of walking, for Christ’s sake. ”
A fragile bud of hope springs forth in my chest: perhaps if I catch up with her, she will be grateful enough to tell me more about this Bear Mansion, and I can finally finish my dissertation and go home.
Feeling a sudden burst of inspiration, I grab my leather duffel bag and bolt through the doors just in time before the train starts to move again. Leaping onto the wooden platform as the wind whips my hair onto my face, I take a moment to inspect my barely visible surroundings.
A moderately sized charcoal stone building stands twenty feet in front of me, flanked by rows of equally murky looking stone pillars, their base embellished with engravings of forest nymphs and vines that stretch over the building’s facade, as if spilling over onto the wall itself.
A substantial grandfather clock is located to the right of me, its ancient looking pendulum swinging wildly in the wind, convincing me that it would surely be ripped out of its encasing should the weather not ease up soon.
Glancing around, it strikes me that I’m standing completely alone in the heavy mist, not a single soul in sight with the train having departed already.
I frown, nose scrunching up from irritation. “That’s just great. What am I supposed to do now?” A flash of red catches my eye. I turn, hope blossoming in my chest at the familiar sight. “A cab! Oh, thank God!”
I run for the vehicle while shoving Olga’s locket into my coat pocket, not wanting to waste a single moment lest the man drive away without me.
“Good evening sir,” I chirp, climbing into the back. “Can you take me to a motel, please?”
The driver swings around in his seat, his deep brown eyes locking on me and my disheveled appearance.
“No motel,” he grumbles, his heavy accent making him hard to understand. “Only village.” Putting the car into gear, he starts to pull out of the railway station.
“Wait, where are we going?” I clutch my bag, apprehension creeping into my system as we leave the lit surroundings and make our way into the gloomy unknown. “I haven’t told you where to take me. Wait!”
Muttering under his breath, the robust male ignores me. The rain begins anew, the droplets turning into pea sized pearls of water that crash down onto the car, making maneuvering the vehicle an almost impossible task.
I remain still as a statue, my nerves getting the best of me as I examine the many sights through the drenched car window.
Massive, prehistoric looking beech trees loom towards the sky, their forms casting sinister shadows across the fog covered ground.
Moss with toadstools that sporadically spring forth between the cracks in the bark, cover their thick trunks.
Like ghosts from an old wives tale, the mist parts right before my eyes, swirling in an almost ritualistic dance while the storm rages on around us.
Jaw on the floor, disbelief floods me. It appears as if the night has leaked into the mist, staining the pristine droplets and turning them into ebony beads of ink that seem to hover in the air, as if being held up by invisible threads.
The car jerks to a stop, propelling me into the back of the driver’s seat, and I rub my forehead, certain that a beautiful blue bruise will mark the spot by the end of the day.
“We no go.” The driver spits, already out of the car. “Tires stuck. Mud too deep.” He kicks the wheel in question, cursing like a sailor. “I get help. You, stay here.”
“What—” I yelp, jumping out of the vehicle, the man already halfway down the road by the time my feet find purchase on solid ground. “You can’t just leave me here! Hey, come back!”
“You be fine!” he shouts, his massive back turned to me, not even bothering to turn around. “No go into woods. Stay in car.”
I watch as the burly male disappears out of sight, the trees swallowing up his giant form.
“Perfect, just what I needed.”
A wolf howls somewhere behind me, causing the tiny hairs on the back of my neck to stand on end.
“Oh, hell, no, I’m not staying here.”
I’d rather be soaked through to the bone than be a willing meal for those ferocious beasts.
Pulling my thoroughly drenched coat over my head, I march into the forest, leaving the car and all other links to civilization behind.