Chapter Twenty-Five
The only thing I can do now is follow this road and hope it leads me out or better yet, that someone stumbles upon me. My mind and body already feel lighter just being out of the dense, never-ending trees.
I obsessively look back and forth, desperately wanting a car to show up in the distance.
I have to remind myself to stay patient, the hard part is over, and it’s only a matter of time.
I walk for a long time as the road winds through the forest. The winding road mixed with the density of the trees around me keeps me on high alert.
I try to stay extra aware of my surroundings as this path still feels dangerous and eerie.
It would be ridiculous and tragic to get hit by a car when I’m so close to making it out.
In the last hour, the nausea and a headache have fully set in, making me wonder if I have a concussion.
I’m exhausted to a level I’ve never experienced before.
I can barely pick my feet up off the ground, as they instead drag along the hard road.
My mind becomes more frazzled with each slow limp.
In my haze I think to myself that I don’t remember these roads.
The ones we drove through didn’t twist and turn this much and I wish now that I had been paying closer attention.
My mind is playing constant tricks on me now as I keep hearing cars driving or horns honking but when I try to find it, there’s nothing.
It’s hard to tell how many creatures have been stalking me, but I know for sure that at least one is still following me.
I can hear it in the trees alongside me, staying just deep enough that I can’t see it.
I feel too tired, numb, and cold to fully care, but I try to stay somewhat observant and keep track of where it is.
I don’t want to let myself become too scared of it at the same time; I don’t need to be taking emotional steps backwards.
The only thing keeping me as calm and focused as I am is the comforting sight of mile markers. They remind me that I’m moving even if it’s slow. I’ve walked a few miles in what I think has been a couple hours. The sun is still high in the sky–today is the last day.
“Hey!” Someone calls from behind me. I spin around, looking for what I hope is someone to save me, but the road is empty.
“Help me. Please!” The voice starts dull and slow but picks up quickly into a screech.
My stomach drops as I hear it tearing through the trees.
A woman staggers out and onto the road. When she sees me, she runs over as she continues to plead for help.
I’m frozen in place as she closes the distance between us, until she’s standing right in front of me.
She looks toward me but not into my eyes.
“I need help. Come with me. Help me.” Her eyes are wide and crazed as she grabs my arms and starts pulling me.
I yank my arm from her grasp as intense unease settles into my stomach.
Something doesn’t feel right. Her eyes don’t match the emotion the rest of her face is showing.
Her mouth is barely open even as she cries and speaks.
She grabs me again and tugs me hard enough that I lurch forward.
In a panic, I pull away from her again and fall backward.
I look up at her and now that I have some space between us, I can really see her.
She’s wearing a bright, green jacket. The memory of the same winter jacket stained with blood surfaces and I force myself to look up at her face.
Even with her tortured expression, she is beautiful.
The long, dark, tangled hair makes it real.
She can’t be here. This woman is dead. I killed her.
What hits me next is her voice; I recognize it. I’ve heard it before but in my memory it’s joyful and laughing and I realize who she is. I can see her clearly as she spins in circles, dancing and happy with her long hair flowing all around.
This isn’t a woman at all. In an instant, her eyes are no longer wide and frazzled.
Her expression becomes hard and unreadable as she stares at me, like she can read my thoughts.
She stands still and silent, no longer crying or pleading, and then her body starts twitching.
Her head tilts side to side as she slowly smiles.
A horrible, inhuman smile and in an instant she changes.
A bullet hole replaces one of her eyes as she takes a slow step toward me, “Look what you did. Why won’t you help me, Hanna?
” I take a matching step backwards, not daring to blink again as I watch blood start to pour out of the wound.
“You’re not real,” I say quietly, almost a whisper.
A gentle reminder to myself before it lunges forward, arms outstretched.
It becomes less and less human the closer it gets.
It dawns on me that I still have the bear spray.
Frantically, I reach in and grab it. Just as the creature is a step away, I squeeze the trigger.
As a terrible shriek echoes across the open space, I don’t wait to see what happens next, instead I turn and run.
I push my legs to keep moving even as my foot is begging me to stop.
My vision starts to blur as the burning in my eyes becomes more prevalent.
Once I notice it, it’s all I can feel. My nose and eyes are on fire. The spray must have blown back onto me.
The creature’s shrill cries behind me remind me I can’t afford to stop.
Don’t look back. It's become so blurry I can barely see but suddenly I think I see a mailbox ahead of me. I almost crash as I grab hold of it and feel for the familiar flag or house numbers. I want to make sure it’s real before I take another chance.
Hope swells in my chest as my fingers find the flag.
There could be a house. I sprint down what I hope is a driveway, no longer feeling the pain in my foot or eyes, and I pray. Please let there be someone here.
My eyes clear just as I emerge onto a property with a cabin that looks almost exactly like the one Luke and I rented.
It’s the same shape with the same porch and windows.
The only difference is that this one is loved and taken care of.
As I’m looking around, I don’t realize that I’ve stopped moving until something crunches behind me and I’m snapped back to reality.
I run the rest of the way up to the porch, stumbling up the steps and to the front door and pound against it wildly.
“Hello?! Is anyone here? Please! I need help!” I scream at the door as I peer through the small window, so similar to the one from our cabin. Intense emotion floods through me as I see two women rushing down the hallway toward me.
One of them opens the door, “Can I help you?”
“Something is out here. Please, help me. Please, let me in!” I see her look behind me, scanning the property with a worried look on her face before she settles her gaze back on me.
She looks at me like I’m crazy, so I glance quickly behind me.
No one is there. Sheepishly, I turn back to her.
“I know how this must look, but please, I was staying at a vacation rental somewhere near here, with my boyfriend and he got really sick and… and… someone was stalking us. Luke… he couldn’t walk and I had to leave to find help.
I left him...” My voice breaks, my body somehow managing to shed a few tears.
“He’s still there and he’s very sick. I need help.
Can I please just use your phone to call for help?
” As I’m speaking, I see both of their faces soften, their eyes fill with worry before she steps back and ushers me inside.
“Yes, of course come in. I’ll grab my phone for you. What’s your name, Hun?” The first one asks as she takes my arm and guides me inside. The second woman moves around us to close the door and I hear her lock it.
“I’m… Hanna.” I try and give a reassuring smile.
She takes me to the kitchen and gestures for me to sit at the counter.
I hesitate but after a moment give in and sit down.
The relief of being off my feet is immediate and the emotion it sparks in me distracts me from the woman speaking.
When I look up at her, she has a small, comforting smile.
“Do you know where you were staying? I didn’t know there were other rental properties out here.
There aren’t very many houses around these parts.
It’s fairly untouched when you get this far out.
I can’t say I know of ANY other place than this cabin right here.
That being said, I just clean the place so I might not know everything. ”
“Oh… this isn’t yours?”
“Heavens no, I can’t imagine living this far away from other people. Well, no one can. This is only a vacation rental. The owners don’t even live in-state, so they hire us to look after the place.” She pauses for a moment, looking at me, “The address of the place you stayed?”
“Oh yes… I’m sorry. I don’t remember the exact address, but it was off Hauenstein Road I think, and the house number is 3852…” She glances toward me, looking confused.
“Well, that can’t be. This is 3852 Hauenstein Road and I hate to be the bearer of bad news but there aren’t any other cabins on this road.” She stops and I can see her trying to think this through. "What did you say your boyfriend’s name was again?”
“Luke…” My brain is running a million miles a minute, trying to understand what she said.
“I mean maybe I have the address wrong. I wasn’t the one that booked it.
” She walks over to a bag that’s sitting on the other side of the kitchen and pulls out a cellphone.
She scrolls through it for a couple minutes before looking up at me.
“The person who booked this place, his name was Luke. Luke Amberlyn.” She looks at me questioningly.
All I can manage is a nod as my brain is trying to connect the dots but getting nowhere.
I hear her dialing 911 before lifting her phone to her ear.
I feel dizzy, as if I’ve started to float outside of my body while I listen to her retell my story.
I almost fall off the stool before jumping to my feet.
I look around the room for a trash can, but I don’t see one.
I settle for running to the sink and throwing up the relative nothing I have left in my stomach before the room closes in around me.