The Girl Who Ran, The Forest That Waits

XI

"HINTS AND CLUES: JOYCE'S FINDINGS"

JOYCE'S POV

Eleven days. It has been eleven days since I stumbled into this warped reality, but for the outside world, it was only a mere eleven hours. It has been three hours since Sophie arrived. Time here seems to flow differently, twisting and contorting like the branches of the gnarled trees outside. Sophie, bless her optimistic heart, thinks each hour here is a day outside-eight hours for me, three for her, adding up to eleven excruciating hours trapped in this hellish floor of forest, inside a dusty, decaying cabin.

We decided to split up initially, gather information faster. But with only one lamp to cast our feeble light, it felt like a fool's errand. So, we ventured together, room after dusty room, each one a silent tomb of forgotten memories. Then, we found it - a pristine room, untouched by the ravages of time, as if someone still lingered here, unseen.

Sophie assigned me the left side, the lamp illuminating a shelf overflowing with books. Not the kind you'd expect in this desolate forest - series novels, Wattpad stories, like whispers of a normal life long gone. And then, a hidden treasure - a box nestled among the paperbacks, a key dangling from a branch-shaped pendant. Inside, a book titled "How to Escape Each Myth's Creature" winked at me, a beacon in the gloom.

"Joyce, I found one that might help!" Sophie's voice echoed, a spark of hope in the stale air. "Let's read them, share the details and information they hold."

I nodded mirroring Sophie's after saying those word while clutching my book like a lifeline in a stormy sea. Her face, illuminated by the lamplight, contorted in shock as she devoured the cryptic text. Mine, on the other hand, turned icy with dread. The first page roared with the name of our tormentor, the Manglalayak. The very creature that whispered nightmares through the rustling leaves and twisted our shadows into monsters was staring back at us, not from the trees, but from the worn parchment. And its twisted game? Escape hinged on a sickening choice: betrayal, a viper's bite in the hand of trust, or a lover's kiss, a sacrifice steeped in the nectar of affection.

The serpent of betrayal slithered through my conscience, its fangs sinking into the very foundations of my loyalty. Sophie, my sister in laughter and whispered secrets, could become my Judas goat, her trust a silken blindfold leading her to the abyss. A single push, a murmured lie, and she would tumble into the darkness, the Manglalayak's twisted vengeance substituting its unholy hunger with an eternity of torment. My hands would remain unsullied, but my soul would be a howling wasteland, haunted by the echo of her scream. No feast awaited her, only an endless cycle of suffering, a gnawing horror that would fester until another took her place. The burden of that choice, the monstrous weight of her agony, threatened to crush me beneath its suffocating shadow. Betrayal, a viper's kiss, could set me free, but at what cost? Would I trade my humanity for a hollow redemption, my sanity for a stolen breath? As the air thickened with the phantom rasp of Sophie's future screams, I knew the true horror lay not in the Manglalayak's grip, but in the price of escape.

But could I betray anyone, let alone Sophie, the sister forged in shared laughter and whispered secrets? My bond with her ran deeper than the roots of these ancient trees, stronger than the iron grip of fear. The thought of trading her life for mine, of watching the light fade from her eyes as the Manglalayak torture her, waiting for life to be saved, ripped a scream from my soul, even if it remained locked within my constricted throat.

Then, the second option, the lover's kiss, hung heavy in the air, a venomous orchid blooming in the garden of despair. I wasn't Sophie's lover, my heart bound to no one like hers was to Lucas. Could I claim his place, press my lips to hers in a charade of affection, and offer myself as the sacrificial lamb? The image sent a tremor through me, a dizzying mix of repulsion and a morbid curiosity. Could I kiss her, not out of love, but as a calculated act of survival, knowing it would condemn me to whatever monstrous fate awaited beyond the darkness?

My mind spun, trapped in a macabre tango with the Manglalayak's twisted game. Betrayal, a serpent whispering temptation, offered freedom stained with guilt. Sacrifice, a twisted waltz with death, promised salvation at the cost of my own existence. Which path would I choose? Could I choose at all, or was I merely a pawn in this monstrous puppet show, destined to dance to the Manglalayak's cruel tune.

Frozen in place, I couldn't breathe. "Joyce, are you okay?" Sophie asked me innocently not knowing that the solution to our problem will either make us or break us. When I was about to answer, a sharp crack shattered the silence, a window shattering somewhere outside. Sophie and I whipped around, searching for the source of the sound, but the shadows held nothing. Then, a whisper, a hiss from Sophie. "Joyce, don't look back. Run!"

My legs moved on instinct, following her lead, but my eyes betrayed me, stealing a glance over my shoulder. The Manglalayak, a monstrous silhouette against the dying embers of the fireplace, pursued us with chilling swiftness. Fear clawed at me, but Sophie's presence, her silent strength, gave me a flicker of hope.

We tore through the cabin, the Manglalayak's guttural roars hammering at our heels. Each creaking floorboard, each splintered banister was a metronome against my racing heart. This book, this fragile knowledge clutched in my hand, was our only hope, a flickering torch against the encroaching darkness. We couldn't let it fall, not until we unravelled its secrets, not until we unearthed the escape hidden within its brittle pages.

The air vibrated with the echoes of the creature's pursuit, a monstrous symphony in a minor key. My lungs burned, but Sophie's hand, a lifeline in the chaos, kept me tethered to reality. We were two shadows flickering through the labyrinthine corridors, chased by the very essence of nightmare. The cabin, once a refuge, now echoed with the Manglalayak's vengeful song, its walls closing in like the skeletal jaws of a tomb.

But amidst the terror, a strange defiance bloomed within me. We were trapped, yes, but not cowed. We were hunted, but not broken. We had unearthed a sliver of truth, a weapon forged in forgotten lore, and we wouldn't surrender it without a fight. Let the Manglalayak chase us, let it feast on its primal fear. We, with our tattered courage and borrowed time, would dance on the precipice of oblivion, unafraid to stare into the abyss.

For even in this warped reality, even in the face of this monstrous entity, humanity flickered still. We would not be devoured by the darkness. We would not bow to its terror. We would face it, together, Sophie and I, two flames refusing to be extinguished, casting their defiant light onto the face of despair. And when the dust settled, when the echoes of the chase faded into silence, we would emerge, blinking into the dawn, the book clutched tight in our hands, a testament to the indomitable spirit that even the Manglalayak couldn't conquer.