The Woods Curse

The Bloody Hollow

I explained to Alice that I was going to meet Richard and why it wasn't safe for her to come with me, she looked slightly forlorn at me leaving her here alone and going to do more adventurous sounding things but she was sensible enough to choose life over slight unease. Me and Anna both descended the wonky ladder with Anna telling me over and over again about how ordinarily she would have flown us there. Eventually I told her to quit complaining. We walked along a rough path into a new part of the forest that I had never been too before and I started asking Anna questions about how exactly I should approach talking to Richard.

"Well he is more likely to drain your blood than become your best friend so keep that in mind" She said far too calmly, as we kept walking I started at her in utter disbelief. 'Is she joking or not? I can't tell!' She told me that I should be polite, never talk down to him and not to make any stupid jokes or anything like that. "Oh, and don't mention his family or ask him about it. I would recommend not bringing up your own family unless he asks you" Now my mind was asking why? Why couldn't I talk about this guys family I mean, what happened. I opened my mouth to ask but I had the words thrown back at me as Anna stopped in her tracks and faced me knowing what I was going to ask before the words had even left my mouth. "He killed them" She said.

"He really didn't mean to, he had lost all control and when he finally snapped out of it her had killed his mum, his dad and even his little sister. That was maybe a year ago but the guilt still eats away at him like it happened yesterday" She said this as if she was feeling that exact guilt herself, I was wondering how she knew all of this. Maybe her and Richard were just good friends, or maybe they were really good friends. We kept walking and after a few minutes Anna turned sharply right and off the path among the dense trees until we came to a particularly huge tree with a mass of tangled roots and such mighty stature among these other trees that in its presence resembled twigs. I followed her as she circled round the trunk to the other side and disappeared into a shadowy gap in the roots, that could only be seen from a certain angle, which led to a huge hollow hidden by the tree and its roots. For Alice it would have been far too dark but my eyes quickly adjusted to the lack of light and allowed me to see perfectly but, at the same time, my sense of smell got stronger and I was overwhelmed by the stench of blood and flesh and general death. 

The smell was coming from a wooden door in the corner which I would have investigated if the powerful  stench was not threatening to knock me out and also if a black figure hadn't come into view. Anna walked right over and started up a conversation about what had just happened between me, Anna and Jacob but I wasn't up to talking about that just yet and took in my surroundings. Lining the rough dirt and stone walls were cupboards and lots of book cases so overflowing that at their feet where massive piles of novels stacked up to my eye level. There was also a reasonably comfortable looking bed, a wardrobe and a table in the stinking hollow. I decided now would be a pretty good time to try and enter the conversation but as I got past the feathered wings that had ,till now, been blocking my view I found myself standing in front of a lanky boy of about 17 with pale skin and oily black hair that he must have styled. A leather jacket, jeans and a cold look permanently frozen on his face  completely a look that intrigued me but also frightened me. He tried to smile but what appeared on his face wasn't warm or cold, it didn't have a good intention or a bad intention, just a smile. He practically toward over me but that didn't matter much since we all sat around the table.

He was interesting and everything he said had thought behind it but kept glancing at me a bit apprehensively, I was having difficulty telling if he was scared or annoyed. He told me it was pretty stupid bringing Alice and not expecting Jacob to freak out but he didn't say it in a mean way, more like in a matter of fact tone that showed he didn't mean anything bad by it. His voice wasn't particularly low or high for a guy, instead it was smooth and his had a semi-posh accent as if he wasn't from this area originally like the rest of us. After a while we stopped talking and it was getting late so thought maybe it was time for me and Alice to head home again, everything had gone pretty well considering previous visits but as we were heading to leave the hollow I could not contain my curiosity and just had to ask.

"Richard, what's in that cupboard?" I had theories but I wanted conformation. He was turned away from us and at my question didn't turn around, he just stared at the blackness ahead of him for a few seconds and then answered, with his face still away from us "Corpses" His face might have held a hint of sadness but he masked it incredibly well, before I could ask anything else Anna had grabbed me by the arm and dragged me out of the bloody hollow muttering a goodbye to Richard who returned the favour.