The Soul Quest ( #YourStoryIndia #Wattys2016)

Chapter 2

"Kelly. Come to us.
Kelly come to us."
On and on the chant continued. I was frozen with terror. Out of nowhere a fog engulfed me and my feet started moving towards the woods of their own accord.

I stumbled through the trees tripping several times. I winced with pain as a stone cut my left wrist. Blood dripped from my wound as my legs carried me deeper and deeper. My feet stopped and then the fog cleared. I found myself in a clearing which was oddly shaped like a diamond. My heart jumped to my throat when I realized I wasn't alone. I was surrounded by a large group of people all dressed identically in eerie white cloaks. They were looking at me with hungry expressions that made me shiver involuntarily.

One woman stepped forward. She had red hair and blue eyes that seemed to pierce through my own brown ones. She said, "Kelly, you're finally here. I have been waiting for so long." Her voice held no emotion whatsoever and even her eyes.

Moving forward she clasped my left hand and turning it around brought it in contact with her left hand which I noticed had a similar wound like mine. Plucking a strand of hair from each of our heads she tied it around our joined hands.

By this point I was hyperventilating. Maybe I'm dreaming and this is just a nightmare. But the biting cold of the wind and the searing pain in my arm proved me otherwise. My legs refused to move and anyways I doubted I could run far in this condition. Screaming wasn't an option either. We were too deep in the woods.

I realized there was no hope for me. No escape.

The woman in front of me started whispering something. It must have been a spell of some sort because when she started whispering I felt myself draining. A surge of emotions passed through me. I was being emptied out. It felt like my soul was being torn away from me. The woman started glowing unnaturally. But I was too tired by now to feel frightened. "Jared." I thought weakly and felt a surge of love but that was snatched from me too.

The woman separated our hands and I staggered to the ground.
"Thank you Kelly" she whispered with an evil smirk.
I gave her a blank look. She seemed full of life unlike moments before when she looked half dead. I, on the other hand, felt empty.
I cocked my head to the side and pondered over this sudden change. Then it dawned on me. There was only one logical explanation.

She had stolen my soul.

I was nothing but a shell now. A shell of my former self.

I was a soulless person now.