The Ambrose Clique - now published on Amazon

10 - Teddy Bears' Picnic

- updated -

I couldn't stay in bed.

The room was suffocatingly quiet and hot, how Daisy managed to sleep was beyond me. I decided to go on a walk, but I didn't know where to. I settled for wandering the corridors until they also became suffocating and I felt claustrophobic. I hardly ever felt like this, but it must be the trees. Being in a new place was unsettling, and at night the trees made me feel fenced in.

I had to go outside, that much I knew. I needed to breathe in the fresh air. It may be unsafe now, with the prowling animal, but nothing screamed freedom more than walking through the trees that caged me.

As soon as I caught sight of the forest, I realised my mistake. Mist curled around the fringe of the trees and rolled down the grass. Despite the haunting feeling that settled in my stomach, something in my chest pulled me forward, like a string. It was deeper than a thought or a simple instinct, it was something primitive that made me walk forward.

The mist swirled around my ankles as I entered the boarder of trees, and the crashes of loud animals made me cringe back. Eyes watched me from the low bushes and high branches, but I tried to pay them no mind.

A figure appeared out of the mist, stood in a clearing a few metres ahead of me. They swayed in the soft breeze, like a soft willow, and raised a hand to beckon me closer. As I traipsed forward, the figure's features became clearer.

With a jolt, I realised it was Skye. She smiled cruelly at me as she swayed. The mist around her feet made her look like she was floating.

"If you go down to the woods today, you're sure of a big surprise," she sang softly, humming the tune as she danced around the clearing. Her movements were graceful and dangerous all at once.

Fear took over me, but I couldn't show it. She couldn't hold any control over me. Shadows loomed around the space menacingly like people.

"If you go down to the woods today, you better prepare to die," another voice continued the twisted song from behind me, his voice shiveringly familiar. "Boo," Cal whispered in my ear, bursting into a delighted laugh when I flew forward. Skye joined in, her head thrown back in mirth as she cackled shrilly.

Tears streamed down my face despite every attempt to keep them at bay. They only encouraged the contempt fuelled laughter.

"Stay away from us," Skye commanded. Her voice was powerful and loud in the open space. "Leave this place."

I fell to my knees, trying not to watch the shadows grow closer and closer to me. They towered above me as I cowered beneath my hands.

"Can I have her now?" Cal asked eagerly.

"No," Skye replied sharply. "You can't hurt her like that, it's too obvious. We scare her, she leaves. That's what we agreed."

"Come on," he whined. "You can't bring me here with no intention to pay me."

"Get a grip."

I was still whimpering on the floor when I heard their muffled steps retreating. I was alone again, in the forest with only the shadows to keep me company. I closed my eyes, trying to block everything out.

I couldn't explain the event, nor what happened next; when I opened my eyes again, I was sat on my bed in the dorm, listening to Daisy's gentle snore.