Irene, My dead best friend [Wattys 2015]

Chapter 3: Meeting Irene

I always thought my cat had a staring problem- she always seemed fixated on my face. Until one day when I realized she was looking just behind me.

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I could feel the hairs on my arms stand up to a pin straight from that feeling. The sudden quite around me had me silently freaking out. I tried not to make any sudden movements, you know just in case someone was watching me. Usually in the movies, at times like these, there is usually a stalker or a murderer lurking around in the trees, just waiting to pounce on you. So my strategy was to not show any sharp movements but have my mind alert at all times.

It was just when I was coming up with various defensive scenarios in my mind when Rufus shrank back from me with eyes so wide. With fear of my own surfacing I took a step towards him, trying to calm him down. Maybe this place was having an effect on him too. It was odd because the woods never really had such an absurd feeling to them, they were always calm and serene, looming as they may be. Rufus took steps further back from me, his ginger fur standing on its end, making me even more uncomfortable.

It was then I noticed that Rufus wasn’t looking at ME in fear but just a little bit off to my right side, just ever so slightly behind me. You know that absolute fear you get, when you have that feeling that someone just may be standing behind you? Yep, that feeling was wrecking havoc inside me as I slowly gathered the courage to turn around in matrix like slow motion.

It was then that I saw her.

Her face was ethereal, if that was what you could call it, with raven hair, flowing wildly around her heart shaped face, her deep blue eyes staring at me in bewilderment, her pink lips twisted into an “o” shape, displaying her utter confusion. I couldn’t take my eyes off her face but I was forced to look down when I noticed what she was wearing. It was an old, white gown, you know, the kind from the 90’s that went down all the way to your feet with a slight train behind it. Her sleeves were long too, tattered towards the ends, her long, slender fingers peeking through the torn ends. I could see her finger nails were dirty with sand or mud, I couldn’t be sure, as though she had been digging or clawing at something. I looked further down to notice that I couldn’t see her feet. Her gown was so long that it covered the space on the floor where her feet were supposed to be, only to show a very dirty, muddy train on the gown.

Containing myself the best that I could, I was afraid if I screamed out loud, I would freak her out, break her out of her confusion instilled stare, only to have her attack me, I stepped back gently. She seemed to blink at my slow movement, her blue eyes shining and tilted her head slightly to the left only to stare at me again. I figured it was safe as long as she stayed in her state of perplexity and took another small step backwards, trying to make sure I didn’t step onto a now frozen Rufus (maybe he didn’t see her around either?) causing her to take a sudden step forward and yell out loud, “No!”

I stood frozen.

“I’m..I’m so sorry. Just please. Please don’t go. I’ve been lost, lost for so long. I haven’t seen anyone in quite a while… please don’t go. Please don’t leave me alone,” Her expression had changed from bewilderment to a cross between fear and anxiety. I swallowed loudly, now realizing that I had held my breath when she had stepped towards me, calming down a little. Oh, it’s only just a lost girl, albeit with an absurd sense of dressing, still a lost girl. My sense of manhood jumped up (where the hell was it when I got scared of her?!) and I stepped forward to help out this distressed girl.

“It’s alright. Don’t worry, I won’t leave you alone. What’s your name?”

“Irene,” she had started to sniff, deadly close to tears.