Ember Heights

Chapter Four 💠 Midnight Wanderings

     It was dark in the woods, but the light from the stars twinkling above me gave a great deal of help. There were barely any clouds and only a small rush of wind blew through my hair. My feet took me deeper through the leaf-stripped trees, moving without my control.

I was not afraid but overly curious when I stopped in the middle of a clearing. A crow flew between the trees, only to completely disappear once it passed a certain branch. I admired my surroundings in awe. The ground was bare of grass, only dirt, and in the middle of it were the ruins of what appeared to be an extremely old cabin and a shovel propped upon the rubble. I reached out to lift up a wooden board but-

"Stop!"

My eyes opened immediately. In front of me were trees and rocks and grass, all things you would see in nature. I wasn't in the police station anymore, was I?

"Where am I?" I questioned, turning around to see the Sheriff staring back at me angrily. I was terrified that I had no idea what was happening, and I felt my knees buckle a little.

"You're coming with me."

"What?"

"You have something to do with these missing teenagers, I just know it."

He had arrested her, though there was really no need, and dragged her back to the police station through the now ebbing storm.

The building was full of sleeping people from the search party. Each person had taken turns calling their parents on the phone in the police station, telling them that that was the place they would be spending the night. The storm had gotten too bad for travel, even by car, so we each found a bench or a good place on the floor to sleep. We all decided against staying up to talk more about where the missing people could be. Nobody wanted to figure out a case like that at nearly fifty to midnight.

We tiptoed carefully through the main room, breaking into a fast walk which was guided by the Sheriff until we came to what looked to be a place of interrogation.

He sat me down roughly in a hard, rather uncomfortable chair and leaned on the opposite side of the table, fiddling with his mustache. "What's your motive?"

"Motive? I don't have a motive. I've got nothing to do with this!" I defended, nearly lunging across the table.

"This all started happening once you came here," he jabbed an accusatory finger at me. "Now I don't believe in coincidences, Missy, so you'll tell me what I want to know."

"Not to be rude, Sheriff," I muttered with a stretch. "But aren't you supposed to tell other officers when you've got someone under interrogation?" I wasn't sure why I was suddenly so relaxed, but it scared me. My emotions had been jumbled since my trip to the forest. One minute I was terrified, the other calm. Now I was just being downright mean. "I'm sorry, Sheriff. I don't know why I said that."

"Sure you don't, girl. Sure you don't," he drawled. "Listen, something is wrong with you. Your energy- you set it off."

"Excuse me?" I straightened up in my seat. "Energy? Set what off? What are you talking about?"

"None of your business."

"I think it is my business if I'm unknowingly doing something that's hurting people!"

"I can't prove that you did anything-," he stopped speaking with a smirk."yet."

The Sheriff pushed me out of the interrogation room, the smirk still on his face, and slammed the door behind me with a ferocity that completely contradicted him. When I had first met the Sheriff he seemed completely down to earth and logical, but now . . .

The forest was distorting people's personalities, hopefully not permanently. But why? How?

I picked up my jacket and rushed out the door into the cold, tracking through the deep snow in jeans and sneakers. My house was only ten minutes away but the weather had probably added another good twenty minutes.

I hoped that I didn't go back to sleep that night. Waking up in the forest again was now my worst nightmare. From now on I would lock my bedroom door and windows when I went to sleep. There would be no other way to escape unless I somehow unlocked my door and floated through walls.

The night was now tranquil around me. I could see my breath through the light of the moon, but no ghouls or monsters approached me from the woods. I was safe for now, I told myself.

I contemplated staying outside when I finally reached my house. With the nearly unbearable cold it would be practically impossible for me to fall asleep. Ultimately, however, I had decided against it. Tomorrow was Sunday and I always complained about never getting enough sleep on school nights. I wasn't about to lose anymore on a weekend just because some crazy Sheriff decided to blame the disappearance of two teenagers on me.

Without another thought I headed inside and to my bedroom, too tired to worry about what would happen tomorrow.

I did not fall asleep. The entire night I curled myself under my covers, gazing up at the glowing dots which were my fairy lights strung across my room. It was totally silent save for the occasional roar from the washing machine or dryer.

In my mind I relived my experience in the forest, pausing the memory every time Maverick looked at me or the suspicious shrieking tore through the air. I was determined to figure this out to prove the Sheriff wrong and find my friend. Hopefully there was some other reason unknown to me to explain why I was trying so hard to crack this case, otherwise it would all be solely for my pride.

The only thing that matters is that the missing people are found, I thought to myself. The motive makes no difference.

But that was wrong. Whatever was putting these thoughts into my head needed to stop. I had never told myself that it was okay to settle for less until I had visited the forest.

I only hoped that the rest of the search party wasn't having these thoughts too.