Irene, My dead best friend [Wattys 2015]

Chapter 8: Realisation

Chapter 8

I was falling. The ground was slipping from underneath me, my arms were flailing around me, trying to grab at something but there was nothing. I continued to fall, into this never ending abyss and as I fell, images and scenes rushed by me. There were scantily dressed people, with barbaric faces. Their eyes bloodshot, sharp canines protruding from their mouths, their jaws clamping shut with utter force at empty air. Their hair was wild, blowing in every direction, their skin as white as snow but drowned out by smatterings of blood all over it. They were running away from me and I realized I had been afraid, holding my breath as I looked at them. They had only just escaped from view when a dying woman came into sight. She was lying on the ground, blood pouring out of many bullet holes in her abdomen. Her clothes, as oddly as she was dressed, were drenched with her blood. Her eyes were wide open, showing the terror and pain she was experiencing and then just like that, with a small gurgle escaping her lips, the light escaped her eyes.

I continued to fall then; it was a never ending fall, a sense of danger and fear surrounding me, flowing through my veins. I don’t know how long it had been but there was a pinching sensation in my arm that was gaining my attention with a sense of urgency. My left arm was hurting from the sensation and before I knew it, I was opening my eyes to utter darkness.

The sky had evolved into pitch darkness, the blood red sun that was there earlier had disappeared leaving behind a moon-less night with a promise of fear and panic around me. It was after I had done noticing the sky was when I realized the poking sensation in my arm was still there, forcing me to look to my left. I was greeted by a tear stained Irene poking my arm with what could only be a small tree branch.

“Ouch Irene, stop that,” I noticed then, that I was flat on the floor, forcing myself to sit up as gently as I could, a gentle throbbing occurring in the back of my head.

“Oh thank the Lord you’re awake! I was so terrified, I tried to shake you awake but you wouldn’t come back! You just fainted like that…and, and I didn’t know what to do,” she was frantic now, wiping her tears and sitting back on the ground.

“I fainted?” images I had seen earlier, actually witnessing a dying woman, people biting at her, as well as the ones I had dreamed, all came back to me.

“Yes, when you saw that lady get attacked, you passed out,”

I ignored the feeling of being a wuss take over me and I immediately got up onto my feet. I had to go look for the woman, what if she was still alive? There was a chance, and then I’d call the cops on those barbarians for letting her die like that. Leaving Irene behind, I ran further into the woods, trying to place where the woman had been, the darkness was so thick, it was difficult to comprehend the distance at which she had been. I could hear Irene calling behind me, her voice getting closer, yet I was unable to hear her running footsteps.

 I was slowing down now, absolutely lost, trying frantically to find where the woman had been. I looked in every direction only to find Irene standing right behind me, scaring me in the process,

“Gah! Irene! Can you try and not sneak up on me like that?! Jeez, you nearly have me a heart attack!” I was trying to gain steady breathing, the running and that mini freak out session had gotten to me.

“I’m sorry; it’s just that, I know you won’t find that lady. Jason,” she was looking at the ground now, “I have something to tell you,”

“What? What is it?” I had a bad feeling. It was creeping steadily out of my heart, causing a sinking sensation to take over it, making me afraid of what I was about to hear.

“I’ve seen those…those things before,” a vile look of disgust had covered her face as she thought of those people, “they’re barely human and they live in these woods, I’ve seen them eat animals, little rabbits and things raw, just like that but today was the first time I saw them bite into a human. They terrorize the forests at night, going out in groups of three’s and fours. The first time, I saw them bite into a rabbit, just like that, they picked it up off the ground and took a bite out of it..while it was still alive,” her eyes were laced with fear and her voice had toned down to barely a whisper , “I hid behind a few bushes then, trying to quite my crying, so they wouldn’t notice me. After they had shared the rabbit amongst them, they threw what was left of it and ran into the forest. I don’t know that much about them, but I know they’re dangerous and we can’t go running after them. We have to be careful or they’ll come after us too,” she was looking around her, eyes darting in every direction, perhaps keeping a look out for the creatures.

Me, I was stunned. I was stunned into silence, trying to make heads or tails of the situation. Raw animal/human eating creatures? It sounded so fictional, like something out of a story, but I had seen it with my own eyes. There was no way I could not believe Irene, I had seen them bite into the corpse of that woman. My knees were weak and palms were sweating.  A realization was dawning over me and I did not like it at all,

“What you’re saying to me is that they live in these forests, where I’ve lived for about 17 years now, where my parents live…all of us have been in utter danger our entire lives? What are the odds of us having never seen them before?” I could feel the venom lace my words but I could not stop myself, “My parents are currently in my house alone. Are you telling me they are in danger as we speak?!”

“I d..don’t know, Jason,” she was afraid of me, I could hear it in her voice, but I didn’t let her finish.

“What gets me the MOST is that all of this fictional bullsh*t happens on the ONE day I meet a random person that TOO in the woods?” I could see expressions of hurt and anxiety cover her face but there was no stopping me, “How can I trust what you say? How can I believe you are not in on this? I let you in the house with my MOTHER for crying out loud! You could be hatching a plan to kill us all as we speak! Are you going to eat me alive too? Tell me, which part would you taste first? My arms? Ha?.. or no wait, maybe you’d like a juicy bite out of my legs? Huh? Tell me Irene, Tell me, HOW can I believe anything you say?” my breathing was ragged, my chest heaving and falling as the strain of the situation came down on me. My palms were twitching with fury, my brow covered with sweat. I wanted to break something, punch someone in the face! The visions at my house, the dying woman, Irene zoning out on my all the time, ALL the constant crying, it was all too much for me. I could feel my rising blood pressure, heating up my face and giving me a headache.

“Because I’m still here, standing by your side as you accuse me of the craziest thing I’ve ever heard. Because you offered to help me when was all alone and lost in the forest, because I know you’re afraid now, because I know you love your parents and because you know that I will do none of what you said. Because you KNOW I’m not capable of any of it,”

©Hafsa T.M (aka HTMwrites)

p.s: sorry it was short, I've been terribly busy lately.. work is getting to me :( I'm working on chapter 9 and hopefully, it will make up for this one. :) But hey, how about that emotional clifhanger back there? I really enjoyed writing that ;)