VANISHED (#1 in the VANISHED series) #NaNoWriMo2019 ✔

t w e n t y ✔

She stared at her bloody and bruised hands and let out a disheartened laugh. "Wow. Wow, Arielle. Nice." Cringing, she heaved up to her feet and shook out her palms. "You're a fucking lunatic. Great."

She wiped the liquids from her face, uncaring that she left blood in their place. Uncaring that her appearance worsened the longer she stood there and screamed at the stars. Her knees hurt—she looked down and saw she'd created holes in her jeans and the fabric had tinged with dirt.

She had half a mind to stay there, like that, until her limbs gave out. Until she collapsed and someone spotted her, called an ambulance, or locked her in a psych ward in the back of some prison—either worked fine for her.

As she swerved to return to the vehicle, the breeze picked up again, sweeping under her shirt and tickling her ribs. "Huh?"

"Truth... truth..."

"Shit," she spat, hearing the voice loud and clear this time. "Who's there?" She spun to and fro, scanning the nearby freeway, studying the curtain of trees on the other side, signaling a dense forest. "Where am I?" She didn't remember what state lines she'd crossed, if any; yet something told her she wasn't in Florida anymore.

"Come... follow... truth." In the faint street-lights, she caught the breeze swirling over the pavement. It rustled a few pebbles and crunched soda cans, cruising up to her car and shaking it. "Truth... come..."

Frozen, Arielle watched the tiny tornado-like gust brush next to her vehicle and bristle through the grass on the sidelines, then swish out of the lit-up parking-lot and into the forest.

"Wait." She rubbed her eyes and glanced at the area once more, seeing the leaves shake and swivel as if someone had passed through. No other parts of the trees moved like that; and no other gusts came alive around her. Only that spot, and that current.

"It... wants me to follow?"

Her brain screeched, her heart thumped—both warning her not to go. Not to hustle after the wind, not to believe it to lead somewhere, not to think it might provide answers. It was a trick. Her mind had passed the threshold into insanity, her imagination tipping over the edge. She was sickened, sad from recent horrid events, distracted by death.

Don't go. Get in your car. Drive.

The sentences repeated in her... but her body had other plans. Against her will, she lifted one foot, took one stride. Then another. Once at her car she paused, gaped at the windshield, took a deep breath—

And continued towards the whispering leaves.

"Truth... truth... follow..."

Her gut churned the closer she got, and yet she couldn't stop her limbs from advancing, from approaching. She held her breath when she slid through the leaves, and an eerie blanket of silence welcomed her inside the woods. Chirps and crickets came from ahead, and the current whirled, enveloping her—pushing her.

"Okay, okay, I'm coming." It prodded at her lower spine, like someone's finger pressing into her skin, giving a firm nudge. Over and over, it urged, sometimes sharp, sometimes faint, as it guided her past darkened tree trunks and over large roots in damp soil. A canopy of swooshing leaves rested overhead, cloaking the night sky, making it hard to see where she went—but this wind knew where it was going.

A benevolent spirit? One who wants to give me my answers? Help me?

Every bone in her body was wrapped in ice. This was rash, stupid, suicidal. That by pursuing this current she was putting herself in a dangerous situation; but resisting seemed senseless. A harmless stroll through a forest—that couldn't hurt her. If this thing wanted to kill her, wouldn't it have done so already?

Ghosts can't kill.

She arrived before small clearance, surrounded by drapes of vines and looping trees. The dirt beneath her shoes turned into a cobblestone pathway. A pathway? Curious, she pushed past the flowery leaves that blocked her entry and slithered into the area.

And gasped. The path... led to a house.

A house? In here?

The building's exterior was white and red faded wood with a brick foundation. It stood two stories high, its roof gleaming in an off-slate shade as moonlight pooled over it. It had few windows, and a giant stone chimney protruding from the left side. Arielle viewed it as a colonial home, like those seen in movies about English settlers and pilgrims.

"Damn. What is this place?"

The breeze jammed into her lower back, harder than before. "Truth... follow... inside."

Inside—that's a new word.

"You want me to... go in?" Goosebumps pricked up her arms and her hairs stood up. "Into an old, abandoned house, in a patch of remote woods off the highway? And in the middle of nowhere?" She stuffed her hands into her pockets and realized she didn't have her phone. Or her crystals. "No, no, this is a terrible suggestion. Tell me the truth here, yeah? Why do I need to go in?"

"Truth!" The breeze became a shrill voice, no longer shoving her, but swirling in front of her, hot, hard to focus on. It didn't materialize, but its presence made her dizzy, uncomfortable.

Not benevolent...

"Fuck." She swallowed again, her throat raspy and dry. If only she'd brought a water bottle; because who knew how long this would take.

A perfect circle of tall trees surrounded the clearance. But on the opposite side of the house was a tiny slope, likely leading to another section of the freeway. So if she had to flee... she could climb.

"Okay..." She gulped, glimpsed the sky in some silent plea to protect her, and resumed her walk.

Her pace sped up as she followed the pathway to the massive timber door with nails lining its frame. She pushed—and to her surprise, the thing creaked open. She slid inside... and the lock clicked.