In that exact moment the shadowy figure just disappeared so I followed Mallory. Not like I didn't have much of a choice anyway.
As I was wandering through the woods on my own the eerie feeling got more intense. I was no longer followed but more so surrounded, as if I was slowly getting trapped. Whatever it was that was lurking between the trees, it was getting closer.
Luckily Mallory didn't get too far but when I found her she seemed different, she seemed weird. "Are you-" But she wouldn't let me finish my sentence. "Do you hear that?" I shook my head as I carefully listened but there was nothing but silence. "Perdita", she said. "They're whispering that word... Perdita... they're saying it over and over again." "What does that mean?", I asked and automatically started panicking again. "I-I don't know", she stuttered. Then I remembered. "Wait!", I exclaimed. "It's Latin! I-It means as much as lost." Her eyes widened in fear. "Oh god", she cried. "Oh god!" "Okay, calm-" "No!", she shouted, before I could even finish my sentence. "I won't calm down! What if they're gonna take me? What if it's already too late?"
There was a moment of silence, before another voice started speaking. "There is something even past the gone", they mumbled. "Come into the absolute darkness." After that Mallory just froze. There was no reaction, no expression on her face. Nothing. "M-Mallory?", I asked nervously. "Are you alright? What's wrong?" Without responding she turned around and walked away from me. I could barely make out her silhouette through the fog.
Eventually she turned back around, her eyes were pitch black. My heart stopped for a second and I asked myself if she'd have to see these things for forever now, if she'd have to wander in endless darkness.
"Mallory..." I felt my heart sink as tears started falling from my eyes. "What did you do to her?", I yelled. "The girl who knew too much", someone whispered directly into my ear. "The girl who knew too much." The whispers came from everywhere, it was like they surrounded me. "The girl who knew too much." "The girl who knew too much." I pressed my hands on my ears, hoping it'd stop. But it didn't.
"Well, well...", a different female voice then said. "It seems like one of you was quite fortunate... and the other wasn't." They tried to get into my head while Mallory was just standing there, staring at me without the slightest expression on her face. It was then that I realized she was gone. So I ran.