Page 119 of Doesn't Count

His smile sickens me, fear a vile bug crawling around in the depths of my stomach. With a rough hand, he crams me into the backseat of a car. The force causes my body to fall over, and it takes unforgiving effort to right myself.

As the engine purrs to life, a loud ringing in my head deafens me. It’s all I can hear, piercing through my brain from one ear to the other. I squeeze my eyes shut and take deep breaths in through my nose and out my mouth, but it does absolutely nothing to quell my racing heart and aching mind.

We take off in the direction of the forest behind thechurch, the tires kicking up dead grass and leaving a makeshift road in its wake. The drive beyond the trees is shorter though, the path narrowing the further in we get, finally halting all together when we reach a point we cannot pass.

Darkness washes over us within seconds of killing the car’s headlights. With it comes a sudden and eerie silence. For a moment, I’m left in the backseat, listening to my own heartbeat wondering what misery lies in wait. The next, my body is dragged outside as if my deadweight isn’t a hinderance to my captor.

I’m forced to my feet despite my legs nearly giving out. I can feel my knees knock into each other, the bones clanking painfully. There’s only one path forward, the path that can no longer fit an entire vehicle. There's a rustling near the trees behind me and even though that would have normally terrified me, it did nothing now. I can’t imagine anything worse than what I’m already facing.

When I don’t immediately move, the man’s fist clenches my hair at the back of my head, using it to push me along. I can barely see where I’m walking, the lack of light blinding. With every stumble, my head jerks back, keeping me from falling, but spiking a sharp sting in my scalp.

A whimper tumbles from my mouth as tears slip past my lower lash. There’s no use in pretending I’m not petrified. Confidence isn’t going to get me very far anyway.

After a few more stumbling steps along the dirt beneath my feet, I begin to see a flickering light through the trees. Even though the break from darkness is a relief, nothing about the light provides any comfort. Within minutes, we’re pushing through to a clearing in the forest where a group of people donned in red robes stand ominously in a circle.

At the sound of our arrival, a tall, thin man with long grey hair spins on his heels. Black beady eyes bore into me as if hisgaze alone could set me on fire. His mouth creeps up with an unhinged smile. His teeth match his entire appearance, grey, long, and thin. He didn’t look real, as if he was just another demon in disguise wearing his skin the wrong way.

“Come, my dear.” He orders, his voice echoing in the night.

He gestures for me to come with a skeletal finger, but my brain is short circuiting. My bare heels dig deep into the cold, wet ground like anchors, desperate to grow roots where I stand. A million words cycle through my head, yet none of them make it out loud.

Before I even have the chance to refuse him, the bigger man behind me shoves my shoulder, forcing me forward. Each step closer to the red cloaks feels like a step closer to a nightmare I know will never leave me.

An ache throbs inside my head from the constant chatter of my teeth, the bitter cold air seeping deep into my bones. So deep, that my fingers and toes have officially gone numb.

As I take my final step, I can see that these creeps aren’t just standing in a circle, they’re standing outside of a pentagram carved into the frosted ground. Lit torches are positioned at each point of the star casting us in a malevolent glow. The flames dance wildly with the wind, creating shadows, projecting true demonic forms from each vessel.

“So, so beautiful.” The man murmurs, those boney fingers caressing a strand of hair from my face.

A violent shiver rolls through me at his touch, leaving behind a trail of sin.

“Shh, shh, shh. Don’t cry.” He soothes. “You don’t want your tears to freeze.”

The palm of his leathery hand cups the side of my face, his fingers threading through my hair. Gently, he tugs, his lips meeting the center of my forehead. I shudder in disgust, the cold air caressing the thin veil of saliva he left behind.

“You made this all possible, my dear. You helped bring Oliver home and now you just have to help us convince him to stay.”

My head shakes involuntarily, every ounce of my soul refusing to make any of that happen.

“What’s that, my dear?”

“N-no.” I force out between my clenched jaw.

A sardonic smirk cuts across his weathered face. “So brave, but we don’t actually need you to do anything. Just sit pretty, dear, and we’ll take care of the rest.”

Fingers wrap around my arm, tugging me away from him and shoving me into the center of the pentagram. My knees hit first; the hardened Earth sharp enough to cut into my skin and make me bleed.

My head spins, the forest an array of blended colors that I can’t quite name. The smell of kerosene and dirt chokes my senses and all I feel is a suffocating fear.

Khaos

A deep, placating numbness washes over me as Bordeaux retraces our steps from ten years ago; through the forest and into the clearing.

No part of me wants to relive the night that’s stuck with me for years, that plagues my nightmares and haunts my dreams. I know what waits for me is death, either my own or someone else’s, at least that’s what they think.

There’s a calmness in my heart, a steadiness in my nerves, for I have never felt so at peace.

I am going to die.

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