The rain pelted the roof of the car as the young woman stared in astonishment in front of her, her eyes wide with fear. She sat there, shaking, as she tried to make sense of what had just happened.
A man had appeared from the forest as she'd fought to get her broken down car running again and, spotting him, asked him if he was okay and if he needed a ride.... That's when it happened. He disappeared. Literally. Anne had seen every terrifying detail. He was standing in front of her car, her head lights shining brightly, as clear as day. She flicked them off for a moment, and then.... nothing. When she switched them back on a heartbeat later, he was gone.
The experience shocked Anne beyond belief. All her life she had been skeptical, and when that suddenly changed and she'd, for the first time, been faced with a thing she has no way for explaining, she no longer felt safe. It was unnatural, and all of her previous beliefs and thoughts were screaming at her that it couldn't be true -- it mustn't be true. There were no such things as ghosts!
And yet...
'I have to get out of here,' she thought. Her mind was reeling and her blood running cold, and as she tried to fidget out of the driver's seat, realized that her hands were shaking, and that her legs were weak with fear.
She grabbed for the door handle, but stopped. 'No,' she thought. 'I can't go out there. It's not safe.' Anne sat there, shaking as she tried to figure out a plan, but her frightened mind couldn't conjore up anything.
The shaky brown haired woman, who was soaked by the rain and was pressed up against her seat, began to cry silently. She was lost, utterly lost, in the middle of the forest in a storm with nothing but her rapidly colding car, and possibly supernatural threats lurking in the shadows. She thought of every horror movie, every paranormal investigation she'd ever watched or read about, and her heart began to pound painfully and her eyes start to dart. Her senses were on high alert, and every little noise seemed to be magnified. Every little sound the dying car made would make her jump, and each little movement from the dark woods would make her whimper in fear.
A few minutes later, when all was quiet once more, Anne let out a scream. A shadow darted across the road in front of her, quick but slow enough to send an icy wave of fear up her spine as she realized that it wasn't a trick of light or a movement made by the wind. It was in the form of a person, and darted across through the night, nothing more than a black shadow.
Tears now streamed down her face as she clung to her seat, her hands gripping the sides till thay paled with blood-loss and shook terribly with the effort. "This cannot be happening, this can not be -- " she let out another shriek, but this time a powerful lungful that raised to a high pitched horror-movie scream. Through the reflection of her rear view mirror, was a man. And he was sitting in her back seat.
But then he was gone, as soon as the girl caught sight of him, but that didn't stop her from catching hold of the handle and pushing the door open, the cold night air spilling in. Adrenaline pulsed through her veins and she was no longer shaking. She was blinded by the instinct for survival. The woman half leapt, half fell out of her car, and bolted away, to the side of the road. There she stopped, unsure of where to go. She glanced back to see if anything was pursuing her, and as she did, her eyes widened to almost impossible size and she stumbled backwards, tripping and hitting the ground hard. Her mouth opened in yet another pleading cry....
But no noise came out. Along with the terrible fear came a calming sensation. Anne knew that the growing sense of awe and ease wasn't created by her. It came like a great force, like the pound of an ocean wave against rocks. She stared up ahead of her as many more shadows materialized from the trees and amongst them, strolled a figure.
"Anne, I have been waiting for you."
The speaker was the most beautiful woman Anne had ever seen. Her voice rang through the night as smooth and gentle as a sigh yet as powerful as a howling wind. Her long platinum hair whispered around her frame as her pale face lifted into a gentle smile. The shadows crowded around her, and as Anne looked closely, could see more clearly the details of them. She could just make out the form of people – men and woman and children, both old and young. Their faces were dark and menacing, and Anne quickly looked away, seeking out the lady’s reassuring gaze.
"Wh-What are you?” Anne asked, swallowing.
The lady ignored that. “If you wish to save the girl, you must follow me.”
Anne blinked. “Sa- Save the girl? What do you mean – ?“
The mysterious woman’s eyes gravened. “There is no time. You must come with me.” And without another word, she turned away and disappeared into the darkened forest, the shadows de-materializing from the road as she passed.
Anne stared back wordlessly. A powerful current of icy rain pelted her side, and she glanced around. She was utterly alone now, and the storm was worsening.
Her thoughts and emotions were a mess as she shakily tried to stand. She did not know what to do… what to think. All she felt was confusion and foreboding, along with uncertainty. She still didn’t know where the heck she was. And what was this about a girl in trouble?
Anne didn’t know what to do, but as a sudden flash of lightening forked from the sky, and thunder clapped in the dark heavens above, she knew that she had to do something.
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