The Lady In The Forest "nnnnggh" At first, the light beads of rain slowly caressing her to consciousness felt like childrens fingers running along her pale and drained cheeks and onto her bloodied forehead, she could smell wet hair and sense a coldness jabbed at her from the inside. As she roused, the slow fading breeze that fell into the distance of her mind awoke her, pictures in her mind of what it was she was feeling faded as the realisation of death quickly sprang forth like cold steel against warm bare skin. She was blind. A continuing whoosing noise swooped, dipped, and gusted through the forest, the unmistakable noise of the surrounding dancing trees in the wind was now something physical in rememberance of reality. The branches possesing an awesome noise that brought fear to the waking lady who slowly lifted her eyelids. A collection of blood and Rain-water had collected in her eye ducts and as she opened them a red blur halted the process of her curiosity. Turning onto her side she was instantly aware of her hands being bound together, she cleared the mess out of her eyes with a quick shake of her head, her breathing rapidly increased along with her heart rate, it rampantly pulsed at a pace that made her cry in fear. A concoction of thoughts raced through her head as she looked down at her ankles to realise they were tied as well. A quiver of helpleness shivered through her, she didn't seem to be in immediate danger but she was most definately in danger in some form, and she had just awaken in the middle of a dark forest. When you go to sleep in a warm bed and awake in the forest in the dark mirth of the morning you begin to question why. 'What the hell' 'Where am I?' 'Was I Sleepwalking?' 'Who took me here?' 'Was I drunk?' 'Why am I here?' 'Im going to die' 'It's not fair' 'Where is this?' 'Are they coming back to get me?' 'Shit. I cant believe this is happening to me' Rationalisation is your only friend. 'Dreaming!' 'Vivid dreaming?' 'Some form of coma?' Then it hits you. And you know it's going to get worse before it ever gets better. 'Help' Her vision at night grasped the outline of a sillohette appearing before her, was it real? As it moved closer she soon got her answer. An iron fear grasped her, she was unable to scream but somehow violently thrashed out in an awakening alertness that suprised even her. There was no time to call the police nor shout for help. Only time for action and half-hearted screams that didn't make it past her bedroom walls, the reaction from the sillouhette was too strong as a blunt instrument came towards her. Everything went black. But the darkness had gone and reality had returned in the pouring rain on the dark morning, something she wished hadn't of returned, had. A fearfull anger rushed through her as she pulled her slender arms apart in an attempt as loosening the rope she was bound to. But at the peak of her strength she accepted the ropes vice like grip on her wrists and stopped as her breathing continued to flutter with shards of panic causing her to almost lose conciousness in the midst of her battle, the contiuing rain acted as a coolant for her - she was already freezing but a new emotion had been dug up and it resisted pneumonia and gave her a steroid type strength she hadn't felt before. Her face was red with a mixture of determination and fear, every passing second was a chance for the sillouhette to return and all she could think of was her own savage death. But she wasn't going anywhere, she had been tied in such a way that her ankles formed the shape of her legs, unusuable. Her arms were tied behind her back and she couldn't feel anything from her fingers. The green pyjamas she had put on in comfort last night were now completely tarnished with blood, and soaked to the skin. After a couple of minutes of shouting for help and realising that no-one was going to hear her. It must have been around four O' clock in the morning and in the middle of somewhere she's never been in her life. Soon she regained the enviroment around her after trying to crawl, fall, and give up. The brisk current of the wind whipped the trees that danced with natural momentum, bouncing noisy rain that splooshed into puddles around her frame continue to soak her. The wet greasy grass she lay upon almost shone in the moonlight that was barely visible through the dark purple clouds overhead, but it was visible enough to see the outline of trees and the almost flourescent colour of the grass she lay upon - it's scent mixed with the morning rain filled her nostrils and encouraged her to take a calming, sooting breath that would help her assemble an accurate desciption of what may be going on. Despite her obvious fear she lay for a few seconds, Nature had never been so beautiful, she couldn't take her eyes of the glinting trees that sparkled in the soft moonlight and swayed in a rhythmatic and transcending motion. But as quickly as the beauty of it all somehow seemed to capture her, the unavoidable reality was still a thorn in her paw that she tried to avoid - but it really was unavoidable. From where she was lying all she could see was a dark collection of trees that seemed to go on for as far as the eye could see. The lubricated shine of the grass stopped at the edge of the dark beyond and further beyond the trees, shrubs and branches moved in the wind, any form of movement was watched with an intensive stare as if she was waiting for someone to appear, which of course was her wildest fear at this moment. Captured by fear she craved to shout again but couldn't. The temptation in shouting for help passed by, if she caught the attention of the man, he might come back and finish the job if indeed he was here she thought to herself. A covert plan to escape had now hatched and a newfound edge of confidence crept into her. She had just awoken, and though she had no idea what was really going on, or what was yet to unfold, the obvious function of escaping was high in her priorities. Everything else had taken a back seat, it had too. The fact that she had pnuemonia, had soaken through pyjamas, her hands and feet tied, a linguering concussion, and no clues as to why she was there were now past memories. Firstly, the most imporatnt role of existing was in the balance and she had already discounted the help of others to get her out of this mess. It was up to her, and her alone. She scanned the terrain she lay upon for something sharp to cut these bonds but could see nothing that could offer her the edge that she required. Some protruding tree roots lay out of the soil near-by and some random twigs and sticks were scattered around but nothing metallic, nothing but her own teeth would do the trick, and even then it would take too much time. All her concentration was put into the first hurdle of her hands, once they had been cut she could undo her feet and escape to freedom. The rope wore through her teeth as she gnawed at a loose edge of wet rope. She had managed to prop herself up and was leaning against the base of a small sapling that was blowing in unison with the others. Trickles of blood began to fall from a gash in her forehead, she could see it passing by her eyes and onto her hands as she bit into another section of rope. But her efforts were useless, the rope was tied to tightly. She felt the numb dullness of the cold hit her again and was beginning to find it hard to concentrate. Something inside her urged her to find cover and take refuge. Maybe even crawl to saftey somewhere, anywhere, just not in the same place just incase he came back. She turned over onto her knees and began to crawl towards one of the redwood trees. She didn't know much about trees but she could always remember a Northern California Redwood, it's size mountained over any other tree that grew near it and it had an almost homely feeling to it. Something that resembled her childhood when she played hide & seek with her cousins at her Grandmothers house was a section of saftey in this dire time. Something she could hold onto and hide. She began to crawl over the roots and twigs, the cold rain blasted down and sent another freezing wave of decay through her. But something else was unnerving her, like someone was watching her crawl like a caterpillar across the open patch of grass, she had that sense and was sure she being watched. The torrent of rain began to fall harder than before, the patter got louder and the trees began to sway faster as if a countdown had began. But through the electricity of the atmosphere shone a reflective glass, a small circular glass that magnified an eye. A cold, dark, black eye that watched the unfolding of the woman in the forest. The lens of the sniper rifle exited from a wild moving shrub, watching the woman wriggle about like a worm. The worm that she was. His cold breath ploomed out of the crisp morning air from within the green bush. And within the bush sat a dark figure, poised like a cat, ready to pull the trigger at any point. She must suffer. One shot fired into the empty vaccum of the forest.
Copyright © 2006 Sasu |