Cursed Woods: Chapter 3

Rayhan was on the train hanging on to a metal pole. The passengers surrounding him swayed in a similar direction, following the beat of a non-existent conductor.

He stared at his feet covered in the blue-slip on runners he had picked up a year ago. The ground below appeared to be marble but he knew it was plastic.

The professors words rang in his head. He couldn’t believe Deen was his assigned partner, it was the worst outcome. He couldn’t afford to make any mistakes this year.

The train halted at Verlain Street. He counted the remaining stops. His grip was tight on the pole. He had to ground himself, feel the cold metal on his skin, hear the sounds around him.

The girl was standing in the corner. Her deep green denim jacket and faded jeans. Her hands held on to something he couldn't see. Her white headphones dangling. Her black hair was short and tied in a loose ponytail. It reached the nape of her neck.

Her jacket shifted. She pulled it down. The lady in front of her stared. Rayhan snickered. The girl seemed to sense the gaze too. She silently shifted on her feet. She stared at her reflection.

“Move along,” A voice told him later. He was pushed first. As the gates opened, he stared at the man’s retreating figure. Why was everyone in such a hurry? Would it really kill them to move a bit slowly? Maybe the fault was with him. As the professor had said: He had to be more proactive.

He turned. The girl had left the train too, she was rolling the cord of her headphones. Stuffing them inside her pocket.

Rayhan felt his world slow down. She was walking away, a blur in the distance. A constant static filled his ears. He could not look away, from the moment he had seen her. It was not a surprise to him when his feet started moving on their own.

Her posture was firm. Her stride was faster too. A few times, he had to hurry to keep up with her. He halted at the exit, only to see her follow the man. She headed straight to the narrow street. It was getting darker outside. He really should head back.

It was a never ending walk. Time slowed, until the girl's moments came to a halt. How many turns had he taken already? Rayhan could not remember.

Something had shifted in the air. He would've believed that he was in the middle of a meadow if his eyes were not open. The scent of rain filled the air. He was all too familiar with it. He wanted to turn away. Run, his mind told him.

It was a single man standing in front of her. Then there were two. Four, six, he could not keep count. It was a horde descending on her. They were not men at all. To his surprise, the girl did not move. She let them take her down.

They scrawled over her body. Claws digging into her skin. 

In the back of his mind, he realised that the girl was dying. His feet did not move. 

It wasn’t the creatures that surprised him.

It was the girl.

There were bands coiled all over her skin that glowed dim at first and then brightened. 

Until, all his eyes could see was a blinding light. He felt the light reach his skin, a warming sensation at first, until his skin started to burn. His eyes were melting, he forced them to open but met darkness. Tears streamed down his cheeks.

He had read that in the final moments, life's best or worst would play in his head and yet, there was nothing he could think of, but the pain. The light tore through his skin to his bones. Pulverising everything in sight.

What are you? He screamed in the darkness.

It didn't matter how many times he swore not to, here he was, yet again, facing the consequences of another mistake.