Wendigo

No one will ever be the same after what happened. The eventide they left us in the silva was the night I will remember forever. It was frigid that night in January when they rounded up our horde of twelve in our loungewear and then proceeded to blind us with silk ties and bond our hands and feet with rope. I sat next to Jack and held his hand as the cart recoiled. I also recall the orange-haired girl with her older brother Michael. The two of them were not that far away because I could smell the toilet water he called cologne.

There was a moment when I desired to dive out of the cart but struck with the knowledge that I did not know where I was made my feet cold. There was a lot of hay around because my sinuses were shot. My nose ran as I kept wiping at it on my shoulder. The only thing I could pick up besides the sniffling and blubbering was the phrase 'wendigo.' The word left the mouth of the red woman with white hair and a false eye. She looked only twenty-six a few days ago, but she looked like a decomposing skeleton in the fluorescent lights in the house. The man who she called her love was the same age but looked older than she did. He was white with platinum hair and grassy eyes. They both shared a natural scent of lavender. They smiled with yellow jagged teeth. Behind the curtains, I could picture the shape of their faces and how they were dressed before they blindfolded me. They were the ones who would give me nightmares for the rest of my life.

The rest of the ride appeared to be smooth, but there were the occasional holes on the face of the artery. I listened to everyone as we seemed to slow down. There were prayers to whatever deity they believed in. Allah, Yahweh, The Lord God Almighty, all signatures that mean the same thing in a different forge. I could feel Jack force his emotions into one. He would never admit his uneasiness, but you could feel his anxiety rise. He had no clue where we were, and it scared him to death. He hummed softly, "It'll all be okay by the end. It'll all be okay by the end." He claimed incorrectly though, everything was not passable. I tuned Jack out and tuned into Michael's station. He was muttering to his little sister and I listened as he shushed and fabricated, "I'm okay and you're okay, it'll all be okay." I pray to my deity that the forgery of that fiction would be pardoned.

"Everyone out," roared the swine as he stopped abruptly. The other eight people screamed as their chicken heartedness showed through their masques. I felt Jack's hand turn into a waterfall. I could feel my heart in my stomach. There was nothing more terrifying than this minute. We were being loaded off in deity knows wherein only our nightshirts and silk bonded eyes. "I said everyone out!" the spawn bellowed, and I felt his warm hand grab my upper arm and draw me into the three-dimensional world he stood in. I felt Jack's grip tighten as he tried to keep me next to him. I could not help but let out a small yelp. My skin was tender from the cold and it felt like my arm was about to break the same way my china doll broke when I was five. It didn't take but five seconds before a snapping noise and Jack's screaming caused me to break through the portal and on to the solid terrain. "Are you going to listen or is Sky going to have to whip everyone to cooperate," the blonde man said as what I assumed was the whip crashed against the ground.

After everyone was unloaded from the cart I felt Jack's hand grasp mine again. I only know it was him because of the callouses and the rough brand on his palm. I felt hands on my face. They were warm, and I could feel talons digging into my cheeks. The next thing I know I see the face of the red woman. I visibly flinched backward as she let out a laugh that sounded like a banshee's scream. She let go of me and then moved on to Jack and then Michael and so on. It felt weird standing in the dark and looking at people in their different attire. She stopped in front of one of the women who wailed and jiggled as she cried. The next thing I know the woman is on the ground gurgling on spit and blood. "Here my baby!" The red woman howled as loud as she could and then she turned to look at the rest of us, "You better run." Then it happened, an ear-piercing screech that made my ears ring. I looked at Jack and then to Michael and then back to Jack. I waited for a response from either one of them, but it was the ginger with the beard that gave me an answer, "Run now!"

Either I was a fast runner, or everyone's bonds were tighter than mine, I don't know. Jack ran behind me along with Michael and his sister. There was no one of knowing what exactly they were screaming, all I know was I had to run as fast as possible. Whatever was coming after us was something different. People were screaming, sobbing, and gurgling. I dodged trees left and right looking for somewhere to hide. Not only was the howling of the creature getting louder and louder by the second, but now you could hear his feet grazing the ground. My memory is a little rusty about running, but I remember tripping over something and falling down a hill and having unsuccessful consciousness for the creator knows how long. I can also relive the screams of two different voices combining into one as another factor came in to attack. I later learned that it was Jack and Michael's sister who were those two screams. There was a new scream as I tried to get up, but to no triumph, I couldn't get up. My head was pounding, and my leg was throbbing.

It did not take long for me to notice that my predicament was a whole lot worse than it already was. I felt the beast's presence when I felt my sodden shirt cling to me. For the first time at that moment, I saw it. It was a man with barely any texture to his face. He was pale and tall with long limbs and jagged teeth. I couldn't help but stare at his hands; they were everlasting with fingers that had nails sharper than a shark's tooth. The beast wore a cloth around his waist and that was his only protection. There was no time to scream or to cry or to do anything. "Shush child," the beast spoke to me in a deep scratchy voice. "It'll all be over soon, Imogene," the voice changed into a soft, angelic voice at that moment. There was still time. This creature couldn't have been Azrael. The spawn licked my face, "You'll be sweeter than the last two."

He went for my throat, but out of the trees' shadows, I heard a yell as the creature fell on to its side. I looked away from the man and up to see Michael. He had a gash across his face and there was a noticeable bite mark on his arm. Michael looked down at me as he held the tree limb like he was holding a baseball bat. "Come on," he said, "it's not like we have all the time in the world."