Beyond The Familiar Glow

At the corner, I could turn right and proceed to home — but to the left was somewhere new. The street lamps flashed, illuminating an unearthly glow that seemed to be calling me in a leftward direction. I was rooted in place, my feet anchored, as I weighed my options. Home was familiar, safety, routine. But left. left was something new.

A gust of wind rushed past the deserted intersection, as if trying to convince me otherwise. I shivered, wrapping my coat tighter around me. I gazed down the right sidewalk and could see the lights of my apartment complex in the distance. It was near and an easy walk. A street I'd walked a million times before.

But my eyes continued to slide toward the left, to the dark and mysterious road that wound into the foggy darkness. I'd never driven that way before. Didn't even know where it was. And yet, a thrill of possibility coursed through me at the thought of desertion, of abandoning sanity and following the night where it would go.

I took a deep breath, closed my eyes tightly, and held out a hand, letting fate take its course. A spinning coin, end over end, in mid-air. I traced its path as it came down, the slavering flash of metal kissing the earth. Tails. Left it was.

With a start, I set out, trudging down the black road with a surge of excitement rising within me. The more I traveled, the more the world around me melted. The buildings melted into heavy, twisting fog that curled around my ankles like grasping fingers.

I quickened my pace, thumping heart pulsating in my throat as I tried to stay shrouded in the small patch of light from the streetlights. But shortly, they also disappeared in the fog. I was lost, trudging in a shapeless world of gray without a glimpse of civilization.

The road made a sudden swerve to the right. I lost my footing, almost falling while I followed its twisting path. The ground underfoot was slippery, wet, and broken - no longer road anymore, but mangled, overgrown terrain. Thorns snapped at my legs, trying to pull me back. I pushed them away, standing firmly ahead.

At last, after what had seemed an eternity, the mist started to clear. Shapes coalesced out of the darkness in front of me. I flinched, trying to make out what they were. Trees, I saw, as the final vestiges of cloud burnt themselves off in a whirlwind. Ancient, towering trees with gnarled limbs that reached for the stars.

But something was not right. These were not regular trees. The trunks glowed an otherworldly, ghostly light, pulsating in rhythm to a beat that I could not sense. Tentacle-like roots writhed in the air. I shocked backward, stumbling. They seemed to be looking at me, hungry.

I had turned around in search of an exit. But there was only wilderness behind, the road disappearing as if it had never existed at all. And in front, trees closing in, a cocoon that was slowly tightening. I was trapped.

Suddenly, the ground under my feet gave way. I was falling through darkness, screaming, flailing. Down, down, down I fell, but never reached the bottom. Only the sound of the descent, the gut-wrenching drop, and the raw sound of my own cry ringing in my ears.

And then I splashed down, with icy water enveloping me instantly. I thrashed, searing lungs, upwards. Trembling, I gasped through to air, blinking droplets from my eyes.

I found myself standing in some kind of vast underground grotto, illuminated by glowing phosphorescent mushrooms sprouting from the walls of stone. The air was wet and icy, heavy with the smell of mildew and moss. A body of subterranean water lapped around my shoulders, its source and end concealed in the darkness.

"Well, well," said a voice, voice rich with laughter. "What do we have here?"

I turned around, racing heart slamming into my throat. On the ledge of the grotto, bathed in the yellowish fungal light, was a figure in a black hooded cloak. It was impossible to distinguish any features, but I felt the weight of its gaze on me.

"Who are you?" I demanded, trying to keep my voice steady. "Where am I?"

The figure laughed, low and threatening. "You're in my domain, little explorer. You've been a very naughty girl."

A chill skittered down my back. "What do you want with me? Why was I brought here?"

"Want you?" The voice was a chuckling purr. "Oh, you'll find that you already know everything there is to know about why you're here. You made your choice at the crossroads. Tails, I think. Down the left path you chose, right into my waiting arms."

Frozen realization jabbed at my skin. The fog, the twisted trees, the fall - they had all been intentional, not an accident. And I had walked into it willing, my inquisitiveness prevailing over my sense.

The figure approached closer, cloak whipping. I tried to drown-proof my hands and feet, to ready a defense. But I was a captive, defenseless, and half-drowned.

"Please," I panted, hating the shake in my voice and not being able to help it. "Don't hurt me. I didn't know. I'll go away, I swear. I won't say anything to anyone about this place."

The figure loomed over me, close enough that I found myself reflected in the glitter of its eyes.

"Ow, hurt you?" it mused. "I'm not going to hurt you, little one. No. I have much better fun in mind."

A smile crept across the blackness of its cowl, pointed and hungry. I went cold, marrow-bone chilled.

"Welcome to my world," it said, in a voice dripping with dark humor. "We're going to have such fun, you and I. I so enjoy breaking in the innocent ones."

And its fist around my wrist like a vice, dragging me bodily out of the water. I was gasping, flailing pitifully at its grip. It started to drag me away into the darkness of the cavern, my future and fate closing behind me like the lid on a coffin.