The day you meet your Villain

The Entity

The mess they found upon reaching the lodge was quite astonishing. Everything that could be pulled down was pulled down. The windows were shattered and there lay pieces of glass everywhere on the floor. Everything that could be broken was crashed in pieces. The room was quite a sight.

The girls maneuvered their way through, looking everywhere for Rima. She was nowhere in sight?

“Where could she be?” Thelma asked.

Casey saw that the bathroom door stood half open. She glanced first at Thelma then strode over and opened the door all the way. She gasped.

There was a figure hanging on the small window of the bathroom.

“Rima,” Casey cried smiling with relief and Thelma walked over to her to see for herself. The when the figure made no move, the smile on Casey’s face froze. Thelma walked over to her. She was very still, one leg was through the window over at the other side and the hands that gripped the walls were clutching. Thelma touched her arm. The skin was cold and hard. She heaved a sigh, c*****g her head to one side to view the face of the dead girl. The, trapped, frightened yet desperate expression on her face made her flinch. As Casey walked over to see, Thelma looked over the body. There were no wounds, no cuts, no abrasions, nothing.

“How could this have happened?” Thelma asked.

Casey didn’t reply. Looking intently at her dead friend with bulging, frightened and lifeless eyes, she sobbed.

Thelma walked back into the bedroom. She searched for her lighter and cigarettes, found them and proceeded to put them into her pocket. There was a pang of guilt chewing her insides.

Casey walked in with her hands in her mouth and red eyes.

“Get what you need,” Thelma told her. “Then let’s get out of here.”

Casey didn’t hesitate. The wardrobe had been pushed over so clothes were not an option. She fiddled through the debris on the ground and fingered a rucksack. When she looked through its contents, she found some money, a powder compact, some ornaments and a few notebooks. The rucksack was Rima’s and just looking through it brought tears into her eyes. Because she didn’t need the other items, she put only the money in her pocket. Casey wore glasses but they had been smashed into bits. She found her phone shattered but at least her purse still held her identity card, credit cards and a couple of other important documents. Then she looked around, out of the force of habit, for her laptop.

Thelma had lit a cigarette. While she smoked, she looked around for her phone. It turned out in pieces and fragments like Casey’s. She picked it up.

“That’s how I found mine,” Casey told her.

“We should get going.” Thelma tossed the phone back to the floor.

“Have you seen my laptop?”

Thelma looked up at her sharply. “You’re taking that?!”

Casey sighed.

“We’ve wasted enough time already. Come on!” Thelma trampled through the debris in the room to the front door. She turned to look back at Casey who was still looking around, with her eyes, for her laptop.

“It’s probably buried up in all this mess,” Thelma carried on.

“I have to find it.” Casey was on her hands and knees. “Perhaps there is a way I can re-write the story and put an end to all this. I’m still the writer…”

“She’ll be back before that time!” Thelma interrupted, anxious. “Are you coming or not?”

Casey looked adamant.

Thelma didn’t wait her reply. She threw the cigarette down, looked frantically about her then started off down the path.

Casey got up, biting her lip and thinking. If she had looked behind her, she would have seen the well sought after laptop, float through the air, held by the invisible hand of a man with one hand hooked up and his head bent slightly to one side. But she didn’t look back. She got up, drew her fingers through her hair, then started out of the room after Thelma. Before long, she was gaining ground.

***

The door smashed open and the executioner stepped in. He trampled on the splinters of wood, pausing in the middle of the room.

“He’ll see us,” Remises whispered.

“Shhh… keep your voice down.”

The executioner looked towards their direction. The scar on his face was visible; sketched from the corner of his face, going just beneath his eyes, then over the bridge of his nose.

The boys watched him, trying not to make any sound.

Then his one large hand disappeared into the pockets of his cape.

“What’s he trying to do?” Remises asked

“s**t!”

“What?”

The hand re-appeared with a stick.

“What’s that?” Remises was shaking now.

“It’s a part of a diviner’s rod.”

“No!”

The stick began to shake in the executioner’s hand. Watching it tremble, he was snickering. His voice came clearly to the boys. A loud barking sound, that seemed to echo in their ears.

“We’re trapped!” Remises cried.

The rod was shaking tremendously now, vibrating too much for the big man’s hand. He dropped it.

It would have stuck fast into the ground if the floors weren’t wooden. This time however, it rolled right over to the closet where the boys had hidden. The executioner looked at the doors. He quickly fetched a dagger that was strapped in his belt. Walking with determined steps, and menacing, he got to the closet and began to stab at it.

Remises was shaking with fear. Tears sprang into his eyes and his fingers flew to his mouth. He chewed on them.

Dean had entered the closet, just as the executioner made his way into the room, and locked the doors. Now with their hide-out compromised, he dragged Remises to the far end of the closet where they could be covered by the lot of clothes hanging in the wardrobe. Then, making very little noise, he further concealed their legs, from their knees to their feet with clothes, so in case the executioner was to look in, he’d not be able to find them unless by thorough scrutiny. He knew it might prove useless in the end. He too was afraid.

The huge man continued to hammer relentlessly at the door with the sharp blade of the dagger.

Remises stopped chewing on his fingers, long enough to ask:

“Why doesn’t he use the axe?”

Dean looked at him. Remises asked again.

“Why doesn’t he use the axe? You’ve seen how sharp it is. He’d have broken the doors in no time by now!”

Remises was right. The executioner was making little effort with the dagger and had only succeeded in boring a hole to look through in the hard wooden door.

Dean was thinking. Just as the executioner tried to peer through the hole, he had figured something out. The big man was looking searchingly into the closet.

“He doesn’t use the axe…” Dean whispered into Remises’ ear looking between the hanging clothes in the closet at the seeking eye.

“…because he wouldn’t want to kill me in the process.”

Remises gasped.

“But he’s after you!”

“He didn’t kill me before… he wouldn’t do it now. I think I know a way we can get out of this.” Dean said we but what he really had in mind was you. He had only the thoughts of keeping Remises safe.

“What are you going to do?!” Remises looked at Dean with big eyes.

Dean smiled his wiry smile. He made to leave their hideout. Remises held him back.

“He’ll see you!”

“Don’t worry. I know what I’m doing. I’ll distract him while you escape.”

Remises held him tightly. He was suspicious.

“Trust me,” Dean reassured him “He won’t kill me.”

Dean looked long and hard at his brother. Then he removed the hand that held him back. He walked into the view of the executioner. The big man straightened, threw his head back and laughed in tremendous guffaws.

Dean heaved a sigh. He opened the closet and came out to face the man. Remises watched quietly through the clothes. When Dean turned to lock the closet, Remises screamed.

“NO!”

Dean slammed the double doors of the closet shut, put the key into the keyhole, and locked the door. Remises was at the door in no time, banging on it with his little fists. He continued to scream.

Dean turned to look at the executioner who had stood watching him from under the veil of his hood. Dean looked directly into his eyes. They were dark, penetrating orbs.

“Don’t hurt my little brother!”

His voice was unsteady.

The executioner still watched him. Dean felt himself shaking, terrified.

“I know you won’t hurt me. You want to take me.”

The executioner grunted.

A tear dropped down Dean’s face as he squared his shoulders. “I’ll go with you.”

The executioner walked up to him and grabbed him by the hand. Tears were streaming down the teenager’s cheeks.

Remises slammed on the doors. “NO!” he screamed “LET HIM GO! LET HIM GO!!”

The grip on Dean’s hand became powerful and compelled by the executioner’s strides, Dean stumbled behind him. They were heading for the walls of the room. Dean turned to look back at the closet and Remises, watching through the opening between both doors, stopped banging enough to see his brother’s last reaction. Tears were streaming down Dean’s eyes and he was biting his lip. The executioner walked to the wall, passed through it and one forceful jerk, took Dean in behind him. They were gone.

***

They heard a startling eerie shriek a few yards behind them.

Thelma stopped immediately and grabbed Casey’s arm to halt her too. As they listened, their breaths came out in huffs. They were breathing hard. The scream stopped momentarily and they looked at each other.

“She’s returned,” Thelma said. “She must already be at the lodge.”

“She’ll be looking for us there.”

“Let’s go!”

They started off again with an increased momentum, racing down the path as fast as they could, their shirts billowing in the breeze behind them.

“We won’t make it!” Casey cried.

Thelma didn’t answer. The main road was in sight. They had run a long way down the rocky lane. However, Thelma thought, they may not end up being safe on the main road.

“Wait!” Thelma stopped Casey.

“What is it?” Casey demanded irritably. “We’re almost there. It’s only matter of time now and she might catch up with us.”

“The more reason why we can’t go by the main road,” Thelma reasoned. She looked quickly around at the rocks that surrounded them.

“We’ll go through the rocks,” she said. “We can be sure to have some sort of protection that way than on the open road.”

“Right,” Casey agreed.

And Thelma had never been more correct for moments after the girls left the path, the ethereal being appeared and went straight to the main road to search for them. Thelma was first to see it. It had appeared in a whoosh of wind and Thelma quickly ducked behind a rock dragging Casey down beside her. Then in another dash of wind, it had disappeared.

“She moves in the wind!” Thelma was astonished.

“She is the wind.”

“Come on.”

They continued on their escape maneuvering their way through the rocks and trying their best to keep close to the ground. From time to time, they heard the eerie screams of the entity and were able to determine how far they were getting.

But they were only able to maintain this for a short time. The creature was gradually gaining on them. Casey spotted her appear a couple of yards away from them, her hair wafting in the wind and her gown fluttering behind her. The figure she created sent chills down the girls’ spines. They carefully lowered themselves out of sight.

They held their breaths till they heard her disappear.

“She’s gaining on us,” Casey whispered. She was soaked to the skin with perspiration and her breathing was labored.

“We should stop here. I’m so tired.”

“We go on,” Thelma said trying to prop her up but it proved quite useless.

Casey crashed into the rock in exhaustion. The rock moved with a sharp scraping sound and the girls stiffened. The noise it made, seemed to echo through the quiet atmosphere and Casey looked at Thelma in alarm. The other girl grabbed her hand just as a shrill scream came clearly to them.

The astral being was a few seconds late. Before it appeared, the girls had ducked behind another hideout. They were white with fear, holding their breaths with an effort. The entity had appeared just in front of them and the billows from her gown stirred through their hair. Thelma clutched her shirt around her to keep it from fluttering behind them and Casey followed suit. She felt hot tears drop from her eyes.

***

The entity looked around quickly. Thelma had a brief glance of her face. Casey was right. It looked white and her lips were drawn of from her teeth in a snarl. The girls could hear her growling in her throat like a wild animal. It looked livid with rage.

Then it turned to a particular direction and screamed wildly. A great blast of wind propelled through the rocks and they smashed into a million pieces. A great expanse of that area became almost void with pieces of stones scattered everywhere.

Casey tried hard not to gasp.

The entity looked around in confusion then it disappeared again.

Thelma and Casey got up slowly to their feet. They didn’t need to be told. They stared off back towards the main road, scampering unsteadily through the vacant space the ethereal being had created. Just as they began to move, the being suddenly became visible again right behind them. It smiled mischievously watching the two girls trying to get away then like before, it put out its hand and clutched the air at their retreating figures.

The girls came to an abrupt stop and spun around like mannequins. There was a strange drumming sound they could hear playing in their ears. They started back towards the entity, poker-faced and tight-lipped. Tears flowed down Casey’s cheeks though no expression crossed her face.

When they got to the astral being, it released the hold it had on them. Then with a flick of its forefinger, the wind picked Thelma up and cast her aside. She plummeted hard into the ground where she immediately, lost consciousness.

Casey gasped, the tears rushing down her cheeks.

She looked into the hostile eyes of the being.

“What …do you want?” she stuttered.

It laughed then for the first time it spoke with a dry, crispy voice.

“It’s judgement time.”

With one last shriek, they were immediately enveloped by a mysterious whirlwind. The ethereal being grabbed Casey hands in a cold grip. Then yanking her into the vortex, they disappeared. They whirlwind immediately dispersed with a soft whoosh. Thelma stirred, slowly coming out of unconsciousness.