A Murky Past

The terror begins

I walked across the dense forest, the unusually ruthless wind piercing my throat and my legs felt numb, as though they hadn’t moved in ages. The moonlight guided me towards a path I was magnetically attracted to. With absolutely no idea in the world where I was heading, I was merely a puppet in motion, whose strings were controlled by an unknown force.

Shivers ran down my body, heart was palpitating as though a bulky rock had been attached to it, which was oscillating and banging it. I felt like a cactus, as prickly goose pimples wrapped me up. Time seemed to have just halted, and I felt I had travelled a million miles across the forest, when suddenly a luminous ray of light punctured through the moonlight filled darkness. I pushed aside the leafy branch of a tree, and viewed on the ground at edge of the forest, the enormous silhouette of an intimidating castle and heard a blood-curdling cackle.

I woke up almost instantly as if a chilled bucket of water had been splashed all over me. I was sweating profusely, with my heart palpitating in the exact same manner as it had done in the nightmare.

“Ellie! Get down for breakfast!” yelled mom, which diverted my fears slightly. This was about a millionth time that this nightmare had struck me since the tender age of eight. I had never conveyed it to my parents because of an agitating fear of being considered emotionally fragile. Being born and raised in a family of three brothers, I had determined myself to be as tough as a male no matter what the consequences or problems I come across through all walks of life.

However, this seemingly petty nightmare had relentlessly sliced through my defences throughout my life.

As a child, these nightmares tormented me pathetically and I would wake up crying in my bed, while my mom would hold me tight and sing me back to sleep. And now, even on the verge of adulthood, these nasty dreams still had the same adverse effect on me, in fact, it deteriorated now to such an extent that it even began haunting me during daylight. I went downstairs for breakfast, struggling to maintain a straight face and wiping off all the sweat from it.

Almost instantaneously as I descended the stairs, there was a deafening cry of, “Happy Birthday!” as the entire family surprised me with the entire house decorated with balloons and stickers with a scrumptiously gorgeous cake waiting for me at the dinner table ; they celebrated my eighteenth birthday like that of a precocious five year old child’s. Being the youngest in the family, I was pampered and loved to bits, but I obviously never minded. I considered myself more than fortunate to have such a family.

It was an ordinary day in school today, nothing really special or exciting other than the mass birthday wishes. Judy (my best friend), and I went through all the lectures without me showing a single sign of pondering about the nightmare. I couldn't succumb to fears and overflowing thoughts while neglecting my studies, especially in our twelfth grade when we were just a few months away from taking our finals.

Alex, Judy’s boyfriend, and his mates were planning a road trip to the forest of Dean located in the deep south of England about a hundred and fifty miles from London.

“Hey Ellie, why don’t you join us? It’s going to be one heck of a trip! There is my house there nearby the forest built my grandfather where we’ll stay, and we’ll have the time of our lives!” Matt, one of my classmates, exclaimed with a slightly flirtatious tone; he had a super crush on me, however, I was too much of a nerd to pay any thought to relationships no matter how much I myself secretly adored him.

Yeah Ellie please join us! Consider it as a late birthday gift from us.” Alex persuaded meaningfully. However, I politely opened my mouth with the intention of rejecting their offer but no voice came out as Judy gave me a tight nudge.

There was no way her parents were going to allow her on a trip with a gang of just boys. Thus, for the sake of my best friend I agreed, though most reluctantly. However, the idea of the trip being at the cost of keeping my parents in the dark about it haunted me every second, I’d never in my wildest dreams wish to break their trust, nevertheless, I still agreed to keep my over-possessive but extremely loving parents in the dark regarding it and gave an excuse about a sleepover at Judy’s place.

At the dawn of the trip, I woke up almost instantly as if slapped on the face. My insides were feeling too ill-at-ease for some totally unknown reason. Every movement that I made towards packing my bag gave me some extremely negative and appalling feelings, an intuitive voice inside me seemed to make me feel as if this whole trip was a huge mistake. An astounding thing which I noticed though was, that the nightmares had halted since the trip was planned. Nevertheless, irksome intuition was filling my blood, thrusting my insides hard.

At half past six we were on the road. The sun was rising gradually, filling the horizon and shooing away the darkness. Judy danced through the sunroof of Alex’s SUV, relishing the warm weather and appreciating the emerging rays of the sun. Even my mood seemed to have lifted at the sight of the glamorous horizon.

We reached the forest of Dean after about three hours. It appeared eminently ancient, and unlike any other forest I had seen or been camping to with my parents. It emitted an aura of substantial murkiness, despite being enlightened with the sunlight. The trees looked like beings who had been cursed and doomed for a prolonged time. Moreover, as soon as we came in sight of the forest, a sort of creepiness conquered me, blurry white images of trees and woods flashed all over my mind and then an image of blurred female figure sprinting away flashed past my brain which felt like a loosely connected television channel.

An inexplicable sense of familiarity developed inside me, endeavouring to make me recall something which had long been lost or forgotten. Matt’s ancestral house was a mansion which was quite medieval; a two storeyed typical English house, with two enormous chimneys on the main roof and four windows lined up on the second floor, with twin sections attached to the main building and facing each other. The mansion looked corroded and palely coloured, but still possessed the essence of luxury which medieval mansions generally portrayed.

“So this is it guys. Welcome to heaven!” announced Matt snobbishly with his arms wide open, clearly proud of his ancestors.

The interior was complete opposite; the walls were painted in gleaming gold which didn’t require light to illuminate. A sharp aura of grandeur was emitted by the place; large portraits of Matt’s ancestors were hung all over the house who appeared to be medieval land lords. Flamboyant seventeenth century furniture was to be found all over: royal sofa sets placed in an orderly manner, multi coloured curtains enveloping the windows as the interfering sunlight irradiated them creating a vibrant effect. On the other hand, the fireplace lay unlit and gloomy, but that would be achieved too I thought enlivened, just by the sight of the resplendent place.

“Matt…, you do have a splendid ancestral house dude” I gasped, mind-boggled, while Matt blushed thoroughly while managing a ‘thanks’.

“Yeah you sure do dude, agreed Alex. I hope the bedrooms are equally splendid” he exclaimed, winking at Judy as she threw him a glowingly seductive look. I rolled my eyes, while nagging the love birds to assist me with the luggage. I had packed quite a large bag as our stay was planned to be a week’s. We placed our luggage upstairs.

There were numerous rooms upstairs, and all alike with absolutely the same size and shape, moreover, they all contained similar king size beds and other furniture. The rooms evoked an aura of utmost grandeur and luxury; the rooms were undoubtedly spacious enough to contain a baby elephant along with a family of three and the furniture. The beds looked cosy enough to provide a lovely snug.

The charming experience of the mansion was followed by an absolutely spiffing day. The four of us roamed around the place, went for rappelling over the nearest mountain at the edge of the forest. Dived deep into a blue watered lake. ll felt like heaven, my considerably boring life had transformed into an unforgettable experience and ultimately extinguished the apprehensive feeling I had at the first sight of the forest area. Moreover, love was in the air, as Judy and Alex just couldn’t get their eyes of each other (or their hands for that matter) as they snogged amorously and innumerably on the lake side as Matt and I viewed them, while sunbathing on the mountain side. Matt was staring at me lustily as I lay there in a bikini.

“So, Ellie, he uttered nervously. What do you want to do after this,” he said placing his palm on mine which I retreated for some unexplainable reason as he sat there disappointed.

“Well….how about I take a dive from boulder” I said, feeling a surge of guts flowing in my bloodstream.

“What! Are you effing serious?” he nearly shouted utterly bewildered.

“Yes buddy I am, what do you think is the title of “star swimmer” in school be of any use if I freak out this little adventurous stunt ,” I declared as I stood up and took a deep breath and decisively prepared to jump off.

“Ellie, you sure you can do it?” shouted Matt standing nervously near me, as I stared in awe below, over the glittering blue water. “Definitely dude, you just fix your eyes on me.” I exclaimed and as decisively as I could, I ran with an athlete’s pace, and with a breathless whoop of Geronimo, I leaped over.

My world went bizarre, adrenaline rushed through my veins, as I sky dived into the crystal liquid, experiencing the freedom of a bird, and with a humongous splash, landed deep into it. Feeling utterly exhilarated and refreshed, I waved at Matt who waved back, utterly mesmerized.

The water was gently warm, and aided in refreshing me thoroughly. All my feelings of anxiety due to exams plus the terror at the thought of the ridiculous dream seem to evaporate like water. I swam deep inside the lake, celebrating my life to the fullest. My body felt so light, all my anxieties and fears seemed to have been absorbed by the water.

Abruptly, at the very depth of the water, I noticed a gleaming object floating, like an extremely inquisitive cat I dived in to get a closer look. It drove me anxious to witness something like this. I couldn’t make out whether it was a person or creature, however, I determined myself to bring it out of the water.

Just as my skin touched the creature a face emerged, that of an extremely fair young woman, whose pupil-less eyes opened and vampirish teeth showed off her mouth, she possessed slits for nostrils and a hole for a mouth, her bony brittle palms grabbed my hand and clutched it with the strength of a body builder. The water went gelid at that point, and began freezing my insides extensively. I quivered like a fish out of water and struggled desperately to free myself, but my efforts futile. With one lifetime scream…. I knew no more.