The drive through the forest was eerie. Sage kept looking out of the window, thinking that something was different. It was deadly quiet and the hairs on the back of her neck stood on attention. The wind whistled among the dead and decomposing Autumn leaves and the sky was cloudless; the only source of light being the illumination from the moon.
Her father pulled up at an old cabin not far from the cliff and shut the engine off. As soon as she stepped onto the ground, she felt off-balance as a cold breeze slapped her cheeks. She blew into her hands to relieve them from the minor frostbite and took a step forward to join her family onto the fragile-looking porch.
Then they opened the door with a rusted old key left on the withering plant in a semblance of a clay pot. It seemed as though the previous inhabitants deliberately left the key in an obvious place for them to find. Or maybe they thought no one would look in the pot plant because it was far too cliché.
The twins called dibs on the bedrooms downstairs so she unwillingly took a look upstairs for a bed that wouldn't fall beneath her weight. The wooden stairs creaked slightly as she made her way up the stairs.
She heard a sound coming from the room she was targeting and froze in her tracks, the blood in her veins flowing faster when she felt someone breathing on her nape. A scream came from downstairs before a crash was heard. It sounded as though all the pots in the kitchen fell from the railing. A very familiar noise in their home.
"Sorry mommy!" the twins apologised in unison. Sage released a long-held breath to shake the paranoia off and walked into the room. She ran her hand up the wall, trying to find a light switch but came up empty.
Her eyes began to water because of the dust particles in the room and the broken window didn't do much help bringing in the desired fresh air. She begun sneezing and already felt lightheaded.
She was too busy tidying up and opening the little air space she had that she didn't hear the footsteps coming behind her. But when her gut sensed something was wrong, her hearing perked up in hopes of detecting anything unfamiliar. She didn't fear that she was alone upstairs. She feared was that she wasn't alone after all.
"Everyone all right?" She hastily called out. She waited for a nanosecond before the lot downstairs replied. But it was just murmurs and yawns. Feeling satisfied with the response, she shut the door and laid down, resting her eyes a bit. It felt like seconds had passed and she didn't get much sleep. Her senses were alarmed and her breathing came out ragged for reasons beyond her comprehension. Everything around her felt weird and she felt completely disoriented.
She looked around the room and the first thing she picked up was that it wasn't so dark anymore. She tried getting up to look out the window when the second thing hit her like a ton of bricks: Her legs were tied to the bedpost.
She started pulling and tugging at the ropes, her mind running wild with the worst possible scenarios. That was until she heard laughter outside the door. She cursed and felt her body relax a bit before yelling loud enough for her brothers to hear, "I'm going to kill you guys once I untie myself!" Their tricks and sorcery had reached an all-time high. After getting the ropes loose, she reached for her phone under her pillow and sent a quick text to her best friend, Max.
07:32, Me: I might be paranoid but there's something strange about this place. Send help and come rescue me asap
She hit send and realized she didn't add emojis to tell him that she's just kidding and he needn't worry himself. She brushed it off, assuming he'd take the hint and not bother too much.
She then went downstairs to join everyone for breakfast. She did not think anything of it when she found a plate of soup already sat for her. Usually, she was the one to cook breakfast for everyone. She looked around for her brothers and when she didn't find them she went back to the kitchen. She brushed it off, thinking that they're probably down at the lake with their dad.
She sat down and took note of the car keys in the faux fruit basket. She took a spoonful of soup and grimaced, thinking that the meat was a little too hard to chew. She called for her mom who was in the pantry, asking what animal it was.
"Human," her mom replied, laughing at her joke. Sage cringed, shaking her head. Her mom always had a wicked sense of humour. She stood up and poured herself a glass of water from the refrigerator. While drinking, she wondered who refill the water last night. Usually, everyone would drink it 'til there was nothing left and still put it back in the fridge.
She put the jug down and opened the freezer to see what else they stocked. She took note of the frozen veggies and meat. Just as she was about to close the freezer, something caught her eye. She leaned in closer to inspect and covered her mouth as she screamed when her eyes confirmed what she thought it was. She had come face to face with a frozen human's face, the eyes gouged out and the side of the face skinned off. Her body felt numb, her hands trembled and her legs became paralyzed for a split second.
The kitchen curtains blew in with the wind and a feeling of déjà vu overwhelmed her. She turned around to look outside through the window and saw one of her brother's rotting body dangling from the ceiling, his head detached and laying on the floor. She didn't have time to cry because she heard giggling voices approaching from the backdoor.
"I have to get out of here," was the mantra chanting in her head as she ran in the opposite direction. She reached the car and almost cried when she remembered the keys sitting on the table. With no choice, she grabbed a butcher knife-whether purposefully or coincidentally left next to the car, she didn't have time to think- and sneaked back into the house to get the keys.
Suddenly cold, rough hands encircled her waist, lifted her and threw her across the ground. She yelped and groaned, clutching onto her head as it took the hardest hit. The cold air brushing against her new wounds on her waist, legs and elbows. She quickly crawled to the knife when she saw the man approaching her. She swung it and sliced the back of his ankle, exactly on his muscle, making him drop down instantly. She didn't waste time as she quickly got on top of him and stabbed his throat.
After that, she quickly got off of him as though he burned her and tiptoed towards the house. the hallway was clear, so she went to the kitchen. When she was about to take the keys, one toddler crawled out from under the table. She was on her hands and knees, quietly staring at her.
She paused, not knowing how to handle children in this situation. She didn't see the other jump up on her back and start clawing at her. She fought the kid off and grabbed a random knife from the sink to warn him off. But when he leapt up at her again, she had no choice but to defend herself. One stab in the stomach was all it took for the child to be still. He whimpered like a dog for a moment before black liquid flowed from its mouth and nose.
The one that was under the table looked between the dead one and Sage. She thought it was a girl but she wasn't sure. It moved to the dead body and licked the blood before its eyes hardened and narrowed at Sage. The most visible emotion on the kid's face was vengeance. Sage mirrored the same emotions and they had a staring contest, which she lost just in time when she dodged a spanner thrown at her face with precision. As she dodged, she grabbed the keys and made a run for it.
The kid was on her back within seconds. Too skilfully, swiftly, it climbed up Sage's body until it was sitting on her shoulders and wrapped an electrical cord around Sage's throat. Sage tried to fight the toddler off, but the more she struggled, the more her lungs felt like they were on fire and she was certain that her eyes would pop out.
She fell to her knees, desperately trying to get her fingers between the cord and her throat and make some space to breathe. She was sure she was going to pass out but just then, she heard a gunshot and the weight of the kid fall off her back. She fell forward, coughing and trying to breathe properly but she felt too weak and all she started seeing stars.
She didn't register the pair of arms that lifted her and carried her away. In between phasing in and out, someone helped her drink a glass of water. She didn't know who was around her, how they got there, nothing. What she saw last was red and blue lights flickering and a bunch of people with blue and black uniforms running back and forth.
***
When she woke up, the white room was extremely bright for her liking. She groaned, trying to sit up. She was thankful someone helped her up. When she looked up, she smiled at the familiar face.
"Max, how are you?" she asked, sounding relieved. She drank the glass of water he handed her.
"I should be asking you that," he said softly, taking her hand in his. "How do you feel? Are you sore anywhere?"
She nodded her head, "My head hurts," she said, subconsciously lifting a hand to touch it. Her eyes widened when she felt a cloth wrapped around her head. She gave Max a questioning look.
"Your skull wouldn't stop bleeding. You took a hard hit-"
"Wait," she chuckled dryly. "Why am I here? I was on vacation with my parents. Where are they? Where are Jason and James?"
Max took in a deep breath, not knowing how to break down the news to her. He remembered that the doctor told her she might have amnesia, so he didn't want to bombard her with such heavy information too soon.
"Where are they?" she asked again, her voice barely a whisper as her eyes welled up. It broke his heart to see her like that. He had to hold back his tears.
"They're no more," he said softly, watching her mouth drop.
"They are dead?" she asked, but it seemed as though she was trying to convince herself. It had always been a dream of hers for her crazy family to leave her alone. Now they finally did. Forever.
