Jack heaved the creaking door open until he had created just enough space to squeeze through. As he stepped cautiously into the dark room, a cloud of dust awoke from where it had sat dormant, making Jack’s eyes water. Clearing his throat quietly, he looked around, before perching precariously on the corner of a cluttered desk. Jack picked up the nearest thing to him; a stained taupe1 leather diary, locked with only an abandoned cobweb, the key long since scuttled away.
Opening the fragile cover carefully, he flicked through the starchy crackling pages of spidery scrawl, and began to read… The wind sliced into my skin, cutting like a butcher’s knife through raw meat, as I hurried onwards, making my way through the overgrown forest, pulling my coat around my shivering body to try and protect myself. The feeling that someone was following me gnawed at the edges of my mind as I travelled, and with every step my inner-conscience urged me to turn back but I couldn’t; this was a matter of life or death, and I had to push myself no matter how much it hurt.
The remaining shards of my confidence were all too quickly stolen though, as out of the corner of my eye I saw something fly through the corbeau2 undergrowth. I froze, my heart beat fast; pounding erratically3 against my chest as I scanned the shadows for any sign of life, but I neither saw or heard a thing. A feeling of dread washed over my bones as I slowly looked up. I couldn’t hear any owls, or birds, not even wolves in the far off distance howling up to the flavescent4 moon; I was completely alone.
Shivering slightly, I turned and hurried on, trying to shake off the ever-present feeling of being watched. As the dimming umber sun sank further down towards its slumber, and the whey moon took its place, I forged on; the trees were getting closer and the brambles wilder the further into the forest I travelled. I was beginning to tire, but I pushed myself forwards, willing myself to carry on, to not give up. Suddenly, I came across a small alcove, the space a welcome change to the claustrophobic5, bare foliage that had encompassed me.
Five deadened trees stood like an orchestra of demonic conductors, whose plumbeous fingers played the mist like strings on a violin. A chill rippled down my spine as I slowed to a stop, the change in the atmosphere uncomfortable and unnerving. The towering trees closed in around me, their skeletal fingers pushing down on me like an unwelcome blanket suffocating and trapping me. Rubious6 stains enveloped the coarse bark, oozing out of every crevice and cavity; their roots growing ack out of the ground like tentacles reaching out, ready to entwine me and pull me down into their cavernous soul. A harsh squawk alarmed me as it filled the silence I’d grown accustomed to; my heart raced faster than I believed possible. A thousand sulphurous eyes blinked at me in the hue, high up in the matted tresses of the swaying monsters. The silhouettes of the hidden creatures stood out against the puce moonlight, as they stared.
A sharp rustling noise behind me brought me out of my fearful trance, and the conspiracy of ravens took off, suddenly swooping through the shadows, powering expertly between branches and trees. I swung around, peering into the darkness behind me, but there was nothing there. A rapid movement caught my eye and I snapped my head to the right as adrenaline kicked in. Another movement brought my attention in front of me, then towards the trees. Forgetting about what I was meant to do, I turned and ran back the way I came, following the direction of the birds of the night.
