Chapter 6

Kelly

It’s funny how the mind can carry you away like a broad sail on the sea. One minute you’re floating along just as always, and at a minute’s notice, no matter how rough the sea, a strong gust can grab hold and place you on a journey you never expected to be on, to destinations unknown. For a moment, she didn’t even know why she was running, nor which way for that matter. Her feet were moving autonomously with little regard for her free will. Her arms thrashed back and forth before she was even aware that she no longer held the flashlight she had brought into the forest. She was terrified more now than she had ever been before. However, she could not recall what it was that she had seen or heard. Her mind was already trying to block the image. It scared her even more thinking about what it might have been that she saw, she was almost certain that it was better left forgotten in her mental exhaustion and emotional fatigue. But uninvited images began to creep back into her consciousness. Warm dark rain falling through the trees, a body hanging from a branch, swaying to reveal more bodies on similar trees, and Lilly covered in red streaks and dots as the blood rained down.

     Oh shit, Lilly! she thought as she abruptly stopped in her place spinning around to further confirm that she had no idea where she had ended up. Kelly’s mind had carried her far into an unfamiliar place. A place that was so terrifying that it sent chills running down her spine as if she was plunged into a deep dark well in the dead of winter, and she had left her friend alone to drown in its terror. Immidiatly after coming to a realization of what had transpired, regret flooded her mind. She thought of Lilly scared and alone and with the terrors of the forest and the monster’s that created the gruesome scene. She usually possessed a strong will to fight when confronted with adversity, unless she was overwhelmed. She remembered back to the harassing of Ryan Murphy and collapsed to the ground and hugged her knees tightly.

Kelly sat in the silence pitying herself and fearing the worse for her friend when she was distracted by foot fall on the forest floor. She hoped it was Lilly with all of her heart. She hoped that Lilly would come upon her with the flashlight and help guide her out of this dreadful place. She was lost and alone.

     Suddenly a face appeared, illuminated by a ray of moonlight. It was not Lilly, but it seemed reassuring and welcoming. A man with wide framed glasses and a thick mustache giving him the appearance of a real-life version of Ned Flanders from the Simpsons. Thinking of the character she couldn’t possibly feel any fear toward him. He seemed like the typical church goer, the man that drove a station wagon, would help change a tire when someone was stranded, or say “Howdy Doody” to a complete stranger. He wasn’t Charles Manson, or Leatherface, or some Jason Voorhees want to be running through the forest wielding a machete. He was a God-fearing man that was obviously sent here to save her.

     “Help me…” Kelly panted and sobbed.

     The man looked down noticing the young girl sitting on the forest floor embracing her knees and sobbing. “Oh, hello Dear. I almost didn’t see you down there. What are you doing out in these woods? It’s not a good place to go wondering around at night, let me tell ya. You could get hurt.”

     Kelly noticed two others with him while he remained knelt. A woman most likely around his age and another that looked to be someone’s grandmother. “Please help. I’m lost. I want to go home.”

“Come here you, let’s get you dusted off.” The man said helping Kelly to her feet and patting and brushing at her shoulders. “Where exactly is home?”

“Westminster Falls.” It was the only answer she could think of in her mentally exhausted state.

The real-life Ned Flanders laughed at the simplicity of her answer. “I gathered that much sweetheart. I mean where do you need to go, silly.”

“My father is Sherriff Lucas.” She looked up with eyes overflowing with tears and hope.

“Well, that there settles it. Want me to make things better?”

“Oh God yes, I just want this to be over.”

 “Okeydokey, well how about you come play?” Real life Flanders said poking Kelly on the nose like a grownup to a toddler.

“Yes dear, we’ll end all of your fear and pain. Just let us. Only a few more and he’ll return, you can be such a big help.” The grandmother said embracing Kelly in a hug that felt cold and emotionless.

     She pushed away confused. “What do you mean play? Who is “He?” Who are you people.” A loud and bright clap of thunder and lightning allowed her to look into the eyes of the woman and she saw herself as a child reflected back within the dark holes that stared back at her. The true forms the two unknown forest women were momentarily revealed to her. They were far older than they first appeared. The grandmother standing within arm’s reach seemed to be rotten and decaying away much like the Crypt Keeper from Tales from the Crypt, and the other woman seemed to be nearing her mid-hundreds. The women were cloaked in black and wore a chain containing a jewel the color if an ember in the shape of an eye. The man wore a ring baring the same glowing ember stone and robe that was so red it seemed to be dyed in blood and tied around the waist with twine. He held a staff that glared at her painfully with an eye of fire sitting on top, judging her, plotting her death.

     Suddenly she was thrown backward by an outside force. The lightening once again flashed, and she saw a man in an old-fashioned knee length fire fighters coat and helmet confronting her attackers. Another clap of lightening revealed his horribly burnt face and a weapon resembling a can opener the size of an axe gliding through the air, its pike finding a new resting place within the chest of the grandmother from the crypt, shattering he gem with a loud crack rivaling the thunder. Within the next flash she saw the fireman turn and throw a hatchet that was once within his waist belt at the second woman he must have heard charging from behind. It seemed to hurl in slow motion as it too found a place shattering the jewel around her neck and seemingly killing her instantly. The final flash gave light to the man in the blood robe nowhere to be seen and a fireman lifting Kelly from her place within the leaves.

     “Don’t worry, your safe now. They are gone.” He said in a familiar voice.

     She felt comfortable in his arms as he carried her like a small child, and she knew that what he was speaking was the current truth. “Thank you.” She managed to say before succumbing to the exhaustion that had amassed from the nights events.

Then all was dark.

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