Chapter 1
I watched my breath cloud over the full moon in the chill autumn night. If it were me from another time long ago I might have stopped to appreciate the picturesque view.
Goosebumps were forming as I shook in my soaked hospital gown. It hadn't been long since my escape.
I don't remember how I managed to get out. Rubbing my tired eyes as I stared down the road lit by streetlights, I stopped to catch my bearings of the the evening's events. The weight of reality catching up to me.
Only a few hours ago I was in bed and asleep at the infirmary and the next I woke up shaking and cold on a bench with a backpack and all of my belongings?
My socked feet were bloody and sore from wandering around town in desperate escape of the police sirens. I have to reach the forest edge to find some peace.
Feeling the sedatives the nurses were pumping into me begin to finally wear off, I caught a second wind of energy. Young children were still hobbling around in their costumes holding their parents hand, so I figure it can't be any later than 9pm?
They already put out a search team to find me and I'd be damned to waste this opportunity of escape to a new life! Fuck going back to that place! I'll risk my life to avoid going back there!
It wasn’t long until I could hear the sirens and shouting of my name again coming from a distance. Letting my instincts kick in, I decided to move quickly, ignoring my exhaustion and fear.
The full moon guided me past the many decorated homes for Halloween. Small swarms of trick or treaters and their parents began passing me by on the hunt for candies and delightful frights.
Even though I was dressed in my hospital garb, they didn't seem to notice. Children and their parents pushed past me in groups smiling and waving, seemingly impressed by my "outfit".
Blending into the crowd, i snuck between a group of teenagers and skirted into a near by wood.
Not wasting any time, I pounded through the bush with my socked feet. They squelched with each step through the soft forest floor, as mud and muck splashed up the backs of my legs.
Groaning internally at the feeling, I had to admit the cold earth helped sooth my bloodied feet.
I blew out a thankful sigh as the pain grew more numb with the cold. Feeling more strength from the relief, I plodded forward, glad to be able to move more with ease through the harsh brush.
Images of the months prior flitted through my mind while they distracted me from my discomfort. The infirmary, the car crash, the hallucinations of what seemed to be ghosts gripping at me from my bedside as I came in and out of consciousness... and those ember eyes of the man who haunted my dreams.
I don’t know how many days I lay in that bed or what was made of dreams or reality during my stay. What I do know is going back to that horrible place was not an option. The people who believed I had lost my mind would never understand what I had been experiencing alone in the dark of that hospital room.
Shrinking away in my mind at the memory of numerous young nurses holding me down to sedate me while strapping my arms made me shiver and shake my head defiantly at the thoughts that still lingered.
Pushing the experience down, I chose to focus on protecting myself from the oncoming wind and the ever pouring rain. It took little effort to zero in on the visions that I worked obsessively to preserve while I was kept to a bed.
The far and few moments in between I had managed to make recordings of my experiences in my journal. The memories from my haunted dreams acted like place markers for where to go.
I remember when the instructions started. The man with the ember eyes had left me details in where to find him. He promised he would show me the truth, that he had the answers. When I first saw him in our visitations I was sure I had lost it, but over the many weeks kept alone in my room I knew I had to find out for myself.
I knew I must be going crazy by trusting my own delusions, but something inside me forced me to prove myself wrong. My sanity depended on it.
I grimaced at how insane the thought still sounded.
I wasn’t sure since my accident in just how these encounters began, but I knew in every inch of my depths that I had to figure it out. The saddest part was I admittedly had nothing else to loose. My parents were gone and I was the only one left to survive. All of my friends had moved out of town for university through summer break.
The truth was I was devastatingly alone.
Shrugging off my emotion, I reached the forest edge and stopped in the middle of a deserted road. Hunched under a bright streetlight, I rummaged around through my backpack for my journal. As my fingers grazed the familiar leather coverings, I grabbed it quickly with excitement and eagerly opened its pages.
The book was full of my cryptic scratches of messages, street names and numbers gathered each morning after "the man with the ember eyes", gave an encounter. It had been within these dreams that that familiar voice would echo my name, urging me to find it’s source.
Fumbling through the pages, I found a crosshair within my search. In my rough scratches was written “Hallow's grove”. Looking up within the town arboretum, I saw the familiar sign lit by street lamps exactly as it had been in my dream.
Sure enough, the sign reading “Hallow's grove”, with an arrow pointed down a trail that led to the bay, stood blatantly in front of me. Furrowing my brows again in more disbelief, I shoved the book back into my drenched bag and plodded on.
Without hesitating I marched forward back into the wooded depths. Now reaching the arboretum and closer to town, I’d have to be more careful. Keeping close to the shadows as well as an ever listening ear, I stared into the wood ahead, knowing from my dreams that this was my last stop.
Suddenly, the daunting echoes of the well meaning searchers hit me with surprise bringing me back to reality. "How did they get here so quickly!?" , I thought in shock.
Their flashlights blared through the leaves as they grew ever closer. I had no more time to lose. Moving even faster, I rushed back into the arboretum making myself scarce as possible. Crouching as each beam moved through the brush and past my head.
"Eileen! Eileen! I heard a familiar voice come dangerously close to my hiding spot. It took everything to hide my gasp when I saw him. It was my ex boyfriend Skye. He was panting and looked distraught, while visible tears fell down his eyes.
My heart wrenched at the sight, not just because he cared so much, but because it was obvious that both him and his team must feel sympathy for my cause. Growing up within such a small town...it was obvious now that I had become the next biggest "town gossip".
The young girl looses their family and sanity all within a summer to a fatal car crash.... Even he wasn't heartless enough to overlook my now pathetic and miserable life. Yes...they are all out searching for me. To "help".
Well....I knew their "help" It ends up with me in sedation and group therapy sessions with people who I could never relate with. They want to make me their patron do-gooder.
"She will survive this, they say", "she can help so many with what she's gone through", they say. They do not see me any longer as 18 year old Eileen anymore. They see me as the newest story in their boring lives to help make a difference in a world full of corruption. Well I'm no patron of good. I'm a raw and hurting being who needs out of their institutions! I care, but NOT how they care!
Making sure to keep my distance and not move, my breaths came in heaved and hurried waves. Trying my best to muffle my distress I held a muddied palm to my mouth.
“Either I have truly gone crazy and I should immediately march myself back toward the hoards of people searching for me, or my haunted mind has lead me here for a reason”. My inner voice would never give me a break.
Staying very still and being wise not to move a muscle the search party slowly moved itself away from my post. Taking a deep breath and feeling determined, I began moving defiantly through the dense thicket.
My socked feet were now so caked with mud and twigs that they were more of a hindrance than a help. Ripping them off, I was able to move more methodically over the wet fall leaves and branches of the forest floor.
As I now moved wearily through the forest, I forced the wet auburn-brown hair from my face.
" Why is this happening to me?" What have I done to deserve this?", my thoughts wailed through my head as tears continued to fall with each push of my limbs.
I wanted to scream to the universe in all of my grief but I knew no matter how much I screamed it wouldn't bring my old life back.
There was nothing more I wanted than to go back home back to my family and friends. I wanted to cry for help but the only people who would listen are now gone.
After weeks in the infirmary, I knew no one would believe me anymore. That no one could see the things that I could see. I knew now that no one cared to understand what I was going through.
Letting out a lonely sob at my fear and exhaustion, I spotted a hollowed out puddle within the roots of an old oak tree. It caught my attention as it glistened brightly by the moonlight. Hearing the voices of the search party grow more faint I walked slowly into the hidden comfort of the trees roots.
Taking the moment to rest, I gazed entranced at the small silver ripples in the water as the moon danced within it’s murky depths.
Tired, hungry, bloody and sore, I eagerly plunged my scraped and stinging feet into it’s cool comfort. Hunched over and staring for a few moments at my reflection, I couldn’t help but wonder just what my life had become. Moving the water over my wounds to clean them, I tried my best to wring dry my dripping hair and garb.
As I bent my neck down and watched the ripples off my hair echo through the tiny pond I heard a stir behind me.
Whipping my head up, my stomach lurched when a twig snapped ahead of me and to my horror there was a face staring back. Swallowing my terror, a strange clicking purr came from the man as he emerged from the forest growth.
Not having time to react or scream I gapped at the man in front of me, while I recognized those embers for eyes that haunted my mind for too long.
blinking back at me from the wooded darkness, his tall lithe frame stepped closer closing the space between us and blocking the moonlight.
Fearful yet still living in disbelief, I broke the silence. “So it was all real!? You, the dreams, the spirits who won't let me sleep!? I'm not actually crazy!?". Tears streamed down my face as I stood up, shaking in disbelief as well as true terror.
Momentarily my voice was caught in the desperation of finding my own truth, The intensity of my own desperation was beyond masking.
Fumbling for my next words I felt possessed to reach out, to touch the being who had brought me so much torment.
Shaking and unable to move a muscle my breath hitched as that recognizable voice spoke back. “I knew you'd come”. Surprisingly, looking equally overwhelmed as he gazed into what felt like my soul.
He shook his head and his demeanor suddenly shifted as he moved closer. “You have to come with me”, now! He hissed reaching for my wrist and I quickly retracted back suddenly scared.
Whatever was happening it was happening too fast and there was no way I was about to go with this creature. “Go with you!? “What do you mean go with you”? “Why did you even lead me here? what is happening to me!? how and what are you!? How have you been contacting me!? I whispered even louder through clenched teeth.
Putting his hand through his hair he huffed', “I understand you’re frustrated, but we don’t have time Eileen!” he grimaced.
His voice uttering my name like he had in my sleep threw me off guard. “Wait, how do you know my name"? "Why do you call me in my sleep!?." "Why do you know so much about me"!?
“You’re dangerous Eileen!". “You’re a threat to yourself and to this world” he glared. “I know what you’ve seen, I looked into your dreams, you’ve seen the other side, you’ve spoken to THEM!
"The dead haunt you and taunt you". "They will give you no peace until you come with me"! "They aren’t hallucinations, they are real and your ability to see them poses a threat to all the work my people have put into keeping balance!” "Now, COME"! ,He spat as he reached out to grab me.
My heart jumped into my throat and my legs seared with adrenaline as I began to turn around and run and scream. I could hear the search party coming back toward this end of the arboretum, but the golden eyed being reached out his hand and I suddenly felt an odd feeling of forced calm flow through me. All of my pain and exhaustion slowly fell away as I felt my body unwillingly stand at attention and unable to move.
I couldn’t get a sense of my surroundings anymore, my body couldn’t fight the creatures hold as he stepped closer. Whatever he had done to me he had taken away my ability to retort. My mind became clouded and I was beginning to loose focus of what I was even arguing about. “How rude of me to stop mid sentence” I thought. A stupid smile spread across me face as I turned back toward him.
With a grim expression, the fairy man grabbed my arm. My reluctance slowly dissipating into a warm fog. He somberly looked to his other hand holding a long embellished staff and thudded it hard against the earthen ground.
A light began to shine out of the top of it. The light radiated so brightly that I could not make out what had adorned it’s crown. The darkness of the night was pushed away as he forcibly turned my body to face an old oak tree ahead of us.
All I could muster was a loud gasp through my clouded mind as my vision began to change before me. The tree was no longer just another of the forest. It’s bark began to hyperactivity jitter and with each moment, it became more animated. I couldn’t believe my eyes! Perhaps I had finally gone mad?, I thought to myself. Unable to look away, I watched as within the patterns of its bark, the image of an old man’s face carved itself into the base of the tree.
Without a word it’s eyes opened and as the fairy man bowed to it, its terrible face stretched wide to form into a gaping door. Turning to Eileen, he then gripped her with iron strength. Horrified and unable to move Eileen had no choice but to watch as the portals intense light blinded her so immensely that she could not decide what direction was up or down. The only thing steadying her now was the fairy mans unwavering grip on her arm.
Completely unaware of the creatures movements through the blinding light, the fairy grabbed a handful of dust from his pocket and blew it into the young woman’s face. Her shocked expression slowly faltered and her eyes fell heavy as she fell limp into his grasp. Looking down with pain for the poor young woman, he picked her up and stepped into the bright light of the Green man’s mouth. “It’s time to go home”. He whispered under his breath. And the Green man groaned to him with impatience as the deliverer of souls stepped through the gate of the in between.
