Chapter 6 Demons and purple fences

She swore as she pushed branches out of her face. One of them cut her hand. Cursing more, she stuck her hurt hand in her mouth without slowing down. A few of the trees had roots above grown that she almost tripped over in her desperate bid to not look down and lose sight of the shadow. Every step was making her more frustrated. There was no explanation for why she could see their shadow so clearly yet, couldn’t see the person casting it. Eerily there was a sudden stillness that settled over the trees. The birds stopped singing and the insects were silenced. Her footsteps and huffing were the only sounds in the area. Finally, she burst into a clearing. There in the center of it was a staircase. The shadow was nowhere to be seen.

Curiosity drove her to explore the staircase that stood alone in a leaf strewn clearing.

As she approached, she noticed there was nothing growing for what she estimated to be ten yards in any direction from it. Circling it allowed her to take in the details. It was an elegant gently curving wooden staircase with intricate designs etched into the spindles. Carpet tacks were exposed on each step indicating it used to have a carpet runner attached. At the mouth of it, the newel posts were decorative carved in a similar manner to the spindles. It looked as if it had been ripped out of an old Victorian house and dropped in the woods. The dark stain on the wood was unworn, showing no sign of the elements. The canopy cover was too thin over the clearing to provide any protection. She walked under them trying to discover what was holding the top part aloft. There were no posts or anything else that she could see. It was a floating staircase to nowhere.

Olivia couldn’t figure out how it could be there undamaged. Trailing a finger around the carvings on the newel post, she began to climb the steps. They were solid.  Wondering why there was no wood rot or animal damage she continued to climb. Each step brought with it a strong pull to keep climbing. At the last step before the landing, she felt a cold chill shoot down her back. Suddenly the need to turn and run was undeniable. Turning, she saw the shadow standing behind her. It reached out its arms to push up the final step to the landing.

Once her feet slid over the edge of the landing the world went black. The feeling of being flat on her back spinning was the only sensation she had. In the darkness she saw a floating face looking at her. She screamed into the darkness but there was no sound. The grotesque face watching her was dark indigo with black inky substance sliding down it from all orifices. Pointed ears pointed up barely past the top of its black indistinct hair. The unblinking, glowing white eyes watching her had no pupils and filled the ocular socket. Blood red lips turned up into smile as she tried to move away from it but discovered she was trapped spinning while it floated above her. Sharp spiked black teeth were exposed when it smiled. A long tongue resembling a tenacle with suckers on it came out to lick the hand that had been bleeding. The face floated down to her. Once they were almost nose to nose, the creature’s was long and pointed, it shrilly laughed at her obvious fear.

As suddenly as the blackness had swallowed her, it was gone. She was falling from the landing of the staircase. She landed on the ground with a thump. The wind had been knocked out of her lungs. Frantically she tried to suck in air. It felt as if her lungs had collapsed and were not letting air in. After what felt like an eternity, she managed to roll to her side. Air suddenly rushed into her starving lungs. The coughing fit that followed hurt her entire body. The twenty-foot fall had jarred every bone in her body.

Rolling back over, the staircase was gone. Olivia tried to jump to her feet, but her legs wouldn’t obey her. She managed to get on her knees. Looking around she was back in the woods. No clearing, staircase, shadow, or scary ass face that she knew she was going to see every time she closed her eyes. By her foot was an exposed tree root. She wondered if she had knocked herself unconscious and hallucinated the staircase. Using the tree trunk beside her, she gingerly climbed to her feet. Rubbing her aching head, she pulled out her phone. Unsure of where she was, she pulled up her GPS to find the house.

“Perfect.” Oliva exclaimed. Her phone showed no bars. Taking a moment to get her bearings she turned in a slow circle. The sun was straight above her making it useless to determine which direction she was looking. All of the woods looked the same to her. Mentally she cursed herself for not paying more attention to botany over the years. Not that botany was useful in the city, but here at least she might know if she should go towards the oak or the elm. Picking a direction that looked vaguely familiar she took a few ginger steps. Winching from discomfort in her lower half, she pushed herself to keep going.

Telling herself it wasn’t because she was afraid to see the shadow again, she kept her eyes trained on the ground, looking for tree roots. A tree branch caught her hand where it had been cut, when she stuck it in her mouth, she was reminded how the nightmare inducing creature had licked it. A shiver went down her spine as she looked at hand. There were two small round marks beside the cut. Had a creature really licked her or had that all been in her head? Horror movies weren’t really her thing. She hated the damsel in distress which so many of them relied on. Briefly she wondered if she had a concussion. If she made it back to the house, she would look to see if this tiny little town she lived by had some kind of urgent care center. Ten minutes later she came across a purple fence.

Looking up at the sky, Olivia swore at all those who might be up there. It didn’t look like the same place she had met Dixie earlier. Over the years she had seen multiple documentaries on people who became lost in the woods. They had an unfortunately high number of people who didn’t make it home. Thinking it over, she wasn’t sure which side of her property was on. Perhaps all of her neighbors had the purple fences.