Chapter 3

Chapter 3.

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"Let me go!" She yelled as creepy dirty fingers with long stinky nails that smelt of dried blood tried to grab her foot that got pierced at the hospital.

 

It was oozing out blood and the blood was as black as coal. 

Not minding the pains, she screamed and ran inside the woods as the man on a black hoodie, putting on a momo mask and a black cloak holding a sickle, kept chasing after her.

"Leave me alone!" She dived into the woods and where she was, there were skulls all over and the place kept getting foggy.

The flies were buzzing around as she puked because of the offensive odor of the corpses.

"Ahhhhh!" She screamed when she dipped her fingers into the eye socket of a decayed skull. She glanced at her hands and saw big maggots, trying to eat into her fingers.

She stood and noticed that she was in the valley of death.

Her white negligee was stained with black blood and it was torn, she heard the sound of the sickle which the man under a mask and hoodie was dragging on the floor as she screamed and tumbled, falling into a dark black hole as the bones of dried skeletons, pierced through her stomach, then she started bleeding, she came out of the hole and started walking into the woods as she held her stomach that was gushing out blood until she got to an odd-looking cottage.

She stopped walking and glanced backward to make sure that the killer was not following her. Then she started racing to the door of the cottage without minding the injury on her foot and her stomach.

"Help me! Please, help me!" She banged on the closed door, the more she knocked and yelled, the rotten wood kept breaking away until it made a big hole in the door.

She kicked the door and it sprang open immediately. Then she stopped as a shiver ran down her spine.

"Is anyone at home?" She sniffed and slowly walked inside the cottage as a candle that was on a skull lit up immediately and it made her flinch.

She looked at the antiquated cottage and marveled. She studied the skull and noticed that blood was dripping out from the mouth and eye sockets of the skulls.

"What the hell is this?" She murmured and looked around the cottage, the lit-up candles were not enough to illuminate the room.

And from the looks of things, she concluded that it was a coven for ritual.

She heard a banging sound and turned back immediately, only to see that the rotten wooden door was closed and the wood was no more rotten.

She raced to the door and started banging on it as she cried.

"Let me out of here! Let me out please!" She cried as she heard a familiar voice at her back that was whimpering.

"Willow! Help me!" Samara, her sister called out to her.

"Please, help me!" She called again as Willow slowly turned to see her sister with her throat sliced open as blood was dripping down profusely.

 For a moment, Willow was paralyzed as she tried to digest what she was seeing.

The masked man on a hoodie held Samara's hair, pulling her backward, as Willow darted her gaze to the sickle he was holding, it was drenched with blood. 

She looked at the floor and saw that the blood of her sister was all over the cottage, and it was as if they were sinking inside the pool of her sister's blood.

"No, no, no, no!" She yelled when the blood got to her chest and she could no longer see the momo masked man and her sister.

The blood went up to her throat as she struggled to swim, the cottage was pitched dark as the blood had coveted up the lited candles.

"Ahhhhhhh!" She yelled at the top of her voice when she was about drowning. 

She was still screaming as she quickly sat up on her bed and opened her eyes.

She started breathing profusely as the sound of her alarm clock beside her bed was beeping.

It was 7 AM. She quickly tapped on the snoozed button of the alarm clock and held her head as it was pounding seriously.

"It was just a dream" she murmured under her breath and stretched.

The rays of sunlight were slowly creeping into her room through the window as she walked to the windows to bring down the curtains.

She yawned and held the curtains as she saw a scarecrow outside the compound they shared with the kids in the neighborhood who were still building the scarecrow as a crow flew and perched on its head.

"Of course! Tomorrow is Halloween! They are getting prepared"

She studied the scarecrow and for a second, she thought that the scarecrow moved its head and was staring at her now.

She flinched and moved backward. That was when she noticed that one of the kids was at the back of the scarecrow and was adjusting its head.

"What is wrong with me? Am I going insane?"

She heaved a sigh and cursed under her breath. She could hear the waves of laughter and giggling of the kids as she remembered how she and Samara use to play in that same garden.

She dropped the curtains and walked back to her bed and sat down. She winced as she placed the injured foot on the floor.

"Damn it!" She had forgotten that she injured that foot last night.

She raised the leg above the ground and placed it on her lap. She noticed that the sole of her foot was getting rotten from that spot that she injured and it was slowly spreading.

"Look at that nasty shit" She frowned and dropped the leg.

She moved to her cupboard and brought out a first aid kit.

She cleaned the injured foot and dropped iodine on the spot as she winced.

She wrapped the foot with a bandage and wore her socks.

"That would do the trick" she muttered and stood up as she set out to carry out her daily activities.

***

Willow is a 21 years old young lady that lost her sister three years ago in the Halloween season.

Before her sister got missen, they both lived with their 85 years old grandmother who was sick of a brain tumor as they lost their parents in a car accident. 

All efforts made by Willow to look for her sister, Samara, proved fruitless as the local police gave up.

They concluded that, since Samara's body was not seen in the town or the woods, she might have eloped with her boyfriend, because, according to reports from the neighborhood, they said... 

Samara was always tired of their sick grandmother who never get well and wished she would die and stop suffering her and Willow as she was old enough to die after all.

And according to the report, Samara had always threatened to leave the house because of their grandmother that they always had to babysit.

The police had interrogated Willow of the whereabouts of her sister, she had said…

"Samara said she was going to the Halloween show, it was her birthday. She wanted to have some fun. She had bought two tickets for the both of us, but I objected that I would stay with grandma at home as I was not feeling the Halloween season!"

"How old is she?" The Police had asked.

"22" Willow had said.

"Do you know her boyfriend or who she gave the other ticket to since you refused to go with her to the show?" The Sheriff asked her.

"I do not know of Bryan. But I am sure that Samara was having issues with him and they did not attend that show together. I am very much sure of that"

"When last did you see her and what was she putting on?"

"I saw her last around 9 PM before she left and she was dressed like Maleficent as her mimic for the Halloween show" she had replied.

After that interrogation, the Local Police had searched for Bryan and he was nowhere to be found.

When they went to his house, they found out that everything was intact as his room did not look like he traveled or something.

But the Sheriff insisted that Samara eloped with Bryan but Willow would not agree to as she claimed that she knew her sister more than anyone in the world. 

Although she was just 18years old then and Samara was 22, the sister bond that they shared was not something that could be broken, even with the strongest spell.

"If Samara wanted to elope, she would have done that with me. She would have whispered to me at least and would have taken some of the stuff she held dearly. I do not believe what the Police said." 

I know something had happened to my sister and the Police are too lazy to find out!" She had insisted as her friends were there to console her.

Since that time, she had had a phobia for Halloween as it was the day that her sister got missed and also her sister's birthday.

And she always had hated Halloween and frequently had anxiety disorder when it was Halloween season.

It was so serious this time that she was rushed to the hospital by her friends when she passed out at the coffee shop.

Her grandmother who had a brain tumor was too sick to understand what was happening as she barely responded to stimuli.

Her friends at the coffee shop she worked, Hazel, Piper, and Billy had tried all they could to make sure she forgets about what happened to her sister three years ago so that she could move on with her life. But she could not as it got worsened.

***

Present-day.

Willow was dressed up for the coffee shop as she looked at her reflection in the mirror.

"I am good to go" she murmured and picked up her purse that was lying on the table and walked to the living room.

She later walked to the door of grandma's room and peeped,  and found out that her eyes were open as she was just facing the ceiling without blinking her eyes.

"Grandma! Are you alive?" She asked, popping her head from the door without waking up to her.

"Are you dead?" She repeated and walked into the room fully and held her grandma's palm.

She placed her ears on her grandma's mouth and smiled.

"Of course, you are breathing" She smiled.

"I am sorry I have not taken you to the hospital so that you would get good medical attention. I will, do not worry. I am working my ass out at the coffee shop" she sighed and held her grandmother's hands.

"Something unfortunate happened yesterday, I passed out and was rushed to the hospital by Billy and the girls, and I had to spend the little savings I had at the hospital" she sighed again.

"If only you are even understanding what I am saying" she stood up.

"Come on now, let us get you on your wheelchair, and get you cleaned up," she said and raised her from the bed and carefully placed her on the wheelchair.

She walked to the kitchen and returned with a basin of water and a towel.

She placed the towel in the water and started cleaning the foot of her grandmother, she cleaned her face and her hands. She changed her diapers and her clothes too.

"You are clean now" she nodded and returned the basin and washed the towel.

She pushed the wheelchair to the window side so that her grandma could be looking out of the window, watching the busy street and the children play to feed her eyes.

She dropped a bottle of milk and some fruits on a tray which she placed on a table very close to her grandma.

"I will be back Ma, I have to go to work now" she kissed her cheeks and left the house.

When she was in the garden, she sucked in air as the cool breeze brushed past her face.

She glanced at her wristwatch and saw that it was 9 PM, by this time, the kids that were playing in the garden were no longer there. But the scarecrow was right there, facing her window. She kept walking and darted her gaze to her left and saw her bicycle leaning against the wall of the cabin.

"Billy is such a lifesaver" she muttered and pointed out that he must have brought it home for her from the coffee shop since she passed out and was taken to the hospital.

She rode the bicycle to the coffee shop and parked it where she always left it.

She opened the door as the bell rang from above, it made the customers glance at the door.

"Hey! Willow! How are you doing?" Piper was first to sight her as she walked up to the counter.

She picked up an apron from the rack and started putting it on.

"I am fine" 

"Welcome back. You are late! But the boss would not care about that, your life first" Hazel winked at her as she shrugged.

"Hey, Billy!" She called out to him as he was attending to a customer.

"Thanks! I saw the bicycle!"

"Anytime!" He smiled.

"Where is the boss?" She asked.

"He went to get something at the mall!" Piper said as the bell was heard from the door.

Without looking at the door, Willow went over the counter to resume duty.

They, except Willow, darted their attention to the door and saw a short thickset man, his appearance made everyone in the hall gaze at him.

He was putting on a black cloak and a black bowl hat, he held a stick like that of a magician and he had a heavy mustache that seemed fake. 

He had a black eye bag around his eye socket and he seemed like someone who had seen death and spoke to him one on one.

"Okay, I am not attending to that one, he looks creepy" Hazel scurried away.

"Neither am I" Billy raised his hands.

Piper left what she was doing and cleaned her hands with a towel and walked up to the man who refused to sit but just stood, very close to the door.

He was looking at the coffee shop like an alien that escaped from the lab as the place was strange to him.

"Weird!" Willow thought and continued what she was doing. She had peeked and taken a glimpse of the man that they were declining to attend to.

"Good day sir, come sit down" Piper tried to smile at the evil-looking face.

"No!" He spoke in a low husky baritone voice.

"Oh, okay" she mumbled.

"Tickets! For the Halloween show for free. You got any friends to come with? It is happening tomorrow!" He said as Piper glanced back at her friends and glanced back to the man who was not looking at anyone, but focused solely on Piper who found it absurd.

"Okay, I have three friends. I bet it would be--"

"Here! Take it!" He handed four tickets to her which she took as he gripped her hands and sniffed her fingers"

"Sweet!" He exclaimed and smiled, revealing his dentation that gave him away as a tobacco lover.

"Ewww!" Piper said as she tried to clean the slim his nose dropped on her palm as he walked out of the coffee shop, almost immediately.

"Weird!" Billy muttered as the customers stared at her.

She walked over to the counter and washed her hands in the sink after she had placed the tickets on the counter.

"That was brave of you, I would not have done that for a million bucks" Hazel spoke as she scoffed.

"Easy for you to say" 

Billy picked one of the tickets and read through it.

"Halloween show by 9 PM? Come with your favorite Halloween costume and a partner!" He laughed and turned the back of the ticket.

"But, are the skulls on the ticket necessary?"

"Of course, that is the spirit of Halloween!" Hazel giggled as she took one of the tickets on the counter.

"Here, Willow, this is yours" Hazel tossed one to Willow who was indifferent as she did not even take a look at the ticket.

"I am not interested" she continued what she was doing.

"Take a break, Willow. Will you?"

They continued talking as the bell rang and customers trooped in.

Billy, Hazel, and Piper left her to go and attend to the customers, while she was there, washing and cleaning the glasses.

Her eyes darted to the ticket and she gave it a long stare.

She picked it up and glanced through. She felt like she had seen something like that before. She turned the back of the tickets and read "come and get entertained" as she immediately remembered where she had seen this exact ticket.

It was the ticket her sister, Samara, gave to her three years ago at Holloween before she got missen.

"What the heck?"She mumbled.

*.*.

TBC