The doorway had also been home to many spiders. Brenna brushed webs away and tried the door handle. Locked. Remembering the old iron key that came in her letter telling her she had inherited the cottage; she dug her hand into her bag and searched for the key. She found it, inserted it into the lock. After a few strong twists the lock released and the door opened with a creak. Brenna made a mental note to bring some oil next time to fix the squeaky door.
A musty smell filled her nostrils as she made her way inside a dim room. She looked around and coughed. Dust covered everything inside the small cottage like a dirty brown blanket. Brenna carefully placed her things on the aged floor and walked across the wooden floorboards, narrowly avoiding a large black spider that scurried out in front of her feet. She stifled a scream and jumped up and down. “Gross, gross, gross!” She fluttered her hands in the air and took a deep breath.
Now shaking, she wiped dust from a small window. The room flooded with light, revealing old upturned furniture, and glass candle lamps blackened with age hanging from the ceiling.
From the window, she could see a tiny stable surrounded by a wooden fence. Turning away from the window, she noticed a large fireplace that had been built into the wall. The fireplace was full of debris from fires lit many years ago and had an iron grate above the coals with a black cauldron hanging above. Brenna smiled, imagining cold nights sitting around the balmy fire stirring hot soup in the big cauldron. She decided once she had cleaned up the cottage, she would have to stay here one night with Maggie and mix potions over the fireplace.
She walked towards the fireplace and shrieked as a huge black raven came charging out of the fireplace’s chimney and soared over her head. The huge bird flew into a wall, sending up a cloud of dust. The bird settled on the ground, twitching. Brenna approached it slowly and made a shushing sound. The bird let out a shy squawk and hobbled towards the fireplace and flew up the chimney.
Brenna’s racing heart settled as she relaxed her shoulders and took a deep breath. She scolded herself for being so jumpy. Then she brushed off the mass of dust that had managed to collect on her skirt and spotted a straw-filled bed in the corner. Straw burst out of the aging mattress and the bottom had collapsed. She put a hand out to feel the sturdiness of the bed when a faint whimpering invaded the room. She spun around; there was nobody there. The tipped over furniture was still lying in piles of dust and the only footprints on the dusty floor belonged to her.
“Hello?” Brenna’s voice was a tiny squeak in the weeping cottage.
She ducked down and looked under the dilapidated bed, frantically opened tall cupboards, checked under the table. The cupboards were filled with jars full of ancient-looking herbs and spices, trinkets and charms, but there was nothing to explain the crying ringing about in her ears.
The ghostlike crying stopped a few sobs later and Brenna decided to go outside to clear her head. She felt unsteady on her feet. This really was Hawthorn’s cottage from her dreams. Dazed, she decided to head back to the hotel.
Clutching her bag tightly under one arm and the box under the other, Brenna walked toward the trees and re-entered the thickness of the woods. Golden light filtered through the trees from above. She heard a swishing noise behind her and turned around, ready to face whoever had made the sound. She was tired of being scared by noises. A floating black entity moving through the trees was another matter. Brenna screamed; the figure turned and looked at her. It had a face that wasn’t quite human. For starters, it was too long. The thing’s jaw almost sat on its chest. Blunt teeth stuck out at odd angles, and it had a discernable nub of a nose. The worst part was its eyes. Blood red eyes with a wetness that made Brenna’s blood run cold. Her own wide eyes fixed on the empty space beneath the bottom of the being’s tatty deathly dark gown. Whatever it was, it was hovering in the air.
She clutched her box and ran, passing the pentagram engraved tree, and didn’t stop running until she ran out of breath a couple minutes later. She stole a quick look behind her and saw nothing except still trees.
She turned back and found herself face to face with the horrible thing. It narrowed its red eyes as it sized up her green ones. Brenna’s breath came in short rapid gasps. The thing moved closer to her face and its mouth opened wider, giving her a good view of its foul stubs of teeth.
“Leave now.” The entity’s decaying voice was raspy and sounded as though something had been sawing at its throat with sandpaper. With one wobbly step at a time, Brenna moved away from the creature. It kept its horrible eyes on her as it floated high into the air and vanished.
Still gripping the box tightly, Brenna willed her legs to move, one at a time, stumbling her way to her car. She all but dove into the car dumped her things on the passenger seat, started up the engine and got the hell out of there. A cloud of dust from her wheels obscured the view in her rearview mirror.
She looked ahead and slammed on her brakes. Her car was almost touching the exit gate.
“Shit!” She sighed. Reluctantly, she pushed her door open and stepped out, tensing her hands into fists. “What is going on here? If somebody could tell me what is going on that would be great!” Brenna shouted, not expecting an answer, but she wouldn’t be surprised if she got one after everything else that had happened. Suddenly the gates opened. “Well that’s a start…” she mumbled as she walked stiffly back to her car.
Brenna couldn’t help but think the floating nightmare reminded her of somebody. There was something horribly familiar about it. This thought stayed with her as she drove into the empty parking lot of the Oakwood motel.
She checked over her shoulder and she stomped up the creaky steps to her room and unlocked the door. She checked that she was alone in the room before slamming the door shut. She walked into the small bathroom and showered. Her stomach growled the whole time. How could she even be hungry after what she saw today? Well, a girl has to eat, hasn’t she? Creepy floating monstrosities or not. She planned to go to a busy restaurant in town so she could be around some ordinary people.
After changing into a lacy black dress and heels, she took her oversized handbag and rummaged for her phone. She had to call Maggie before she did anything else. “Come on, where are you?” She searched for a good few minutes in her bag and in the hotel room until relenting to the idea she must have dropped it in the woods. “Damn it!”
She’d have to use Clark’s phone. She headed down to the office and knocked on the door before entering.
“Hello?” Brenna called out.
“Coming, Brenna!” Clark emerged from the back room holding a newspaper, probably the same one he was reading last night. “Well, aren’t you all dressed up like a fancy peach pie!”
She couldn’t hold back a blush. “Oh, thank you.”
“You look pale as milk though, something wrong?”
“I’m okay, weird day that’s all.” Brenna thought that was the understatement of the century.
“Oh, you’ve been in that haunted forest?”
“You could say that.”
“Saw something didn’t ya?”
“I saw something, heard something and oh it doesn’t matter.” Brenna looked down at the floor and bit her lip.
“Brenna, it feels dark in there am I right?”
“Yes. Very, very dark.”