Unlocking Part 1

I've been hiding in my room like a coward, though I know that at any time it can pass through the locked doors. I don't regret going to the house...but I know now that things are only going to escalate

On the 15th I grabbed the keys (just in case), filled up my car with gas, and drove all the way to the ends of town to see the place overrun with ivy, but still intact. I took one final sip of my Coke before going right up to the door. Unlike the dream it wasn't open, but a quick turn of the handle fixed that.

The place could not have been more quiet. The only sounds were of my feet stepping carefully on the old floors. I turned to the left and beheld a somewhat clean living room scattered with relics of the late fifties and early sixties. I know nothing about that place, not even rumors, but in my gut I knew something went very, very wrong here.

The grandfather clock in the corner chimed, and that's when the floor gave out beneath me.

I screamed as gravity fulfilled its purpose, sending me careening to the basement. instead of plumes of dust and cobwebs, I was confronted with the unbelievable.

A forest. There was a goddamn forest in the basement. Trees that should been poking through the above floors stood with thick trunks and bare branches, their paradoxical existence only frightening me more. The floor was now dirt, partially wet and bereft of any insects, and the hole that I fell through was now the sky.

My heart caught in my throat and my stomach felt like it was filled with lead. But even with this, I pursued. It was not as claustrophobic as one would think, but even then I looked behind me to be aware of where I was going.

I saw a large tree with a bronze chain encircling it. No lock, though, but I pulled out the bronze key. A hole near the roots grew wider and wider until it became easy for me to go into.

Right in the center there was a dog so big it was like a small horse, staring at me with eyes as big as teacups and sitting calmly in the center. It didn't lunge at me or bark, but it did pant heavily as if it was thirsty. I slowly walked closer to it, mumbling platitudes as I willed my feet to move. Suddenly, when I was just close enough, the dog stood and closed the distance between us, nudging my hand with the key open. My finger shakily exposed my item, and in the blink of an eye the dog gobbled it up.

I yelled at it to drop the key, or rather, I would have had the dog not melted away into a large, unlocked chest. My jaw could have fallen from my skull. It took a while for me to collect myself, but when I did I opened the chest and found one third of a DVD.

I fond another large tree with a silver chain around it. I took out the matching key, went through the hole, and what did I find? Another dog, just as big as the last one, also staring at me with eyes as big as pinwheels. It ate the key like the one before it and turned into an chest. I took another third of a DVD within it and quickly left.

Not far along there was the final tree. There was one last dog, also big with eyes as big as a human head, that swallowed my final key and it, too, turned into a chest. I grabbed the final piece and made it out of the tree.

I thought that maybe, just maybe, that would be it and I could figure out a way to get out of the forest-basement. Little did I know that they weren't done with me.

At least fifteen feet away I saw three figures, dressed all in black, wearing Venetian masks that concealed their faces. One wore large goat horns upon her head, another with cardinal feathers that made up her earrings, and the last had a multitude of fish scales entwined in the veil she wore.

They were watching me, and I realized then that they had been doing so this entire time.

The Walk

Something strange happened on the day I took my walk. You noticed that I didn't do my usual birthday post on the 20th, Catherine's birthday. I decided I needed to get some fresh air and clear my head, despite the fact that this anxiety refuses to budge.

I drove to the park listening to my music player, but other than the sounds of my favorite artists I was completely silent. I parked my car and ignored the sounds of happy children playing. I decided to walk down one of the many wooded paths the park had to offer. As I wandered aimlessly, I finally collapsed onto my knees and cried, long and hard, on the forest floor. I didn't care if someone saw or heard me--I needed this. I begged Catherine to forgive me, I begged her to not be dead and to come back, I apologized over and over again to the empty autumn air. After what seemed like hours, I got up, dusted myself off, and continued walking.

I found, nestled beneath a big oak, an eerie shrine that reminded me too much of the white tree. On this stone altar I saw a dead robin surrounded by bloodies glass and mirrors. The poor thing looked like it had struggled before its untimely death. More of those strange, unknown words were seemingly carved onto the rocks. Understandably, I backed away from it and kept walking. Yet after seeing that morbid display, I felt like I was being watched, not by a single person, but by many. I got this unsettling feeling that I was an uninvited guest in an inhospitable home. Eventually I became so uncomfortable that I just left.

Have you ever gotten the feeling that you were being followed, even though when you turn around there is no one there? I couldn't shake that even if I tried, and when I reached the mouth of the forest I was surprised to see the park deserted. It was barely three o' clock and it shouldn't have been this...empty.

I ran to my car and raced home.

I recorded what happened on my camera, but something's wrong with the video. Some parts are distorted and I can almost make out human speech at some parts. This is insane.

Nature's Church

I was awoken early the next morning by a strange feeling on my cheek, dancing across my lips and down my neck. Delirious, I at first thought it was Catherine's fingers, as she did have a habit of caressing my face as I slept in one of her more loving moods, but when the feeling crawled up my face once more, I opened my eyes to see a house spider comfortably resting on my nose.

Now, I don't like hurting bugs, I don't. But this black thing spooked me so bad that I nearly let out a yell. I slapped it off of my face and onto surfaces unknown, for I never saw it after that. After I calmed myself down enough, I went to the bathroom to check for any bites. I found none whatsoever, which was most certainly a good thing. Looking outside I saw that the sun was slowly starting to rise, and since our classes were at eight-thirty, I debated even going back to bed; didn't want to get too comfortable again. Might as well make some tea and get ready.

But then I thought about Catherine and that spider. The one on my face wasn't identical to the one we saw yesterday, and I honestly didn't feel comfortable with any arachnid (big or small) near her. It was the desire to protect Catherine, even from harmless little things, that made me go back into my room and curl up next to her. To hell with everything else.

The day passed on comfortably: we carpooled to school, met up with our girls, managed to eat lunch together before scattering to our respective destinations. The classes went smoothly, our phones managed to not glitch up royally (thank God), and we even ate out for dinner that night. I did see Catherine sometimes looking behind her and over my shoulder, but aside from that nothing went awry.

We returned on time, no later that ten, and completely exhausted we went to bed. As we lay there, not asleep yet not awake, Catherine gently nudged my shoulder.

"Hmm? You alright?" I said to her.

She nodded, "Yeah. I just wanted to make sure you knew I was still here."

It was a simple little sentence, but it meant so much to me. I kissed her forehead, and we slowly descended into blissful rest. That night I dreamed of a small, cozy cabin in the middle of a dense forest; the kind of home or vacation spot many would kill for. Inside were plenty of furnishings to go around, comfortable couches and beds, a full pantry and the sound of laughter from an invisible family. It was beautiful, soothing.

And then, in the blink of an eye, the cabin caught fire. I don't know where it started, but the flames crept up the walls and along the floors like a stalker in the night. Soon the entire house was a fireball, and I heard the laughter turn to muted screams. In seconds the cabin was ash upon the forest floor, and all was silent.

I woke with a start, my heart pounding like a frantic drum in my chest. I felt beside me to feel if Catherine was still with me, and to my relief she still was. In minutes I calmed down enough to finally fall into an uneasy rest. Morning could not have come sooner.

But after an eternity, it did. The sun rose and banished away all darkness, golden-yellow rays pouring into windows to wake the people and let them start the day, hopefully with a good night's sleep behind them. Such was the way with Catherine and I. Quietly we walked down the stairs, rubbing our eyes and yawning. Breakfast for both of us was jasmine green tea, toast with Nutella and ground cinnamon and sliced green apples.

Outside, Lunagirl was meowing loudly for her food and attention, yet there was also something mournful in her voice. Catherine said to me, "Let me go play with her while you get her breakfast."

She opened the back door, shuddered at the sudden coldness and knelt down to pet Lunagirl. I was calmly opening a can of her preferred foodstuff when Catherine let out a ragged, low scream. I flew to the door, shouting, "What's wrong?! What's wrong?!"

Catherine wordlessly pointed to my cat, a look of terror in her eyes. I held my little black companion in my arms and my jaw dropped in shock.

Lunagirl's back neck was almost covered in ticks. Pale, engorged things that greedily sucked at her lifeblood. Horrified, yet intrepid, I began to pluck each of them off. It was no easy task, as they had embedded themselves in her skin so deeply that it seemed they were now a part of her. All the time my beloved feline was sitting still so I could work. In the end I counted a total of eighteen ticks, every last one of them so big that they could barely move. Catherine smashed them all with the one of my father's heavy shoes.

At one-thirty I accompanied Catherine to her appointment with Dr. Frey, sitting in the waiting room and fiddling with my phone the entire time. The session took a little longer this time, not that I minded. If Catherine needed more time to get it off her chest, then it can take as long as she wants it to. I forgot to mention this back a while, but she was laid off from her job due to her missing shifts and erratic behavior. It didn't seem to hit her too hard, but it wasn't making things easier.

At almost three o' clock Dr. Frey invited me to join Catherine in his office. I walked in, sat down in a chair next to hers, and held Catherine's outstretched hand.

Dr. Frey cleared his throat and spoke, "Catherine has told me all about her little black out that happened. They are very scary, and since she does not illegal substances nor has any brain damage, it makes them even more puzzling. You two staying together through all of this shows how strong you are, and how much love you have for one another." he paused and I squeezed Catherine's hand. "I do want to put both of your worries to rest and tell you that your phones were most likely malfunctioning. It sometimes happens to Justine's phone, even. Don't over-analyze it it mean more than it does; it causes headaches." He chuckled at his own joke.

"Now, Elizabeth," he continued, folding his hands neatly on his desk. "Is there anything you want to get out there for discussion? Any fears, thoughts...nothing is off limits."

I breathed in deeply, then exhaled. I turned to Catherine and said, "I love you, and nothing can keep me from doing that. Not even this wicked thing that seems to like you a whole lot." She didn't laugh, but a smile formed on her lips. "And you're not suffering though this alone, okay?"

"I know."

"I mean, I had a really crazy dream last night even--"

The smile faded quickly, replaced with anxiety. "What?"

"Yeah...it was freaky. Surreal."

The doctor said, "Do you want to share it with us, Elizabeth?"

I decided, 'why not? It's just a dream' and told them. "It was just...creepy. I dreamed about a cottage in the woods that must have belonged to a family. Then it caught fire and burned to the ground, most likely killing everyone. I woke up scared silly."

The doctor nodded his head, a look of puzzlement on his face. "Hm. Odd. But dreams are often like that. Personally it may have just been a simple nightmare, but one would think that there is a deeper meaning. Catherine? What do you think?"

Catherine's eyes grew wide as saucers, her breathing becoming deeper and deeper. "I know that something serious needs to be done."

She got up out of her chair, dragging me along with her. Before leaving the room, she turned and nodded, "Thank you, doctor. I believe I know what I have to do now." Catherine's grip on my wrist grew stronger as she pulled me to the car. I gently pried her fingers off of my small wrist and nearly croaked, "Cathie! Wha-what is going on?!"

It was a question that has long since worn out its welcome. I wondered about her strange behavior and seemed to get an answer that this evil thing wanted her for some bizzare reason. I wanted it gone so that she would stop worrying and being on edge. I wanted it gone for both of our sakes.

She opened the passenger door and looked at me pleadingly, "I have to think about this. Let's go home."

So we did, the whole ride spent in pure silence. Catherine was looking out the window, seemingly mulling over what she and the doctor had talked about and my dream. I wanted to make small talk, but each time a sentence formed in my mind it died in my throat. Sometimes words were not nescessary.

When we arrived home she quietly opened her door, walked around to me and opened mine. "Thanks, love," I murmured. Together we walked to and through the unlocked front door, where Catherine still wore the expression of a person debating what in the name of God to do with their life. I said in the cheeriest voice I could muster, "You want a snack? I think we still have those apple slices left."

I recieved a "Mm-hm." in response. I gave her the the slices of fruit and she chewed them slowly, listlessly. I looked around me for any and all spiders or insects, and should one appear I would be the first to swat it out of the room. "You alright?" I whispered.

"Kind of. I'm just really upset that you dreamed about that. It's not good."

"Why?"

She swallowed heavily, "Because. It might want you, too."

My eyebrows rose, "Me?"

She nodded.

I didn't say anything; I was left completely speechless by this new turn of events. A little bit of fear started to creep inside of me. Were dreams the first sign of things to come? No. No. I won't let this thing have me. I can't let it consume me. Without thinking I said, "Yesterday I woke up with a spider on my face. I don't want to freak you out, but I don't want to keep anything from you. I wacked it off my face and I didn't see it after that." I half expected her to flip the table, but instead sheburied her face in my shoulder. Catherine didn't cry, only let out sad little sighs.

Almost foolishly, I said, "Nothing bad will happen to me, Catherine. We're going to get through this."

She looked up at me with a smile drained of all warmth and said, "I can only hope we will."

The White Tree

When you have very little to do, the hours seem to grow long and longer. Five minutes seem like thirty, and thirty minutes seem like a full hour. Taking walks around the entire neighborhood lost its novelty and I had caught up on all my reading. It was during this time that I learned the meaning of the phrase, "boredom is not a burden anyone should bear."

So in my desperation to get away from boredom, I called up Catherine and the others to carpool somewhere, preferably a place with electricity. Thankfully everyone was available to hang out, so away I went to pick up my friends and fiancee to steal them away. During the drive I heard several horror stories about what had befallen them in the meantime: Florence and her family had to clean out broken glass from not only her shed, but from her garage as well. Vivian's stove stopped working, which meant that they could not even warm up soup for mealtime. The window to Naomi's family room had a nice big tree branch thrust through it, making an unholy mess. Rebecca had to deal with her poor mother twisting her ankle on something. The injury wasn't too serious, but it made things harder on Becks.

We stopped at our nearest Sonic and ate a yummy lunch there. As we sat in my car, wondering what to do next, Catherine said, "Let's go to the park. I want to take a walk through the woods."

At first we were all a bit shocked that she would want such a thing. As you know, Catherine had developed an irrational phobia concerning forests, so at first I didn't know what to say. But she looked at me with this expression of 'trust me, I know what I'm doing.' I did trust her, so I complied. "The park it is, then."

On the way there Naomi asked, "So has Dr. Frey been helping you?"

"Mmhmm. Very much. He's a huge help."

"How are your parents doing?" Rebecca reached over and patted her arm.

"They're doing good. They're such troopers about this whole thing, making sure that I'm safe and keeping their eyes on me. Sometimes it get a bit much, but it helps."

Vivian said, "What do you want to do in the woods?"

"Walk around, get a feel of the place again. I want to see if I can do it."

After that, we spent the rest of the ride in silence. I trusted Catherine to know what she wanted to do. Maybe her fear of playgrounds would be conquered as well. All too quickly, we reached our destination. I parked the car and said, "Well, we're here."

As we walked towards the woods, I patted Catherine on the shoulder in comfort. I wanted to let her know I was here.

Vivian was the first to walk in, and halfway down the path she looked back to see if we were coming. Rebecca followed, then Florence, then Naomi. I hesitated walking along with them, since I didn't want to leave Catherine waiting. But she gave me a firm push, saying "No. If you're in there, it will give me a lot of incentive."

I whispered, "You can do it, Cathie."

To be honest I wanted to be right there with her, to hold her hand at let her know that everything would be alright. But if this is what she wanted and if this helped her, then so be it.

I walked as far as the girls did, turning around to see what Catherine would do.

She stood at the mouth of the forest, looking at the path and took one hesitant step forward. I saw her mouth the words 'here come the sun' as if it were a prayer that kept her from harm. She didn't close her eyes as she walked; Catherine kept them wide open as if in defiance, it seemed. With each step she got more and more confident, so much so that she walked right past us.

We cheered loudly on her behalf, and in my happiness I bum rushed her in a hug. I was so happy that she had faced her fears. I gave me hope that she would completely get better, and we could look back on all those frightful times and laugh.

All six of us walked down the long path, chatting and now fully enjoying ourselves in the soothing shade of the forest. I don't know how long or how far we walked, but in the fork in the road, we saw something...chilling.

Before us was a dead, white tree. The branches were bare and gnarled as if writhing in pain. It wasn't small by any means, but it wasn't big either. Hung on those branches were trinkets held with twine: bird feathers, fish scales, bottles of what looked like blood and dirt, pieces of goat horns, broken glass and mirrors, an entire assortment of bizzare and disturbing decorations. The trunk of the tree was not spared from oddity: some parts were smeared with what I assumed was ash from a burned thing. Some words were written on it (carved into it) in a strange language that neither I nor anyone else could identify.

Catherine tugged at my hand, "I want to go now. I don't like this at all."

I turned to look at her and saw that her face was nearly at white as the tree. I saw fear and anger in her eyes, but nothing that suggested violence. Without looking back, we all walked quickly away from the tree and to my car.

The Beginning

Everything was going smoothly for the most part. We were saving up money left and right, from Catherine's job working at a waitress and me...well, I was a full time student. No one was hiring, and I had to stick to going to school, since I was doing very, very well in my classes. When I approached Catherine about working part time with her, she said that she could handle it for the time being, but mentioned that me working with her over the summer would be a good idea.

A few months went by, and come the cooler months and we kept what we had to have and scrapping anything superfluous. We decided that going to California to get married wasn't needed; since we had closer alternatives, like Vermont or even Washington DC. So the idea of going to California was discarded.

After much discussion on the topic of surnames, Catherine decided to take on my own, citing that she always thought it was pretty and very romantic. Even better, we thought it would be really neat to put up a YouTube channel under the name of 'Rose Valley' as a video log of our lives together. It would serve as a virtual memory book for all our friends and family.

But...

In all honesty, I can't really pinpoint when things started to go in a strange direction, or how I started to notice. I just did. Suddenly Catherine began to exhibit strange new characteristics, some of them so subtle you wouldn't even notice, no matter how long you had known her. I feel like such a fool for not seeing it all sooner.

I can remember one day where Naomi took us all out to the park woods for some time together, and for her to sketch some trees. Everyone else, including myself, had no problem with it, as we always loved taking long walks along the paths. Catherine, however, stopped dead in her tracks and refused to go inside. She said that her legs hurt from walking around campus and wanted to stay near the playground. So she and I remained on the swings talking about how wonderful out lives with be and what we were going to do. Catherine said she wanted a little playground for our children, which I thought was a cute idea.

Catherine never went into any sort of forest again, not even the place where we walked on our anniversary. She always came up with some excuse to not venture in, and soon she didn't even like playgrounds anymore. But none of these new dislikes were in your face, and she remained my wonderful fiance Catherine.
But she used to love forests...what happened?

Anniversaries

Our first anniversary wasn't anything special; we stayed at her house, ate ice cream and watched a few movies. I don't care what anyone says: Moulin Rouge was one of the best movies ever made. In inspired Catherine to make a themed restaurant based on the actually place itself. People would have come around from everywhere just to go there, had she done it.

Our second anniversary we spent with our friends. Music, dancing, movies, even baking treats for us to enjoy now and later. We played some video games, too. So in the end it was a pretty sweet party.

Our third was essential us taking a walk through these really nice woods, not the creepy ones near my old house, from which I long since moved out of. It was these other woods, in a park that we played in when were were little girls. It was the afternoon, and we were walking hand in had on a path that we just found. It was very romantic. Along the way, a beautiful deer scampered right past us and into another part of the forest. We just stood there and marveled at our luck to see that shy an animal that close. As we walked further, a fox scurried across our path and seemingly in the same direction of the deer.

I nudged Catherine and said, "They're all out for our anniversary." She laughed and we kept walking. Finally, Near the end of the path, we saw a crow pecking at something we couldn't see. As we got closer and closer, the crow stopped what it was doing and stared us down. Even as we walked past it, it didn't move, just glared at us. When it deemed us far enough, the crow continued its pecking. Odd.
We went back to my house and talked about the animals, then went out to a Japanese restaurant. The girls mentioned that it was beyond strange, bordering on eerie. Naomi put it best: "spooky creepy."

Our other anniversaries weren't anything special; just us being together and exchanging presents. I got her a lavendar diary one year, since that is her favorite color and she needed it. She got me a really pretty rose brooch, which I love to death. We did love doting on each other.

Of Friends, Forests and Disney

I left off last post talking about how I met Catherine and my friends. I remember one day, when we were all taking a walk in one of the parks near my old house I mentioned offhandedly how I wanted to be pretty, maybe try and put brightly colored ribbons in my hair. Catherine exclaimed, "Oh, so that's what you've been up to. I won't let you get popular with the boys! You're mine, Ellie! Mine mine mine!" and playfully chased me around until she grabbed me, holding me very tightly as if that would keep me there forever. We all laughed and thought it very funny.
I remember that along the rocky path we always walked on there was a forest at the end of it. It was really, really spooky, but Florence said that she wasn't afraid and tried to walk in one or twice. She's bravest of us all. Rebecca would hold her back and say that they shouldn't. Flo would always ask why, and Becca would say that we could get lost, or something along the lines of that. That's Rebecca for you. Stopping people from making bad or rash decisions. I think that Florence went in on a dare a few days later, but she either saw or heard something and ran out. We didn't blame her; those woods were creepy as hell.

Catherine once told me that she would only be comfortable going into those woods if I came with her. I agreed, and we tried going in  by ourselves. We never did. It was  just too unnerving. There were no birdsongs or rustling of little animals. Just pure silence. And even on the warmest, brightest days that forest was dark and cool. Something about it didn't seem right.

Back in the days of the Disney Renaissance, the girls and I would marathon through the ones on VHS and come up with stories all our own. Some of them were stories about how, through that dark forest, there was Beast's castle or maybe Sleeping Beauty being guarded by thorns. Others were about the Disney Princesses meeting and trotting into another tale. Maybe ones with Aurora fighting her way out of the dream world Maleficent put her in, or Snow White and Cinderella having parties with the dwarves and animals. We had so many stories going on that I can't possibly remember them all, which I wish I did. Memory is a strange thing.