On vacation. Greece sounds ideal for that, but not the islands for me, I always go for the mountains. Fewer people. Less noise. My grandma's sister invited me to a little village in the mainland, just below the mountain. I am not much of a people person, so a little alone time in the mountains seemed perfect.
I arrived in the early evening. I knocked on the door, but it was open. I let my self in. Crackling sounds coming from the kitchen. I call out for my grandma's sister, Claire, and try to walk in. She makes a loud startled noise and jumps in front of me right before I enter. She hugged me in motherly way and said “you must be exhausted. Let me show you to your room and we'll catch up tomorrow”. I agreed, although it was still early, as my journey was long indeed and followed her to my room.
She lit the lantern and talked again with her old, shaking voice. ”Now you sleep well, and don't let the night sounds get to you”. -“Haha” I chuckled “Don't you worry about tha-”. ”And you!” she talked again this time staring at the chair. “Don't stay here for too long”.
She left the room and shut the door. “What?” I mumbled. Did she talk to me? Or was age getting to her? I unpacked and crawled into bed. I usually sleep right away, but not this time. It took some time as I couldn't shake off this unnerving feeling.
I woke up early in the morning. I looked for Claire but she was already out. I felt hungry and opened the fridge to get some breakfast. Found some jell-o. It tasted right, but something about it was wrong.
I thought to myself, some fresh air would do me good, so I decided to go out and take a stroll in the woods.
I walked for a while taking in the view. I found a nice spot and stopped to take some pictures. It was so peaceful, so quiet. Actually no sounds at all; no birds, no wind, no leaves and getting a bit chilly. And then some mist came as if from nowhere.
I decided to head back. And hurry, as perhaps I wouldn't be able to see anything in a while. I hadn't walked too far, so I arrived back to the village rather fast. But, even though I saw nobody when I left, people were all over when I returned, but the place was still silent and they seemed busy. And some weird decoration was everywhere.
I saw an old man on his porch making one. “Good morning! What are you making there?” I asked. There was no reply, he didn't even look at me. I asked again and pointed at the thing. Maybe he can't understand me, I thought.
As I turned to leave, I heard him mumble some sort of prayer. I thought I shouldn't disturb him any longer and left. I walked out of the porch and started walking towards Claire's place. As I was walking through the village I noticed some beautiful gardens. But their plants... They seemed to move.
No, that's crazy, I thought. This place was starting to get to me. I gradually stepped up my pace and kept walking through the village feeling more and more discomfort. I found myself almost running taking a quick look behind my shoulder every 3 steps. My mind was getting cloudy, and some shivers were crawling up my spine. Something felt very wrong about that place, I couldn't put my finger on it. I noticed that I hadn't contacted anyone back home that I arrived here, so I checked my phone and, you guessed it, - no signal. I hear children voices coming from a distance and as I snap out of my thoughts I realize I am almost back at Claire's place. I am looking where the children chanting comes from and I head that way. There are three children hitting something in a cauldron with big wooden hammers. I step forward to see what's inside but the smell of it made me dizzy. They kept pounding and chanting a bizarre nursery song without even noticing me.
As I move forward to Claire's and look back, I find them all turned and staring at me. What the hell ! I found a payphone but it was out of order, so I keep going. I'm back in the house. Claire was in the kitchen preparing our lunch. I told her what I've seen and she burst into laughs. “ Don't be silly, child“ she said.” They were just preparing for our harvest festival and they are really into it. There are not a lot of things here for people to get involved with and they are eager to do it. Now be a dearie, and get this roast on the fire“. She pointed to the side room and handed me a tray with some kind of red meat.
As I walked towards the oven I noticed Claire's apron was stained at the bottom. Red stains. I wondered where she got the meat, I saw no butcher's place in the village. I reached the oven and grabbed the shovel to tide up the coals.
At that moment a shadow emerged from behind and was getting bigger and bigger covering the room and surrounding me, I swung the shovel but it did nothing. The shadow kept growing , I tried to shout but my voice felt stifled. The room now started getting smaller, smothering me while the shadow was devouring the place. I tried to go for the door, but my legs gave up on me and I soon faded into black.