Dipped in Blood

The Dreams of Danger

I ran through the first row of trees and grabbed the little girl. I picked her swiftly from the ground before I looked at her as she stared right back. Our identical eyes meet, blue to blue. The similarities between us where endless except for the dust of freckles against her skin.

She rubbed a snow flake from her hair with a small hand, "Who are you?"

"Wendilin."

"I'm Eden."

"That's a beautiful name," I say, sending a smile to the little girl. She replied with a giggle.

"Your name is also beautiful," She struggles to pronounce some of the worlds which I found adorable. I turn around and walk back towards the park without looking up from little Eden. She had a small doll in the grasp of her hands that matched perfectly because of their identical dresses.

"Eden, that is such a pretty doll where did you get it from?" I say.

"I had it since I was born," I nod at her answer, suddenly realizing we weren't in the clearing yet. I glance up to see endless trees in front, I turn around to do a full revolution of the scene only to see we were surrounded by forest.

The park had disappeared.

***

"Wendilin, where are we?" I look at the girl in a motherly way as I clutched her hand. Our feet printed against the fresh snow as the trees above us blocked out the sky. I continued walking in the direction I assumed was the right way, hand-in-hand with the little girl.

"Wendy, why did my mom say I cannot go into the forest?"

"There is a legend that the townsfolk believe about it," I say, walking over a group of rocks.

"What is a les-send?"

I laugh at her pronunciation, "Legend," I drawl out looking at her in adoration.

"Leeeggend," She replies back causing me to smile and swing her around before placing her on my hip. Her expression was curious, "What is the legend?"

I frown, unsure of whether I should tell the story to little Eden, "They say that beings haunt the forest, beings of immaculate strength." Her eyes widen and dart around in fear.

I hug her softly, "But I think they just say that to scare us."

Eden tapped her fingers against my shoulder, "But Wendy, what if it's true?" I look at Eden with her eyes set on me. I could feel the degrees of temperature drop suddenly and a cold air blow across the forest floor. Goosebumps erupted up my arms as she stared into my soul with her big blue eyes.

***

The light we barely had was fading like a fire into the horizon and Eden was nearly asleep on my fatigue body. I walked aimlessly in the forest for a sign of shelter or cover in the silent woods. In five minutes I had wandered into a warp of trees, their branches forming a small covered area without an entrance. I ran my fingers against the trees to find a way into the thicket, discovering a hanging branch which was loose enough for a person to slip through. I pull us both through the opening, the middle conveniently had a bed of leaves for a single body to sleep on. I lay horizontally on the pile of leaves with Eden placed preciously in the contours of my figure. As I lay there, I thought about what Eden had said and frowned until I was plunged into another dark dream.

I stood cautiously outside a small house made of wooden logs. Its outside was barely visible in the snow that had recently fallen. I walked towards the door and slowly slid the door out of its position. The wood creaked teasingly as I stepped into a room of broken dolls, their heads smashed along with torn dresses and disembodied limbs that lay on the floor and along the forgotten shelves. I walked cautiously towards the door at the end of the room, my heart vibrating violently against my chest. The door creaked as the stench of expired meat flooded my senses which made me gag.

I let out a breadth, "Oh God..." In the room two bodies hung from ropes, their blood covered the floor and seeped onto my shoes. Cuts, bruises and gashes where lathered on their pasty skin while two pairs of dead eyes wandered across me. I felt chills erupt against my skin as a fourth presents entered the room and place themselves behind me. I turn around and stumble backwards towards the bodies in fear. A human sized doll stood at the door with its head tilted to the side in a mocking manner, with a knife in hand she let a sadist smile crawl onto her cracked porcelain face. She looked as if she had been put back together in a hurry but instead of glue there was blood used to mend her broken body.

She stepped forward onto the pool of human blood, "Wendilin, I'm coming for you," She lifted a knife from behind her back and stepped closer to me. I walked backwards only to be grabbed and turned around. In my face was one of the bodies, a girl, with its hands wrapped around my shoulders and eyes to mine. I screamed as the dead girl scraped her nails on my face.

My eyes flew open in fear. I let out fast breaths as my brain tried to register where I was, suddenly memory tumbled into my brain...girl....forest....Eden. I turn to look for Eden who was supposed to be by my side but wasn't anymore. I frantically clawed out of the shelter in fear for Eden and stumbled out with eyes darting for the small figure only to be faced with the scattered rays of the sunrise. I walked aimlessly, looking left and right for dear little Eden. Suddenly I felt a hand curl around my shoulder and cover my mouth.