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In the End, It Won’t Matter

Life gets to us sometimes. How I long for it now.

By Victoria BabbPublished 3 years ago 9 min read
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She needed to get away. Her relationship was in shambles, they were financially in ruins, she had lost her job, and the stress just became too much. She jumped in the car and drove. She wasn’t quite sure where she would end up, but she knew she needed to get some distance between her and her life as she knew it. A simple drive turned into 4 hours, and she found herself surrounded by mountains and forests. It was beautiful, but it was getting late, and she needed to find a place to stop and rest. After looking around the area, she found a small area where they rent cabins, and booked one for the night. She felt a little relief as she closed the cabin door behind her and dropped her bag. Maybe a bath would help the aches in her muscles from the long drive. She turned on the water, lit a few candles she had found in the cabinets, then stepped into the hot bath and let the steaming water overcome her tension. She began nodding off, when she jumped and woke herself. She thought she had heard something. Did she? Or was it just her fatigued mind playing games with her? She finished in her bath, dried herself off, and got dressed for bed. She stepped towards the small bathroom window, with the last lit candle on the edge. Peering into the darkness outside, unable to see much in the dark trees other than the bit of moonlight coming through the branches. She heaved a sigh of relief, blew out the candle, and went to bed. Three in the morning came, and she found herself awoken again. This must be the stress, right? She sat up in bed, looking towards the wall in front of her. There was a tall mirror mounted there. She stared at herself for a minute, with the little bit of moonlight coming through the window, allowing her to see just enough of her eyes to look into her broken soul. Wait. What is that? She swore she saw something in the mirror at the foot of the bed. Staring closely, she continued examining the reflection. No, the dark must be playing games. More sleep should help. She shook it off, covered up, and went back to sleep. When she awoke in the morning, she dressed herself, made a pot of coffee, and took this moment to walk through the cabin and see more in depth what it had to offer. She walked by the windows, examining the marvelous view they offered. She made her way through the kitchen, living room, hall, then the bedroom. She went back to the foot of the bed that had played games with her the night before. How silly she felt, as she was about to step away, she noticed the skirt of the bed was lifted some in the left corner. She knelt down, lifting the fabric, to see a small hatch in the floorboards. That can’t be too important, right? It’s probably the basement, and she wasn’t too interested in fighting her way through spiderwebs and dust. She headed back to the kitchen and began making breakfast. She spent most of the morning sitting at the kitchen table, losing herself in her thoughts. Imagining how things could be, remembering how they really are, and trying to figure out how she can fix the reality she lives in. It was now one in the afternoon. Had she really spent the first 5 hours of the morning in her thoughts? She was startled back to reality with a loud bang. She began to investigate, walking back through the house. She approached the bedroom once again, and as she approached the bed, she thought of the hatch. She slowly leaned down to look underneath the bed. As the small door came back into her view, there it was again. Bang! Moving the hatch door. She bolted out of the room, went onto the front porch, slamming the door behind her. She immediately pulled out her cellphone and called the place in charge of cabin rentals, and they said they would send someone to come check the house for her. She remained on the porch, looking through the trees, watching for anything that may stand out. She absolutely wasn’t going back inside the house until someone showed up. Every little sound had her jumping. She heard some sticks crack in the tree line to the left of the porch. Refusing to break eye contact from that spot, she thought she saw something. Is that? No... maybe an animal? What else could it be? Just as she started to examine the figure she swear she saw, a truck pulled up into the drive. She looked away for a second to see the vehicle, but when she looked back, she couldn’t see anything in the trees. A man stepped out of the truck, and introduced himself and an employee for the rental company. She showed him to the bedroom, pointing to the bed, and explaining the door underneath. The employee moved the bed to the side, found the door, and opened it. He took a flashlight off of his belt, shining it into the hole. She rose onto her toes, and leaned over his shoulder a bit, trying to get a glimpse of what was inside the opening. She saw the webs, and a dirt covered wall, but nothing past that. Just darkness. The employee stepped onto the dusty, creaking steps leading down into the creepy space. She watched him lower himself into the cellar, and disappear for a minute or two. She couldn’t see anything except the occasional flash of his light. After what seemed like an eternity, he arose from the opening, dusting himself off. He explained to her that he didn’t see anything, but that there was a small opening to the outdoors, so she most likely heard a forest animal who found its way into the cellar, looking for food or shelter. She sighed, and acknowledged this possibility with a little bit of embarrassment for overreacting. She walked the employee back to the porch, thanked him for his time, and watched as he climbed back onto his truck and left the premises. She stood on the porch a moment, looking back towards the trees where she swear she had seen something a bit before. Brushing it off, and shaking her head, she entered the cabin once again. She decided to pick a movie from the offered collection, and relax a bit. The sun began to go down, and she decided it was a good time to make dinner. She hadn’t even realized until now, but she was too worked up during the day, she forgot to make lunch. She warmed a can of soup she had with her, and sat down to breathe a little, and finish her meal. When she finished, she debated taking another bath, but her mind was so exhausted still, she didn’t think she had the energy to put into it. She chose to get ready for bed and read a book for a while, until sleep came over her. A few chapters in, and she noticed her eyes closing on themselves. She put the book down, went to turn off the small lamp on the side table by the bed, and curled up back under the covers. She woke once again, with this very odd feeling. Like she was being watched. She turned in bed and stretched, when she noticed what looked like a figure in the corner, at the end of her bed by the mirror. Oh my god. She froze. This can’t be real. The figure and her maintained what she could only assume was eye contact. She couldn’t see eyes. Only the shape. She just stared into the abyss where the eyes should be. She finally forced a shaken breath, when the figure lurched toward her. She screamed, covering herself, kicking her legs up. The being grabbed her ankle, jerking her onto the floor. She screamed and clawed to get away. Sheer panic came over her, as the entity pushed the bed to the side, threw the hatch door open, and began to bring her into the dark cellar, dragging her by her flailing legs. She felt the pain on her ribs and head, as she hit each filthy step down into the terrifying hole. Wiping the blood from her scraped forehead, and tried to look around her for anything to help. A stick, a tool, and chair, anything she could use?? She began to grasp into the darkness, hoping for help. She saw them approaching a small opening, leading into the moonlit outdoors. The figure climbed through, pulling her with it. She continued to fight and yell for help, as it quickly pulled her through the small yard, into the trees next to the home. This can’t be happening. This can’t be real! She no longer felt the rocks and twigs she was being dragged against. She couldn’t feel anything but fear at this point. She pleaded with the figure, what could she be good for? She was nobody, she had nothing. Please! They entered a small opening in the trees, where a fire was lit. There was a small hut, with logs aligning the side. The fire was strong. She heard it crackling as she was pulled closer, further into this nightmare. As they approached, her hand caught a fist sized stone. With both of her hands, she launched it directly into the being’s upper body. It released her its grasp on her ankles, stumbling over. She shot straight up and darted into the trees once again. She ran straight through the brush and thick. She didn’t stop, no matter what she felt, or what she ran into. She made it to the cabin, and to the front door. It was locked from when she had slept. She looked all around her, her surroundings blurring together in the fear and panic. She picked up a chair that was sitting on the porch, and threw it through the front window. Climbing in, falling over the glass, she ran the the kitchen counter, grabbed her keys and phone, and threw the front door open. She looked around as she ran directly towards her car. Frantically trying to open the door. There. She got it open, jumped behind the wheel, put the key in the ignition, and as she was about to turn it, a sharp pain hit the side of her head, and everything went black. What seemed like hours, must have been minutes of darkness. She finally opened her eyes. She looked up, and saw a puddle of blood glistening in the moonlight above her. Her consciousness drifting in and out, she tried to make sense of where she was. Her head was aching, full of pressure. She looked around a bit more, realizing she was hanging from a tree, he legs tied to a thick, low hanging branch. Arms tied to her sides, all she could do was watch the blood slowly drip from her face, into the dirt beneath her. All she wanted was to get away. To escape the life she stressed so much over. Just for a little while. Hearing footsteps behind her, she closed her eyes, took a deep breath, hearing a swift swish behind her, she released the breath, along with all of her other fears. Finally, it was over. The aches, the pains, the loathing of her current life situation. How insignificant it all seemed. She didn’t have to worry, ever again.

psychological
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