Chapter 4

Chapter 4

A Chapter by Cheshire

         After they were gone, Kat could feel the tingling in her skin going away, but her hand was still feeling hot. In fact, the heat was starting to creep into her wrist, and she glanced at it for a second before shrugging and standing up. Brushing herself lightly, she knocked the snow from her little body and shook her head, the snow on her fur hood sliding off as well. Climbing out of the bushes, she was unsure of what to do now. While she dreaded going home, she didn't want to leave Maddie's present out here either. Every time she had gone out into the woods she had been sternly warned about The Gate, and the consequences of crossing it, and she had heard plenty of horror stories about what might live beyond it. Staring at the dilapidated fence in front of her, she wondered if any of the bogeymen or ghosts would care if she just went over really quickly to grab her present and came back.

     "Mr. Bogeyman? Mr. Ghost?" Kat called out quietly in the dark beyond the fence. The Gate loomed just past the fence, its rotting wood making no sound as her voice echoed off of them. Nothing answered her, and she hoped they weren't waiting for her on the other side. "I'm coming over to grab my sister's present real fast, I'm sorry to disturb you, I won't be long!" she called out quietly, inching up to the fence.

     Everything was quiet, even the forest behind her, as if the entire world was holding its breathe, awaiting her next action. Climbing between the fence boards, she put one leg out, but before she touched it down on the ground she froze, her foot hovering over the ground on the other side. Her eyes darted around the rocky area beyond the fence, wondering if what she was doing was really the right thing, when she spotted colorful wrapping on the far side of the clearing. She immediately lost all doubt, and put her foot down, expecting some kind of alarm or something to go off. All was quiet though,  and the noise of the wind and forest began to gradually pick back up, nature resuming its normal course.  Kat was a little disappointed, but grateful at the same time. Perhaps there was not as much to the stories as she had been taught. Feeling silly, Kat continued through the fence and darted towards the small package, her adrenaline rushing at the thought of treading forbidden ground.

     Unfortunately, her young legs couldn't keep up with her mind over the rough, rocky ground, as they were already tired from sitting in the snow and  getting scraped up earlier. Tripping on a stone on the ground, she cried out as she fell for the second time that day, her hand reaching for the gift on the ground. She only succeeded in knocking it farther away, much to her dismay, and it flew into the darkness, clattering as it fell into a small hole in the side of the mountain barely large enough for a person to fit through. If it wasn't for the present, she wouldn't have even notice the hole, since a large boulder sat nearly right in front of it, but not quite flush against the rock. The entrance was more like a crack on the side of the rock, practically hidden as it cut back into the mountain. Uneasiness crept up Kat's spine, and she glanced worriedly back towards the fence, wondering if she should continue or not. After several minutes of contemplation, she began to talk towards the fence to head home and face the wrath of her parents when the sound of crunching feet sounded on the trail at the other side of the fence. Horrified at what would happen if she was caught here, she scurried into the crack without another thought, gasping as she tumbled forward down a long, sandy ramp, the world spinning around her roughly and she rolled downwards into the darkness. The descent ended abruptly with a sharp stinging sensation on her temple, and blackness darker than the darkness around her descended over her vision.

     Eventually her eyes fluttered open, but Kat could see nothing, and had no idea how much time had passed. Fear gripped her stomach as she thought about what would happen to her when she came home so late and she floundered around on the ground, trying to find something to ease her disorientation. Her hand brushed along something papery, and she clutched at it, knowing what it was even though she couldn't see it. Her gift from Maddie. Scared and lonely, her body aching from the tumble down into the darkness, she stumbled forward until her shoulder brushed against rock. She was starting to feel feverish, the heat in her hand becoming almost unbearable as she reached out to trail it along the wall. Her good hand gripped the tiny box, and she knew that if she dropped it now, it would likely be gone forever in the darkness. Likely because of the fever, her mind never registered the fact that she was heading down instead of up, when she had rolled down a ramp into the tunnel in the first place. All Kat could focus on was putting one foot in front of the other, and keeping a hold of the one thing in her life that mattered right now.



© 2013 Cheshire


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Added on January 17, 2013
Last Updated on January 18, 2013


Author

Cheshire
Cheshire

Merritt Island, FL



About
Feel free to review my stories as harshly as you like. I'll be working on it more as I go, thanks for visiting. After a bit of a break, I'm back! My current focus has shifted from The Forbidden Mel.. more..

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Chapter 1 Chapter 1

A Chapter by Cheshire