Finding it

       I can feel the uneven stones beneath my feet as I walk wearily up the path to the house. No one has walked this path for many years and I never thought that I would either. All I can hear is the blood pounding behind my ears and the beat of my heart in my chest; everything else is blocked. Someone could be right behind me and I would never know. My eyes never leave the front of the old, abandoned house. It stands tall and black against the night sky, it’s ancient stones look like they could give way any minute; they have been worn away by the rain, that pours down now and clings softly to my face. In the windows the lace curtains are torn and are now a dusty cream. I see no light, no streetlights. The only light I have to comfort me is the moon, and even that is terrifying in its own way. There are roof tiles missing and the trees have overgrown so much that they are now linking above my head to form a long dark tunnel; a tunnel that I am traveling on. I do not think to stop and turn around; they have something of mine and I want it back.
With every step I can feel and hear my heart beating louder. All around me, out of the corner of my eyes, I can see black silhouettes against the trees moving quickly, too quickly. It must be my imagination running away. But then I see a black shadow moving towards me, I have no time to think before it goes straight through me and I feel cold. My hair blows out of control and my jacket opens where I have left the zip undone. My hands wrap around my body to try to keep me warm. I am scared of what went through me. But instead of turning and running away like a normal person I quicken my pace. I try to keep my focus on the front of the house as I stride down the long tunnel, but I can’t keep my eyes from wandering. All around me I see black shadows moving with me. I change my pace so that I am now sprinting.
Soon I am at the steps to the house. The tunnel has stopped. As I place my right foot on the first step I hear it. It is hard to miss, so loud but yet so quiet. It whispers my name that is carried along a breeze from behind me that ruffles my hair. I feel a shiver of pure terror that makes its way from the small of my back to the top of my neck. Slowly I turn and what I see makes me freeze in terror.
Along the black tunnel I can see shapes gliding in and out between the trees. They move so fast that they are hard to see. But it isn’t hard to tell that they are coming to get me. The closest one to me, which is about forty feet away, stops to look at me. Her face makes my eyes bulge. The eyes are so white and in the middle around the irises they are red followed by a huge black dot. She opens her mouth and screams at me, the sound of her voice making me flinch. Her white pointed teeth clamp down as she threatens me. Her white wispy hair, which looks silver in the moonlight, catches in a slight breeze and she screams again. But this time the scream is not heard the first time. But it gets louder as it is carried on the breeze and when it hits me I feel like my ears are going to burst. Filled with fear I turn and run up the steps to the house, and then I hear more screams and more people whispering my name, calling me to them, “Elina.” As I reach the door I do not hesitate to push down on the handle. It swings open. It is pitch black inside; I do not know what lies ahead but it must be better than what follows behind me. I quickly enter and slam the door shut.
I press my back up against the ancient door. I look around me and I see nothing, only darkness that has swallowed me in whole. I see no light, not even the light from the moon; I see no outline of the furniture as my eyes try to adjust. Then the door begins to thump loudly under my back. They are trying to break in. From behind the door I can hear their screams; anger fills their voices as they threaten to burst my eardrums. I have to cover my ears with my hands to stop them from driving me mad. But as the seconds pass I can hear their whispers in my head.
“Help us Elina.”
“Let us in.”
“We can get it back for you.”
But I know that they are lying. I quickly turn and push down a lock. Then I run. I do not know where I am going in the darkened room. I could be running around in circles for all I knew. As I run I trip over furniture that I do not know is there. There screeches are even louder now that my ears are not covered. I do not find comfort in the darkness for I do not know what is around me or who is around me.
Suddenly I run straight into something hard. I let out a pant of breath as I am stopped; I am frozen in place by whatever it is that I am touching. My hands ball into fists and my arms and legs go numb. All I can hear is the sound of my heavy breathing and the beat of my heart; I am sure that whatever it is that I am touching can hear them to and know how scared I am. It seems like minutes have passed before I feel strong arms wind around my body and pull me from where I stand frozen. My hands push weakly at the chest of whatever it is that is taking me away. I am getting nowhere and the arm hold me even tighter than before. I can hear it whispering in my ear telling me to be quiet. The strong arms still hold onto my body. Eventually I give up fighting and I let myself be dragged away. We stop, one hand is released from my waist but the other still holds on tightly; I hear the click of a lock and the creak of a door swinging open. No light enters so I know that it is dark in the other room. The hand around my waist swings me around and pulls me against its chest. Again I hear my heart quicken. Then a light is switched on.
With both hands I use all of my strength to push away from the strong grip. To my surprise the hands let me go easily. I stagger back a few steps and then stop to observe the person standing in front of me.
He is around six foot tall, much bigger compared to my five foot six. His honey blonde hair is spiked up into a unique style that only he could wear. He wears jeans that are torn and a white t-shirt that clings to his body perfectly to show off his muscles. The face I recognize only too well. It had strong cheekbones, full lips that were turned down in worry; those brilliant blue eyes that were the color of the sky on a summer’s day. He didn’t have anything wrong with him; he was beautiful in every way possible. It must be one of the most handsome faces that there has ever been. No man could compare to him.
“Oh my god,” I breath as soon as I recognize the face. How could I not, I have spent so much time with him that I could not forget him. I throw myself into his chest and I wrap my arms around his neck. His arms accept me as they wind around my waist so, gently as he breathes a sigh of relief. I can feel his head resting against my hair. I tighten my hold around his neck to pull me closer to him; I have missed this contact and I have never felt so safe in my life, standing here in his arms. I have forgotten all the terror that just happened. We are like two jigsaw pieces. Our bodies fit perfectly against each other like moulds. I can feel the heat radiating off his body and I can hear the beat of his heart beneath my ear. His hold is equally as strong as mine; I pull my face away from his chest to look at him and bring my arms from around his neck to rest my hands on his chest.
“You don’t know how glad I am to see you Jake. I was so scared,” I sighed. He smiled slightly.
“I knew where you would be,” his smile disappeared. “But why did you come here when I told you not to come? It’s too dangerous for you to be alone, don’t you know what could have happened to you?” he asked as we went to sit on one of the sofas.
“I…I don’t know why. I guess I had to try. I couldn’t just sit back and do nothing,” I replied as the tears welled in my eyes. Jake took both of my hands into his and looked deeply into my eyes.
“I knew you would do it, you are so predictable,” he laughed. “If you had just asked I would have been happy to help you. But what do we do know? Were stuck in this house with no way out; everywhere is guarded by those things,” explained Jake.
“I think our only option is that we have to find it and then to get out we’ll have to fight them. We can’t stay here forever. If something happens to one of us then the other has to go on,” I sobbed as the tears overflowed. Jake pulled me up onto my feet with him and he wrapped his strong arms around me and quickly pulled me against his chest as I burst into hysterics. I knew that this might happen, but I’m not ready to say goodbye to him yet, it’s too soon. My hands instinctively went up and around his neck. Whenever he touched me like this it sent little waves of electricity through my body.
“I promised you that I would always be there for you when you needed me, so I will keep that promise forever. I don’t want anything to hurt you, you are part of me and losing you is like losing me. I will keep that promise because I love you,” whispered Jake as his fingers traced my lips, my cheekbones and the contours of my face.
“I love you too but I don’t want to lose you either,” I whispered back. The hand that was tracing face went under my chin and pulled my face slowly to his. As the space between are faces closed my breathing slowed. Our faces were now an inch away from each other. I could smell his sweet breath brushing over my face; and my eyes closed in contentment. My arms pulled my lips to his and so we began the kiss.
My left hand tangled in his hair as my right hand rested on his chest. My body felt hot against his and his hand that was touching my face went back to wind around my waist. I could feel his hot breath waft over my face as he pulled away to breath and as he did so he called my name. I could feel his breath in my mouth and the way his hands rested on my waist; they felt like feathers so light. My hands touched his face as one of his tangled in my hair. My lips pulled away from his and we looked deeply into each others eyes. We are standing in each others arms and we breathe heavily as we try to catch our breath. I was the first to speak.
“You know what we have to do now?” My eyes look all over his face and then to his eyes. They are sad for he knows what might await us.
“We have to find it and I can’t lose you to them,” Jake murmured as his lips lingered on mine. My mouth accepted his kiss and my hands tangled in his hair. I would never forget this kiss as it may be our last. But love is strong, stronger then any curse or any monster. I could feel the sadness radiating off him. He must be thinking the same as me. I love him and he loves me; that should be enough to keep us alive.
“Jake,” I whisper as my lips brush his. My mouth pulls slowly away from his and I open my eyes to see him looking at me. I take a few steps back and grab hold of one of his hands. “Let’s go now before they find us.” As I begin to walk I feel him pull on my hand and press my lips against his. It was a short kiss but it meant everything to both of us. I stayed at his side as we ran into the darkness to await our fate…