Part I: The Girls

Jaden squinted his eyes, but all he could see was a curtain of rain. It drummed hard against the windshield and the roof of the car, drowning out the radio. Everything was dark. The heavy clouds above blanketed the sky, shutting out any evening light. 

"I can't see a thing."

Alis stared out the right window, arms crossed over her chest. She made no sign that she heard him. He stole a glance at her and sighed. Her face was still set in a scowl. She had been sulking all day.

"Uh, Alis. I think we should stop. I don't want us getting into - "

"What? You don't want to crash another car?" she interrupted.

Jaden decided to ignore the comment. He knew that replying would just fuel another argument.

He stopped the car when his headlights shined upon a sign. It lead down an exit. 20 km to Crown Lake Hotel.

"Awesome. We'll just stay at this inn for tonight," he said. He smiled in relief. He couldn't wait to get out of the car. Being confined in such a small space with Alis' foul mood wasn't exactly pleasant.

He turned off the main road and up the exit. It winded through wooded hills for a long while. The dusk darkness began washing over the clouded sky. It made it even more impossible to see ahead. Jaden was getting fed up of squinting through the rain.

Eventually, the path forked left and right. No signs indicated which way to go.

"That's weird." He stopped the car and leaned back in his seat, rubbing tired eyes. "Left or right, Alis?"

"You want me to pick?"

"Yeah. If you don't mind. I've been driving since this morning and I'm exhausted. It's... really draining being around you when your like this," he said. The words just spilled from his mouth before he had the chance to stop himself.

"Oh, and why am I in such a terrible mood, Jaden? I wonder," Alis said, straightening in her seat and fixing angry eyes at him.

Jaden groaned.

"I said I'm sorry about twelve times since last night. It was an accident, Alis."

"Accident? Getting drunk is not an accident!" she yelled. Alis looked ready to pounce out of her seat to attack him.

"It's just... yesterday was a really stressful day," Jaden replied. It was a terrible excuse and he knew it.

She glared at him.

"The fact that you got piss drunk again isn't what I'm most mad about! Why didn't you call a taxi?"

"I know. I know you're right. But the car would have gotten towed," Jaden added. Terrible excuse once again. Why did he bother replying?

Alis' eyes fixed him like daggers.

"I'm pregnant, Jaden. In case you forgot. I need you to grow up. You could have died!"

"I'll buy you a new car. Anything you want. I won't do it again. And... I'll stop drinking, Alis."

She scoffed at that.

"Sure, you will. Just drive. And you pick," Alis retorted, turning her back to him and staring back out her window.

"Fine. We're going left." He pressed his foot on the gas and turned down the left path.

It winded down a long while, minutes passing by in awkward, tense silence. As he drove onward, the forest started to close in around the car. The path got narrower. Tall, gnarly branches on either side reached across the road to form a sort of roof above them.

Suddenly, Jaden slammed on the breaks. Some girl ran right in front of the car, disappearing into the forest to their left. He had come way too close to hitting her.

"What the - Did you see that?"

Alis was sitting forward, staring out at the empty road. "It... looked like a girl in a white nightgown."

"Yeah. That's what I thought I saw too... Weird."

He shrugged and drove forward. Not long afterwards, they reached another crossroad. Still no sign indicating the direction of the hotel.

"Great. Uhh, should we just double back and try the right path?" Jaden asked.

"Wait, we just passed a sign on my right," Alis said. "Back up."

Jaden did so. The sign read: Aricalpa, Pop. 200

It pointed down a narrow forest trail. Distant lights shined beyond the trees. The car couldn't drive through it though. Besides being too narrow, the trail dipped down abruptly. The wheels would slip on the muddy ground and he'd crash a second car into a tree.

"Alright. Um. I'll go see if they know where the hotel is or... if they have an inn or something. Though I doubt it."

"I'm staying here," Alis said. "Just... hurry up, okay? For some reason, this area is spooking me out."

"Sure thing. I don't think the village is that far down. I should be back within an hour. Tops. I've got my cell if you need to call."

Alis nodded.

"Alright. See ya in a bit," he said, getting out of the car. It was still raining buckets. It took barely a minute for Jaden's clothes to be drenched. His converse shoes squished uncomfortably in the muddy ground.

He made his way down the trail, shining a flashlight ahead of him. He tread carefully on the muddy ground, not wanting to fall on his ass. A chilly, autumn breeze rushed through the trees, making his soaked body shiver.

He arrived at another crossroad. Luckily, this one had signs. One sign pointed an arrow left towards Aricalpo. The other one pointed an arrow to the right. The second sign read: Miller Family Cottage. Underneath, someone had carved the words: KEEP OUT.

Jaden shrugged and decided to take a right. There was a light down there which must have come from the cottage. He wasn't about to take the pitch black trail to the village if there was a lit house closer by. He didn't love the rain that much.

As Jaden walked further down the path, he started hearing strange sounds. It sounded like children's laughter. He turned the flashlight to peer into the dark forest. The light revealed silhouettes running between the trees. Two silhouettes.

Two girls in... white nightgowns? One of them must have been the girl that ran in front of our car! What kind of parents are letting their kids run around in the pitch dark and pouring rain? And in nightgowns? It's freezing outhere.

He decided to ignore their laughter and the sound of their footsteps. He was too tired to care.

The path dipped down some more, finally revealing a white cottage house at the bottom. A single outdoor light shined on a front patio. There was a rusted jeep parked in front with its windows all smashed up.

As he approached the cottage, he saw one of the girl's run inside and slam the front door. Jaden raised an eyebrow. He walked up the front porch and knocked. He could hear the girls still giggling in there. The door didn't open.

He knocked again, a little louder this time. There was no doubt that the girls had heard him. They began giggling again. He imagined that they found it funny that he was standing outside in the cold. He gritted his teeth in impatience.

"Hello?" he shouted, knocking a third time. Again with the giggles.

Jaden knocked a fourth time.

"Hellooooo! I'm sorry to disturb you! It's just that my wife and I, we're lost," he shouted. "We just want some directions. Please."

He heard knocking on the other side of the door. Then the voice of one of the girl's said, "Hello?" This was apparently very funny because they both giggled some more.

"Uh, are your parents home? Please, could you get your parents?" Jaden shouted. He felt somewhat tempted to just kick that damn door in. These girls were brats.

"Uh, are your parents home?" one of the girl's mimicked from the other side of the door. More damn laughter.

"Alright! Fine. Thanks for nothing," Jaden shouted. Great. He was going to have to go to the village after all. What a waste of time.

He climbed back up the path while texting his wife.

"First house are jerks. Going to knock somewhere - "

Jaden felt someone tug hard on his right leg. He fell forward, dropping his cell, his clothes now soaked with mud.

"That's not funny!" he yelled. "You brats!"

He glanced back at the cottage, expecting to see at least one of them run back inside. What he saw instead made him stumble backwards in fright.

In front of the cottage, the two girls were hanging from a tree, a noose around their necks. Their bodies were limp, swaying slowly in the wind.

Part II: The Cottage

Jaden couldn't understand what he was seeing. It wasn't the same cottage. There was no outdoor light. The front door was hanging on one hinge and the windows were all boarded up. The patio was full of missing and broken planks.

It took him a long while before he got back on his feet. He rubbed his eyes, hoping that this was just some crazy hallucination. He was exhausted, after all.

Exhaustion could cause this, right? he hoped.

When he opened his eyes once again, the girls were still there. They dangled by their necks in their soaked nightgowns, their long hair covering their faces.

Jaden searched the ground for his cell with muddy hands, but it was nowhere to be found. He shined his light all around him, even checking behind nearby trees. His heart was starting to race at a nauseating pace. He had a gut feeling that his cell would be closer to the cottage.

His whole being seemed to protest, screaming for him to turn around and just run away. To just forget about the cell. But if he left it behind...he'd be cut off from Alis. That seemed even more frightening to him than the girls' corpses.

With a pounding heart, he walked back down towards the cottage, shining his light everywhere. He finally spotted it. It was lying on the patio, just in front of the door. Jaden had to force his legs forward. The fear was paralyzing, making it difficult to think straight. Taking a deep breath, he walked over to his cell and grabbed it.

First house are jerks. Going to knock somewhere else. Sorry about the delay.

This time the text was sent, relief washing over him. He half expected that there would be no connection. Courtesy of a lifetime of watching horror flicks.

Then, without a second glance at the house or the tree, he walked up the path once more. He was anxious to get to the crossroad. He hoped that he'd arrive there before the girls' spirits played more tricks on him.

A minute later, Jaden suddenly stopped in his tracks. His face turned pale in horror. In front of his eyes stood the cottage once more. This time, there were no corpses on the tree. It was again the same cottage he had first visited, with the light shining on the front patio.

You've got to be kidding me! What the hell?

His limbs were shaking now, panic washing over him and making him dizzy. Unsure what else to do, he turned around and walked back the other way. He wasn't a religious guy, but he was praying now. He begged God that the crossroads would somehow be back down there.

Not long afterwards, the cottage was back in view. The twins were in the tree.

He swore, terror seizing him, making it hard to breathe. He stumbled backwards, his mouth agape as he stared ahead with wide eyes.

This can't be happening! How is this possible?

Collapsing on the ground, he texted Alis again with shaking hands. It made it hard to type.

Alis sorry. i'm lost. Really lost. Double back and take right path. Hotel must be there. I'll join you as soon as possible. Will find a lift from a villager.

Sent. He had a gnawing feeling that he'd be stuck in this cursed forest forever.

If at least Alis could get out of here and be safe!

He sat there in the mud, head in his hands. He tried to calm his breathing and slow his pounding heart. He felt so ill.

What was he supposed to do?

Whatever paranormal activity was happening here, Jaden suddenly realized one thing: The girls wanted him to go back to the cottage. He closed his eyes, trying to muster the courage. Maybe, just maybe, if he could figure out what it was they wanted, they'd let him go.

New Message.

Shit! I don't like this, Jaden. That girl appeared at my window a second ago! This place is freaking me out. I don't want to leave you here!

Jaden groaned in frustration.

Alis! Please! Just leave! I'm begging you, he texted back.

No connection. Message not sent.

"No, no, no!" he yelled in panic. He tried holding up his cell phone as high as he could, desperate for a signal to return. Nothing.

"Fucking hell!" he cried.

"Alright! Alright. I get it! I'm going to the cottage now," Jaden yelled aloud.

He bit his lip as he went back down the path, towards the cottage with the broken door and hanging twins.

Once at the patio, he lifted his eyes to the two corpses in the tree. One of them opened her eyes.

He backed away, startled. He could hear giggling, though the corpse remained immobile and her eyes had closed back.

He walked up the patio and pushed the front door open. The stench was beyond nauseating. He bent over and hurled.

Jaden shined his light inside, covering his nose with one arm. The place was covered in debris from the caved-in roof. He was inside the living room where there were two couches. On both were propped decomposing corpses covered in buzzing flies.

"Oh God.." he whispered, his breath coming out in rapid, short gasps. His heart was drumming rapidly, pounding like a fist against his chest.

The bodies are fresh. Fresh! Were they lost like me? he wondered in terror.

Jaden somehow found the courage to walk further in, entering the room to the right. It was the kitchen. In the middle was a rectangular dining table with eight seats. Seven of them were occupied by more corpses in various states of decomposition. Two of them were nothing but clothed skeletons.

Jaden nearly dropped the flashlight. One of the girls was on the table, crouching in front of one corpse. Her long, drenched hair fell over her face. Her hands were caked with dirt and her bare feet covered in fresh mud. She had a spoon in her hand.

"Eat, eat," she whispered, the spoon tapping against the corpse's teeth. He watched, paralyzed by fear, until the girl twisted her head to glance at him. Big eyes stared at him with a creepy grin.

Jaden backed off in terror, foot banging against a pot on the floor. The metallic sound seemed deafening in the kitchen's eerie silence.

The girl had turned her body towards him and leaped off the table. He ran in terror out of the room, back to the entrance. Just as he was about to exit the cottage, the broken door banged hard against his face. He heard his nose crunch.

The door had now somehow fixed itself, looking brand new, the hinges back in place. He grabbed the knob and twisted it frantically. The door didn't bunch. Jaden then kicked at it as hard as he could. Still wouldn't budge. He could hear giggling now.

Turning his head back towards the kitchen, the two girls stood holding hands. There was a creepy innocence to their giggles. It was as if this was more than a harmless, well-executed prank.

Jaden sprinted towards the back door, just meters away. The girls chased after him. The door opened easily, making him chuckle in relief. But just as he took a step outside, one of the girls pounced, tackling him to the ground. He shoved her off of him and stood, rushing back towards the open door.

The other girl snarled and jumped on his back, dirty fingernails sinking into his neck.

"Aaah! Get off! Get off, you demon!" he screamed.

Her grip tightened around his neck, constricting his breathing. He tried banging her hard against the wall, but she only giggled. Her long fingernails pressed deeper into his skin.

Her sister then pounced on his chest, growling. Jaden couldn't stop screaming. One girl's toenails dug into his lower back as the other one's bore into his sides.

"What do you girls want ?!" he cried out. But Jaden knew exactly what they wanted. They wanted to keep him.

A set of teeth bit hard at his nape, ripping off a chunk of flesh. Other teeth bit into his right cheek, tearing another chunk from his face. The girl on his back jumped off as Jaden fell backwards with a thud. His head banged hard against a side table. His screams stopped.

His body lay on the floor, a pool of blood oozing from his head.

Together, the two girls dragged him slowly back to the kitchen. The cottage was silent except for the sound of the body's friction against the wooden floor. With more force than two girls should have, they lifted the body. Jaden was propped up on the eighth and empty chair.

***

Alis hadn't done as Jaden had asked. Instead she still sat in the car, waiting anxiously. Four hours later, there was still no sign of him. He hadn't replied to any of her recent texts.

She was worried about him. There was an evil surrounding this place. She could feel it in her bones.

She cursed and opened the glove compartment, taking out a flashlight. The rain was still pouring, but Alis didn't care. She took a deep breath, her heart pounding, .

Getting out of the car, Alis stepped out onto the path. She shined the light ahead of her, eyes squinting in the darkness.

I'll find my husband if it's the last thing I do.