--XIII--

I had gotten a few miles away from home quickly, only to realize that I didn't know what to do next. But when a crumpled piece of half-burnt parchment fell from my jacket pocket, I steered the truck to my destination as fast as I could.

You know where to go.

Route 61, The Sinclairs, Ashland-Centralia Border.

P.S. Watch out for the hole.

As I reached the main highway to Route 61, I heard them coming.

"Running but going nowhere," the voices chanted menacingly.

My hands were trembling. But I did my best to tune the voices out and concentrate on my driving.

The sky seemed to darken with ear-splitting thunder claps, along with the maddened chorus of cackles of the creatures that trailed after me. The hairs on the back of my neck prickled, goose-bumps appearing on my arms.

I cursed under my breath, flooring the pedal until the gauge reached over ninety. The engine rumbled dangerously. The road was slippery due to the afternoon downpour. Upon hearing the tires skidding against the pavement, I eased my foot on the pedal. The truck might not make it if I pushed it to its limits.

Because of the fog, the road was getting hazier by the minute. It wasn't just the fog. I must have lost too much blood because my vision was starting to get blurry. And as if things weren't bad enough, rain started to pour.

Let me correct that. The heavens started to empty its seething rage on me.

Again, the grating voices filled my ears like rusty knives being scraped against each other. "Rayne, Rayne don't run away. We'll come again another day!"

I didn't know what was more horrifying; the fact that I was being chased by evil spirits or their lame sense of humor. The voices seemed to be coming from under the ground.

My heart was pounding against my chest. I took one brave look at the rearview mirror, half-expecting to see something unearthly terrifying settled at the backseat. There was no one around; no one living at least.

I stepped on the gas pedal trying to fight the urge to shut my eyes and cover my ears. I needed both my hands on the wheel. Trembling and sweaty, they steered the car through the dark street leading to Ashland's border.

Blood curdling cackles reverberated from everywhere, loud and mocking as a dozen more hungry spirits hovered in pursuit of me. I ground my teeth, struggling to keep my concentration and not succumb to the urge to look back to whatever creatures they were that lurked in the cold darkness. Instead, my left hand fumbled into my jacket pocket for the small piece of paper with a haphazardly scribbled note from Vincent.

"C'mon Aramis Rayne! You can do this!" I gritted through my teeth as I squinted against the shadows cast by the gloomy-looking trees lining the road.

With difficulty, I tried to tune them out again, my eyes tearing with every ragged breath I struggled to take. Soon, I could already see the U-turn sign blocking the road to Centralia. It was a dead-end.

The road block read 'We apologize for the inconvenience. Please make a turn now'.

"Great! Just downright marvelous!" I screamed grudgingly.

I looked around panting, unable to see my surroundings clearly. With my hopes turning to dust, I slammed my hands on the steering wheel and did the turn, looking right and left for any sign of the Sinclair's house. But there was nothing. Just an empty road. All I could see were trees left and right, stretching into the woods.

Vincent could've at least made a map.

"Damn him!"

I slammed on the brakes when I saw a flicker of light somewhere in the woods to my right. Squinting, I stared at it for a while before starting the engines and driving as fast as I could, off the road toward the source of the light.

The potholed trail and the combined excitement made me bounce on my seat. But before I could even have my hopes up, my hands loosened on the wheel, twitching uncontrollably. A faint glow radiated from my fingertips traveling up to the rest of my body at a frightening rate.

It looked as if the road was splitting into two. And soon I could see a transparent version of myself separating from my body. Like my soul was trying to escape out of me.

"No!" I fought it and tried to take control with all my remaining willpower. But I had lost my gravity. Whatever force held my place on earth seemed to be crumbling.

Just a little more! I encouraged myself. A few more minutes and I would be there. And Vincent would fix me! Whether he likes it or not!

It was a miracle that I managed to keep intact for a little while longer. But then, a demented laughter filled the air. A pair of gnarly ashen hands materialized from outside the window of my Dad's pick-up truck. The hands easily passed through the glass panel and grabbed me on the shoulders. I writhed away from the hands, a horrified scream leaving my lips.

Arms slowly grew from the hands, followed by shoulders, a long twisted neck and eventually the face of a woman. She glided in the air, her long filthy hair billowing against the wind. My eyes widened in fear when she flashed a lopsided grin.

I stifled a cry, my whole body turning numb when I got a closer look of her face; it terrified me more. She looked a lot like me. We could have been sisters. Or twins.

Her bloodshot eyes were the color of mud. Her heart-shaped was face ashen and emaciated, her long straw-colored hair crusted with blood and dirt. The long flowing robes she wore might have been white once, but now it was brown and brittle with filth, like tentacles flailing against the wind. If she had feet under that robe, I couldn't be sure.

"Give it! It's mine!" she shrieked, trying to pull my hands off the wheel.

A shudder ran through my spine as she leaned closer to the glass. The stench of a rotting corpse wafted to my nose, urging me to gag.

Deliberately, I let the truck swerve left and right to shake her loose. But it didn't seem to work. I called upon the voice inside me, hoping that it would tell me what to do. But it stayed quiet, giving me a cold shoulder.

It was too late when I saw a huge fir tree in front of me.

I hit the trunk of the tree with a deafening crash.

The wind shield shattered into pieces.

I closed my eyes and shielded my face with my hands. My head hit the steering wheel so hard that I went blind for a few seconds. When I regained my bearings, I felt a huge bump on the side of my head and winced at the pain. Everything whirred around me, but I fought hard to keep conscious.

Once the wooziness had subsided, I looked around. The creature seemed to be gone. For now at least.

The hood was all scrunched up, black smoke puffing out from the busted engines. Weakly, I opened my eyes and kicked the truck's door open. The ground seemed to shake under my bare feet as I staggered my way to the source of the light.

It was getting brighter. I was getting closer.

An unnatural silence prevailed as I got deeper and deeper into the woods. The trees loomed over me like shadows. Autumn leaves seemed to dance around me despite the downpour.

I splashed through the waterlogged forest floor, barely even noticing that I was dripping wet. The torrent washed the blood from my sweater, the cold causing my body to shiver as I stuporously hobbled forward. Broken twigs and rough rocks pierced through the soles of my feet, making every step even more difficult.

Soon I could see the outline of the house. I took a couple of throttling breaths before having enough strength to run to it.

The house—no, the mansion was huge, almost castle-like, only without spires. The walls were made of large gray slabs of stone carved to a rustic finish. The windows were large enough to fit a small car.

In front of the mansion, to the leftmost area of the yard was an ancient-looking tree with lush apple-green leaves and crimson hair-like tendrils hanging from the branches. The tree's several massive trunks twisted around each other in elaborate weaves, adding to its majestic appearance.

I had seen willow trees before. But this one was the hugest I had seen so far. It was monstrous, about the height of a five-storey building and twice the branch-span. I must have been delusional because I was pretty much anticipating for the tree to come to life.

"V-vincent!" I rasped with renewed optimism. I was so sure I would be saved.

I waited there but no one seemed to have heard my voice.

Soon, I felt their eerie presence again. Several hovering figures circled over me, swooping every once in a while. But when the woman-creature hissed at them, they recoiled and hovered higher up in the air, perhaps in fear.

The cackling woman-creature swooped over my head, clawing on my hair.

Fortunately, I staggered and fell out of balance just in time before the woman's arms could reach me. I scrambled to my feet, wincing at the excruciating pain in my shoulder before stumbling my way to the enormous double doors. But by the time I was about to reach the steps of the porch, my feet slipped and I fell into some kind of huge gaping hole just underneath the willow tree.

With a little luck, I managed to grab onto a clump of red tendrils dangling from tree. I looked down, hanging on for dear life. I could just hope the tendrils were strong enough to carry my weight.

P.S. Watch out for the hole.

So that's what it meant! Ugh.

Clutching tighter, I tried to size up my situation. The hole must be a good twenty feet wide. When I looked down, I couldn't see the bottom. A rock fell from the edge of the pit and I listened for any sign that it had reached the floor.

There was nothing.

I started hyperventilating. The pit was bottomless.

Hurriedly, I swung forward, reaching for the edge of the hole as the creatures pounced on me.

Tears made their way to my eyes. I couldn't hold on any longer. My shoulder was excruciatingly painful it was starting to kill me. Blood seeped from my already drenched clothes. I couldn't think clearly, my vision blurring with every labored breath.

Swaying my legs as hard I could, I dangled forward and back like one would a swing, waiting until I was close enough to the threshold. Then I used my weight and the force to jump to the ground. The jump was a little too short after one of the creatures broke my momentum.

I was barely able to hold on to the crumbling edge of the hole.

Grunting, I dug my fingers deep into the dirt. My nails split and started to bleed but I didn't care. My shoulders were giving up on me. My hands were slipping. The wet ground was crumbling slowly.

"Vincent..." I could barely choke his name out of my throat.

Who knows what's in the bottom of this pit? Guess I'll find out when I get there.

As the soil where I clung to slowly collapsed, I closed my eyes, anticipating the free fall. But then, a hand tightened around my wrist, jolting me in mid-air. I lifted my gaze and saw his silver eyes looking back at me. A tear fell involuntarily from my left eye.

Was I dreaming?

The creatures still hovered around us but I could see them unable to pass through faint blue light emanating from his free hand. The blue light expanded until it created a vast dome enough to raze the evil creatures into smoke.

Some of them were quick enough to fly away and escape, disappearing into the night sky until I couldn't see them anymore. Most were not as lucky.

With one easy pull, he was able to lift me out of the pit and gently, he settled me on the grassy ground. Just being near him seemed to ease all the pain as though I was going to be okay, as though no one could harm me.

He walked past me and scanned the area. When he was satisfied that nothing more lurked in the darkness, he went back for me and helped me to my feet.

Lightheadedness overwhelmed me as I stood but I fought it to be able to see his face. I had the sudden urge to punch him. Sadly, I didn't have the energy even to lift a finger.

Vincent's eyes shifted uneasily to me then to the wide open massive double doors of the Sinclair Mansion. "What took you so long?" he asked, his gaze mellowing, almost as if he was smiling without moving his lips.

My brain stopped working for several seconds when our eyes met.

When I recovered from the daze, I took a few heavy staggering steps to Vincent, my fisted hand barely landing on his chest before it went limp and fell to my side. I let my head drop onto his shoulder, murmuring "I'm here," as I lost consciousness.

"Welcome home."