Page 35 of Ring Around the Rosie

The wind picked up, and my body shivered from the cool summer breeze, only it carried something else with it.

What is that?

I sat up on my knees and listened closely.

Voices. I hear voices!

I quickly jumped to my feet and moved in the directions of the faint sounds. Soon, I noticed an overwhelmingly large redwood tree ahead. It was ashen and bigger than any tree I’d ever seen before. It looked… ancient.

Wait—My eyes widened.I know this tree! It’s the one that grew from within that weird cave. But, those voices I hear… Are they coming from the same place?I stepped closer and the volumes of the whispered voices grew.They are.

Without any hesitation, I began to walk towards the ancient redwood tree.

If I can find that cave, maybe I can find my way back.

The faded and distorted memory of seeing the masked figures in the cave popped into my mind. My whole body shivered and tingled at the thought of anything that happened that night being real. The masked figures, the tree roots, the cave, all of it. It was just too much. And the more I thought about it, the more it freaked me out. I shook the eerie feeling from my body. “Just keep going, and soon, you’ll be out of these damn woods.” Hopefully.

The woods shifted from the everyday redwood trees we’d become so accustomed to, to something that resembled a scene from a dark fantasy movie. If I hadn’t known any better, I’d have thought I stepped into an entirely new world. Numerous off-colored redwood leaves covered the ground, hiding the fact that hundreds of roots branched from the direction of the ashen tree and out towards the rest of the woods. Totems of all sizes hung from nearly every branch and spun in the summer breeze. The whole atmosphere was eerily beautiful. My eyes raised, and my neck ached from staring so high up. The tree was astonishing. “I wonder how old it is?” The voices grew in volume and capacity as I neared the base of the ancient redwood tree. I noticed a faint, glowing light ahead and picked up my pace until it eventually became a light sprint. The voices grew with each step I took, and something strange overcame me. I felt drawn to the light ahead, like a moth to the flame.

The light grew with the whispers until I noticed how the ancient redwood wasn’t growing out of the ground, but from inside a giant hole. The cavern from the other night. I stopped running and slowed my pace as I quietly moved closer. You could see the candles flickering from down below, only this time, the cave wasn’t just filled with old and endless roots. There werepeople inside. No. Figures with various masks. I crouched on my knees and crawled a little closer. My mind nearly exploded at what I saw in the cavern below. “It’s real,” I whispered to myself. “All of it.”

But if this is real, who are they?

I silently counted the masked figures. “Eleven.” What an odd number. They were dressed in all black, wearing long robes or cloaks, like something out of an old movie. They were covered head to toe and even had gloves. You couldn’t see any hint of who they really were. The only distinction between them were the masks they wore. While half had plague doctor masks, two of them distinctly stood out. One had what appeared to be a more elaborate mask with all black features and brass colored accents, whereas the other had that damn broken eyeglass, just as I’d seen before. They both wore wide brimmed leather hats, while the others wore giant skulls of animals, wrapped in old vines. It made me sick to see them walk around in the bones of dead animals. “Who are you?” I asked myself quietly as I lay on the ground and watched them. The figures whispered and spoke to one another, the same distant chants and sounds I’d been hearing since the night I arrived. They gathered around the ancient redwood and created a circle with their bodies, and the jumbled whispers quickly grew into a full fledged chant. I grew cold, and I felt wrong to be witnessing whatever was happening before me.

What is even happening right now?

A woman’s voice broke through coming from behind the elaborate plague doctor’s mask and spoke to the rest. “The first blood has been spilled. The time has come.” First blood? Wait, Foster said the same thing earlier today.

Is this?—

The sound of faint footsteps from behind me set me on edge. I quickly stood and tried to back away towards the trees, hopingwho or whatever it was didn’t notice me. The footsteps grew louder and closer, and I caught a glimpse of an old, bloody axe.

What the fuck?

My back hit a tree, and I tried to remain silent. I knew whoever they belonged to was maybe now only a few feet away. Absolute fear washed over me. I couldn’t just stay there and wait to be found. I needed to run. Fast.

My foot shook as I stepped forward without making any sound. My other foot followed as I repeated the motions. Just keep moving. Take your time and don’t stop. I stepped down and broke a small twig.

Shit.

My entire body froze, and I listened. The only sound was the distant voices of the people below, and the sound of my heart pounding in my chest. The footsteps had stopped. I held my breath and waited. A tear rolled down my cheek as I felt the sensation of someone breathing behind me. I trembled in fear and decided to count to three and just book it out of there.

One. Two. Three.

I shot forward, but they pulled me back. “N—” They covered my mouth as I tried to scream.

No! Let me go! Let me go!

I struggled and fought to break free, but whoever it was, they had a strong hold on me.

“Shhh.” I froze as the person leaned in and breathed against my ear. The warmth from their hand, the way they smelled, it seemed oddly familiar.

Wait.

His mouth brushed my ear ever so lightly. “Rosie.”

Sabbath. I should’ve known he’d eventually find me.

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