Dipped in Blood

The Girl with Black Hair

I woke up with beads of sweat running down my face. The light of a sunset glistened through the lace curtains of my bedroom but even as the cool breeze of morning swept across my body, I could still feel my heart beating like a drum. I wrapped my pale fingers around scars of my ear, its curves and dents marking itself in my memory. 

According to my mother the scars where from a large dog that bit down on my ear at a young age. The two cuts where the size of the nail on my pinky-finger and stood side by side against the pale flesh of my ear. I stood up, stretching the arms above my head. The wind danced playfully with the papers on my desk and chuckled as I struggled to put them in a pile again. I reached under my desk for my art set and canvas, only to find it missing. I pushed my chair aside to look with my own eyes for the painting only to be faced by the water damage tracing across the walls.

I run hurriedly down the stairs my mother, "Mom where's my-" I cut myself off when I see an police officer dressed brown standing with my canvas in hand.

Mom looks warningly at me before pulling me to her side, "This is my daughter Wendilin." The officer glances between us confused before smudging the emotion off his face.

He turns towards me, "Miss Teryn, at seven this morning a person went missing."

I look at him, "What does that have to do with me?"

"I should be asking you that question because," He taps my canvas lightly, "This little girl in the picture is the missing person."

***

"Why do we have to look for her?" I say, shivering under the blows of wind and snow that hit like bullets against my cheeks. Lucas glanced guiltily at me before waddling closer to benefit us with each other's heat. We walked silently through the wind and ice, down the empty streets of town. Everyone in this miserable town was looking for the black haired girl and for some unclear reason, I had an urge to find her as well.

Lucas looks cautiously at me, "Are you still mad that I told Mr Haude?" 

"Yes, Lucas. It hurt my feelings," I say softly before removing a leaf from my coat.

"But why?" I sigh at his question but answer, "Painting is the only thing I can do in this town to relieve stress."

"Oh," He frowns at my statement. We walked side by side on the road, the wind howling mercilessly.

Lucas turned to me, "Wendilin, why did you paint that little girl in the picture?"

"Because she was there," I answer.

He stops dead in his tracks, "Was she really going to walk into the forest?" I nod, unsure about his curiosity.

He grabs my arms suddenly while looking at me with his pale blue eyes, "Wendilin, don't you get it? She's going to the forest!"

***

Our feet beat in sync against the pavement. Fast, quick and agile. The wind was strong and pushed frequently causing us to slow down at consistent times to avoid being knocked over. Snow was falling rapidly making it impossible to see in the disastrous weather.  My lungs burned as ice and wind entered my system while Lucas pulled me along. His snow white hair almost invisible to my eye as we stumble towards the park. The park gates swung back and forth making scream-like sound as they dragged across the ground. Lucas and I barely make it through the gates without scratching our clothes against the sharp iron.

"How are we going to see her in this weather?" I hissed out to Lucas, gripping on his arm tightly. He looks around the snow covered park with wary eyes. I follow his gaze noticing the snow fall decreased slowly till you could see the forest clearly in the distance, its dreary appearance held a different aura that the day before. I felt light headed as we crawled closer to the bundle of trees.

RUN!

I shook my head as the voice shrieked, "Did you hear that?"

He looked curiously at me, "Hear what?"

"Never mind," I look carefully through the powdery rain for signs of the tiny figure walking around.

RUN! WENDILIN, RUN!

Flashes of colors forged into my brain, pictures and memories thumping on my head. I stumbled to the side and gasped for breath.

I was underwater, being pushed and pulled over and under the frequent waves. It was cold and frosty as I floated against the currents, I felt a person picked me up from the gushes of water. Their faced blurred slightly but cleared out to reveal-

"Wendilin, get up!" I shot up and looked at Lucas in irritation.

I pushed him, "What was that for?"

"I should be asking the same question," He says pulling my from my position on the ground. We continue walking towards the forest in hasty steps, the snow had slowed to a soft patter on my coat. I stood still for a moment and rubbed my eyes.

Was that...

"Lucas, I can see her. Lucas!" He wakes up at my distraught voice, in the distance the little figure of black hair walked clumsily towards the forest. We broke out into a run, side-by-side, with the fear of the child entering the forest. 

I ran, feet beating against the ground like a heartbeat. I felt an odd determination to prevent that girl from going into the forest, as I follow her clump of black hair bouncing. Lucas beside me stops and grabs my hand causing me to look at him.

"This is the forest border, we can't go past," I look at Lucas and rip my hand from his.

"I can't believe you," I hiss before running head first into the forest.