shadows

Dare you enter the room of shadowy dreams? Many have entered. Few have returned. If you're picked, you must go to the house and endure your fate. You have no choice. Everyone tries to resist, you can tell by the look on their faces that they're fighting it, but their body just carries on going, plodding methodically towards towards its fate.

No one knows what lies within the room: it's the one thing no one talks about. It's just not discussed. Even a village famous for gossip has its secrets.

When someone is chosen, their friends and family will try desperately to stop them, but the victim is always too strong. There is no pattern to the victims, some old, some young, some boys. some girls. You never know who will be the next to go. It happens roughly once a year, but no one knows when. It changes from year to year. You are always in danger, always on edge. Who will be chosen next? Is your family safe? Are your friends safe? 

---

As Ruth found herself ascending a flight of rotting black stairs, she tried to push all fear from her terrified mind. Fear wouldn't help her now. At the height of the steps there lay an old wooden entranceway, black paint peeling off in flecks and littering the dusty grey carpet. The rusty hinges holding it to the door looked weak, and Ruth wasn't sure that they wouldn't be able hold onto the frame for much longer.

Her legs trudged up to the door, her arms slowly heaved it open. It looked like it might be heavy, from the effort her arms were taking to get it open. Peering into the darkness, she tried desperately to get a glimpse of what lay within before her legs carried her inside, but the total blackness gave no clue as to what the room contained. Once in was in the room, her arms carefully closed the entrance, leaving the room smothered in darkness. She tried to imagine what could be in that room with her. Legend had it that in the shadows lay your worst nightmare, but Ruth didn't believe that. She didn't even know what her worst nightmare was. She wasn't scared of spiders or snakes. She wasn't afraid of the dark. China dolls didn't haunt her. So what 'horror' would the room hold?

After a few minutes of simply standing prisoner in the room, Ruth found that she could move her arms and legs. She rushed to the door, but of course it was locked. Throwing her weight against the frame she found it still wouldn't budge. She sighed, irritated. By now her eyes were becoming used to the darkness, and she could make out a tall, dark wardrobe at the end if the room. Beside it was another door. Relieved, Ruth leaned her weight against the wooden panels lining the room. So long as she didn't open that door, she should be safe.

Suddenly a piercing scream cut through the air like a knife through flesh. Ruth froze. Was that? It couldn't be. Then again, louder this time. She bolted to the door and flung it open. On the other side was a dark room similar to the one she had just exited. Half hidden in the darkness stood five shadowy figures. There faces were hidden in the darkness, but Ruth knew who they were. They were children. Her children. This was her worst nightmare.
"Mummy."
Their voices sounded hollow and empty, but there was no mistaking who they belonged to.

"It's alright children, mummy's here!"
Ruth rushed over to those dark, shadowy figures. Their hands were bloody and sore, from where the handcuffs had rubbed against their thin wrists. She fumbled with the locks, but they held tight and continued choking the circlets of flesh.
"We're stuck mummy."
"It's ok, mummy'll get you out!"
Ruth slowed down, took a deep breath, and tried to work out the best way to free her precious children. Rushing wasn't going to speed her up, and anyway there was no hurry.
"Promise?"
"Promise you'll get us out, mummy"
She looked up into the eyes of her youngest child. His eyes were cold, frightened, yet somehow frightening at the same time.
"Ten."

Ruth looked up at at her eldest daughter, Janey. Her voice was cold, emotionless.
"What did you say, honey?"
Janey didn't reply. She seemed to be in some sort of trance. Ruth hurried over to her. Janey's hair was partially covering her face, and was matted at the back.The older woman took her daughters hands in hers, and tried to make eye contact. The child refused to look at her mother.
"I'm really sorry about what I've done to you, Janey. I promise I'll fix this."
A single tear ran down Ruth's face. She told herself sternly to stop it. Crying wouldn't help either.
"Nine"

She was counting down. To what though, Ruth didn't know. She tried to think logically. She needed something thin, like a paper clip, to pick the lock with. Or something sharp. Her eyes searched the room. Nothing.
"Eight"

What about the cupboard? There could be something in the cupboard next door. Racing to the door, she found it locked.
"You're too late, mum."
Ruth whirled around to find Janey staring at her, unblinking. Her huge, silver-black eyes boring into Ruth, drowning her.
"Nonsense, we'll get you out of here. We just need to find some wire."
Ruth smiled, unconvincingly.
"You should've thought of that before you got us all locked up in here."
"Are we locked in , mummy?"
"Will we be able to get out?"
"Mummy you said you'd get us out."
"You promised, mummy"
"Will we die in here mummy?"
" Of course not, let's all stop being so silly, we'll get out of here just fine."
"Seven"

"Mummy my wrists hurt"
"Mummy I'm scared"
Ruth hurriedly searched her children's pockets. They were all empty.
"Six"

She rifled through her own pockets. Empty. What about hair? Alice always had a hair clip of sorts tucked away in her ebony shock of hair.
"Alice do you have a hair clip?
"Five"

"Alice?"
"No, the man took it."
"What man?"
She couldn't help herself - it was instinctive. She needed to know who had done this to her children.
"The man"
Now her other children were joining in.
"The tall man"
"With black hair"
"The dirty man"
"The scary man"
"The man with the knife"
The man with the knife. She should be happy her children were still alive.
"Four"

They might not be for much longer if she didn't act quickly. Her heart was in her mouth as Ruth searched the room again, thoroughly, covering every little space, missing nothing.
"Three"

There was nothing she could do. Her children were going to die and there was no way she could stop it happening. No, wait. She was overreacting. She didn't know they were going to die. For all she knew they could be all released at the end of the countdown.
"Janey, what happens when you get to zero?"

"Two"
"Janey!"
"We leave"
"What?"
"We leave"

That was a relief. But everyone who had returned had spent weeks away from the village. Why were they being released so quickly?
"Where do we go Janey?"
"We go to a better place."
"Where, Janey, I need to know!"
"One"

One. She was scared. She trusted Janey, of course she did, but she still wasn't convinced that they would go to a better place. To be fair, though, anywhere must be better than this place. She held onto her children's hands and waited. And waited.
"Zero"
For a second nothing happened, then all five of her precious children started screaming in agony as blood spurted from their heart and rained down around them. There was blood everywhere but there was too much so Ruth just had to watch. Watch her children bleed to death right before her eyes. Then they went limp.

In the wall behind her a door opened up in the wall and five curious faces peered into the gloom. They saw the mess of bodies lying across the floor but it didn't scare them. They knew that those bodies weren't real. Those children were merely holograms, designed to frighten the lady crouched over them. The figures in the doorway gazed on, waiting for just the right moment to announce their position. 

"Can we tell her yet, Janey?"

"Not yet, Alice, you know the man told us to wait"

So they waited in ernest for a signal that would never come. And all that time Ruth never looked around.

It was her fault. It was all her fault. Her children were lying dead in the floor and it was because of her. Because of her own stupidity. She gazed at then in despair. Then, out of the corner if her eye, she noticed a small beacon of hope shining out of the darkness. Her saviour. Beaconing to her. Use me. Use me. End your misery. Struggling over to it she pulled the knife from it's sheath.

"Mum ... Stop!"

But it was too late, the dagger had already found it's way into Ruth's punctured heart.