Darkness in Appalachia

By lunchtime, they had hit about five different areas and were closing in on a sixth. David had seen entities that defied belief, from a tree that transformed when they approached into a ravenous wolf-like creature that spoke by rubbing its leaves together to fairy-like entities the size of ladybugs that swarmed and devoured entire deer with needle sharp teeth in a matter of minutes. They communicated by forming patterns in the air and seemed to have almost a hive mentality. Many entities wouldn’t completely show themselves so he only got glimpses of strange half formed figures that communicated with Robyn in some way that he couldn’t determine. From what he could determine and what Robyn told him, there were no major problems that needed to be dealt with and no one had seen anything that didn’t belong in their area. He had stayed mostly silent, trying to absorb everything that he was seeing and asking questions only rarely.

Robyn was now directing him towards a shack at the edge of the next area. He drove the 4x4 inside at her direction and grabbed the bag. Outside, Robyn directed him to put it on the ground and she pulled a picnic lunch out of it. Nothing fancy, just sandwiches and chips with can sodas instead of the water they’d been drinking most of the day.

“We should eat here. The next place we’re visiting is kinda far away and they don’t like the 4x4 so we’ll have to walk.” She settled on the ground and opened up a sandwich that Puk had made. He sat down next to her and reached for one. “Just make sure that you check your sandwich before you eat it. Puk likes to play jokes and sometimes she’ll put things in that don’t necessarily go together. Other times, it’s an honest mistake since she doesn’t eat human food very often.”

He hesitated but found that he was too hungry to worry too much. “What has she done in the past?”

Robyn opened her sandwich to check it before closing it up and taking a bite. “Hot sauce, wasabi paste, mixing mayo in with peanut butter and jelly, replacing the sandwich cheese with cream cheese. Just imagine what you wouldn’t want on a sandwich and she has probably done it at least once. My favorite was when she made a sandwich with raw hamburger meat. She forgot the ice pack at that time too so it was rank by the time I stopped for lunch.”

He checked his sandwich, not seeing anything out of place and tasted it. “Mm. Seems like she replaced the mayo with sour cream on this one. But I guess I should just be glad that it’s edible.”

Robyn finished up her food and stretched out on the grass, taking a moment to relax while he finished. He found his eyes drawn to her and knew that he needed to distract himself before he did something that might get him smacked. “Where are we heading to next?”

“We’re going to a water nixie’s territory. There aren’t many other entities that hang around in her area and we probably won’t see the ones who do so she’s probably the only one you will see.”

“What’s a water nixie?”

Robyn smiled and David felt his eyes drawn to the curve of her lips. He had to look away and missed part of what she was saying. “... hard to describe. She calls herself Isonade.” She sat up and looked at him. “Are you nearly finished? We need to get moving if we want to be back home before dark.”

He nodded and helped her gather up the garbage and repack everything in the bag. He slung it over his shoulder and headed to load it back on the 4x4 but Robyn motioned for him to bring it. They took off, heading deep into the woods and following a trail that looked like no one had used it in years.

After walking in silence for about half a mile, Robyn broke the silence. “You’ve kinda invaded by life but I don’t really know anything about you. Why don’t you tell me where you came from and what you do as a cop?”

He laughed. “You do know that it’s not nearly as interesting as all this.”

She shrugged. “I was raised in this world so, while I can understand why it would be interesting to you, it’s normal to me. Things that happen outside of this are what I find interesting. Those stories are my versions of fairy tales.”

He hadn’t thought of it like that but it made sense. He started telling her about growing up in a large city and the things that made him want to become a cop. Going to school with gang bangers and thugs, drugs being sold at lockers to kids who would do anything for their next fix. Drivebys were so common place in some areas that no one paid any attention to them anymore. He didn’t live in a bad area but had friends that did and his mother worried every time that he went to visit them at their homes. When he went to college, he learned that his city wasn’t actually that bad. It wasn’t as big as a lot of other cities and the gangs were small and weak compared to others. He couldn’t imagine what it had been like for others growing up in that kind of situation and felt that he wanted to do something about it.

“I was really too idealistic for my own good. I had the idea that one person could change the world if they tried hard enough and thought that I could be that person.” He almost sounded bitter for a moment but then changed his tone as he began telling her about the police academy. His stories from then became more humorous, though Robyn believed that they were probably more serious in real life than he portrayed them.

The conversation flowed easily and they began talking about the early days of both of their jobs. The hike lasted about two miles but didn’t seem to take as long as it normally would.

Several times during the hike, David had the feeling that he was being watched but he could never see anything when he checked. Just a hint of something moving behind leaves and trees in their wake. He could tell that Robyn noticed it too but she didn’t say anything so he didn’t react.

They reached what originally looked like a dead end until Robyn bent down low and walked underneath the low hanging branches. He followed suit and found himself in a tunnel formed by interwoven branches and lighted by small flowers that glowed in different colors. He reached for one and it fell apart at his touch, turning into dust that was absorbed back into the branches.

On the other side, there was a large pool of water fed by a small waterfall that formed smaller pools on multiple levels before hitting the larger pool. The same trees that had formed the tunnel encircled the pool and the light from their flowers reflected off the water like stars.

Robyn walked around to one corner of the pool and looked into the water while David stayed close to the tunnel, having learned from experience that it was best for Robyn to greet the entities first. “Isonade, it’s Robyn. Are you here?” The water rippled lazily but there was no answer. “Isonade?”

She turned back to David and shrugged, planning on joining him and heading back after leaving something to let Isonade that she had been there.

At this point, a small, black entity surged out of the water with a huge splash and began running straight at David, keeping low to the ground and hissing evilly as it moved. David turned to head back through the tunnel, but tripped over his own feet and fell, landing hard on his side. He raised his hands in defense while letting out a high pitched yelp that might have been him trying to call for help.

The entity slid to a stop just short of him and fell to the ground, rolling around and laughing uncontrollably. Robyn walked over to David and helped him to his feet before turning to the entity. “That wasn’t very nice, Isonade.”

“Did you see his face?” She sat up, wiping her eyes as the laughter subsided. “He screamed like a girl and I bet he peed himself. Did you check if he peed himself?”

David got his first good look at her and thought that she had the face of an otter until she lifted the face and revealed that she was wearing a cloak with a hood that resembled an otter. Underneath, she was very young, maybe ten or eleven years old with translucent skin, wispy green hair peeking out from under the hood, and bright red eyes. He caught sight of pointed fangs when she spoke and noticed that her lips had a scaly appearance.

Robyn sat down next to her. “His name is David and I’m pretty sure he didn’t pee himself. You really should be nice to him or he might not give you the baby doll that’s in the bag he’s carrying.”

She spun towards him, bouncing in excitement. “A doll? Really? Can I have it, please, Mr. David?”

He glanced at Robyn who nodded encouragement before coming forward and sitting down next to her. Opening the bag, he pulled out the doll Puk had packed and handed it to her. She gave him a huge smile before snatching it out of his hands and hugging it tightly to her chest. No one spoke as she took in the details of the doll, exclaiming every so often when something special caught her attention. A small smile played on Robyn’s lips as she watched and even David found himself smiling at the small figure.

Finally, she raised her head and addressed Robyn. “Thank you for the doll but I know why you’re here. I heard about what happened to that other little girl and you think that I might know something.”

Robyn’s smile faded and she nodded. “I’m asking everyone that I see if they might know something but I know that you’ve seen a lot. Is this something you’ve heard of before?”

Isonade nodded reluctantly. “I think so but I’m not entirely sure on the details. Could you show me more of what you saw?”

Robyn glanced at David before answering. “I can share my memories with you but I will need to touch you and they aren’t very pleasant. Is that alright?”

David leaned close to Robyn, lowering his voice to whisper in her ear. “Are you sure you should do this? She’s just a child.”

Robyn was about to answer but Isonade gave him a huge smile, displaying the rows of teeth that she had kept hidden. The trees around them began to whip back and forth and the water bubbled upwards, forming huge waves that threatened to swamp them even where they sat ten feet away. An oppressive feeling befell them, threatening to the air from their lungs. For just a split second, Isonade’s face transformed and he saw an ancient, wrinkled, and entirely inhuman face peek out from behind the child’s facade. “I thank you for worrying about me, David, but I’m sure you’ve already been told that you can’t take things at face value. I am far older than I appear and more than capable of handling anything that Robyn could show me. In fact, I could show you things that would drive you completely insane that you would never be able to recover from.”

David lowered his head, struggling to breath as instinctive fear caused his heart to leap into his throat and his stomach to turn into a hard ball. He closed his eyes and prayed for the first time in years, knowing that the power he was feeling could wipe him out and leave nothing behind to prove that he had ever been there. He didn’t open them again until he could no longer feel the weight of her eyes or hear the sounds of the waves. Meeting her eyes, she smiled at him once again with the sweet face of a child.

Robyn, checked on David, making sure that he was breathing and that his color had returned to normal before turning a hard stare onto Isonade. “Be careful how far you push things, Isonade. If he or I had been seriously harmed by your showing off I wouldn’t be able to protect you from the consequences.”

Isonade looked into her eyes and didn’t like what she saw. She turned her head and appeared to sulk, clutching her new doll to herself and pouting. Robyn continued to stare until Isonade turned to return her gaze, finally lowering her head and muttering an apology.

David watched this display in confusion. If he were to describe it, he would say that it was a weaker entity bowing to a stronger one but he had felt the power coming off of Isonade and hadn’t felt anything from Robyn. He studied Robyn, beginning to suspect that there was still a lot more to her than met the eye and determined to find out everything that he could.

Robyn smiled, wanting to break the tension and move on from the episode, “Now, let me know when you are ready and I will show you the memory of what happened in the morgue. And David, prepare yourself. I haven’t used magic yet today so you haven’t experienced it but this is going to hurt.”

Isonade moved closer and Robyn placed her hands on either side of her face, closing her eyes after making sure that Isonade’s were closed. She located the memory of the morgue and allowed it to play through once in her mind before playing it again while pushing it out. It felt like she was trying to push something through her own skull and she heard David grunt in pain beside her. She ignored the pain and continued pushing the memory out, image by image beginning with when she first saw the body and ending at the point that David had come into the morgue. Once finished, she released Isonade and opened her eyes, knowing that the pain would fade over the next minute or so. Isonade’s eyes remained closed, her face balled up into a tight ball as she reviewed the memory that Robyn had passed to her.

Robyn checked on David while she waited for Isonade to finish. “Open your eyes. It will stop in about a minute.”

“Fuck that hurts. And you didn’t tell me that I would see the memory, too. I didn’t realize until the images started appearing in front of my eyes.”

Robyn winced, knowing how sickening that could be. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to send it to you as well. Normally, it only goes to the person I’m touching but I didn’t take into account the binding. It should still pass pretty quickly.”

He opened his eyes, blinking rapidly. “It’s already starting to. It just caught me by surprise. Is that what it feels like every time you do magic?”

“I don’t do memory magic often so it’s going to hurt until I build up some experience with it. Other types of magic hurt in different parts of the body but they all hurt pretty bad if you aren’t used to using them.”

He looked at her in shock. “Why?”

“Because you’re forcing your body to do something that it’s not accustomed to. Imagine if you’d never lifted anything over five pounds and then one day you decide to lift something that’s a hundred pounds. You might get it up with some effort but it will hurt.”

David nodded and they turned to Isonade who seemed to have finished what she was doing. “I was right. I have seen something like this before but only once and it was a long time ago. I don’t really know a lot about the entity that does this but I can show you what I saw and that might help you.”

“If you wouldn’t mind I would appreciate it. Any information that I can find will be helpful.”

Isonade stood and walked to the edge of her pool, turned to motion them to follow part way there. Robyn and David looked at each other in confusion but went to stand on either side of her. She leaned down and put her hand in the pool and they saw black lines flowing from her hand into the water, changing color and forming an image.

“Watch closely and don’t look away, no matter how bad it gets.”

At the beginning, it looked like they were in some kind of light red liquid with vague shapes that seemed like they should have been familiar but you couldn’t quite grasp what they were. The liquid receded from the top down and they realized that it was Isonade’s view as she climbed out of a river running red with what they could only assume was blood. Screams filled the air and they could see figures on the closest shore, some on the ground and others running either to or away from something out of sight. The shore came closer and the screams got louder, seeming to come from all sides at once. On the shore, bodies of humans and entities littered the ground, many split open just like the girl in the morgue, others appearing like they had been ripped apart, and still more that had no visible injuries. Blood spattered the walls of buildings and weeping women and children were hiding behind partially destroyed walls. The sounds of fighting could be heard in the distance, men’s voices yelling, the battle cries of animals, humans, and entities echoed where she stood. Catching sight of something in the corner of her eye, the scene spun and refocused on a woman about twenty feet away. She was walking towards them and alternated between weeping, laughter, and gut wrenching screams. She began to claw at her face and body, ripping shreds of skin off of herself and then pulling muscles loose when there was no more skin. She left a bloody trail behind her until she finally collapsed continuing to rip and tear at herself even on the ground. The scene spun again and they found themselves facing the direction they’d come from, revealing a river that was red with blood from the bodies floating in it. Men, women, children, entities, animals and pieces of all the above blocked the river, forming a macabre dam. The image faded to black as one final long, lingering scream rent the air filled with misery and devoid of hope.

Robyn walked several feet away from them, leaning over and gagging as she fought back vomit. David and Isonade gave her privacy by returning to their previous place on the grass and sitting with their backs to her. David’s stomach was also rolling but he was able to hold back more than she was. He wanted to comfort her but suspected that she wouldn’t welcome it at this point. Instead, he would wait for her to regain her composure and then ask if she was alright. They didn’t speak so there was nothing to cover the sounds coming from Robyn’s direction and they knew when she had finished. She sat down next to David and looked to Isonade for an explanation of what they’d seen.

“I saw that scene a long time ago. Robyn you know that time passes differently for me than it does for you humans so I don’t know how long ago it was but I do know that the humans at the time were nowhere near as advanced as they are now. I don’t know where I was on what you humans call a map because I had been following the rivers where ever they took me when I came up on the dam formed of bodies. I wasn’t involved in the fighting but I was told later that an entity called Ameet had caused all of what I had seen. He and a few other entities had set themselves up as gods to the people in the are with Ameet being the one that meted out punishment for any crimes that the humans would commit. Somehow, he amassed a massive amount of power and tried to wipe out the other entities and most of the humans. They fought back and he was expelled but not killed and the remaining ‘gods’ decided to wipe his name from history. I helped with the clean up and then I left. I didn’t hear the name again and no one would talk about what happened to him or how he was able to do what he did.”

Robyn thanked her and spent a few more minutes talking and visiting but the atmosphere was tainted with the vision they had seen. Her and David said their goodbyes and left, thanking Isonade again and promising to visit again when they had more time. Silence reigned all the way back to the 4x4, both of them lost in thought. David was still thinking about how Isonade had backed down from Robyn and wondered if it was because of the contract that she had surely signed in order to stay here or if there was something more to Robyn than anyone had mentioned. Robyn was focused almost entirely on what she had seen and what might be required of her if she wanted to prevent a similar scene from playing out here and now.

At the 4x4, they climbed into their respective seats and turned towards each other. Robyn shook off the vision and met his gaze. The look he was giving her reminder her of the kiss they’d shared and she flushed in remembrance. Her eyes flipped down to his lips and she watched as he licked them before speaking.

“Where are we going now?” His voice was husky and Robyn thought she could hear a double meaning to what he said. She found herself leaning slightly towards him, watching the way that his lips moved as he spoke and caught herself. Turning away, she told herself that she was just looking for something to distract her from her thoughts.

“We need to head home now. It will be just about dinner time when we get there and I have some chores that need to be completed before dark.”

David didn’t respond, just started the 4x4 after a moment and began heading back the way they had come. He knew that she had nearly kissed him and felt disappointed but not surprised. He didn’t want to push the issue but felt that they were attracted to each other and could be good together. If only she would stop fighting it and pushing him away. Good thing for him that he never gave up when he found something he wanted.