Beyond The Iron Gate (The Faery Meadow Book 1) Read online

  I stand up and accidentally kick the shelf in the progress. A old light green book falls out. It must have been lying on top of the other books and I missed it.

  "Can I help you?" A raspy voice asks, scaring the crap out of me. I jump up making an embarrassing shriek.

  I slowly turn around to find a very short woman with beady eyes, she wears dark blue glasses. Her hair is an old white and she wears a an old ratty brown and purple tie die shirt. The whole ensemble is completed with her peace sign necklace.

  "Oh no thank you I was just looking." I manage to squeak out.

  "Sorry about that, I didn't mean to startle you. Oh dear where did you find this book?" She asks bending over and picking the book up.

  When she picks it up I see the book has no title. Something about it makes me want to read it though and I stop myself from asking about it.

  "Oh I think it fell out of the bookshelf." I say looking at her necklace.

  "Well dear I think your mother is ready to go...I'll put this back for you." She says indicating the book.

  "Okay thanks." I say, I leave the scene feeling extremely uncomfortable.

  I turn around to give a quick glance back at the employee, to see her smiling to herself.

  For the first time in a long time, I feel safer with my stepmom and rush towards the register.

  "All done?" She asks.

  "Yup." I reply.

  "I don't know why, but I got a really weird feeling in that shop, I don't think I'm going back there ever again." She says with a nervous laugh.

  "Me too." I say.

  For the first time, in a long time, I agreed with her. One hundred percent.

  The drive home was quiet and I felt I made a connection with my mom. I felt she knew something was off about that place. She had bought a couple outfits.

  "Hey Mom, did you see jewelry you liked?" I ask innocently, looking out the car window.

  "No." She replies. Her answer seemed a little quick, too quick.

  The rest of the drive home is silent, we pull into the drive way.

  "Hey how was shopping?" Dad asks from the porch, it looks like he is working on the rain gutters.

  Mom and I both look at each other.

  "Well we got some clothes." Mom says while locking the car.

  I hurry inside the house and take out the flower shirt. I wash the other clothes I got right away, but I put the flower shirt in my closet for the time being.

  It's been a long day.

  Chapter 4-A Chilly Night

  The evening sun sets lazily behind the dark tree line of the evergreens. I had already told my stepmom that I was going to sleep out in the backyard tonight. I didn't bother telling my dad. He's already left for the airport, he's going on a short business trip for the week, so that leaves just me and my stepmom.

  I have to admit, I'm a little nervous. I'm mostly excited though, this is my first time sleeping outside.

  The weather channel said no rain so I decided to pick tonight.

  Silently getting my things together, I put the last of my things into my backpack. I'm not going to bother using a tent, we surprisingly don't have any bears or "scary" night critters around here.

  At least that I'm aware of.

  I put my hair up in a ponytail, glancing at my deep blue eyes and dirty blonde hair.

  I take a shaky breath and heave my backpack over my shoulder. I'm about to walk out of my small bedroom, when I remember my pillow.

  I would not want to forget that.

  I snatch it up quickly and skip downstairs.

  "Mom I'm going out." I holler as I descend the stairs, she must be watching tv.

  "M'kay. Make sure you bring a flashlight! Did you grab the good sleeping bag?" She asks from the living room.

  Of course I made sure to grab those necessities, as well as some other things, such as my phone and sweatshirt. I glance down at my phone, it's only six forty pm, I wanted to get out early though.

  "Yup! I got everything I need." I reply with a smile.

  Something tells me she's a little anxious at the idea of me sleeping outside. She mutes her movie and turns her head towards me.

  "Hey...if you hear any scary noises you come right in. If it gets too cold out there, I want you to come back in. " she says, I hear a slight waver in her voice. Is she really worried about me? Or am I just a liability to her? I see true concern in her eyes, I feel a brief sense of relief that she is finally showing some motherly qualities.

  "Sure mom. See ya tomorrow." I say with a grin.

  She nods her head and resumes watching her movie.

  I give her one last glance before shutting the back door behind me.

  The evening air greets me with a wave of warmth.

  I practically glide to the iron gate and quietly open it, hearing it click shut behind me.

  I scan the yard looking for a good place to sleep, I haven't really thought over this much. Maybe I should sleep on the bench? Oh what if I roll over in my sleep and fall into the pond? No I should sleep under a tree. But what if a branch breaks and falls on me?

  I internally argue over these ridiculous thoughts in my mind. I realized I've walked towards the very edge of the yard, all the way in the back. The wooden fence back here is rotting away and the smell of mold drifts by me. I turn around and look back at the soft glow of the lights coming from the house.

  I have to squint to see them from all the way back here. Should I really sleep all the way back here? I'm even passed the shed. If I have to go the bathroom it's going to be a long walk back to the house.

  I now face the intimidating woods that this old worn fence "divides" my yard from. It looks rather pathetic as I stare at it, a slight wind could easily knock it over. I laugh at that thought.

  Deciding on sleeping here, I drop my backpack to the ground and hear the crunch of dead leaves as it falls with a thud.

  I waste no time, I unroll my purple sleeping bag and get out my flashlight. I set my phone on top of my pillow.

  Ouch!

  My ears perk up at the sound of the voice. I really wasn't planning on hearing them today. I just wanted to spend a nice night out here and remember my mom, what better place then to sleep out back with the garden she made?

  "Is anyone there?" I shout with a surprisingly brave voice.

  As usual nothing responds.

  Forgetting the voice, I trudge up to the pond and sit at the bench.

  The croaking of frogs makes me smile and I watch as the water lilies open. Soon the tree frogs and crickets harmonize together into a perfect union.

  I watch silently as the sun finally falls behind the wall of trees.

  Checking my phone it reads 8 pm.

  As if in a trance, I get up from the bench and walk through the picky grass. I reach a flower bed filled with yellow marigolds.

  I do something I've never dared to before.

  I pluck the most perfect looking one out. I never have taken an alive flower from my mother's garden.

  I twist the stem back and forth between my thumb and index finger. I breathe in the scent of the flower and let my eyes fall shut.

  I miss mom. I know growing up, I should learn to move on, but I'm not ready yet.

  A stray tear falls onto the marigold and I hastily wipe at my eyes.

  I came out here to remember the good memories, not cry. I won't cry...I will not cry...I relentlessly chant, I practically march to the very back of our yard.

  I plop down onto my sleeping bag, I set the marigold on top of my back pack. Soon it will be pitch black out, so I turn on my flash flight.

  I decide I rather fall asleep before it gets completely dark.

  I snuggle deep inside of my sleeping bag and curl up on my side. I dare not fall asleep watching the woods, so I face towards the pond.

  I can barely make out the pond from where I lay, let alone see my house.

  I quickly grab my flashlight and set my phone as close to my pillow as possible.

  Clinging onto the m
emory of my mom's smile, I desperately try to go to sleep.

  Letting the sound of the bullfrogs comfort me, sleep finally consumes me.

  __________________________________________

  Crunch, Crunch, Snap

  Probably deer.

  I wriggle my nose and shift my feet grumbling in my half awake state. Stupid deer waking me up. Picturing a clumsy deer wandering around in the woods, I giggle falling back asleep briefly, only to be woken up again.

  Crunch, Snap

  Still not bothering to roll over and see the deer, I grimace.

  Squinting my eyes open, I'm welcomed by complete darkness.

  Great. It's the middle of the night and I'm wide awake.

  If I just close my eyes, I surely will fall back asleep.

  I'm not even going to bother checking the time on my phone, I'm dead tired.

  I feel my heart beat slow and my eyes finally feel heavy again.

  Suddenly, a chilly breeze passes through me mercilessly, rattling my bones. I hear the trees creak in protest as a sudden wind picks up from out of nowhere.

  Of course. I was finally about to go to sleep and now it just dropped a million degrees. I don't remember the weather people mentioning a cold or windy night.

  I tuck my head, but I feel like a plant has caught my hair. Probably a picker bush.

  Sleepily I roll over, facing the woods.

  Strangely, my hair is freed from whatever pulled it, I don't even see any brier bushes or picky plants around me.

  I rather not face the creepy woods, but I'm comfier in this position.

  Just in case I wake up again, I clutch the flashlight in my hands tightly and plan to fall asleep holding it, that way if I wake up I can use it immediately.

  I let the slight howl of the wind lure me to sleep.

  _____________________________________

  My eyes pop open again at the sound of a snapping branch. It's still pitch black out.

  I bolt up, my heart racing. I fumble with the flashlight's button, desperately trying to turn it on.

  I hit the button with satisfaction, but no light penetrates the shadows of the night.

  I should have put new batteries in it!

  I'm practically blind now, as I reach my hand around my pillow searching for my phone. I can't find it.

  I take a deep nervous breath and fall back onto my sleeping bag.

  In a situation like this I just need to relax...fall back asleep and when I wake up it will be morning.

  Listening, the woods are mute. That's strange.

  You could hear a pin drop.

  My heart races and I pull my head protectively under the sleeping bag.

  Fall asleep...go back to sleep...fall asleep now, I tell myself.

  All of the sudden, I hear the rustle of leaves directly above me.

  I slowly pull my head out of the sleeping bag and blindly look up into the tree.

  I hear something drop, then a heavy thud, right next to my head.

  I feel my face flame in terror, I clench my fists tightly at my sides, frozen in fear.

  The air around me has become dense, I shudder helplessly.

  Whatever the thing is that fell from the tree remains silent, but I can feel it next to me.

  It must be large by the sound of the thud.

  I feel my arms become prickly and the hair raise from my neck.

  I shut my eyes tightly and let out a pathetic whimper.

  I should run. But where to? I can't see anything. Maybe if I lay still it will go away.

  A sinister chuckle breaks the silence.

  I dare not move. After all, it is laying right next to me!

  Suddenly, the laughing stops, silence once again fills the air.

  Did it leave?

  I slowly pry my eyes open and dare a peek.

  Demonic red glowing eyes stare openly back at me.

  I let out a shriek of surprise and cover my face with the sleeping bag, shaking uncontrollably in horror.

  Quickly, my sleeping bag is forcibly pulled back, revealing my face to the demon thing laying way too close beside me.

  Its red eyes stare blankly at me.

  All I can see are its eyes, piercing red eyes.

  Suddenly, I feel a breeze...is it blowing on my face?

  What's going on?

  Will it kill me? I must be imagining it.

  For some reason, I'm frozen in place and mute as I stare in shock at this thing staring at me. I dare not move a muscle under its unrelenting stare.

  My head snaps towards the house when I hear my stepmom holler.

  "Elaine! Come inside it's too windy out! I told you to come in if it got cold!"

  I turn my head back to the creature, but just like that, the eyes are gone.

  Is it gone?

  I raise a shaky hand to where it's eyes were and end up swatting my hand at empty space.

  My face is still heated and my heart beat won't slow down.

  "Elaine! You get inside this house right now!" My stepmom literally screams.

  Can she see even me when I'm all the way back here?

  Wherever that demon thing or whatever it was went, I dare not stay to find out.

  I don't bother grabbing any of my stuff, I jump up and book it back to the house, following the sound of my stepmom's voice.

  Chapter 5-The Dream

  "Elaine what on earth did I tell you?!" My stepmom screeches as she slams the backdoor shut behind us.

  "I was fine, I wasn't even that c-cold." I lie with a pathetic attempt at steadying my voice.

  "Do you know what time it is? It's three in the morning!" She grunts while turning on the kitchen lights. The lights illuminate the once dark room.

  Suddenly, her eyes widen like bug eyes, her face pales.

  "What? What is it mom?" I ask in confusion.

  "What is on your face?" She grits through her teeth.

  What? I know I was outside, but I don't think I got any dirt on my face.

  "Must be a teen thing." She says with a nervous laugh. Then, she grabs me by the elbow and drags me to the mirror looking at me strangely.

  "Look." She says with a weary voice.

  And I do. I look intently first at my dirty blonde hair and freckled nose, my light green eyes that sometimes seem blue.

  Then, I slam into reality like a brick wall.

  Glitter. Red glitter. The red glitter surrounds my entire face, some of it is even in my hair! In fact, it reminds me of that thing's eyes. Putting those haunting red eyes in the back of my mind, I focus on coming up with a logical excuse.

  "Oh that's right! Mom I forgot to tell you, I was going to make another flower pot and put some glitter on it. I guess I got some on my face." I ramble, attempting to make good eye contact with her glaring eyes. That logically wouldn't make much sense though. The amount of glitter on my face is ridiculous, you wouldn't even use that much to decorate a flower pot.

  "Whatever." She snaps, it's almost as if she switched right back to her old self. The concern gone, completely.

  "Sorry mom...why are you awake at this hour anyway?" I ask.

  "I was watching a marathon of some of my favorite 80s movies. I happened to check my phone out of boredom, it said it was going to drop to forty degrees tonight! Forty degrees! Did you even check the weather before you planned all of this?!" She complains.

  "Yes actually I did. It didn't say it was going to get that cold then." I argue.

  "Well that's odd." she says scratching her head, seemingly distracted," I'm guessing you left all your stuff out there...just sleep in here tonight you can sleep outside another time." She says.

  "Alright, I'm going to go to bed then. Goodnight mom." I say heading up the stairs.

  " Goodnight. Wash that stuff off your face before you go to bed." She replies sitting back on the couch and resuming her movie watching.

  Running up the stairs, I enter the bathroom, immediately turning on the sink. I scrub the red glitter hard and frantically try to get
it off. This glitter seems more hard to get off than the glitter I had on my face the other day.

  Rubbing the last of it off my face, I look back at my reflection seeing red marks from where I scrubbed the glitter off. Hopefully my face will look better in the morning.

  Next, I focus on the glitter in my hair. This is going to be trickier. I carefully try to sift it out of my hair by running the water over my hair and letting the annoying red glitter run down the drain.

  Looking in the mirror with a feeling of satisfaction, I see most of it is out.

  I'm about to walk out of the bathroom, but I take a glance at the mirror before I leave.

  Then I notice the back of my head is full of the red glitter too!

  Sighing in tiredness, I just give up on trying to wash it out in the sink. I decide to take a quick shower.

  After my shower, I drowsily get ready for bed.

  Practically falling onto my bed, I pull my covers over me remembering those haunting red eyes.

  Eyes the exact same color of the glitter.

  Those glowing red eyes are the last thing in my mind as I fall to sleep.

  _________________________________

  A flash of red passes by me, the only source of light in this dark room I'm in. I feel as if I'm watching a movie. I see myself laying on the bed. It's as if I'm an outsider to my own home. I watch carefully as I see myself sleeping soundlessly. The red light flashes by again, closer to my sleeping self. I feel like a weight is pressing down on me. The air suddenly feels freezing.

  I watch in concern as I see my sleeping self is oblivious to the weird light buzzing around my room.

  I'm pulled out of my thoughts when I see the red light stop right at the end of my bed.

  The red light fades and a shadowy figure manifests.

  I cannot tell what the dark thing is at the end of the bed, but I know it came from the red floating light thing. I get the growing feeling it's watching my sleeping self. I don't know what to do. I feel stuck in this in between space, entrapped like a prisoner as I watch this scene helplessly.

  My escalating fear is ignited, when I see emerging from the dark shadow is a pair of red eyes.

  Then, those haunting fiery red eyes look directly at me.

  With a jolt, I sit up in bed immediately reaching over and turning on my lamp. My neck is covered in sweat, my heart thumping like a rabbit's. I stare in terror at the end of my bed, to my relief I see nothing.