The Wandering Girl

The rest of the day followed without another incident. My parents wanted us all to sleep in the living room that night, so we all stayed up late. Mum had a habit of always watching the 10 o’clock news so we all watched it together.
“Breaking News,” said the reporter. “A tribal family that were driving to a cousins house have been killed in a tragic road accident. When crossing the Winder Bridge the steering in the car somehow faulted, causing the car to smash into the edge of the bridge. Emergency services were called however, as soon as they reached the scene the most tragic of events occurred. Paramedic John Holloway reached out to help one of the victims out of the car when the edge of the bridge crumbled, plummeting the family into the icy water. The family were trapped inside the car, so they could not swim to safety. All of the bodies have been found and confirmed dead.”
Mum switched off the news. We all sat in silence.
“That cannot be a coincidence.” I said, trembling.
“No, we cannot escape.” Mum cried.

Another meeting was assembled the following morning concerning the road accident and the garden room. It was then agreed that everyone in the tribe would sleep in the large meeting room so that everyone could be safe. We gathered our possessions and hurried to the meeting room. We didn’t leave the meeting room all day because it was now a safe haven. Night drew close and I realised I had forgotten something. I brought Sam with me and we went back to my house. Stepping over the threshold, I felt a familiar chill creep up my spine.
“Is it really that important?” Sam asked.
“It is a picture of my Grandma, if The Wandering Girl breaks that, wandering alone for centuries will seem like relaxing in the Bahamas compared to what I would do to her. I can’t believe I forgot it.”
We entered my room and there was no evidence that The Wandering Girl was here. I picked up the picture and there was a flash of a bright light. When the light faded, the bodies of the family killed in the car accident were strewn in the floor. The Wandering Girl stepped over them and came face to face with me. I breathed in and straightened my back. She walked on past, just as she had done in the woods. She turned around and glanced at the bodies as though they were insignificant and disappeared. Without another word, Sam and I sprinted back to the meeting room to tell everyone what had happened.

What we returned to was much worse. We saw a glimpse through the window and stayed outside, witnessing the horrors from afar. The Wandering Girl stood at the front of the room and every tribe member was on the floor with their heads touching the floor. They were bowing down to her. I could see the tears flowing from the eyes of the elders, what had we done? I had always been taught that every choice had a consequence and it was our choice to go into the Forbidden Woods and the consequence was this. What had we done? Then, The Wandering Girl spoke.
“Have any of you heard of the concept of life for a life?” She had the voice of a grown woman so it seemed so out of place, looking at her appearance. “What happens in real life is that if a spirit like me wants to avenge a death or two, they must kill person who killed them. It was very convenient that the direct ancestors to the man that killed my parents decided to flee, so you can all watch as I resurrect my parents, who will probably kill all of you to get to their optimum strength.”
The bodies of the family appeared on the floor along with two other bodies that I assumed belonged to her parents. She shouted some incomprehensible words, but nothing happened. She looked as confused as the rest of us.
“I don’t understand,” She cried.
“It is because your parents killed themselves, there is no way that you can resurrect them.” Said one of the elders.
The Wandering Girl let out an ear-piercing scream and nooses appeared on the ceiling. Sam and I ran for our lives. We didn’t want to see what happened next. We ran to his garage, hopped on a quad-bike each and sped off, away from the tribe with only the possessions we had packed for the meeting room.