Fear in the Shadows

June 6, 2005
Holland Daniels sat beside her older brother, Leo, at the campfire her father had set up. She huddled in closer to her brother as her parents began to argue over how many smores the kids could get. Leo sighed beside her and stared hopelessly into the fire so Holland did the same, listening to to the crackling sounds of wood splitting. She became lost in the flames and watched as they danced with the wind that came in from the west. If it weren't for her parents bickering, it would have been a most calming scene.

"Teach me Spanish, Lee," Holland demanded. Her parents had wandered off into their tent to continue their bickering away from the children so they were sitting in silence. "How do you say, 'welcome back' in Spanish?"

"Why do you want to know Spanish, Holly?" Leo asked.

Leo was three years older than Holland and even and thirteen, he was starting to look more mature with each passing day. Her parents never saw the changes but Holland did; his jawline was becoming more prominent and he had begun to grow more than just peach fuzz above his lip. His eyes said it all as well for Holland; what used to be deep blue oceans filled with joy were now dark storms that have seen too much for such an age.

"Come on Leo," Holland pressed. She shoved him a little and he smiled before shaking his head.

"I'm not a teacher," he explained. He shoved his hands deep within the pockets of his jeans and leaned back before looking up at the sky. "Why don't you look it up or something?"

But Holland had already stopped paying attention to her older brother. She was staring into the forest, her eyes squinting to make out shapes in the dark. She scanned the treeline over and over, looking for any sign of movement until she found what she was looking for. Holland grabbed hold of her brother's arm and pointed in the direction of what she had seen.

"Look Leo, a little fox!" Holland exclaimed. She was bouncing in her seat and had a smile stretched from ear to ear. The fox must have heard her for it scurried back into the depths of the forest before Leo turned to look. "Did you see it?"

"Holland, there aren't any foxes around here," Leo sighed. "There's too many people around and foxes don't like people."

"How do you know what a fox likes and doesn't like?" Holland countered. Leo rolled his eyes and turned his attention to the three girls who had started squealing in the water. "Hello?" Holland said, trying to gain her brother's attention. "Leo? Are you in there?"

"Why don't you go find that fox," Leo muttered. He stood up and started walking towards the water where the girls were still screaming and giggling.

Holland didn't move, she watched her brother walk up to those girls and heard him start to flirt with them. Holland crinkled her nose and finally stood up. She kicked some dirt into the fire, sending it into a small frenzy for a moment and then let out a big huff of air. Her brother was getting older and she was becoming more and more insignificant in his world.

Holland took one last look at her brother before looking back towards the woods. When she did, she couldn't believe what she saw; the little fox was staring at her with it's head cocked to the side. Holland's lips parted in wonder and slowly, she stepped towards it. The fox licked it's lips before turning back towards the forest and then it took off.

"Wait!" Holland called after it. She ran towards the trees without bothering to pay attention to anything else.

Holland ran as fast as she could, barely keeping up with the little fox. It scurried left, then right, then left again before disappearing all together into a hole beneath a tall oak tree. Holland paused, thinking of Alice in Wonderland as she looked at the hole with curious eyes. When Holland was nervous, she found it soothing to count how many steps it took her to reach her destination and so she started.

"One," she whispered, taking an exaggerated step towards the fox hole. "Two, three, four..." She paused at four when she heard the unmistakable sound of a twig snapping somewhere behind her. Holland whirled around with her eyes open wide but the forest was all but still. Shakily, she uttered out a small, "hello?"

Silence answered her, along with a cold wind that swept her frizzy hair back. Holland shivered against the wind and crossed her arms over her chest in an attempt at getting warm. She kept looking around, not sure if she should hope someone was there or not. She glanced at foxhole one last time before she heard another twig snap and bolted.

Holland's heart was pounding against her chest and her lungs ached from the panicky way she was breathing but she ran as fast as she could, not daring to look back. Laughter echoed throughout the trees as she stumbled over branches and crashed through thorn infested bushes. The wind was now more forceful and pushing against the poor girl as she tried desperately to find the beach.

"Help!" She cried but she was too far into the forest for anyone to hear her.

Holland stumbled and crashed towards the ground, landing with her palms stretched out before her. She felt the sting of what seemed like a thousand thorns burying deep into her skin and she whimpered as she sat up to pick them out. She could still hear the laughing but the pain from the thorns seemed more important to her. She was so focused on pulling the thorns out that she didn't realize the laughter had stopped.

Crack!

Holland froze and her heart started to race. She was too frightened to lift her head but not seeing what was happening scared her as well. Holland closed her eyes and began to count in her head. One...two...

Crack!

Holland jumped, her breath caught and she opened her eyes. Slowly, Holland lifted her face so that she could at least see in front of her. She gulped and slowly turned her head, preparing for the absolute worst to be behind her. Her mind went wild with thoughts; witches, goblins, a ghost, a demon, the three-eyed monster she swore lived under her bed. Holland was beyond terrified but as she turned around, nothing was there.

Holland sighed in relief and quickly pulled the rest of the thorns out of her hand. She stood up and brushed off her knees before looking around once more. Nothing looked familiar to her, the trees looked like they were towering over her, each branch stretched towards her like giant, leafed arms trying to grab her. The ground was nothing but grass and overgrown roots and she had no way of knowing which way she was going. She called out to her parents and her brother but she knew that she was too far for them to hear her.

After an hour or so of walking, Holland gave up and sat down. She figured that sooner or later her parents would come looking for her and that her father would have a search team out here if they didn't find her by morning. She stretched out and yawned, suddenly feeling quite tired. Her eyes grew heavy and the grass became more and more comfortable.

Crack!

Holland ignored the chilling sound of twigs snatching and closed her eyes. She could hear the laughter echoing around her and growing louder and louder but she just kept getting sleepier and sleepier. Just as she was about to fall asleep, she heard a soft whistle going along to the tune that her father used to hum.

"Daddy?" Holland asked, barely opening her eyes. She could just make out a blurry form coming closer and she sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. The soft tune continued, now in a female hum. "Daddy, is that you?"

Holland finally opened her eyes, seeing clear in the dark now. She saw a figure with light, almost white, hair floating above their head. The figure hovered just a few inches above ground with it's pale arms stretched out towards Holland. Her mouth fell open as the creature drew near and she found herself entranced by it.

"Holly," the creature said, it's voice so sweet and luring. "Holly, won't you come play with me?"

"W-who are you?" Holland stammered. The creature didn't speak again, it just kept drawing closer and closer to her. "Please, tell me who you are!" Holland was in tears now, shaking and wishing she had stayed by the lake.

"Holly," the creature said. It was close enough now that Holland could see it's face.

Cracked bone made up a skull with razor sharp teeth and black holes where eyes should have been. A black snake slowly slithered through the eyes of the creature and down towards the mouth. It's beady eyes glanced towards Holland before it slithered back into the creatures mouth. Holland screamed in horror and turned to run but the creature grabbed hold of her. She continued to scream and tried desperately to wriggle free.

"Holly," the creature said. It's voice was more hoarse and demanding, "Holly, won't you come play with me? I've been waiting so long for someone to play with me, Holly."

"Get away from me!" Holland screamed. She shoved the creature back and heard the unmistakable sound of bone shattering before she ran off.

"Holly," the creature said, chasing after her. "Holly come play!"

Holland screamed for her parents, for her brother, for anyone. She ran as fast as her tired little legs would go with tears streaming down her face. She jumped over tree roots and dodged low branches, running left and right in a desperate attempt to flee from the ghoulish creature but it was always just a few feet behind her when she turned around.

"Holly!" That was her brother's voice, she was sure of it.

"Leo! Help!" Holland shouted. With a new sense of hope, Holland ran faster and faster, a thankful smile lighting up her tear stained face. "Leo! Leo! There's a monster in here!"

"Holly!" Leo called, sounding even more distant than before.

"Holly," the creature said. "Don't leave me, I want to play with you."

"Go away! You're not real!" Holland shouted.

"You've made me angry Holly," the creature said.

Before she could even wonder what that could have meant, Holland saw the ground rising up in front of her. She skidded to a halt and looked up in horror as the ground floated above her. She looked back and shrieked at the sight of the ghoulish monster. It was on fire, burning everything it touched as it made it's way towards Holland.

Holland stared in horror as the creature became bigger and bigger in her eyes. The last thing she saw was the demon's bony fingers stretching out to grasp her before she collapsed on the ground.

"Holland! Holland!"

Holland woke up to her brother holding her by the shoulders and shaking her frantically. She jumped and pushed him away, screaming in terror. He grabbed her and held her close to him while she screamed. Soon, she realized that he was not the horrible monster that had just chased her through the woods and she began to cry. She held on to Leo's shirt as if her life depended on it and sobbed into his chest.

"Holly, what happened?"

She couldn't answer him, she didn't want to. Holland never wanted to think about what happened in the woods ever again. Leo picked her up and carried her back to the campsite where her father grabbed her and held her all night. The next morning, she begged and begged to go home until the family finally gave in. They went home and Holland tried to keep the terrifying monster she had seen out of her thoughts.