Crooked Trees

Alice had zoned out, as she often did. She had an overactive imagination, as she was told one to many times.

Currently, she was sitting under a tree, writing in the journal she always carried with her. The journal was one of her most prized possessions. She would write everything in it: her feelings, story starts, prompts, ideas, hopes and more.

Right now, she was writing about a story, where there was a boy named Ben, who’s found out he has a twin sister in a different realm.

Alice did have friends. A lot, actually. Though she had come to the tree to write in peace. Alice would join them when she finished, and they knew that.

As Alice’s pen flew across the page, the ideas travelling from her head to the pen, she felt peace. She always did when she wrote. It was her coping strategy for everything as well as fun. She never left her house without her journal.

It was strange, how a little blue book with empty pages, could bring Alice so much happiness. She blew her golden hair out of her face as she wrote.

Alice walked from the bus stop, listing to Raine, her best friend.
“We should skip maths tomorrow.” Raine looked at Alice, her brown and turquoise hair bouncing in its ponytail as they walked.

“No, we have a test.” Alice reminded her, rolling her eyes.

“Exactly! Tests are boring, we should skip.” Raine smirked, her notorious glint in her dark-blue eyes.

“No. It’s a big test. You know what would happen if my parents found out I skipped?”
“So don’t tell them!”
“No. I’m not skipping.” Alice said, her tone firm.

Raine stuck her tongue out, wrinkling her freckled nose. “Ugh, you’re no fun.”

“Oh, shush.” Alice huffed, and Raine laughed. The sunlight glinted on the Raine’s flower design ring that Alice had given her.

The two fell into a comfortable silence, the one only friends could make.

“You always wear those earrings.” Raine said, gesturing to Alice’s dangling sunflower earrings. Raine herself had triple pierced ears, that had two small hoops and a circle stud on each ear.

“Cause I like them.” Alice answered. It was her answer every time someone aid that, and it was true. She loved them. They had been a gift from her mother for her eleven-year-old birthday party, and she had absolutely adored them.

“You always say that.” Raine complained, pouting.
“Well, it’s true.” Alice shrugged, laughing at her friends pouting.

“And now you’re laughing at me. You just keep getting meaner and meaner.” Raine dramatically put her hand over her heart, pretending to be hurt. “You wound me, Alice.”

Alice rolled her eyes, nudging Raine with her shoulder. “Shut up.” Raine laughed, nudging Alice back.

Alice was sitting at her laptop, her green eyes going from the blue journal open next to re to the laptop in front of her. She did this at the end of every day. Alice would sit at her desk and copy down what she had written down in her journal onto her laptop, so she would never lose any of it. It was currently eleven thirty pm. Alice moved the pen of the journal and flipped the page as her dad came in.

“Still up?” He asked.

“Copying onto laptop.” She responded, not looking up. Her dad leaned against the door frame.

“Finish up soon. Your mother and I are going to bed now, and you have a maths test tomorrow.”
“K.”

“Love you.”
Alice looked up and smiled at him. “Love you too, dad.”
Her dad smiled back, before closing the door and walking away. Alice heard his footsteps fading to his shared bedroom with her mum. Soon, the only thing that could be heard in Alice’s room was the clicking of the keys on the keyboard and the occasional flip of the journal’s page.

Finally, hours later, Alice closed her laptop and journal, before snuggling into bed and turning off the light. She turned off the lamp on her bedside table, before rolling over and closing her eyes.

Alice had fallen asleep on the bus. She had fallen asleep at three am, and her body was feeling it.

When she woke up, she knew she had missed her stop. Alice immediately pressed the stop button, hoping to get on the next bus so she can get back to school. She knew she had a massive test in maths, and that her parents were going to kill her if she missed it.

When she got off, she checked her phone, except it was dead.

Huh. I swear it was on one hundred percent when I left. Alice thought, frowning down at her phone.

She looked for something else to use, but there was no digital or even printed timetables.

Alice looked around, taking not of her surroundings.

It was eerie and empty. Nothing but the bus shelter she was standing at, and an identical one across the road. A streetlight flickered next to her, illuminating the darkness. A forest was next to the road on both sides, and a turn in the road, where Alice couldn’t see what was beyond the bend.

How long had she been asleep for? Did she sleep through the whole day?

Crap.

It started pouring down rain. She stood under the shelter, which wasn’t doing much to keep the cold from getting to her bones. Alice looked up and down the road, hoping for a bus to come soon, when she saw something, which she hadn’t before.

A store, with the sign that read: ‘OP SHOP: 5 AND BELOW! We Take What You Don’t Want!’ It had a cartoon loin smiling underneath.

That hadn’t been there before… had it?

Alice figured the shop would be warmer, so she took a breath and walked towards the shop. When she entered, a bell rang. There didn’t seem to be any shoppers or employees in the shop. The door closed, and a shiver ran down her spine, despite it being much warmer inside. She pushed her wet hair out of her face and looked around. It was just as eerie as outside, and just as empty of people.

Alice decided she may as well look around while she’s in there. She walked past bags and shoes, dresses and jeans, books and toys. She stopped when she saw a phone.

It was small and plain. Alice reached for it, turning it on. It made a ding nose when it did.

“Can I help you, dearie?”

Alice nearly dropped the phone, spinning around to see who it was.

It was an elderly woman. Her face was wrinkled, her hair as gray as smoke. It was cut in a blunt bob. She wore jeans and flats, in a white flower-patterned blouse. She wore a blue vest with the same cartoony loin on the back, with a name tag that read Dorothy.

“Sorry, love. I didn’t mean to scare you.” Dorothy said. “Are you interested in that phone there?”
Alice blinked, then shook her head. Where had this woman come from?
“U-uh, yeah… how much is it?” She asked.

“$5, lovely.” The woman smiled.

“Only $5?” Alice raised her eyebrows.

“Yes, dearie. Everything is five and below!” Dorothy chuckled at her own joke. Her smile grew wider… too wide. Her mouth stretched unnaturally, revealing all her teeth, including the back ones. As though realising she made a mistake, she dropped her mouth back down to a regular smile.

Alice blinked at Dorothy, becoming more aware of the shop.

“But you can have that for free, dearie.” Dorothy continued smiling at Alice.

“Really?” Who was this woman?

“Absolutely. You’re going to need it.”

Alice looked down at the phone and went to look back up at Dorothy. But she was gone.

It had stopped raining, so she walked back out to the bus shelter. When she sat down, she looked back to the shop, but it was like Dorothy. Appearing and disappearing without a sound or trace.

Alice considered that she might have made it up, that her mind was playing tricks, if not for the phone in her hands.

The phone’s screen light up with a message.

Unknown: Do not get on the next bus.

Alice stared at the message as the bus pulled up. She stayed sitting, out of curiosity to see what happened. The bus pulled away, and it was almost at the bend in the road, when a truck came flying past, hitting the bus. Somehow, the truck was unharmed aside from a few scratches, and it continued flying down the road. The bus, however, was not as lucky. It rolled off the road, the force of the impact sending it rolling into the forest and out of view. Bird shrieks filled the air as the sound of the bus crashing into trees and bushes slowly turned faint.

Alice blinked at the spot where she last saw the bus.

How had that number known?

Unknown: You should keep listening to me.

Alice stared at the message, before replying.

Alice: Who are you?

Undelivered. Weird…

She tried to call emergency services – police, ambulance, firefighters, anyone – but it wouldn’t work, for some reason.

While Alice waited for another message from Unknown, as she had decided to call them, or for another bus, her mind drifted.

How did she get here? What was that op shop? Who was Dorothy? Was she hiding something? Who was Unknown? How did they know about the crash? Could they be the person in the truck?

The screen lit up again.

Unknown: Get on the next bus.

Alice considered not listening to Unknown, just to see what would happen.

Unknown: Don’t even consider not listening to me.

Alice gulped. How had they known?

A bus pulled up.

Unknown: Get. On.

Alice hesitantly got on. Once she got on and sat down, she tried texting Unknown.

Alice: Who are you?

Undelivered.

Then, just as the bus pulled away, a figure emerged from the shadows of the forest.

It’s desiccated, ash-grey skin pulled taught over its bones, causing them to stick out. Its glowing red eyes were pushed back deep into their sockets. Its head was that of a deer skull with antlers, full of sharp yellow teeth which it showed when it snarled. She saw its long blue tongue, its lips flecked with blood. It had long, gangly front arms and deer hind legs. The front arms had human-like hands, while the hind legs had hooves. It stood on its back legs, making itself look taller and even more terrifying, it’s lion-like tail flicking behind it. At its full height, it was almost five meters tall.

The wendigo roared, and Alice felt all her breathe leave her, her heart hammering like it was jackhammer. She knew about wendigos, how they got bigger whenever they ate something, and how if you encounter it, you feel a thirst for human flesh. She could feel the effects of simply being near it. The bus rounded the corner, then wendigo falling out of sight, Alice’s heart still thumping against her ribs.

Would it chase the bus?

After about half an hour, she started to calm down, the adrenaline leaving her. The wendigo hadn’t chased the bus.

Once Alice had fully calmed down, she looked around. The bus was normal, and no one on it but her.

The phone lit up.

Unknown: Told you.

Alice felt like crying.

Where was she? Was that wendigo after her? Who’s Unknown? Or they a friend or enemy?

Sure, Unknown had saved her from a wendigo, but they had also sounded threatening in some of their messages, and then just told her ‘I told you’ after she had a panic attack.

How had they known that she was thinking of not listing to them before?

Alice curled up on the seat, but her eyes started dropping. The phone said 10:45 as it lights up with another message.

Unknown: Sleep. Rest those beautiful eyes.

So, they had seen her… Alice looked around, but she was still the only person on the bus.

Unknown: Trust me. Nothing bad will happen if you listen to me, Alice.

Alice stared down at the message. Alice had hardly spoken while in that… place, aside from talking to Dorothy, and even than she hadn’t said her name.

But her eyes betrayed her. They slowly shut, but just before they did, Alice swore she saw a man watching her.

As Alice walked home, her mind wondered. She thought back to that place, it’s where her mind went in most of her free time now.

When Alice had woken up 3 days ago, she was shocked to say the least. The phone Dorothy gave her was nowhere to be found.

Was it all a dream? Who was the man on the bus? Who was Unknown? Had she made him up, as well as that place?

Alice tried to convince herself that it was a dream.

Of course it was. She had thought. Wendigos aren’t even real… right?

As she walked along the footpath on the sweltering day, her phone buzzed.

Unknown: Get off the path.

Alice chocked on air, her heart racing. She got off the path just as a venomous snake slithered the path and onto the road.

If Unknown was real, so was that place… it hadn’t been a dream. It hadn’t been a dream. It hadn’t been a dream. Alice repeated that thought in her head over and over again.

Unknown: You thought you made me up?

Unknown: I’m very real, Alice.

Alice: Who are you?

Delivered.

Wait, what?

The message was meant to say undelivered.

Read.

Oh god…

They read it.

They had read it.

Typing…

They’re answering.

Unknown: Come on, Alice. You saw me on the bus. Use that pretty head of yours.

Alice’s heart raced faster, if possible.

Alice: I don’t know.

Her throat was dry as she swallowed.

Unknown: You’ll find out soon 😉