1 The House In The Woods
Note: Events in this story may be different from the original storyline due to this interpretation of the story so far.
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The eye of judgement is always watching. Even though the eye may blink, it's always watching. It can see everything. Even your sins.
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I could see the blue static of the TV draw me deeper into my own illusion. It took me a few moments to realize that I was violently torn out of whatever static was playing through my mind. I fell on my back, but the ground below me felt moist, and, now that I think about it, it felt very muddy. I looked around at my surroundings, and I knew that I was in the middle of a gigantic forest, filled with dark, ominous trees and lush grass. Behind me, there was a television that seemed to be randomly out of place where I was. Even more surprising, it looked like it was still on, even though it wasn't plugged into an electrical outlet. Immediately, the light of the TV screen died out with a whimper.
Where the hell even am I, anyway? The boy looked at his surroundings, wondering how he ended up in the woods of all places. He remembered looking into a TV screen in the city, almost seemingly getting dragged into it, then experiencing a series of strange visions down a hallway before finally ending up here, in the woodlands. Well, by the looks of it, there doesn't seem to be any of those...those things out here at the moment. In fact, this forest actually looks kind of peaceful, excluding the slightly dark vibes to it. But I just can't sit here all day. I need to see if I can find a safe place, or a shelter, or something to keep me safe. I have no idea what kind of dangerous creatures are out there in the woods.
I'm an uncommonly single-minded kind of person. When I set myself up for a task, I rarely give up until it is completed.
He went on his way, walking through the rich grass in the forest, ready to start his search. He also made sure to check that his current clothes would be enough to manage through the forest. First and foremost, the boy wore a brown paper bag that covered his entire head, with two small eye holes cut out so that he could see out of it. He wore it because it gave him a feeling of refuge from the outside world. Not that his face was deformed or anything, in fact, he looked like what you would probably expect from a normal young boy. But the mask helped him hide from his feelings. It helped him forget about all of the horrible things happening around in the world, forget that the outside world hates him, and forget how cruel the outside world was to him.
It was that mask that helped him hide away from the world and his emotions. The boy also wore a buttoned-up olive colored trench coat that reached below his knees, and a small brownish-gray jacket that he tucked in. He also had a pair of small black rain boots to keep his feet protected, too. Perfect for keeping warm and for going through any rainy or soggy weather.
I don't know why, but I feel very peaceful here. Like, something about nature itself that makes me forget about the world, a place where I can be free with my thoughts and clear my head. Feels kind of ironic, doesn't it? All alone out here, by myself. No one here but Mono. Mono was the boy's name. In Latin, it meant "one" or "single", which was exactly what Mono was feeling right now. Alone.
"Hey, is anyone out there?", he cried out, wanting to see if he would get a response from someone close by. Nothing. It didn't hurt to try, I suppose. Mono continued walking through the forest, careful to watch his back for anything out of the ordinary. He didn't see anything out of the usual, until he came across a dirty-looking vent shaft underneath a large tree. Huh? If there's a vent here, then there must be some kind of building or something connected to this, right? The fact that it was located directly under a tree was still confusing to him, but that didn't bother him at the moment. Right now I just want to see where this will take me. He took off the steel vent cover, and crawled inside of the vent, only to find himself in a very dirty underground tunnel instead.
The ground below him was wet and messy, and he could feel his hands get all muddy. There was a large collection of rocks and tree roots crowded in the tunnel with him that seemed to stretch out endlessly. I guess whoever made this didn't have enough money to build an actual vent. Or I'm just thinking too hard about this. Mono crawled through the dirty tunnel, and saw a light at the other opening end of the tunnel. When he finally crawled out of the tunnel, though, he started smelling something disgusting. Something rotting, slowly draining away, like the scent of death itself. And when he finally went back into the forest and looked around, he saw something that disturbed him.
Hanging from one of the trees was a large ball, tied together, with several rotting limbs poking out of the sides. The flesh of the limbs was already decomposing, and several large swarms of flies circled around the ball, feasting upon the fleshy remains of what were once human beings. Arms, legs, feet, and more decaying remains were among the things sticking out.
Just the horrible smell and sight of such disgusting rotting flesh made Mono take off his paper bag mask and throw up behind one of the trees. My God, that image is now burned in my mind. What happened to those poor people? And who would be disgusting enough to do something like this?
Mono was already getting vibes that he shouldn't be here, that if he didn't move along quickly, he might end up like one of those people in that ball. Without a second's hesitation, he frantically continued along, trying as hard as possible to ignore the ghastly stench that made him feel queasy. Not long after, he encountered some sort of carcass of a dead animal next to a large tree, and what seemed to be a tripwire hook trap in front of it.
Mono looked directly up and saw the boxed cage that was tied into the tripwire trap. How dumb do you think I am? I'm not tripping over that. He made sure to carefully jump over the wire, and thankfully, the trap wasn't triggered. Pretty sure this trap was made for some kind of animal. And if there's a trap, there's usually someone who set up the traps to catch prey. So I better watch out for anything like that.
A short while later, while Mono was still traveling into the woods, he came across a very creaky and misshapen bridge. There was a very large and cavernous ravine below him, so dark that he couldn't even see the bottom of it. That means either I have to travel all the way around the ravine, or I can take my chances with the bridge and go.
Mono didn't think the bridge was too damaged, and he thought he was light enough for the bridge to support, so he chose to carefully cross the wooden bridge. He had absolute focus, being careful not to step too harshly in fear of breaking the planks in the bridge floor. He heard a lot of creaking as he went over to the other side, and stopped in his tracks when he accidentally stepped a bit too hard on the bridge and broke a plank. Now that was a close call. The broken plank then fell into the depths of the gorge, never to be seen again.
Mono made sure to cross the rest of the bridge with absolute care, and before he knew it, he made it across the fragile bridge. That could've gone wrong in many ways, but the risk I took was worth it. I still have to keep moving forward and look for more, though. Although a short while afterwards, Mono came across some more traps, lied out and spread across the ground. But these ones were none other than bear traps, large enough to snare and crunch right into human flesh and bone, to leave you in a painful grip as the agony gets worse. Definitely do not want to trigger any of these, that is for sure. There was even little pieces of meat in the bear traps used as bait, too, so Mono thought that whoever set those traps must've known what they were doing. And if there are hunting traps, there is usually a hunter.
Eventually, he came across a bear trap with a stick lodged in it, and a gigantic tree trunk lying on the ground, with another bear trap lying in front of it. Let's see, going through that trunk is probably the fastest way down there, but I can't go with that trap in the way. If I can trigger it at a safe distance, then maybe I can move on. He then grabbed and broke the long stick from the bear trap and held it in his hands. Speak softly and carry a big stick, I guess.
He slammed the stick on top of the bear trap, and the trap instantly crunched the mere stick to pieces. Good, now to move on through the trunk. It was a very long and empty tree trunk, probably from a large tree that was cut down a long time ago. It was moist, and there were many signs of fungi in there, too. Once Mono crawled through the trunk and exited it, he found himself in an area surrounded by a lot of leaves. Too many leaves, now that he thought about it.
Something is telling me that there's something wrong here. How many more of those bear traps could be hiding underneath there? Mono looked for the nearest thing that he could find, another stick, and started waking the ground in front of him, hoping to trigger any unforeseen traps. The trap instantly snapped shut and crunched the tiny branch, and as a result, four more bear traps snapped and crunched all at the same time. Holy crap, there's more than I thought. There was still quite a way for him to go, and he didn't know how many other bear traps there could've been hiding under those leaves, so Mono went backwards and looked for anything else he could find to use as a trigger. The only resource left to his disposal that he could find, however, was a lot of pinecones. Large enough to throw, just heavy enough to trigger a trap. These will do just fine.
Mono took his pinecones and took aim, throwing them out into the many leaves covering the ground. Instantly, several bear traps reacted all at once, simultaneously snapping, and leaving a safe passage way for him to follow along. Alright then, that's perfect. Just need to carefully walk through here without triggering any more traps and we are good to go.
As he tiptoed with extreme care, he finally made it to the other side, safe from any other traps. But as he got to the other side, he noticed something else. There was something in the distance. Something big. Something wooden. A place where he could take shelter. There was a wooden cabin house in the distance, surrounded by tall yellow grass. A place of refuge.
Thank God! I need to get inside and take shelter now! Without thinking, Mono ran towards the mysterious house, but as he got closer to the entrance, he noticed that there were several boxes and cages on the front lawn. Cages that looked like they were used for trapping raccoons and other vermin out in the wild. Maybe the guy who put out those traps lives here? I mean, if the traps are very close to this house, it would make sense.
Desperate to find a place to stay, Mono decided to approach the front porch of the house. There was an open window on the side that he thought he could go through, since the door to the house was locked, not surprisingly. First, though, he had to grab one of the box crates from the front lawn in order to reach up to the window. He was kind of short, if he was being honest.
As he climbed up on the crate and through the window, he found himself in the stranger's house. He was now in the kitchen room. He could tell that because there was a large table in the middle of the room, with a large pot of some kind of unrecognizable stew brewing. There were also a series of kitchen cabinets, an oven, a white refrigerator, a kitchen sink, and many other things.
The room was barely lit, the only light being a dimly lit lightbulb hanging from the ceiling above the table. Mono looked around, and found that the rest of the kitchen seemed to be pretty neatly cleaned up, excluding the stew. There was a similar horrible stench to it that resembled the stench from the rotting carcass in the woods. I'm guessing whoever made this is clearly not Gordon Ramsey, Mono thought.
Eventually, Mono got bored of the kitchen and decided to try and find an exit, and he found a door at the end of the room. When he entered through into the hallway of the house, though, he could start hearing a faint noise. It was hard to describe at first, but as he stopped to listen to it, the noise sounded like a faint melody. Almost like a song you would hear if you wound up one of those ballerina toys, to give an example.
He tried looking around, hoping to see where the music was coming from. He also got a good look at the rest of the home, too. The floor had nice, dark oak wood tiles, several pictures of animals hanging on the walls, a decapitated buck head trophy, among other things. Mono even found the dressing room, where several coats, large hats, and other supplies were. He noticed that there was a small hat, just about the right size for him. It was a raccoon fur hat. This actually looks pretty comfortable.
He took the hat with him and continued listening to the melody. Now it sounded very soothing, and he could hear it coming from a slightly opened door to the basement area. Where is that song coming from? Mono figured that he didn't really have anything better to do, so he decided to check it out just for the hell of it. He slowly walked down the staircase into the basement, where he noticed that the melody was getting louder as he moved further down. That music is definitely coming from down here, he thought. By the time he got down into the basement, he saw that there was a workbench and several bags filled with wooly fluff down here. There seemed to be some kind of knitting machine, along with some string, a few threads, and a chopping axe as well.
He could still hear the music, and he thought it was coming from the door next to the workbench, so Mono carefully walked over to the door to try to see what was making the music. When he tried to turn the door handle, it was locked, though, but there was a tiny crack through the door, which he could see through the other side of it. He decided to take a peek to see what was going on. On the other side, he could see another child, like him, sitting down on the floor, playing with what seemed to be some kind of music box. It was a little girl, probably around his age, winding the music box that was making the melody. From what he could tell, she looked very sad, almost like that little music box was the only thing giving her any comfort at all. Is she imprisoned here or something? Who would lock a little girl in their basement?
Mono thought the right thing to do was to help free her, that is, if she was indeed trapped in there with no way out. Even if he didn't even know who this girl's name was, he couldn't just leave her trapped there all by herself. He felt committed to helping those who needed it the most, especially those who couldn't help themselves. I have to find something that I can use to break into that room! Something large, sharp...as he looked around for something to use, that tree axe came across his eye. Oh yes, this will most certainly do!
Of course, it was very heavy, so Mono couldn't hold it normally. Instead, he ended up dragging it along the floor with him. I feel like some kind of serial killer dragging this along, for some reason. He prepared himself to lift the axe, and swiftly brought it down on the bottom part of the door. A small part of the door chipped off, but not enough to climb through. Mono lifted the axe again and struck the door once more, causing more of it to break, but still not enough. Finally, once more, he lifted the axe and struck it with much more force than before, and broke through the door. Time to go see who that girl is.
To be continued in Chapter Two...
