The rhythm of the wind

Natalia turned to the few people who remained at her side despite their fears, "The trail leads into the woods, she's losing a lot of blood so she shouldn't have gotten far."

At least a quarter of the small remaining faction left upon seeing the appearance of the woods Natalia wanted them to venture into.

It was still early in the morning and the sun was drawing closer to its peak, but in this part of the woods, no matter how bright the day was, there was always nothing but pitch-black darkness. It was a phenomenon no scientist or historian could comprehend, and those who ventured inside never returned to tell of its secrets.

The dark area in the middle of Roma City woods has been there for ages and generations of men with their respective technologies and methods tried all they could, but only a small group of curious and naive teenagers over fifty years ago succeeded in learning anything of the mysteries behind the 'Gateway to Hell.'

There were seven of them, two women and five men. The bravest of them all, the ringleader, decided to be the one to venture inside. They tied his waist with a rope attached to a large and sturdy tree and all six held on firmly, ready to pull their friend back out if the worst was to happen.

The young man who dared to enter the darkness was called Charlie, with a walkie-talkie in one hand and a flashlight in the other, he narrated all he saw to his friends. "It's pretty dark in here."

"That's why you have a flashlight, dingus," one of his friends commented.

Charlie shined the flashlight all over his surroundings, "It looks just like the rest of the woods minus the scattered bones and stuff."

"This is a bad idea, please come back now, Charlie, you've seen enough," one of the women pleaded, but Charlie was hellbent on reaching the other end of the woods.

He placed the walkie-talkie in the top pocket of his jeans jacket before saying, "Calm down, babe." With his hand on the shotgun in the pocket of his pants, he reassured her, "I took my father's gun, if anything comes at me, I'll aim for the head and kill it."

"Woah, Charlie, you're the man!" his friends cheered, but he shushed them when he heard something strange.

"W-What is it? Should we pull you back?"

"No, wait," he started and continued to look around with furrowed brows. "Do you guys hear that?"

"Hear what?"

Charlie shined the flashlight about the area, "It's coming from everywhere."

"Charlie, what is it? What are you hearing? Talk to us!"

"Someone's...someone's singing," he finally told them. "A man."

"Can't you guys hear it?" he went on to question.

His friends looked at each other with furrowed brows before standing in silence listening keenly, but all they heard was the sound of their own breathing and the sound of the dried plants swaying to the rhythm of the wind.

"We don't hear anything."

Charlie couldn't understand, the voice was so loud it echoed all around him, how can they not hear it?

"What song is it?"

"Is that really important right now?" one of the women argued.

"What? I wanna see if the ghost in there has good taste."

Charlie ignored their short bickering and went on to say, "I don't know, i-it's in another language so I can't understand it, but it sounds like a love song, the melody is slow, gentle, and a bit sad."

"That's it, I'm getting you out of there."

"No, wait!" Charlie urged, but his friends have already made up their minds, they were getting him out of there.

"Sorry bud, but I'm with Nancy on this one. Creepy music, scattered bones, what's next? White misty ghosts of dead people? Hell no, we're getting you out of there."

"No, wait," Charlie insisted once more, but this time he added, "There's someone else in here."

"What?"

Charlie slowly stepped closer to where he saw someone seated on a tree root dressed in white. "There's someone else," he said once more. "A little girl, she's crying."

"That's impossible, there's no way someone could actually be in there."

"What if the people that come in here aren't attacked by any monster or demon, they just can't find their way back out so they're trapped?" Charlie argued, while slowly approaching the small girl.

"Don't be an idiot, Charlie, that little girl is most likely a ghost or something. Stop being stubborn and let us pull you ba-"

The guy that was talking looked at the walkie-talkie in disbelief, "Did that dick just cut me off?" He tried contacting Charlie again, "Charlie? Come in, Charlie? Respond asshole?!"

He angrily yelled and smashed the communicating device into the tree. "If he wants to die then he can go ahead! I'm done with this bullshit."

"Greg wait," Nancy tried to stop him, but he flashed her hand off and stormed away.

The other woman in the group smiled reassuringly at Nancy, "Don't worry too much about, Greg, he just needs a little time to cool off."

Nancy nodded taking her eyes from the direction Greg stormed into and returning them to the darkness her boyfriend continuously refused to leave. She wiped her wet cheeks before sternly saying, "We're getting Charlie out of there, whether he's ready to leave or not."

Charlie took the shotgun from his pocket as he slowly approached the sobbing girl. "P-Please h-help me," he heard the small girl plea in-between her sobs and he dropped his guard.

He placed a hand on the pale skin of the girl's shoulder, "It's okay, I'll get you out of here."

"Really?" he heard the girl question, but he saw the most horrifying sight when he finally saw her face. It was deformed, bloody, and absolutely terrifying, he couldn't help but scream at the sight and even more when the small girl's mouth that was located to the far side of her face opened wide!

"Aaahhh!!"

Nancy and the rest of Charlie's friends shot their heads in the direction of the yell and immediately started to pull on the rope amidst their fear and panic.

"Pull harder, we need to get him out!" Nancy commanded between sobs.

"Something's pulling back, we...we can't!"

The rope stiffened, Charlie's friends couldn't hold on anymore, it was now between the tree and whatever was pulling on the opposite end in the darkness.

"Nancy, look out!" one of the guys yelled before jumping on top of Nancy, forcing her to the ground, just as the tree was uprooted from the ground and pulled into the darkness.