A Tale of Curiosity

Come closer and let me tell you a tale of foolish curiosity and monsters and madness.

It began with a curious young woman, nightmares and rumours.

The locals spoke in whispers of a creature hiding in the shadows, animals disappearing, howls in the night. Fear for their sanity kept them indoors when the moon was full, only one had survived having seen the beast, and she was locked away both inside her own mind, and behind bars.

But Alice wished to know more, what had happened to the woman, what had she seen ?

She had always been the curious sort, even as a child, always following rabbits into places she shouldn't, and with that same bravery she set off to visit the village witch.



"Come in young woman, take a seat and tell me why you have come to me?"

As Alice looked around and the lady's dwelling she wondered if perhaps she was in over her head, but she sat and began to tell the lady her reason for visiting.

She explained about wishing to know of the woman in the asylums tale, but also of strange dreams she had been having of noises in the dark, and a feeling of impending doom.

The lady listened, nodding sympathy when needed, and encouraging Alice to speak of her dreams.

"I know of what happened to the woman, and I can show you in vision if you wish, but are you sure you wish to know the truth?"

Foolishly Alice agreed, and reaching out to her the lady spoke "The take my hand, and gaze into the smoke and I will show you all you wish to know"

Tentatively Alice reached out and took the lady's hand.

And as she gazed into the smoke rising in front of her, her vision wavered and her view faded away until she no longer saw the lady's home.

Instead she was stood before a door to an old farm barn, the farm yard was abandoned and neglected.
She reached out and opened to door in front of her.

She entered the barn, which was as empty as the yard she had left, but felt odd, like she was not alone.

Walking further into the barn, Alice got a feeling she had been here before, had she been here in one of her nightmares, or had she been here for real? She did not know, but something on the dividing wall caught her eye, and she walked closer.

Getting closer she saw odd markings on the wall, as of someone, or something had been scratching, or clawing to get out. What could possibly have caused them.

She reached towards them to judge the size which the claws must have been to cause this. But as she did so, she got a strange feeling and an odd realisation came over her. This was no vision that the witch was showing her, this was a memory. Alice remembered, this was her memory, being here, being trapped, no way out.

As her fingers touched the scratches she heard another noise, close behind.

 A movement, and a low growl, slowly coming closer.

A warm breath on her neck, and a scream building in her throat.

Then, nothing but darkness.

She awoke in her cell again, same dream, same nightmare, every night since it happened. And she knew tonight she would go curiously again to the witch's door, one again to re-live the event.

Foolish girl.

If you enjoyed my tale, be sure to visit Vanessa and the other party's at: A Fanciful Twist Halloween party.