Chapter 21：Middle of nowhere

Belle opened her eyes that felt heavy right now. It took her a couple of blinks for her vision to clear and when she finally noticed where she was. She was surrounded by trees. A lot of trees making her believe she was in a forest right now but how? A few seconds ago she was in her room, waiting for Lucas to open the gift box but here she was now, all alone standing in the middle of the forest which she had no clue about where exactly she was.

The forest was cold enough to bite into her skin making her shiver along with goosebumps that formed all over her body. Belle had never felt this cold, not even during the time of snow.

She wondered if she was imagining and blinked her eyes several times hoping she would be back in her room but nothing happened. She was still there.

Where she stood, the forest was eerily quiet and the sky looked dark. Wanting to find a way out of this forest, she started to walk through the forest, her feet causing small crunching sounds as her shoes stamped on the dried leaves. After walking for some distance, Belle realized this wasn't Bonelake. It had been raining for many weeks and months, the leaves under her shoes couldn't be dry to create the crunching sound if she were still in the East land.

The breeze that passed through the forest rustled the leaves, creating a series of whispers in the wind as she walked. Owls hooted in a distance and when a crow flew across cawing up in the sky, she looked up and looked back in front of her to find someone standing at a distance from where she was right now and she gulped.

The hooded figure stood there, looking at her, and Belle was scared right now. She didn't care where it came from but she had to get out of this place.

"Who is there?" she asked, clutching her hands together.

"Come here, Belle," came the whisper-like voice from the hooded figure who was in front of her. She bit the inside of her cheek as hard as she could hoping to get back to reality because she had never seen or been to a place like this before, "Me has been waiting for you," at the same time another crow cawed and she could feel her blood turning colder.

The hooded figure raised its hand and it was when she caught sight of the bones. Fingers that had no flesh on it but were made of bare bones that looked rusty and old. It was a creature she had never come across before. When the creature took a step forward, she took two of them back making it stop.

"Who are you?" she questioned the creature, her voice leaving a sliver of nervousness because of the unknown place she was in.

"Me…" the creature whispered the word, "Me, is your soul taker."

Belle wondered what she had eaten wrong that she had started to hallucinate something this strange but whatever it was she could only hope to get out of it as soon as she can.

"I am sorry I don't know you," and though she muttered these words under her breath, the creature had heard her loud and clear.

"But I know. I have been waiting for you since you were...little," the uncomfortable feeling turned ten folds higher by hearing it say this. Since she was little?

She wanted to run away to find a path and she didn't know in which direction she was supposed to go. She doubted the creature would be kind enough to tell her where to find the path when it had specifically spoken about 'taking her soul'.

"I want to take your soul, savor it. It smells so sweet and delicious. There is only a little left but come here before that disappears away from your body. She started to walk away from the creature when she heard the creature ask, "Where are you going?" as if in confusion.

Far away from you, you freak! said Belle in her mind.

Seeing her start to walk away, the creature started to follow her to her dread and Belle soon started to make a run, and the creature quickly started to run behind her. As it was dark, it was hard to see its feet but she could hear the stomps on the ground that came from behind her.

Belle ran and ran until she finally stood behind a tree that was large enough to hide her. But she knew staying here would make the creature search for her and with that thought, she climbed the tree and sat on top holding back her dress so that it wasn't evident she was here.

As expected, the creature stopped moving and it came to stand near the tree, moving its body slowly in search of the girl.

"Don't think you can escape from me. Me, can smell you," said the creature standing below and circling near the tree, "Me has been waiting and waiting and now you are here. Where are you?" its whispered voice reached her ears and Belle covered her nose and mouth to not let it hear her breath.

How was she going to get away from this? She still had no idea where she was. All she could see was trees and more trees that never ended. In a distance, she heard a wolf-like howl that echoed throughout the forest.

If her mother was here, Belle would have told how important it was to learn how to climb trees and how it was helping her right now.

"You think me can't find you. Me can," said the hooded figure.

While Belle was looking at the creature, she didn't realize that there was another hooded creature that was right behind her. Hearing a soft rustle behind her, she finally turned around to see find another hooded creature that had its rusty bony fingers reaching out to her, and in an attempt to get away, she lost her balance. She started to fall and in the next second, she was back in her room.

She found herself lying on the bed and she quickly sat up to find Lucas who was next standing next to her bed. Her head still hurt and Lucas got her a glass of water. She was confused about what was going on.

"What happened?" she asked him.

"You fell unconscious. How do you feel?"

Taking a couple of sips, she looked up at him and gulped down the water.

"I don't know," she whispered. Would he believe her if she said that she was dreaming about some creatures in hoods who were trying to eat her or her soul? Was it even possible? Taking a chance she said, "I felt like I was somewhere else a few minutes ago."

"What kind of place?" he inquired, taking the empty glass from her.

"Like a forest. I met someone there, something actually."

"Something?" Though Lucas' expression didn't change, the way his eyes looked at her, there was a doubt of suspicion in there and she could see it. His eyes were curious, "What was it?"

It was the first time Belle had seen the butler turn curious about something. His eyes were fixed on her, "Tall, hooded, skeleton hand," and she saw his eyes narrow slightly at her, "The creature spoke about wanting my soul. Do you know something like that?" she asked, her red eyes looking up at him.

And she heard him reply, "No. I don't think I ever heard about something like that. You must be tired. Get some sleep, Miss Belle. I will have Portia to get your food up here to your room," he gave her a bow and a smile which Belle was not buying.

This time it was Belle who looked at him suspiciously. It wasn't often the butler ever changed his expression except to show his annoyance.

Why did it feel he was lying? asked Belle to herself.