Chapter 5: THE WOMAN IN MY DREAM

R Y A N

"Well, where did you get it?" She squinted her eyes.

"I got it from the cave, near the river." She gasped upon my answer and started to laugh loudly. What was so funny? I thought. I also could not help but notice that she had a beautiful laugh.

"Omg! So that's where it was!" She stopped laughing and glanced at me. It was getting dark so I could not see her face that well.

"Wait! You went to the cave too?!" I asked to confirm.

A nervous giggle erupted from her. "Yep! It kind of looked interesting and I decided why shouldn't I explore it." She shrugged. I guess she was an explorer too.

"And that's where I lost it. That cave was creepy though." She kept on talking and I wasn't listening till she said the creepy part.

"Did you also experience the pond becoming steamy too?" I scrunched my nose when I remembered. There was something off about that cave.

A confused look appeared on her face. "No, but I saw a shadow of a woman. That's why I ran and accidentally lost my necklace." She raised the pendant to my face. It started illuminating a bright light that was lighting up the whole place.

My eyes got wide. "Why does it produce that light?" I pointed it out.

"Hmm, that's strange. It never used to do that." She said in wonder. Now, this was some mysterious shit.

"Are you guys ok? And what is that light?" David came out of the woods with Mike and approached us.

"Yeah, we are okay. That's-- Umm, what's your name again?" I looked at her in embarrassment. I have been talking to her all this while and I didn't even bother to ask her name.

"Haha, it is ok. My name is Catherine but my friends call me Cathy." She took out her hand for a handshake.

"Well Catherine, My name is Ryan and nice to meet you too." I shook her hand. Her hand was smooth and I could shake it all day.

"Hi, Cathy! I am Mike." He excitedly cheered. He was the most cheerful in our group. That's why the women loved him.

"Hi, Mike." She giggled.

"Sup. I am David." He winked. He would never stop flirting. Now that he could see her face a little bit clearly under the pendant's light. She was a beauty alright and David was a sucker for that.

"Nice to meet you, David." She giggled and broke eye contact. Oh well, I don't blame her. He had that effect on women. He has never committed to a relationship. He once got heartbroken and from that moment, he decided to not bother with love.

"Well, I am going to set up the firewood while you guys prepare for the night." I grabbed the firewood that David brought and took out a march to light it.

"Yeah, where will the lady sleep?" Mike tittered and rubbed behind his neck. Oh shit! How could I forget about that?! We only had three small tents.

"It is okay. I can sleep outside." She smiled as she eyed Mike.

I shook my head. "Nah, you can take my tent." I smiled back at her.

"B-but it is cold outside and what about the wild animals?" Her eyes got wide with disbelief. The light from the firewood illuminated her face perfectly. Her blond hair falling on her face. She had green feline upturned eyes with a turned-up nose. Her lips were full and red. Why the fuck was I checking her out?! I immediately snapped out of it before she thought I was a freak.

"We have extra blankets besides I will be with him since I can't let him die." David slapped my shoulder as he laughed.

"Shut up! Asshole." I rolled my eyes in annoyance.

"Your friendship is goals." She shook her head and giggled. Oh well, it has not even reached five hours and she already experienced our wildness. 

After we were done preparing dinner, we all huddled around the firewood, eating our dinner. The moon was reflecting brightly around us and the fire was making us warm. The night owls were hooting around us. At night, the woods came to life. I could hear all different kinds of sounds. It was kind of peaceful.

"Thank you so much for the food and all you did for me." She looked at us in gratitude.

"Do not thank us, cutie. It was our honour." David smirked.

"It is our duty and we are proud of it." Mike puffed his chest and smiled proudly. That was Mike for you. He loved helping in any way he can. In our group, he was the extrovert. David was both an introvert and an extrovert. It usually depended on his mood. I was an introvert who found it hard to open up to people.

Catherine eyed him and then snickered. "David, you are such a flirt. Sadly you are not my type." 

"Ouch! My heart is in pain now." He threw his head backwards and clutched his heart in an exaggerating way. This boy should star in a drama movie. He would do well.

"Haha, I like you. You are a funny one." She laughed.

"So any boyfriend then?" Mike plastered a smile on his face. 

The corner of her mouth quirked up. "Nope. I am single as an old woman with many cats." At that phrase, we all laughed like hyenas on crack.

"Man, then Ryan will be a perfect match for you." David wiggled his eyebrows at me. I started to blush. Why would a woman as attractive as her be interested in an anti-social like me?

"He might be. He is just my type." She eyed me up and down, then her mouth curved into a smile.

"Ooohh" They both teasingly said.

"Ugh! Shut up." I grumbled and stood up to go to my tent to take out my blanket.

"Isn't he a cutie?" I heard David say as I was in my tent. This son of a bitch! Cutie, my ass!

"Oh yes!" She replied.

Oh my God! The embarrassment level here was high. I could not help but smile that she called me a cutie. No girl has ever called me that. All the kids at school are afraid of me. Maybe it was because I never smiled and that made me look like a big asshole. 

"Hey, thank you for giving me your tent. You didn't have to do that." She took a seat next to me and smiled at me. We were done with dinner and decided to rest. Mike went back to his tent to sleep while David went inside his to get a blanket.

"Haha, it is okay. You do not have to thank me." I nervously rubbed my neck. Oh, God! She was too close. Too close! I was mentally panicking.

"You are so nice, Ryan." She grabbed my biceps. The touch felt kind of weird and I immediately got up since I am not used to a girl's touch. Now she must think I am an idiot.

"Haha, it's late. Let's go to bed." I nervously laughed and avoided her eyes.

She giggled slightly upon seeing my reaction. What's she thinking? I wondered.

"Well, you are right. It is late." She grinned, her face turning red.

"It was fun chatting with you, Ryan." She kissed me on the cheek and ran to the tent. For a moment, I was frozen. Did I get kissed on the cheek by a girl? Even Beatrice has never done that to me.

My relationship with her was never real. She has been using me from the beginning to the end. No, Ryan! Do not think about her. I shook my head to get rid of her thoughts.

"I finally found my blanket. The son of a bitch was hiding from me." David came out of his tent. He was wearing a green vest with black shorts. He usually slept naked but I guess he did not want to do that this time.

"Wait- Why are you red? And why are you holding your cheek?" He narrowed his eyes and pointed out. Oh shit! I guess I was still blushing. Jesus, Why do I do this sometimes? I mentally groaned.

"I am not red," I grumbled in a low and turned away from him.

"Oh my God! Yes, you are!" He grabbed my shoulders to turn me towards him. He had a crazy look in his eyes. Oh, God! He was going to tease me for the rest of the week.

"Just leave me alone, dude." I turned the fire out with water and got under my blanket to sleep.

"Nah! I will always remember this." He laughed in his loud deep voice.

I sighed in annoyance as I let sleep take over me. 

"Wake up, Ryan." Someone kept on shoving me. Ugh! Who was disturbing me at this time of the hour? I opened my eyes to scold David, whom I thought was the one doing this but then I saw him sleeping soundly.

Okay, what the fuck?! I looked around in panic. There was no one in sight. It was pitch dark and I could not see anything.

"Ryan, come to me." A smooth velvet voice whispered on my left side. I soon found myself following the sound. It was leading me somewhere and there was nothing I could do. I tried to make my body stop moving but it wouldn't stop. It wasn't listening to me anymore.

"My love, Ryan. You are mine, right?" The voice said with a hint of vulnerability. Why was my heart paining after hearing her voice? I kept on walking further to the woods.

The woods started to transform into something I never knew existed. The trees had the features of a human. Big green eyes, sharp teeth in their mouth, and hands with sharp claws. The grass was tall and they were producing some strange sounds. The flowers also turned into some kind of monsters with sharp teeth. They were also erupting the same strange sounds. The whole woods was coming to life. It was like a scene from a horror movie.

The strangest part was that as soon as I got near them, they all backed away from me. It was like they didn't want to harm me. I couldn't control anything except my mind.

I kept on walking further to the woods until I reached a cave. It was the same cave that I found the necklace. Only this time, the cave looked bigger than before with a blue light coming out of it. As I was walking inside the cave, the steam around me was getting bigger, blocking my sight. Yet I was able to keep on going with a grim determination.

After some time, my body finally came on stop when I reached the same pond only this time it was filled with a red liquid. It kind of looked like blood. A woman suddenly emerged from it, stark naked as the day she was born as a baby. Her long hair covering her breasts and some kind of animal skin covering her lower part. What the fuck?! My eyes widened even more after I saw that she had a tail on behind her back.

"I am glad to see you, Ryan. Do you know how much I have missed you." Her voice started to crack. Miss me? Is this woman on drugs or what?

The skin on the back of my neck puckered. "Listen, Miss. You have got the wrong person." I nervously replied.

She clenched her hands and the cave started to shake. I think I just made her mad.

"Wrong person? You are the right person. You are mine, Ryan!" She yelled, her eyes narrowed to slits. Her voice was as loud as a brat not getting what they wanted.

"Did you just call me a brat?!" She growled. Did I say that aloud?

She screwed her eyes shut and chuckled. "No, you didn't" She snapped. She can hear my thoughts?! This was fucking creepy. What was she?

"Creepy? I am not creepy, Ryan." She took a step near me and I immediately took a step back.

The rage flowed through her like lava with how red her face was becoming. "No, come back! Ryan." She growled. I kept on moving backwards to move away from her. This made her even madder and she lunged at me.

I finally saw her face and I did not like what I saw. She had a wrinkly face, with eyes as red as a blood. She opened her mouth and the teeth looked like an animal's teeth. Big and sharp.

I tried to push her away but she clutched to my body tightly. Her hands came to my neck and squeezed. Her claws were piercing me, causing me pain.

"YOU ARE MINE!! MINE!!" She kept on yelling as she squeezed me to death. This was it. I couldn't believe this was how I would die. Killed by a madwoman in a cave.

"Wake up! Ryan, wake up!" Someone kept on slapping me. I immediately jumped and opened my eyes. I looked around frantically, scared out of my damn mind.

"Oh my God! Are you okay?" A feminine voice said as she grabbed my shoulders. I pushed the hand away and crawled away from it. The touch felt the same way as the madwoman.

"Bro, you okay?" I recognized David's voice. He grabbed my hand to calm me down. After I took a breath to relax my mind, I looked around and saw the three of them glancing at me worriedly.

"Ryan, what's wrong?" Catherine glanced at me.

"Nothing. I just had a nightmare." I stood up. I can't stay here anymore. I need to go back home.

"You scared us for a minute. Your body was shaking like you were being strangled." Mike voiced out.

Of course, I was getting strangled.

"Here, have some water." Catherine passed me a bottle which I took.

"Can we go home, please?" I looked at David hopefully.

"Of course man. You are not feeling well. We will first drop Catherine then we will go." He blurted out and let out a harsh breath. He did this when he got scared. I guess I was not the only one affected by this nightmare.

"Oh. Thank God! These woods were giving me jibbers." Mike sighed heavenly.

For once, I agreed with him. There was something off about this wood and why did it feel like it wasn't over yet? It felt like it was just the beginning of a great nightmare.