Chapter Seven: Into The Woods

''What happened to her?''

''Is she dead?

''She seems to have hit her head in the back while the car is running fast,''

I could hear someone speaking and I also felt a hand caressing my head so I was dilated. I was startled when I see all of them standing in front of me. A tall man lend his hand but I just glared at him. I can’t see who he is because of the mask he is wearing.

''Get away from me! Don't come near me!'' I exclaimed. He didn't listen and stayed beside me. The other guys remained where they were as they watched me struggle to sit up, and the ones who took off their masks were just Enzo and Alas.

Their leader, who's Maximus. I already knew him. He was the man that I'm with when I bought some flowers at the market. That night after we met something bad happened. That was the death of my grandmother.

This man who was still not leaving in front of me was seated on the trunk. I heard him sighed as he suddenly removed his mask. He turned his back on me so I couldn’t see the entirety of his face.

''Sorry for what happened, we didn't mean to hurt you,'' he apologized, his voice was also familiar and I could not understand the fear I have felt, as if I was going to be traumatized by what was happening.

''W-who are you?'' I trembled to ask. In the ray of light coming from the pole in the distance, I could see the man's face in this dark place.

My eyes widened as my whole body trembled to see the face of the person that I did not expect to see here. I couldn't stop the tears from dripping from my eyes, it hurts me whenever the person that I trusted betrayed me.

''F-Flynn? W-why are you here? Are you kidding me?'' I stuttered to ask him. If I admired his kindness the other day, it is the opposite of how I feel right now. I am afraid of the evil side he hides. Many evil people in this world appear to be kind. Sometimes those who have an angelic appearance turn out to be evil.

''I-I will explain. Do not be afraid. I will not h-hurt you,'' he also stuttered. He tries to get my trust but I will never give that up. I can't trust him again. Never again.

''You have nothing to explain. Now I know who you are. You are not different from them!'' I exclaimed. I shuddered as I looked into his eyes. I noticed the embarrassment on his face as he lowered his hand that was outstretched to me.

I couldn’t speak right now and I looked the other way. I'm annoyed with his face. The other guys have also removed the masks that covered their identities. My eyes glazed over at their familiar faces. I have been startled several times, but now I feel nothing. I'm very tired.

I saw the faces of the twins Cassius and Magnus that I have fought days ago, I even saw the man I chased because he allegedly stole, I remembered that his name was Jude. I just can't believe that the men I bumped into at different times and places turned out to be together and they caught me. This is very unexpected.

Seems like I'm going to have a phobia on masks, that is the thing that people have used to cover up their true nature. Scary, many peoples are wearing masks nowadays, it’s hard to know who they are.

''This is a terrible nightmare,'' I sarcastically said. I took a deep breath as I endured the pain of the wound in my forehead. I leaned onto the side of the car when I felt like I was going to fall, I'm getting dizzy again. My head would break from the excessive weight of the pain I was carrying.

''Looks like you won't get rid of your nightmare,'' this stupid Magnus spoke and I looked at him disgustedly.

''Really? Well, I won't wake up. I will stay in this nightmare to end you,'' I threatened and he just grinned.

''I'm impressed with your braveness Freeda, but you're here in our private territory, so you can do nothing. If you don't follow us you will die,'' Cassius intrudes. I turned my attention to him.

It was as if I would smoke in anger when I remembered his threats about my grandmother. He walks near me and suddenly touched my chin, I still can't move because my hands were cuffed and I hated the way he touched me.

''With this beauty of yours, I did not expect you to be a brave woman. Other women are modest but you are different from them that's why you got my attention,'' he was flirt and I just sneered.

''You can't take me with your flowery words, I'm different from the women you fooled!'' I dictated and I suddenly spat on his face and he was very surprised.

He sarcastically laughed while he wiped the spit off his face. He wanted to slap me, but I used both of my legs and kicked him in the stomach. He lay down on the ground with the force of my kick and the others stopped him immediately because he would grab me. They were shocked by what I did, I tried to calm down but my anger consumed me.

''Stop it, Cassius! You look stupid!'' Alas appeased us and they tried to restrain him. He was still stubborn and wanted to retaliate with a punch, Flynn suddenly blocked in front of me because Cassius was about to punch me.

''Stop it! The trouble will get worse if you don't calm down,'' he warned him. He backed away while looking at me sharply.

''You may have forgotten your place? You are too brave, that may even kill you,'' he dictated. I know what he means, but he has no right to dictate who I am. Bravery is not a choice, it is a character trait.

There is no more point to being brave than there is to be kind. I have also realized that I have bad courage which leads me to destruction and put the lives of other people in danger. I didn't speak anymore, he will not understand what I was going to say so I better shut up.

''Take that woman, we're going inside the house now,'' Maximus suddenly interrupted. He looked at me as if I were a dog tied up to obey him. He quickly averted his gaze and immediately walked away.

All of them also followed him, Flynn tried to help me but I just avoided him. I went down alone even though I was having a hard time. Someone was also holding my hands behind my back and I saw that it was Jude.

''We met again, so where's the necklace that I left?'' he asked. It was annoying that he would even hold my hand that I would not be able to escape in this situation. I seriously looked at him, I didn’t answer his question and he didn't bother again. I was just disgusted to see their faces.

When I got out of the trunk, I noticed a lot of tall trees surrounding us. It looks like they brought me here in the forest or the woods. I also looked ahead and I saw a large house in the distance. I wonder why there is such a beautiful house in this secluded place.

They surely hide here because it is far from the town, so it is difficult to track them down because they are good at hiding.

This place is also familiar to me. It looks like I already went here, many things and places that I find familiar but I'm not sure if I have already seen it. I was surprised to see a dog running towards us. I hid behind Jude's back when the dog approached me and barked, it is a Siberian husky, with a blue-collar attached to its neck.

''Take that dog away from me!'' I shouted. Jude blocked the dog that was attacking me. Flynn also stopped it but it was aggressive and wanted to bite me.

''Stop it Hugo! I might not feed you all night,'' Jude warned and the dog suddenly rolled to the ground. It stopped and became meek.

''Let me take care of that dog, Hugo doesn't bite people not unless he doesn't know them,'' Enzo said and carry the wild dog. I breathed a sigh of relief as the dog disappeared as if it would eat me alive.

We continued walking and when we got inside I was surprised to see the furniture in their house. This is an old mansion, there are expensive old antiques that I can see everywhere, I was just amazed at those things. Moreover, I looked behind on the other side and I was surprised to see a large painting.

In that painting, I saw the seven men who arrested me tonight. I also saw an old man sitting in a chair and a beautiful woman was standing behind him, the rest is standing beside them.

What does this mean?

My eyes widened at what I thought now, can't they all be brothers? They have a lot in common, isn't it just a coincidence that I saw them one by one? Or did they plan to meet me?

''The answer to your question is already in front of you,'' I heard Maximus' voice so I turned around to face him. He seemed to be reading the questions in my mind. The seven of them were standing behind me and looked at the painting attached to the wall.

''You are all brothers? So you have no differences, all of you are evil,'' I reprimanded. They all just looked at me and they had no emotions, we all just looked at each other.

''If your parents are in this painting, don't you feel guilty for what you all did? Did they raise all of you badly?'' I dictated I get angry when I see people doing bad things together instead of doing good to others.

''You have no right to reprimand us like that, you don’t know what we’ve been through,'' Maximus complained. I know that I have no right to reprimand them, but I will not just let them do bad things, they will not wake up if no one wakes them up.

''You are the oldest of the siblings, aren't you? Are you happy to see your siblings committing violence?! Will you just let them do bad things? Are you happy with that kind of thing?!'' I exclaimed, I stared at him and I could see the anger in his eyes.

''Shut up Freeda, be careful on what you say, you will only harm yourself,'' Enzo warned me, he tried to pull me away but I stayed to face Maximus.

''Get that woman out of my sight, I might kill her in no time,'' Maximus commanded, he looks embarrassed to face me, he should just hear what I have to say.

''Why? Are you affected by what I said? You are the older brother, you should be the one to teach them what is wrong and right,'' I complained. He was about to leave but he stopped, he turned to me and slowly approached me.

Flynn and Jude tried to calm him down because he looked like he was going to slaughter me. His eyes glazed over at the two so they backed away, his attention returned to me, I couldn’t help but tremble because he was so serious.

''I told you to shut up but you didn't listen,'' I heard

Enzo whispered on my back. He wanted to take me away from Maximus but he also couldn't do anything, they couldn't stop him because he was the older one.

''You're so brave to tell me the things you don't know, then who are you? Do you know who I am?'' he admonished. I was surprised when he suddenly pulled my collar, I gulped as I got close to his face. His eyes were deadly, I was afraid to look into his red eyes, but I should not be shaken by his stare. I have nothing to fear.

''I don't know you and you don't know me either, we're just strangers looking at each other's eyes. When we first met, I knew that it was a bad omen, the flowers of death, it was the signal that something bad was going to happen, that was the death of my grandmother,'' I appeased, I looked at Cassius, he was the person I suspected that had done something bad to my grandmother.

''If that's what you believe then I can do nothing, but do not speak to me as if you know who am I, remember the condition you asked for. Be thankful that I gave you a chance to live, if I had no mercy left, I would have killed you already,'' he contented. He doesn't let go of his grip on me, I gasped and rolled my eyes.

''Yeah! I can't do anything because of that condition, you are the one to follow, right? All right, I will follow everything that you want as long as you just let me live,'' I cajoled. I'm trying to show him that I will not be shaken by whatever he does, because I can get through all the difficult things.

''If you agree to the conditions, then let's see if you can handle it, starting tomorrow get ready, the suffering in your life will begin,'' he ventured. He suddenly pushed me and I fell to the floor, I groaned as I watched him walk away.

Flynn helped me to stand up, we were left with the rest of us down here, Maximus went up the stairs but he suddenly stopped and we all looked at him.

''Put her in the basement and lock her up there,'' he ordered. Cassius approached me and suddenly pulled me hard but Flynn stopped him.

''I'll be the one to take her down there, go back upstairs,'' he demanded and Cassius sneered.

''Why do you seem to be protecting this woman? Do you want to repeat the mistakes you did before?'' Cassius asked sarcastically. I didn’t know what they were talking about but I noticed that Flynn was annoyed with what he said.

''Can you be quiet first?! Please, even if it's just tonight, let's all calm down first,'' he exclaimed. Cassius just rolled his eyes as he walked backward.

''If that's what you want, we'll just talk the next day, and you woman, be ready for the challenges you'll face,'' he said and also warned me. He grinned like he was planning to do something bad.

''Let's go to our beds, the plan just came to nothing,'' Magnus chided, he scratched his head as Alas and Jude followed him up the stairs.

Flynn and Enzo stayed with me, and they drove me to the basement. I will stay there tonight, when I entered there it was very dark. Flynn turned on candlelight so I could see something, Enzo also took a bed and I sat there.

''I'm going to remove the handcuffs behind you,'' Flynn said, I turned around and when the handcuffs were removed I looked at my wrist that was getting red.

''We're leaving now, just rest there and we apologize for what happened tonight,'' Enzo said.

"We will all talk tomorrow, and you'll join us," Flynn added, he smiled bitterly and walk away.

Before they closed the door I looked at Flynn, I noticed the concern in his eyes. When they left I was left alone in this place with some old equipment like an old piano, couches and so on.

I just hugged myself because of the cold, I just stared at the emptiness while I couldn't help but sigh. My body is so tired. I lay down on the bed but I was surprised to see the necklace I was wearing glowing again.

What does this mean?