One Big Mistake

Back in room 11 of the 'Twin-Trees' motel, a small ugly building that seemed to live in the shadowy areas of the town, a young university student stares at the bottom of a whiskey bottle, as she lies on her bed listening to the voice on her mobile phone and laughing.
It was now past dark, the gaps between the window's blinds had confirmed this by their ink-black color; however, although the lamp was already turned on to ward off the shadows, the room was made too dark to even let such a small thing as the light-bulb to bathe with light. The walls and the ceiling had been decorated with dark blue paint; just as the carpet which bore the equally dark shade of green, all of which looking as if they had never been modified since the 1970's.
However, Jodi Keese was far too animated with her phone-call to notice how depressingly cheap her room looked compared to her usual living conditions, especially when she was now more light-headed from the alcohol she was nursing right now.
"...So, yeah, if you would put it that way I had a...very, um...WEIRD day!" She chortled again, "You'd think all the crazy people would migrate to the cities or something, 'cause...'cause remember that guy with the mohawk back in that comic store? Yeah...I guess big cities allow people to get, you know, eccentric, 'cause the cities are more tolerant you know, and there's alot of...um...err...what's that longer word for 'chances'?"
She flopped forwards onto her bed, lying on her stomach; she could just feel a headache creeping up on her forehead, so she began to massage it with the knuckles of her hands.
"Opportunities?" Philip asked, his voice dull and humorless.
"Yeah! That's what I was thinking about!" She exclaimed, "What the cities got to offer gives opportunities for people to show their eccentricity; so that's why I was surprised when I ran into this old lady today. Kept claiming she was a witch."
Philip guffawed on the other side of the line despite of himself, "A witch living in a god-fearing town like Sleepy Hollow?!"
"Was it?" Jodi asked, "The town I mean. God-fearing."
"I think so. You've seen their old church haven't you? Serious religion supporters."
Actually the church looked really modern, Jodi wanted to say, but her English friend quickly rushed to another subject.
"Speaking of which! Did you get some good pictures for me?" He asked eagerly.
"Oh..." Jodi sighed, she wasn't too sure if sun-lit graveyards and a rather new-looking church was what Philip had in mind for his art project, so she kept her answer to moderate.
"Yeah, I did. The church was the first stop I went to."
"Excellent! I can't wait to receive them!" He cried, "And my ancestor...?"
"Couldn't get any." Jodi said; she stopped for a moment to yawn, and then continued, "The town center has all the records of their old citizens, you know, up to Queen Vicky's era. They've always got people coming in interested for a family link in this place, so they're up-to-date with the categorizing. Um...but they don't want to let go any of the records of your man, so they'll photocopy his birth and death...dates, and then send 'em to me by the day after."
"Well, FUCK."
"Hey, at least you're getting something for your tree thing." She reminded him. Inwardly, the memory of her tour in the Church rose up again in her mind, and she soon wondered whether she should tell her friend about the supposed demise of Dr. Lancaster.
No, she thought, shaking her head, For all it could be it's more likely that it's only a rumor, and probably fabricated by the storyteller himself.
Philip said something and she failed to listen, from all her musings. She quickly brought her attention to the phone again.
"What's that you said?"
"I said I've gotta go. I do have to work you know!"
"Oh, sorry." Jodi exclaimed, although she didn't know what she was apologizing for. "It's been nice talking to you!" She said automatically, it had used to be her constant method in ending a phone conversation.
"Yeah, I'll phone you later, okay? Don't forget to get me some more pictures."
He then terminated the call. Jodi snorted and stared at the screen. How much more pictures do you want?! She wanted to say to him, it would be helpful if he would at least tell her exactly what he wanted out of them.
A yawn stifled her thoughts. Resting the phone back on the nightstand, she stretched her long, gangly limbs before contenting herself to scratching her head. Her mother used to do it all of the time, often starting from the top of the skull down to the neck, gently and soothingly. It was a frequent habit Jodi had adopted out of comfort. She eyed the bottle sitting next to her. It was being supported by her left hand in a tight grip, and there was still at least a third of the drink left over inside. Pressing her lips together, she scowled at the bottle.
Look what you made me do! She silently exclaimed, My head's gonna hurt in the morning because of you.
Planting it at the nightstand with a forceful bang, she sat up on her knees and placed her hands underneath the pillow. Her pajama top, folded neatly, was pulled from its hiding place. It was a small cap-sleeved shirt of a somber color of blue; it was far more inviting than the old T-shirt she was wearing, which now carried dark splotches of spilled whiskey and flecks of chocolate, which came from a candy bar she had contented herself with. She pulled the filthy thing off and carelessly tossed it to some dark corner of the room. Then, slowly and with a little more appreciation, she dressed herself with the top, smiling contentedly as she did so.
That's better. She thought; normally she loved wearing it. Too bad it was quite worn, and rather small to wear in public. Nevertheless, she still loved it for the color, which complimented well with her olive skin, and most of all, the way the stretchy fabric hugged around her body. She had always been slender and long-limbed, with long arms and very long legs, so curves were a luxury given to other women. For her chest, that was the main feature that she wasn't proud of. All there was were just two little bumps jutting out from the flesh; they weren't small enough to be completely unnoticeable, but they weren't big enough to form the nice round shapes that were desirable. Thus, the pajama top was the only thing she owned which presented her chest in a better light, wearing it made her feel sexier.
But there's no one here to see me. She thought sullenly, laying her head on the pillow. Her eyes were starting to get sore, her eyelids heavier by the minute. She thought about her past romances. There were none. Occasionally there were a couple of hormonal schoolboys that had the balls to ask her out, but that was years ago. But even then she had been hopeful for her dream partner, and had refused their invitations; she wanted a man, not a young and immature boy. That continued even today, although no one ever made light of even having a least bit of an attraction for her, she still shunned every guy in hopes of finding her ideal.
What a dunce...She thought, thinking about her wasted time doing the waiting game. Should've accepted 'em just for the hell of it...
But before she could continue her thoughts, sleep soon overtook her, and her mental musings soon changed into dreams...
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Jodi's eyes opened, and that was when the noise erupted.
All around her there were people; screaming, shouting people.
There were so many all around her, people of all shapes and sizes, dressed in rags or coarse clothes that smelled of sweat or of something pungent. They jumped about and shouted to the skies, fists up in the air and shaking, pushing at her and jostling her as they tried to surge forwards. They were like a barking pack of wild dogs, all hungry and excited.
She couldn't figure out what they were yelling about, their language was strange and foreign, but soon understanding came when they burst into a cheer, and that was also when she had finally got a view up front.
Up front, was a wooden platform raised slightly off of the muddy earth, covered with hay in a circular pile, surrounding a tall wooden stake as thick as a tree.
It didn't take her long to understand when two men, guards by the look of it, from their metallic helmets and their strong, beefy appearance, came into view as they dragged a pale figure. The figure clung onto them like a shroud; her long dark hair and bare, filthy feet were only visible.
The guards had to practically carry her as they climbed upon the platform, followed soon after by a well-dressed man of the cloth. He seemed pretty young in the face, maybe barely out of his twenties, but his cold, serious demeanor chilled her to the bone.
A burning...She observed, and winced as the guards dropped the girl unceremoniously against the stake. The crowd laughed in amusement, just like if it were a slapstick comedy.
The priest stepped up to the crowd, tentatively at first, but then with a stride that demanded authority. In a true medieval fashion, the man produced a scroll and unrolled it, and announced to the crowd.
Again, she couldn't even understand what was being said; but as each statement is being passed to the crowd, the people gasped and recoiled, sometimes grimaced and shouted what sounded like obscenities towards the victim.
Then, with a professional flourish, the priest snapped the scroll closed and stepped off of the platform. One of the guards picked up a torch, while the other hunched over the victim and tied her, by the waist, against the pole. The woman, Jodi had yet to even see her face, wilted forwards, still as animated as a corpse.
Maybe she is dead. Jodi thought, They used to dig up people and try 'em for witchcraft or conspiracies--
But her thoughts were interrupted when the guard picked out a coil of wire from his belt. With a well-developed speed, his arms shot forward and back, and by then Jodi saw that he had bound the woman's throat with the wire and pulled her against the pole. Jodi gasped as she saw the face staring back at her. It was just a young girl, probably the same age as her or younger, but it wasn't the discovery of her age that startled Jodi, it was her face.
She had been branded on the left cheek, a charred, dark brown abomination that was now festering and oozing with pus. The rest of her face was black and blue with bruises and filth, and staring through that mask that was both piteous and terrible, were these unearthly blue eyes that were large and wide with panic.
That girl stared at the chanting crowd as her hands scrambled for the wire that was tightening around her neck, choking and gasping as her legs kicked desperately. Bile rose up her throat as the girl's mouth began to foam and trickles of blood began to escape from that gagging mouth. She began to flop around like a fish, gasping for air as the guard purposely loosened his hold until he soon tightened it once more. Jodi tried to back away, to try to escape or leave, but the crowd surged up again, forcing her forwards. She couldn't help but look up to the girl once more as she stumbled, and saw with a shock that the girl had stopped moving. She was now staring down at her, not even flinching as the guard pulled and pulled. Instead, she was staring directly into her own eyes, as she slowly extended her hand, and pointed a finger at her…
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Jodi shot forwards, gasping for air as her eyes searched her wherabouts.
She was back in her room. Awake.
Beads of sweat rolled down from her face as she leaned back against the headboard of her bed, and she grimaced at the movement, having noticed the wet spots underneath each of her armpits by the change of her position.
Had she been holding her breath?
Her chest had hurt like hell, as if they've been constricted for a long time, and even though she had left the light on, dark fuzzy spots appeared before her very eyes, popping up and disappearing as the seconds ticked by.
Yeah. She had been holding her breath.
Christ, I just can't seem to get a decent rest. She thought. She took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly. Feeling satisfactorily calmed down, she frowned as she felt that the room temperature was remarkably high.
Why?
Wiping her brow, she slid her legs off of the bed and stood up, retrieving her jeans from the floor. As her fingers grasped the stiff material, her cell phone vibrated on the bedside table. She let it rattle on its own until she had settled down and had each of her legs fitted well into the jeans.
Pressing the answering button, she placed it to her ear.
"Hello, this is Jodi Keese."
"Hey, Jo, it's me Phil."
"Hey." Jodi greeted, trying to sound as good-naturedly as her throat would allow. Somehow it was dry and sore again.
"I'm right now in a coffee break; say, um...I kind of, felt that I'm not helping you enough in your search for the photos..."
No kidding. "No, it's alright. You haven't been there before so you couldn't know what this town has in store. It's not like…every website about it is always updated whenever something happens."
"Jo, I'm talking about the content."
Jodi waited until he finally explained.
"I don't want any pictures of a mail post or a tree, what I'm really hoping for is something dark and gothic; I want to do a tribute to the story, you understand, right?"
"Yeah." Jodi exclaimed half-heartedly. Does he want me to take some pictures of the cemetery at night?She wondered, her mouth twisted into a reluctant, sour expression.
"...So, if you can, find a scarecrow and take some pictures of it, maybe a view of the local forest at night?"
"I'll see what I can do." Jodi murmured, getting up to do her zipper and buttons, "But right now it's really late, and bad timing."
"Why?" Phil inquired.
"Hmmph, where can I start?" She thought aloud, "I just woke up from a dream I can do without, and…um, my room just turned into an oven. I just hope to god the owner's are still on duty."
"What time is it out there?" Phil asked.
Jodi glanced at the screen of her cell; it had just struck one in the morning. But as soon as Jodi placed the cell onto her ear again to reply, the cell phone suddenly went into static.
"Phil?" She called out. Nothing replied save for the constant static. Turning it off, she shoved it into the back pocket of her jeans. She'll deal with it later. Right now she has to fix the problem with her room.
However, as she stepped out to the hallway, she halted when she felt that it was just as sweltering out there as it was in the inside.
Is there a fire happening out here?
The thought brought more damage to her sense of security, rather than comforting to the erratic questions that were swimming in her head. Quickly, she stormed off through the hallway to the stairs. Unlike most motels, the only flight of stairs of Twin-Trees Motel descends to the outside, while all the other rooms, including the registry, live in the ground floor, and are thus accessible via the front doors.
Jodi’s feet made loud stomping noises as she hurried down the concrete stairway, not even slowing as she stepped down onto the dew-covered grass.
She was just about to turn towards the front of the building when a loud noise startled her into a stop. It was the noise that sounded like spontaneous thunder, starting with a loud bang and ended with smaller, fainter growls. Jodi looked up instinctively for any signs of a storm, but saw the flat black sky instead, with little stars winking back at her.
Odd. She could’ve sworn the noise was made so close by. She was breathing heavily by then, and the air seemed to get thicker and hotter by the minute. She could smell the smoke as it filtered into her mouth and nose when she breathed in, and this worried her even more.
Especially when the streets looked absolutely empty of life. Nothing but shadows overtook the streets, and it grew, just like Jodi’s anxiety when she saw the street-lamps flicker and gutter.
There was one thing she would never admit to anyone, not even to her friends and loved ones. She was frightened of the dark; and every time it suddenly blacks out, she panics.
Her limbs tightened when the streetlights flickered rapidly, ready to dash for the front doors as soon as they die out. However, noises off a distance, faint popping noises, grabbed her attention from behind.
Her mouth dropped open as soon as she saw it. Neat sidewalks and immaculately mown lawns suddenly disappeared before her very own eyes, only to be replaced by boundless amounts of trees reaching out to the dark sky.
Jodi looked back to the motel, and within seconds the waning light of the street-lamps suddenly expired. All that was left behind were the shadowy outlines of even more trees.
Jodi panicked.