Dead Root

Dead Root

I look behind me. Every time I look it seems they get closer. I don’t want to think about what will happen when they catch up. I just need to keep running. Just keep running, and maybe the sound of their footsteps will go away.

I turn a corner and flat-out sprint. I found out earlier that they are slower when they don’t see me. If I can just find another corner, I’ll have lost them. I run down the paved road and see trees ahead. The road turns to dirt and something catches my foot.

I trip and fall. Looking down, I see a small dead root sprouted up just to block my path. I check down the street. Good; they haven’t caught up with me. I can’t even see or hear them anymore. I pick up the root. Things like this have proven useful.

I stand up, trying to regain my stamina, when I hear footsteps behind me. I whip around and see the lady from before. She walks up to me and flicks her green hair aside.

“Glad to see you’re still alive, Ryan,” she says as casually as she would comment on the weather. “Are you enjoying my little game?”

Ignoring the question, I shout, “What were those things!?”

“I told you. Those are the embodiments of all your fears and regrets. They are your personal demons, Ryan; you created them.”

I hold up the root. “Well,” I begin, “since you know everything about this town, tell me what this is for.”

The lady takes it and examines it. After a moment, she hands it back to me. “Ask Chester,” she says. “He’ll know.”

Pocketing the root, I ask, “And what’s this game you mentioned?”

The lady laughs. “Why, the children’s game of Hide and Seek, you big dummy!” She continues giggling.

“Every time I talk to you,” I say, “I think one of my brain cells dies.”

Ignoring me, she continues, “You hide, and your personal demons seek you out. Better hope you can continue to run like that; the last guy who played this game just could not stop screaming when they caught up.”

I can only imagine what she means by that. I check behind me; nothing’s there. I had figured that in my conversation at least one of those things would’ve caught up to me. I’m glad they didn’t; I don’t want to end up like that last guy. I look back and she’s vanished.

With a sigh, I walk lazily to one of the trees. I slump down and try to catch my breath. I look up at the sky. It’s black, like an abyss, and oddly comforting. I look in front of me. I can’t believe what’s in front of me.

Standing there is a man in a purple and green striped suit with a matching top hat and cane.

With a bow, he says, “The name’s Chester, my friend. It looks like you’ve reached a dead end.”

I take the root out of my pocket. “That green lady told me to ask you about this root. What’s this for?”

He looks at it and adjusts his hat. “That,” he says after a pause, “is a root. It looks like it was dug up with your boot. Quite a lucky find, I might say. That will help you see again the light of day.”

“Are you going to rhyme?” I ask begrudgingly.

“Only this time,” Chester says with a smile. He continues, “That root should be burned. It will give you a key that, at this point, you have definitely earned. It unlocks the hospital in the town’s west. You should head there next.”

I glance at the root. Looking up, Chester is gone.

“Thank God for that,” I say. “One more rhyme, and I would’ve lost my mind.”

I stand back up. I still feel sick from the running, but I have to move on. If what Chester said is true, I’ll need to go to the hospital in the west. He did say that it would lead to me leaving this town.

If I can leave, then maybe this game of Hide and Seek will end. Slowly, I head west.

To be continued…