The further I walked into the forest, the more my fear seemed to melt away. The fear, having left quite a large hole in my psyche, was quickly replaced by the dubious feeling of complete and utter dread. As if I was consenting to walk leisurely towards my own death. As if I was pulled there, by some otherworldly force. The crunching noise still persisted. It grew louder and louder, until, within the blink of an eye, it stopped. Completely. Everything stopped; but I could not stop walking. I could not stop walking when I heard a child pleading for their life and I could not stop when I heard the sickening crunch of bones, because I knew they were not real. Or, at least, not as real as the punishment if I stopped.
Finally, I saw the mansion. It could have been beautiful, but it looked sick and empty- Even the light emanating off it seemed eerie and vile. At least the screams had subsided. Then, I saw the woman. She looked skeletal, inhuman, but at the same time, very amused at my presence. I approached her, footsteps uncertain. I knew that I must now be silent, which wasn't too hard, given the fact that my tongue seemed to have retreated to the back of my throat and my teeth chattered like rattling shackles.
"What story will you tell me?"
A sharp intake of breath. "My story goes like this: A man lived in the poorest area of a poor city. The man, with his greasy hair, pallid skin, and sinister smile made his living as a doctor. His patients were the poorest of the poor, the type who only came to see him because the blood they had been coughing up for months had begun to come up with organs, too. And even then, they payed not with money-as they had none- but with themselves. The doctor took sadistic pleasure in saving the patient from near death, and yet, taking away what gave them life."
"He fixed them up with precise stitches and shiny casts, and in exchange, he would cut out their eyeballs and bend backward their knees. He would replace their faces with crude masks and, if he was up to it, chop off their toes slowly and deliberately. Whatever experiment he could devise, he would make a reality. He and his army of maimed men eventually left the city, after he had had his fun with every person poor enough to seek him out.
The doctor could no longer satisfy his blood lust by operating on others. And so, one day, he took the bonesaw to himself, gradually replacing his arms and legs with other parts, until he was no longer recognizable as a human. No longer capable of thought, reasoning, and long past the point of empathy, he and his posse finally fell prey to their animalistic nature, and with their sharpened teeth-"
With a wave of her hand, the woman passively spoke. “That’s enough. Go inside.”
Shaking, I entered.