It's weird the hoops we used to go through to rationalise anything we considered unnatural, even those of us who said we believed in the supernatural tried to rationalise what we saw.

  It was hours after Celeste and I had left the van and split from the others, exploring our part of the forest before we found anything of interest. We had walked off the main path in the forest in the hopes of finding this hidden cottage, and I had just stepped over what appeared to be a line of mushrooms before I noticed I was in a clearing. And yes, in hindsight with what I know it was a very stupid thing to do.

  In the middle of the clearing, was an old-fashioned wooden stall decorated with red and white fabric, the type of stall you would see in fantasy movies and sat under the cloth roof was a figure hidden under a large straw-brimmed hat.

  “Well, hello there.” Came a gentle, pleasant voice that sounded like delightful music. If I had to think of the voice of an angel this man had it.

  “Hello?” Was all I could think to say, in a voice filled with confusion. I know sometimes my own wit shocks me too.

  “What an odd place to set up a store,” Celeste added as she came up behind me, her eyes focusing on the man with a slight suspicion.

  “I set them up where I feel they would be needed.” the man replied, his face hidden by the hat as he kept his head lowered and his feet on the stall, yet it sounded as if there was a smile on his face. “Please take a look at my goods.”

  “I can't imagine you would get people here though?” I stated as I walked up to his stall, I noticed that it was filled with small items like jewellery, some books and some small boxes. In the jewellery area, there was a collection of silver bracelets with small weapons crafted to be dangling from them.

  “Yet here you are,” he replied. He sat there, his hat still covering his face. He remained so still that if not for him talking I would assume him sleeping, or dead.

  There were many bracelets but the one I was pulled to at the time was made with a silver chain like the rest of them, with a small golden sword ladened with a red gem in the hilt. The other bracelets on display contained an ornate-looking staff made of what looked like bone decorated with what seemed to be onyx gems. A set of crossed obsidian daggers. A longbow made of cherry wood with a topaz gem. There were many other bracelets as well that didn't capture my memory as clearly. I hazily remember seeing a blue chakram, a single red dagger against a shield and a mechanical-looking scythe.

  Celeste stood next to me as she took in the sight of the stall, her eyes tracing over the jewellery as my own were pulled to a silver bracelet. She noticed the heavy focus of my eyes and then looked down to where I was staring and smiled.

  “Humm of course the one with a sword grabs your eye.” She said with a slight chuckle.

  Without a reply or thinking I picked up the bracelet with the golden blade and inspected it closer, upon the link chains making up the silver bracelet were small runes carved into the metal. Now being raised by a Wiccan I had always found myself interested in mythology and things like runes, yet I could not identify the runes as any I had seen through my life.

  “Humm, interesting.” the lazing merchant said, it felt as if their eyes were on me even though the hat covered their face. “Did you choose the blade, or did it choose you?”

  “What do you mean?” I asked with confusion, not even realising my hands were running over the runes. “Also, I cannot identify these runes. Did you make them up yourself?”

  “I just find it curious that is the one you picked. Then again, I should have seen it coming. No no, I did not make the runes, they are just long forgotten to but a select few. In this realm at least.” he replied in a voice that seemed as if he was deep in thought.

  “Sure, whatever you say,” I replied waving it off, at the time I thought the man was doing some sort of mystic act to go along with the goods he was selling and to be fair to him they looked amazing and must have taken hours if not days to make. “What's the price?”

  “It is yours; the price was already paid for by another.” The man replied, gesturing for me to take it with a delicate hand.

  “Someone else paid you to set up and try and give this to me? How did they know I would be here.” I asked the seller who just gave a shrug in response, “Can you at least tell me who gave me this gift?”

  “I am sworn not to reveal that.” The merchant replied, they then finally rose from their seat and with faces still covered they started to pack away the jewels on the table. I turned to Celeste who just raised an eyebrow in confusion. “Anyway, my time is needed elsewhere, may the blade bring you luck.”

  When I turned back to talk to the merchant he was already walking towards the trees, his goods which were no longer on the table most likely packed into the cloth bag lazily slung over his shoulder. He seemed to be leaving the stand in the middle of the woods, however.

  “Shouldn’t you take your stall with you?” I asked, confused, to which the merchant gave a laugh that sounded almost musical to my ears.

  “Someone else will be there for it soon.” He said as he turned to look over his shoulder, the shadows from the trees and the hat covering his face. “But boy you amuse me. So, because of that, don't let it consume you.”

  “Don't let what consume me?” I asked but the man seemed to have vanished into the trees as if he was never there. At the time I really had no idea what I had dealt with, still these days I only have theories.

  “What an odd man,” Celeste stated as she watched him walk into the woods, before looking down at the bracelet. “I bet it was a late gift from Jerome, his family has enough money to pull this off for a laugh. And he knew we were going this way.”

  “Yeah, that makes sense, more sense than some weird mystic foreseeing it or something,” I replied with a laugh to ease my mind, it's funny the things we used to do to justify the norms we knew.

  As the sun started to set and we were thinking of heading back to meet the others when the sound of running water hit me and following a gut feeling I walked towards it. We had to duck under some low-hanging trees and even push aside a few bushes. Thank the gods I remembered to bring leather gloves to move away the thorns. But with minimal scrapes, we found a small river with a slight waterfall which must have been where I heard the water coming from. And slightly upstream was a small broken and rotting bridge, across the bridge we saw an old wooden house that seemed to have been long abandoned. Even though the place looked ancient it appeared pretty secure, at least from across the river.

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  “Looks like we found the mark,” I stated as my phone started to vibrate harshly in my pocket, I took it out to see an incoming call from Lukas. However, when I tried to answer it my phone started to freak out, the screen flickering. I would like to say this was a new occurrence, but I was not very well off, and the large crack down on my phone led to things like this happening sometimes. “Fucking piece of trash, text them we are on the way back please.”

  Celeste just nodded and as she took out her own phone to send them a message, I readied the camera that had been in my bag, taking a few photos of the house and the surrounding area. When I lowered the camera, my eyes were drawn to movement on the second floor of the house. For a second, I swear I could see a shadow behind one of the curtains as it moved as if someone was about to peek through it. I don't know what it was, maybe some primal survival instinct deep in my DNA but I was frozen in slight terror watching the curtain move unsure of what I was about to see.

  “Humm weird my text isn't going through, must be a dead zone let's start heading back and it should send,” Celeste said, making me jump, in an instant, my stare was broken as her words snapped me out of it and I turned to look at her. Something must have been showing on my face as she gave me a concerned look. “Are you okay?”

  “Y-yeah I think my anxiety is just playing tricks on my mind,” I replied looking back up to the window, but nothing was there, and the curtain seemed still, however on impulse, I snapped a picture of the window. “Anyway, I have the pictures. Let's head back and catch up with the others and we can plan from there.”

  It was dark and cold by the time we got back to meeting the others, the cold winds of January running through me as I opened the door to the hotel. The others were actually in the reception area waiting for us.

  “Nothing really looks amazing to eat here and Silvya wanted to explore the town so we figured we would go out and grab dinner, just didn't expect you two to come back so late,” Erza said with a slight smirk as I rolled my eyes.

  “Well, it seems he couldn't help but get lost, I have learnt not to trust him with directions,” Celeste replied while pointing at me, to be fair to her she sounded more amused than annoyed.

  A lot of that night passed in a blur; I remember getting changed into some cleaner clothes where the ends of the jeans were not covered in mud. Before heading down to meet the others, where we went out to drink and eat and celebrate our night and hopefully the future of our success.

  I do remember with vivid emotions what happened after we had all retired for the night though, I had managed to drift into the bliss of sleep helped by the various alcoholic concoctions running through my blood, yet something made me stir and open my eyes.

  A figure stood at the edge of my bed and my entire body was frozen, all I could do was take in the sight that assaulted me. The creature appeared human, it had long matted and wiry hair draped over a decrepit and gaunt face with most of its features hidden behind the inky hair. From ancient lips came a wispy groan like the echoes of the dead as it raised a decaying hand ending in long claws. I felt the rapid pounding of my heart increase as the hand raised its curling fingers until one singular sharp digit pointed at me.

  Then there was a flash of bright light and my eyes flicked open as I bolted up with a start, the rapid beating of my heart echoing in my chest and ears as my eyes darted around in fear looking for where the monster had gone. After a few panicked seconds, I finally noticed Celeste standing by the light with a concerned look.

  “Nightmares again?” she asked softly as she came towards me, with a gentle smile she sat on the edge of my bed.

  “It was like sleep paralysis,” I replied as I kept looking around for creatures of nightmares. “It seemed so real.”

  “In all the time I have known you I haven't ever known you to have a nightmare, yet you have had two since we got here.” She stated softly, her hand gently stroking the back of mine with a reassuring touch. I couldn't even think of a reply so after a few seconds she spoke again. “I guess the stress on you at the moment is hitting you now you’re able to decompress.”

  The last few months leading up to the journey had been… hard. I think I was honestly at the lowest part I had ever been in my life at that point with job issues, loss, debt and many other issues piling on top and fueling my depression. But hey all bad things come to an end, right? That's what I used to tell myself. It is weird looking back at how simple my issues had been back then, sure they sucked but they didn't risk my life. Not yet at least.

  I can't remember how long we sat there; I won't lie though I do remember fully breaking down. Crying against Celeste's shoulder as she held me, her hands gently running through my hair while she whispered soft words of comfort as I let out all the repressed depression. People really need to be treated like that more, to be shown it’s okay to cry, to be reassured instead of insulted.

  My eyes opened again as I felt the warmth beside me, at some point I must have fallen back asleep and not to wake me she had just laid down with me still holding me. Sometimes I think we forget just how important something as simple as cuddling can really be, the feeling of being held mixed with the soft sound of her deep breathing brought me the comfort I had not realised I had missed. This time it was me who didn't want to wake the other, so I just lay there with my eyes closed and my mind in peace until I started to feel her stir.

  Both of our cheeks were a little flushed when she woke up and pulled back slightly with a smile, I gave her a smile of my own and how honestly thankful I was transferred between us wordlessly.

  “Did you know you're really warm, you make a perfect hot water bottle in this cold weather,” She joked, causing me to chuckle before we both jumped from a knock on the door.

  “Come on you two it's like eleven, get up the rest are waiting downstairs, they are making bets on what’s taking you so long!” Came Ezra’s voice from the other side of the door.

  “Fine fine, I am coming!” I replied with a roll of my eyes.

  “That’s what my bet’s on!” Ezra teased through the door.

  “Right come here you little shit.” I snapped as I stood up and walked to the door, opening it and poking my head out to see Ezra running around the corner chuckling to himself.

  It didn't take too long to freshen up and head down to meet the others, Ezra doing his best to look innocent, Sylvia and Lukas were deep in their own conversation and Jerome was obviously nursing a hangover.

  “Unlike your lazy lot I have had a productive morning.” Ezra teased as he took out a folder. “I got up at eight and everything.”

  “You have the advantage of not drinking.” Jerome groaned as he added a tablet to some water, watching it fizz before mixing it with a spoon.

  “Not my fault you guys like to drink poison.” Ezra teased as he put the camera I had used the night before on the table beside the folder.

  “Nah you just smoke it,” I replied with a roll of my eyes, before giving a nod of thanks to Celeste as she sat down beside me. Instead of coming straight to the others she had decided to get herself a cup of tea and had brought me one too.

  “Right, so Celeste found the shack while Talon got lost. It looks right anyway but I have had the pictures Talon took printed out for you all to see.” Ezra said as he handed out a few of the pictures of the house, however, I remember my eyes were drawn to one of the full houses. In the window, I was sure I had seen something, a shadow that could almost be a silhouette.

  “Hmm weird, this one is all blurred,” Lukas said, holding one that showed a close-up of one of the windows, however, the entire picture seemed to be overly blurry as if I had taken it while rapidly moving. The fact that this was a close-up of the window I had seen the shadow made me feel an odd sense of dread.

  “Ah what do you expect, Talon isn't a photographer it is good he managed to take the others so well.” Ezra chuckled as he looked at one of the windows, for a moment he seemed concerned and a little confused until he started laughing.

  “What?” Celeste asked as she raised an eyebrow at him.

  “Someone has put a mannequin in one of the windows to freak people out, its shadow on the curtain is probably what gave the myth that the place was haunted.” He answered eventually after he had managed to calm down.

  “How can you tell it isn't a person?” Lukas raised as he looked at the same picture.

  “It's lacking a head, and it is too stiff in standing to be anything else, smart I give them that,” Erza stated. “Probably put there by some kids who wanted to start a ghost story.”

  “Well looks like we have the right place, let's grab some lunch from town, head there and set up.” Lukas stated with a smile, “We all ready?”