I was stood behind a large gravestone above the Devils Den; I heard some faint chanting nearby. I froze. I slowly turned to see where the chanting was coming from. Unexpectedly a muscular arm grabbed me, automatically my mouth opened to scream but a second hand shut my mouth. I had no clue as to what was happening.
I calmed down slightly when I heard Tom’s voice whispering to me to shut up. I finally settled and he let go of me. My eyes were attracted to the bright lights below. “Oh my god!” I said. I looked at Tom who had an expressionless face.
In the Devils Den below, there were twelve people dressed in long black gowns, their faces covered by a long hood adjoined to their gowns. They were circling a large boulder. Their chanting was getting louder. I had never witnessed such a weird site. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up on end.
The chanting stopped. Everyone stood silent as a man with a goat appeared from the deepest part of the forest. They tied the healthy goat to the stone. The evil man slowly pulled out a long dagger from his Black robe. The shiny dagger was darkened by the pitch-black forest.
He chanted a few phrases raised the dagger into the air and slammed the dagger into the helpless goats chest. The goat let out a deafening plea for help and then there was silence. With ease he sliced open the goat. I, helplessly watched the inhumane sight. Then as if nothing important, he began to peel the skin from the body. When he finished he held the head and skin high into the air chanted some strange phrases.
He placed the goat’s head on the rock. The skin was still wet with blood and it stuck to his back. Blood covered his face as it ran from the goat’s head before falling to the ground. He turned towards the deep dark forest and from it appeared a young woman with a small child in her arms. There was no expression on her face as she placed the child on the rock before turning and walking back into the darkness.
The child lay quietly on the rock. The other characters still encircling the rock, continued their chanting. Their chanting became louder and louder. Suddenly there was silence as the leader stood. He raised the dagger into the air, a cold dark expression on his face as he prepared to do the unthinkable. Just as he was ready to plunge the blade into the child, a scream pierced the night. Their eyes searched the darkness for the scream and soon all eyes were on me. I turned to my left but Tom had disappeared. I felt senseless as if all my muscles had gone numb.
The bright rays of the sun woke me up, I was lying in a garden a couple of doors away from where I lived. I quickly got up hoping nobody had seen me. I raced home and locked myself in my bedroom. Everybody was quietly sleeping. “Was it just a dream?” I asked myself. I was convinced it actually happened, but I did not know of any one called Tom. I quietly lay on my bed trying to get my mind straight, from the corner of my eye I thought I saw a black object, it seemed to move whenever I moved, I slowly got of my bed and realised it was my own reflection in the mirror. I moved closer to my mirror, and then I let out a deafening scream.
SHARJEEL IQBAL
