Chapter 12
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"You are with that woman!" yelled Alena "I am coming at once, where are you??"
"Still searching for him," he roared "I will inform you when I find him. Bye!"
"The hill!!" yelled Julia "He must be at the hills!"
Upon hearing her words, Samuel cut the call with his wife, who had heard about the hills and prepared her car to follow her man and his woman.
Samuel drove towards the isolated hills nearby. Traveling there with a car would take approximately an hour, so he had to hurry up in order to find him. Julia started to feel that something bad had already happened, her stomach ached and her head felt heavy, her heart was beating loudly telling her that her beloved was so far from her. She did not understand the messages of her heart but rather knew that she would find something worse than bad. Miserable…
Driving towards the hills into the deep forest, a labyrinth of fantasm-grey mist hung over them. It seemed as if it had arisen as part of the forest's wet breath. Hovering like voodoo vapour in the arcane light of the morning, it was motionless as it surveyed the trees beneath.
Like an apparition one might see over an ancient barrow, it was more than air and less than flesh and blood. Kinless and kith less, it wove itself together, increasing in density. When it was satisfied its form could entwine the trees, it began to descend, clasping itself onto their leafy heads. Fetters of the diaphanous mist fastened themselves around the wood, leaving no tree unharmed.
Although it was incorporeal, it managed to fade the mossy trees into a grim-grey reflection of itself. Like unholy incense, it wafted and spirited through the forest, swathing everything in its vaporous patina.
As wild and fantastic as a chimera, it grew in substance and intensity, steaming with its own spite. The forest took on an unearthly aspect. It was as if this devil's tattoo had been designed to hide its beauty. A heavy dewdrop of rain was the first sign that the mist had gone too far. Then a drizzle came, followed by a deluge.
The rain increased until it was seething and sizzling. Raindrops seared the mist, ripping it apart with its stinging, silver bullets. The forest was hissing like the dripping saliva of a demon. It lost its otherworldly aspect, gradually taking form again.
When the last shred of mist had disappeared, the trees in the forest looked malady-brown as grains of poison begrimed the bark and gleamed like witch dust. Trolls haunted the sooty coppices, salivating over their prey and smearing the blood over their heavy faces. The decaying air and stifling atmosphere provided the perfect abode for those who worshipped the darkness rather than the light.
The forest was primordial. Centuries-old trees with sprawling limbs guarded the darkness, blotting out any sunlight. Their bark was mottled and splotched, as if bubbled soup had been frozen in time on its surface. Clumpy combs of wet moss dangled from their rotten boughs. Underneath the moss, lethal larkspur peppered the mulchy floor.
A pungent tang oozed from every sentient being in the forest. Bewailing sounds ghosted through the trees. Whether it was from victim or victor, only the forest could tell. It was truly a place to make the veins freeze over. Everything considered edible in another forest was nauseating here. It left them with the same, sickening taste of your own blood. Was the forest that ugly before? Or was it the scary aura that made her look like that??
Samuel stopped the car as soon as he had noticed the existence of a different car in the area. He rushed out of his car to assess the one in front of him, it was surely Rafael's, but it was only empty. Then, a car parked beside his, it was his wife's, who was following them to reach the hills.
Alena barged out of her car and rushed towards both of them with a fire curdling inside of her. She was a snake ready to spit out her poison anytime. She held Julia with her collar and started yelling at her: "So, you are my husband's second wife? You are the one who lowered yourself for his posture and money?? How did you lure him? With your body? Face? Words? Or even actions? But do not worry, I will always be favored by him and you have no place between us!!"
"Do you think it is the best time for your blabbering??" yelled Julia "Rafael is disappeared for more than five hours, his car is parked here but he is not inside it, I am pregnant and tired after all these hours, your husband his exhausted and worried for the fate of his brother, and after all you come to tell me that you are his number one?? Listen baby, first, if your husband had ever loved you, he would have never cheated behind your back. Second, I have nothing with him, I neither do love him nor he does. So, screw you, your love and your husband, I want to find Rafael calmly, do not disturb me!!"
"I will make you pay for all of these!!"
The young detective did not give any attention about her words, but approached the car to assess and find any clues about his location.