Lost and Curious.

Eden stops near a twisted tree with snakey vines hanging from it. She’s out of breath and about 4 miles into the brush. Hanging onto a vine, praying it isn't really a snake, she rubs her sore feet. It would have been worse if she tried running in the heels, but the jungle floor still hurt her feet. After rubbing some pain out, she straightens up quickly at a sudden noise behind her. It sounds like a howling noise, a very loud, mechanical, killing wolf. She jumps back as the trees around her also appear to jump right out of the ground. Something pulled them up and it’s angry.

Turning in a full circle, she has no idea which way to turn. Eden’s too far into the jungle to see the smoke of the plane and it’s too dense and dark to even try peeking through the trees. She pauses in her search of where to go when she feels a gust of air blowing on the back of her neck. Terrified to turn around, but too curious to not, she pivots on her heels towards what’s behind her.

A cloud of black smoke floats in front of her face. It’s about six feet off the ground and seems to be an endless black hole of despair, because as she looks into the heart of it, it shows her all the evil things she has done, all of her memories. One memory the smoke monster likes the most, and Eden is swept into the past by its choice.

“Eden, stop!” Her little sister shrieks as Eden slowly makes her way up to the house. She pauses where the path to the door starts, and admires the vines creeping their way up the sides of the acclaimed haunted house.

“ I’ll be fine, I’m just curious what’s making that noise and I want to find out,” she replies calmly.

“Eden, you’re curiosity will kill you one day- remember ‘curiosity killed the cat?’ Anyway, it just sounds like some mutt stuck in there.”

“ The thing is I’m not a cat! I’ll be fine, go home.”

Eden continues her way up the walk path and gets to the wooden door. She pulls at her auburn braid pulled off to the side, a bad habit she got into when she was nervous. She knocks, and the door swings open with the force of her hand. Eden takes a tentative step forward and whispers: “ Hello? Anyone there?”

She jumps as a whoosh of air slams the door shut behind her. Looking up at the ceiling, she hears a creaking noise on the floor above her.Eden takes the winding stairs towards her right up to the second floor. With every step she takes the stairs sound like they would fall apart under feet, sending her crashing to the ground below. She takes a deep breath and makes it to the landing of the second floor. Looking up again with her bright blue eyes, she hears more noises.

‘... Must be in the attic...” She thinks to herself, too scared to speak out loud.

Eden finds the hidden attic loft near the end of the pealing wallpapered hallway and pulls the stairs down. She gradually makes her way up, holding her breath at what she may find. She twists her head left and right, trying to hear the noise that terrifies her at night, both in her dreams and when she wakes up from them. Having this house next door has scared her all her life and no one in her family has ever understood why. Her parents can never understand why her dreams make her wake up screaming and soaked through the sheets; for years they've tried getting her help, sending her to psychologists and doctors. None of it ever helped, and she hopes that when she goes into the old attic, she’ll find and end the cause of her poor sleep.

She hears a creak in the far corner near an old mannequin. Tip-toeing her way there, she lets out a breath of air. It IS only a puppy, a little shepherd with its paw stuck in the floor where it had caved in once. It looks up at her with the puppy eyes no human with a heart can ever turn down.      
Eden bends down to pick the poor thing up when she feels a breath of air against the back of her neck and hears the noise from her nightmares. The puppy didn't make that noise, it only creates a small whimper. This noise is a scary, malfunctioning computer-thing, with whispers and painful screams encircling it. Whirling around, she sees black smoke hanging six feet off the floor. Paralyzed with fear with the puppy in her arms, she lets the shepherd claw its way out of her arms and to the floor, running down the stairs and out of the house. The smoke almost inhales her, but before it can she dodges the monster and runs down the stairs, not stopping until she’s at the sidewalk in front of the house.

The smoke seems satisfied  with this memory and sends her an image to her mind of a smile. Not a regular smile, a more sinister one, like a Disney villain would create. The monster then sends an image of it inhaling her this time and a wagging finger- it’s scolding Eden for being so curious to turn around. Eden figures that if she hadn't, she might still have a chance at staying alive.

The smoke monster emits its horrifying noise and sucks Eden into its vortex of endless despair and pain.