Week 7 Storytelling: In Search of Adventure

Image Information: A creepy closet door that I imagine would fit in very well in this story. Source: healingthoughtsblog.com

The whole of Angria knew of the dangers that the dark. Centuries of cohabitation with mythical creatures had made the people wary of the creatures that were active during the night. Everyone who had lived in Angria knew of this self-imposed curfew and knew well to abide by it. But unfortunately, this commonality was not shared with outsiders. The Angrians looked after their own, which worked out fine because Angria got very few visitors.

            Except one day, they did get a visitor. A young man came to Angria in the middle of his travels. Except he came at night.

            Grear had thought that his travels would be filled with adventure. After setting out from his parent’s home at the age of sixteen, he thought that danger would be within arm’s reach at any point in his journey, but the reality is that although he had been traveling for a few years now, Grear had yet to meet even a single mythical creature.

            So coming into Angria and seeing the whole town basically void of all human life, Grear thought nothing of it and instead set out to find a small place to stay for the rest of the night. Completely oblivious to the idea of danger present in Angria, he set out into the woods and after some wandering came across a small cottage with a barn in the back. Unthinkingly, he entered the barn, made the loft into his own personal room, and quickly fell into a deep sleep.

            But he was woken up only hours later when he sensed a presence surrounding him. Rolling over and clutching his bag to his chest he called out a sleepy “Is there anybody there,” mumbling and rubbing at his eyes.

            “I am.” Came a scratchy voice from the opposite side of the room. His eyes immediately sought out the source of the voice and he scrambled to his feet. “Come child, it is too cold to be sleeping in the barn of a stranger,” she beckoned with her hand and made to climb back down the stairs into the loft, “I have a room that will be much, much better for you. And for me as well.”

            And Grear, fearing nothing, for what could an old woman do to him in the worst case scenario, packs his things and begins to follow her into her small cottage.

            “The room is just through that door, my dear,” she said, pointing at a door in the far corner of the room. “Just go ahead and get comfortable in there and I will bring you some extra blankets in a moment.”

            Groggily, Grear made his way to the aforementioned room and began searching for the light switch. Dropping his bag at the door and rubbing his hands along the wall, stumbling around searching for the bed, Grear was startled by the sound of a soft clicking. Spinning around, he immediately threw out his hands and stumbled his way back to where he thought the door had been. Only to find that the door had been locked behind him.

            Falling to his knees at this discovery, all Grear could think was that he had finally found his adventure.   

Author’s Note:

I wrote this story based on the Japanese Fairy Tales (Ozaki) story, The Goblin of Adachigahara. I was really inspired by the grotesque amounts of cannibalism that were present in a lot of stories as well as having seemingly fragile characters suddenly become the antagonists. Plus, the room in this story was creepy as all get out and I could not begin to imagine how this poor old lady managed to get her victims into her small killing room. It was all just crazy.