Leave Us Alone

The Waynesville inner city bus stand is a small bus stand, which experiences limited to no traffic throughout most of the year. The bus coming in from Washington was the only one coming in that night, and it carried just a handful of passengers, Oscar being one of them. Walking out of the bus, Oscar looking at how silent everything around them is, starts wondering why Ryan had decided to have his wedding here. With no network on his phone, he decides to sit down on the bench outside and have a nap until Ryan gets there. He almost falls asleep but wakes up as he hears someone walk up to him from the back. Oscar glances about casually still sleeping, but immediately gets startled when he sees no one behind him. He checks his mobile to see whether he is getting any network, but it still shows no signal. He gets a little restless as he sits up straight and keeps looking around the corner, waiting for Ryan to show up.

Suddenly, Oscar sees a beautiful woman standing by a pillar in the corner with a suitcase by her side, which she is struggling to move. Without a second thought, he walks up to her. The woman looked athletic and in good shape with her sleek curvaceous body, as Oscar amazed and feels an irresistible urge racing through him, making him want to know more about her as he stares into her dark maroon eyes. When asked, she tells him that she comes to the town once a year to meet some of her old friends. Not wanting to end the conversation, Oscar tells her that he was here for a friend's wedding. He complains and tells her that he is alone at the airport waiting for his friend and is also sad that he does not have a date to take to the wedding as his plus one.

“Well, I'm sorry to hear that. I wish I could help you out,” the young woman says.

“ You could help me if you came with me as my date. That would help me out a lot,” Oscar says trying to sound as convincing as he can.

“I'm not sure that would be good. People tend to get scared when I'm around. I've never had much luck with the people of this town especially.”

“Nonsense. I don't believe you. Such a beautiful woman, so polite. Why would people not like you?”

“They take one look at my face. They all start screaming. They don't think I'm beautiful. They think I'm hideous. If you look closely, even you will run away.”

Oscar feels his eyes burn slightly so he starts rubbing them softly. When he opens his eyes and he looks at the young one again, his blood runs cold. He stands there frozen, with his body starting to shiver with terror. The young woman in front of him did not look so young anymore. Instead, her face was now black as if someone had so much coal on. There was a strange odour around her body. The odour of ash mixed with the carcass of a dead animal.

“Who are you? Oscar asks.”

With an evil smirk appearing on her face, the woman whispers, “Run!”

Oscar does not wait for a second warning and immediately turns away from her running off in the opposite direction and sprinting as fast as he can. He realizes that the end of the bus stand appears to be moving further away from him with each step. Tired and out of breath, he stops for a second and turns back to see how far he has made it. To his utter shock, he looks back to see that he had only made it a meter away from her. At this point, tears start forming in his eyes and he feels a sharp chill pass through his entire body. He closes his eyes and immediately starts praying for God to save him just this once.

Just then, he feels a hand fall on the shoulders due to which he starts shouting for help.

“Hey, Oscar. Relax. It's me, Ryan,” says Ryan with his hand on his shoulder.

Seeing him on his knees on the floor like that, Herbert starts looking around having a feeling that something's wrong. Ryan asks Oscar what had happened and Oscar tells him about the entire story, from the time he came out of the airport to the time he started running for his life. He tells them about how this young beautiful woman told him that she comes to this town a year and also that she had told him that people of this town do not like her. In his trembling voice, Oscar describes her physical appearance, saying that it looked as if someone had burned off her face after smashing her head.

Ryan was infatuated about this and immediately starts to laugh and he asks Oscar if he had drunk any alcohol on the flight because there was no one outside the airport. Herbert stands in silence listening to everything Oscar says, already chanting a few prayers in his head. He tells Ryan that he should not joke about these things, especially since he is sure that this is indeed Caroline, the Crimson bride herself.

The three of them stand in silence for a few moments before Ryan asked the both of them not to overreact since there are no such things as ghosts or demons. He tells the both of them about how back in the city, there was a store that was said to be haunted, especially since there will always be things missing the next morning. Later, they found out that there was a homeless man that would sneak in every night and steal the things he needed through a loose fence that was connected to the alleyway in the back.

Herbert advises them to wait till daybreak before they head back. Ryan, feeling exhausted insists that they head back right away using Oscar’s fatigue as an excuse. The three of them sit in the car and drive off back to the house. On the way back, looking at Oscars scared face, Ryan attempts to cheer him up. He puts on the radio. Still very foggy, the radio does not get frequency and they only hear static voices. Irritated, Ryan switches it off and starts having a conversation with Oscar, who was only replying by nodding his head.

As they drive ahead, Herbert suddenly squeezes up as he moves his head closer to the steering wheel. In a matter of seconds, he opens his eyes while drifting off onto the side of the road. immediately, setting off the airbags.

Slowly gaining consciousness, Ryan opens his eyes laboriously see that Herbert and Oscar are still unconscious. He slowly drags himself off the seat, and after opening the door and immediately drops to the ground. With great effort, he moves over to the trunk and opens the door and pulls Herbert out of the car. Oscar manages to get himself out of the car, and he too, falls on the ground.

As they begin to get back their breath, Herbert opens his eyes and starts pointing towards the front of the car. They watch as they see a woman figure slowly approaching them, wearing a white blood-stained gown with a veil on her face. A first, Ryan thinks he's hallucinating and painfully rubs his eyes, hoping that would see well. Oscar, looking at the woman, fainted again.

“Who are you? Leave us alone,” Ryan shouts.

“You already know that!” the woman screams in an evil growl as she rushes towards the three of them.