The skies opened up with real purpose, showering the two fiances with rain as they hiked through the woods. They were running out of time to embark on their romantic hiking trip before the big day, so they cheerfully made their way along the trails of Forest Park despite the rain. Of course, rain wasn't anything new for Portland. The couple had lived there for long enough to accept Portland for everything that made it unique, including its weather. They decided they didn't need to wait for a more sunny, or really less cloudy, day to go on their trip. At least the torrential rain could make for an interesting story in the future.

"What a beautiful day," Jorge commented sarcastically. He and his fiance, Jordan, both laughed.

"It beats staying at work," Jordan said, grinning through the rain at her future husband. "Maybe one day I'll thank you for making me do this."

"Maybe," Jorge agreed, smugly. Jordan pushed him playfully and they laughed together as they carefully made their way along the trails, watching each step to avoid the pools of water that were forming around their feet.

"Have you been hiking here before?" she asked Jorge.

"No, and I definitely wouldn't do it alone," he answered.

"Because you're a big baby?" Jordan guessed. Jorge wasn't really a hiker as far as she knew. "Or is it because you'd miss me?"

Jorge stopped on the trail and wrapped his arms around Jordan. "Probably both," he said. "But, then again, I also might have gotten cold if I were out here all alone..."

"Well, you and I aren't in any danger of that," Jordan said. She leaned forward and kissed Jorge.

"Mm-hm," he mumbled in agreement as they kissed.

"Let's keep moving, or we won't make it back in time for our reservation at Raven and Rose," Jordan warned.

"I'd be okay with that," Jorge said, leaning in for another kiss.

Jordan pushed him away. "Come on," she called as she continued down the trail. Jorge watched Jordan's light brown ponytail bob with her steps. He laughed before running after her. "Hey, don't go off by yourself," he warned. "I don't want you to disappear on me."

"What are you talking about?" Jordan asked playfully, laughing and taking his hand.

"Haven't you heard the stories?" Jorge asked. "About people going missing in the woods near this very spot?" Jorge let go of Jordan's hand, ran in front of her, and was walking backward. "You know, tales about young attractive women disappearing after seeing a house in the woods?"

"That is ridiculous!"Jordan rolled her eyes and Jorge moved to walk next to her again.

"So you don't believe in it?" Jorge asked.

"Do you?" Jordan retorted, looking skeptical.

Jorge laughed before clearing his throat to make his voice sound more ominous. "I think there are things in this world we can't explain," he said darkly. He wiggled his fingers in front of himself. "Whoooo-oooo," he moaned in a poorly executed imitation of a ghost.

"Stop!" Jordan laughed, playfully shoving him again.

Jorge laughed, too. "A haunted romantic hiking trip," he approved, nodding. "I don't think it gets any better!" Jordan shot him an annoyed look as if she felt he was too excited about scary stories. "If you get scared, you can always curl up with me," Jorge offered. "I'll protect you," he said heroically. "I promise."

Jordan rolled her eyes again. "Lucky for us, we aren't living in a Blair Witch movie," she said. "I think we'll survive." She looked up at the dark sky and the mist circling around them. "Without the sun out, it's hard to tell what time it is," she mused.

Jorge pulled out his phone. "It's almost 4:00," he said casually.

"Really?!" Jordan started to look worried. "Do you have any service?" she demanded.

"No, why?" Jorge answered quickly, clearly confused.

"Kayla was supposed to pick up the wedding invitation supplies at 4:00. I told her if she was later, they might close before she can get them, and if that happens, she won't be able to finish making them in time for me to send them tomorrow. And, if they aren't sent tomorrow, some people might not get them in time, and if-"

"Hey," Jorge said soothingly, putting his hands on Jordan's shoulders. "Hey, everything is going to be okay. This trip is supposed to be relaxing, all right? I'm sure Kayla is picking up the supplies right now."

"But what if she isn't? Or what if one of the other girls needs my help with something?" Jordan paused before her eyes widened with horror. "What if my dress isn't finished being altered? If my dress isn't ready, then we have to cancel the-"

"Okay," Jorge interrupted, sounding overwhelmed. He pulled Jordan into a hug. "Come here," he said. "Everything is going to be okay," he whispered gently in her ear.

Jordan listened and took a few deep breaths of the air around her. It was comforting because she could smell Jorge. He smelled like rain, sweat, and the special cologne that he always ordered online because no one sold it in Portland.

"Thank you," Jordan said. "I needed that."

"I'd do anything for you. Mrs. Thompson. Let's just keep walking," Jorge said, releasing Jordan from his embrace. "We can even jog if you'd like."

They laughed and resumed their easy going hiking trip.

*************

His phone died 2 hours ago, so he checked his watch. It was 7:00 pm and getting dark fast. "And, we've officially missed our reservation," he announced to Jordan.

They stopped walking and Jordan started waving her hands around wildly, trying to express an emotion she didn't have words for. "Great," she announced angrily. "I knew this was going to happen!"

"Look, we can eat out some other time. It's not a big deal," Jorge said, trying to remain calm.

"I'm not worried about dinner, I'm worried about getting out of here," Jordan explained. "We have been walking for hours! Is the trail supposed to be this long?" Jordan demanded.

"I don't know," Jorge said defeated, shaking his head.

Jordan turned her death glare away from the woods and towards her fiance. "How do you not know?" Jordan questioned angrily. "This whole trip was your idea. Shouldn't you know where we're going?"

"Hey," Jorge began defensively. "I planned the trip on this map." He held up the soggy, smeared, and disintegrating hunk of paper in his hands. "If you want to attempt to read this thing, go ahead!"

Jordan snatched the map out of his hands and tried to read it.

Jordan was starting to get on Jorge's nerves. Did she think he wanted to get lost in the woods? Jorge glared at her, quietly fuming, as Jordan squinted at the remains of the map.

"Well, was your superior intellect able to divine anything from that soggy piece of paper?" Jorge asked sarcastically.

"No," Jordan responded bitterly. "But I would be able to read it if you had used something that wouldn't fall apart in the rain! Who writes important information on paper when it's a torrential downpour like this?!" she questioned. She threw the soggy wad of paper at Jorge. He caught it against his chest and water spurted out of it. Jorge narrowed his eyes and watched Jordan stomp away in the rain. She made it a few feet before she turned around and shouted, "I knew this was a bad idea! I should never have come here with you, especially so close to the wedding!"

"I didn't hear you complaining when I was telling you about our trip," Jorge shot back.

"Yeah, well, I wasn't lost in the creepy woods when you were telling me, Jorge!" she shouted.

"Maybe this is a good thing," Jorge said bitterly. "It will give us an excuse to cancel the wedding."

"Cancel it?!" Jordan said sadly while also maintaining some of the edge in her voice. She was deeply hurt by Jorge's suggestion, even though she didn't want to show it.

"Yeah, cancel it. What? You're going to pretend that this is working for us?" Jorge asked. He gestured between him and his fiance. "What happens when we can't agree on where to live or what a would be a good wall paint color. We'd probably kill each other." Jorge looked sharply at Jordan. "You know, maybe we aren't as compatible as we thought."

"How dare you!" Jordan yelled. "After everything, you're going to use the hiking trip from hell as an excuse not to marry me?"

"An excuse? We clearly aren't working as a couple."

"Clearly!" Jordan agreed. "You are a big baby!" Jordan stormed off.

"At least I'm not a tyrant!" he yelled after her.

He waited by himself in the rain. He didn't duck for cover under any trees because both he and Jordan were soaking wet by that point in their trip.

It took Jorge a few long minutes of self-reflection in the darkening forest to realize how badly he had mishandled the situation. He had gone too far.

"I'm such an idiot," he moaned to himself while he went searching for his other half. He jogged down the hardly visible paths and searched among the tall trees for any sign of his fiance.

"Jordan!" he yelled as he ran. "Jordan? Look, I'm sorry, okay?! I didn't mean any of it! Jordan!" His heart beat faster, not from exertion, but from fear. People really had gone missing in these woods, recently even. He was worried that something would happen to the woman he loved. He frantically peered through the shadows of the woods hoping to spot the familiar shape of his fiance. He still couldn't find her.

"Jordan!?" he yelled out desperately. He hadn't really believed in the scary stories he had heard. He never thought that he or Jordan would actually end up in danger. He looked at the black woods surrounding him in every direction, the thick clouds suffocating the remaining light of the sky, the plants that could hide all evidence of evil from society in their long, sickly-green tendrils of foliage.

Jorge was quickly becoming a believer in scary stories minute by minute, second by second, and breath by breath.

"Jordan!!! Please! Where are you?!!!" Jorge was panicking.

He leaned against a tree and started hyperventilating. He tried to calm down, but it was proving difficult. He felt like he was being eaten alive by the forest.

He felt a hand on his shoulder. It startled him. He jumped so high, he almost hit his head on one of the branches of the giant tree he had been leaning against.

"Jorge," she said. Her voice came out in a whisper.

"Jordan," he said relieved when he realized it was her. He wanted to hold her and never let her go. He tried to walk towards her, but she grabbed his arm and started leading him away from the trail.

"What are you doing?" he asked, confused.

"Shh," she said. "You've got to hear this. Listen," she said.

They plunged deeper into the heart of the dark forest.

"Jordan," he began to say in a tone that questioned her sanity.

"Shh," she repeated. That was when Jorge heard them.

Birds. All species of birds, invisible to the eye, chirped and tweeted and sung until the woods were consumed by their resonating calls. It was dark, it was late, it was stormy. Why were so many birds all together at the same place at the same time?

To Jorge, it sounded haunting like a warning to stop, turn around, and head back to the trail.

"Isn't it beautiful?" Jordan asked. She was drawn to the sound. Every chirp drew her closer to some unknown destination.

Jorge was determined to avoid any more fights with Jordan. He especially didn't want to start a fight about the creepy birds of the freaky forest.

"Yeah, it's nice," Jorge said. Jordan moved deeper into the forest. "In a gut wrenching, let's get out of here kind of way," he added before following Jordan.

They walked for a short time before Jordan stopped and held her hand out in front of her. "Look," she said.

Jorge moved next to her to see what she was pointing to. About a hundred feet away, there was a warm glow shining through the window of an old cottage almost completely concealed by green foliage. Nailed to a nearby tree was a rusty metal sign that said, "NO TRESPASSING."

Jordan started walking towards the light. Jorge reached out and grabbed her arm. "Wait," he said.

"They might be able to help us," Jordan said. She looked up at Jorge with a peaceful smile. Jorge was really starting to get nervous. Jordan took a few more steps before Jorge said, "What about the stories?"

For some reason, the stories were all Jorge could think about.

"You know I don't believe in that stuff," Jordan said. She moved in the direction of the cottage.

"Jordan, please. Let's just go," he said. Jordan kept moving deeper into the woods. Jorge groaned and followed a few feet behind her.

Suddenly, Jordan stopped.

"Jordan?" Jorge whispered, also freezing.

No response.

"Jordan?" he said louder without receiving a response again. "Jordan, this isn't funny," Jorge announced, getting upset. He stomped his way up to Jordan and froze just like she had.

It wasn't a choice. Neither one of them could move an inch or make a sound. They weren't sure what was happening, but they did know that they were stuck. It all began to feel more and more like they had walked into a trap.

The cottage door opened, throwing more lights and shadows across the ground as a short, hunched, and slow silhouette made its way to the couple.

The silhouette removed its hood, revealing the face of a woman old enough to be Jorge or Jordan's grandmother.

"What have we here?" she asked herself. Her voice, surprisingly, sounded smooth, though it was quiet enough to be considered a whisper. It was the kind of silken voice that could persuade someone that they were the only person in the world. It was a very powerful voice.

The old woman cocked her head to the side and leaned in to get a closer look at Jordan and Jorge. She was examining them like a collector would examine an expensive sculpture before making the decision to buy it.

She rested her hand on Jordan's shoulder. "My dear, you are a pretty one, aren't you?" she mused. "Maybe it would suit you better if you were more plain..." she suggested. She moved both of her hands onto Jordan's cheeks and twitched before her face transformed into a witch-like shape adorned with decaying flesh, scars, and wounds. The old woman looked like a corpse. Both Jordan and Jorge were still frozen, unable to recoil from the horrific sight.

"Let's see," the woman said. This time, her voice sounded rough. She hissed a phrase that sounded like German, and Jordan was suddenly able to move.

Jordan tried desperately to pull away from the old woman without success. The old woman grabbed Jordan's wrists and curled what remained of her decayed lip up into a wicked grin.

Jordan gasped and fell to her knees while the old woman still held her wrists. It was clear that Jordan was in intense pain, like every cell in her body was ripping itself to pieces.

Jordan screamed as she kneeled in the mud until the pain stopped. She looked at her reflection in a pool of water and could just make out the features of a bird-like face where her reflection should be. The old witch released Jordan's wrists, and Jordan began to feel her face. Her fingers brushed across the smooth beak and feathery layers of her face.

Then, another deformed shape stepped out of the cottage. As it drew closer, Jordan, still gasping on the ground, looked up and noticed the figure had bird features like her own. It was some kind of owl-human hybrid.

Jordan was confused and terrified, but there was also something inside of her that continued to draw her closer to the cottage like she had been drawn in before. She thought that the birds surrounding the house must have also had the same biological incentive to be closer to this destination.

The owl stood in front of Jordan, took a deep breath, and transformed into a human. Jordan stood and did the same, without really knowing what she was doing.

The old witch set her arm on Jordan's shoulder. "Why don't you come home, my dear," she said. Jordan looked over at the witch and smiled without knowing why. The owl girl wrapped her hand around Jordan's and led her into the cottage. Jordan followed obediently, her eyes empty of comprehension and her walk sluggish. The two disappeared into the house.

The corpse woman remained, watching the eyes of Jorge. She saw them fill with confusion, and then horror as he saw his fiance turn into a bird and disappear into the cottage.

Jorge wanted to scream, but he couldn't.

The woman looked at him with her cloudy eyes. It was surprising that she could see at all. "I don't want you," she said. She muttered something in German, and Jorge was freed from his immobility. "Leave," she commanded.

"Jordan," he winced.

"You will never see her again," the old woman promised.

Jorge briefly sprinted towards the cottage but was frozen in place once more.

The old woman hissed before pushing her hand towards Jorge as if she were pushing an invisible person. She made no contact with the man in front of her, but she still managed to send Jorge flying across the forest with inhuman force.

The woman muttered to herself, relaxed back into her human state, and walked back inside the cottage.

Jorge must have hit his head because his flight across the forest knocked him unconscious.

*************

Jordan's walk into the cottage could be best described as zombie-like. A minute ago, her reality was full of fear, anxiety, caution, and loss, but now, everything around her told her that the cottage was home.

Jordan mindlessly followed behind the owl woman, taking in the unfamiliar faces of six other people that were scattered around the cottage. She ended up following the owl woman to the basement filled with a variety of wicker furniture; it also housed ten beds in. The old woman found Jordan there.

"I always keep a few extra," she said, pointing to the beds. "I never know when I'm going to find another young woman to," she smiled, "Save."

Jordan didn't quite understand the old woman. She felt dazed, but it felt good. She had experienced a drive that told her that the cottage was where she should be.

The old woman asked a favor of the owl girl that Jordan wasn't listening to. The owl woman left quickly, disappearing up the stairs.

"This is your new home," the old woman told Jordan. She grabbed Jordan's hand and led her over to a bed at the other end of the room. "You're tired," the old woman said, touching Jordan's face.

Jordan thought about it. She was starting to feel tired. She sat down on the bed and watched the owl woman return with a handful of clothes. The old woman took the clothes and handed them to Jordan.

"You want to change, my dear. I'm sure of it," the old woman said, eyeing Jordan's wet and muddy clothes. She gestured to a bathroom in the corner. Jordan mindlessly rose to her feet, taking the clothes with her to the bathroom. A few minutes later, she emerged in a T-shirt and checkered pajama pants and sat back down on the bed.