Wicked Woods (A Monsters of Midnight Short Story) by Lark Henry

Author:Lark Henry [Henry, Lark]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-01-22T00:00:00+00:00

4

I could hear Tyler's screams soon after. They sounded distant and slowly mixed with the sound of bells. They cut off suddenly in the midst of a gasp.

My legs gave out and I slid down the trunk of the tree into a pile. The lights and bells started jingling in a new wind. The fear left my body and was replaced by something else. Something that shouldn't be there.

Heat.

I should go back the way I came. I should go back home. But for some reason the idea of this creature chasing me and catching me made me excited in too many ways to count. Would it feel like my dreams? Was it even him in my dreams? He did say it was. But how could I be sure he wasn’t lying? But I still wanted everything from those dreams. I wanted him to take me.

I bit my bottom lip and looked around me. It was the same but different. The dark trees and branches somehow looked less menacing now, softer almost. This time bits of dark smoke curled around them. The shadows seemed to dance and become closer to me. The bells and lights still shone brightly in the darkness leading me in a new direction.

Stay with us. The shadows started moving forward. They sprouted at the base of the forest trees and morphed into tendrils of black smoke licking my legs. It should be a strange sensation. It should make me run. But instead it made my body react and want to stay. Want to move deeper into the woods. Find out what would really happen if I met this creature again.

I looked behind me the way I had come and suddenly the path was there. A small stone path right in the center of all the snow led me home. But did I want to go home?

No, I didn't. I wanted to see what happened next.

I let my feet move forward in the snow in the opposite direction. Going farther into the town of Midnight. Somehow the cold seemed to dissipate from the air. The shadows seemed to grow just a little in excitement and moved in sync with the wind.

The gentle breeze whispered all around me. But I had a face now to the beast I kept seeing in my dreams. So I ran.

I didn't think of anything except for The Creature as I ran. With renowned energy, my body became more and more excited as I sprinted forward.

Everything started to feel like it stopped moving. The trees, the wind, even the shadows around me. They moved deeper into the woods, retreating as I looked around.

Without warning I was hit and fell to the ground. Upturned snow covered my body and what little bit of clothing was still untouched.

“My, aren't you a pretty thing,” the creature growled with a voice like rolling thunder.

It wasn't the same kind of hit as Tyler. This time it felt playful and a little cautious. Like he wasn't actually trying to hurt me.

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