Good gods, it was above her. She somehow could feel its presence amidst the branches and pine that shielded starlight from piercing down upon her head, knowing it was upon her tail and intent on seeking out no other. But how could she know of it when she heard it not? No branches snapped, no shuffling of leaves nor groaning of wood that would alert her to a sign of it soaring through the treetops. She had no right to know that it was there. Save for the fact that it was hunting her.
Snap. Groan. Wood stretched to its breaking point echoed in her ears as clumps of green pine fell just before her feet, the strange new substance beneath her boots causing her to stumble. Oh, how easily it could flit from branch to branch without ever touching a single needle, so at home within its environment that the rustles of sound she would emanate were never to be found, only if it demanded they be heard! It hunted her- no, toyed with her. Played with her like a housecat with a mouse! It would only be a matter of time before this wretched beast ended her!
Crack! A great trunk of tree fell just before the next step of her path and saw fit to ending to her escape. How could she hope to slow down before it came? One step, then another, then sent tumbling heels over head through air and into hard earth that scraped at her youthful skin-
But then came the break! The fracture of limb, one of her legs! To go any further was impossibility now, no hope of escaping to the forest’s edge where salvation might find her! She tried to right herself, to somehow keep running- but impossible! Nothing would be able to revive her fleeing spirit and see her free from the clutches of what foul monster that sought her out.
She dared not look at it, even though she knew it to be just right behind her. Oh, she could feel its presence without a doubt! How it edged ever closer, a slow and loping crawl towards the flesh that it would devour! It hungered for her so greedily, so lustily- the thought of her being the one that would satisfy its belly was sickening to behold.
She had to call for help. To cry out, to do something besides just accept her fate! Maybe someone else was out here in these accursed woods, one that would find her and see this fate reversed! Lungs filled with air, she made ready to burst with terror- yet all that came from her lips was a raspy, weak little mewl of “Help!” that would not have echoed even amongst the lilies. Her whole body had failed her, and she was to die tonight.
Terrified, horrified beyond rational meaning, she looked back upon her devourer and saw its hulking shadow for only a moment- for that was all it needed to sink its teeth into her flesh and consume the darkened light that surrounded her being, sending every sense into the oblivion that was death.
Awakening came in an instant. Did she suck in breath, give a gasp, scream? Senses told her not, ripped too quickly from the dreaming world to offer much report upon anything. Even their assessment of her being awake arrived delayed by a few momentary seconds, still focused on the horror of the woods and the blight of violence that had been consuming her. She was being devoured, eaten alive while still screaming, she was- she was… dreaming.
It had only been a dream. Flurry Heart awoke to reality and found herself in the open room where she bedded down every night, tucked away in the comfortable corner that had been given to her ever since she had become a young woman. Not really any different from when she’d been a girl, but she’d been given her own space away from her parent’s eyes, a shroud about her bed to help shield her from prying eyes. So she was at home, safe and secure, and most definitely in her hay bed. Not in those ghastly, ungodly, forbidden woods that would be her end.
But was she safe? The young woman was not quite so certain after such a nightmare; were those kind of specters normal dreaming material for a young girl such as she? Not likely. Never before had she dreamed of such violence, at least as far as she could recall. Something malevolent had disturbed her slumbering world, seen fit to filling it with the threats of infinity. And how dreadful it was for her mind to focus upon… upon them and their world.
The forbidden world, just out of sight.
She meant not to. She knew it would terrify her, see fit to sending her already unnerved being put into fits. But how was she to rest if she did not know? Rising slowly from her bed, Flurry cast aside the shroud about her and put feet to misshapen floor beneath, the familiar feel of her father’s work granting her the courage to continue on. No, she would not hesitate when she knew of the mighty spirit that protected this place. Just in the other room, what could hope to breach this place and do her harm? She would face her fears even in the midst of this oppressive darkness.
Out from her room and into the main room of her familial home. It was the only one with windows, with a way that would allow her to see what lurked outside. Perhaps more on tiptoe than she intended, Flurry crept her way to the smeared glass that was the pane above the stove. It was the only window that faced outwards, out towards the woods- towards them. What would she see when her eyes gazed out into that darkness? Would shadows flicker by? Would she even be able to see at all, or would some brutish specter be shrouding her vision right from the very start? The village was so precise about its bedtimes; maybe there was a reason behind such decisions.
Stretching out, trying not to make metal groan lest her presence awaken other life, Flurry Heart looked outwards into the darkness and saw… nothing. Not a soul, not a thing, not the slightest movement or anything that would alert her senses. Because it was a cloudy night and there would be no light that could seep through the thick blanket of grey above her and set to light her dark world, even with the full moon soon approaching. There would be no way to alleviate her terrors when the heavy dark surrounded them.
But that would be stupid. There had been a truce for generations now, unbreakable and never would either side dare to see it severed. She was scared for no reason, scared of a nothing that would never be; what a foolish thing for her to do! A sixteen-year-old girl, looking out into the black for man-eating monsters! Just what sort of scaredy-cat was she? “This is stupid,” Flurry muttered.
She made to go back to her room- but then stopped. Some instinct, of what kind she knew not, told her to freeze and move no more. Prey instinct, perhaps, a remnant of days gone by- but move she did not, save her head so that she might look back out into that infinite blackness and let her eyes dwell upon the wood that encircled the edge of her village.
She knew it not. She had no certainty, no reason to believe, not even superstition- but something was gazing back at her. Something out there, in the void, in the depths of those hideous branches, and it saw her. Eyes had met eyes, face seen face, and recognition had passed between.
She was not alone here.
Flurry looked out, wondering if there would be some flicker to alert her senses. She saw naught in the dark, but would some pale fragment of light breach through the clouds and illuminate eyes so that reflection might be seen? She need only hold her courage and pray that the clouds might thin out; that would be all it took.
Across her home came the sound of movement; remnants of storm overhead, perhaps, rustling the shewn world about her and letting aged wood creak and make loud its protests. And in its heady cover, the guttural cry of something so desperately wild and unknown.
Flurry dashed to her room and let the thick wool blankets of her bed shield her from harm until the morning came. Perhaps courage would come for her then, and then the sound she had heard would only be the weeping of wind through unfiltered air.