on 12/21/2024
Elara loved the forest. It was her place—quiet, peaceful, and safe. But tonight... tonight was different.
The fog hung thick in the air, and the trees seemed to loom taller than usual. Elara had been walking for hours, deeper into the woods than she'd ever gone before. The path had disappeared, and she couldn't see anything clearly. The trees looked like shadows, twisted and strange.
She tried to turn back, but something kept her going. She couldn’t shake the feeling that she was being watched.
Then she heard it.
A faint scraping sound, like claws dragging across tree bark. It was so quiet at first, Elara thought she might be imagining it. But then it came again. Closer. Louder.
Her heart skipped a beat.
Through the fog, something moved.
At first, Elara thought it was just another shadow. But as it stepped closer, she realized it wasn’t a shadow at all. It was huge—tall, twisted, and wrong. It looked like a bird, but... it wasn’t. The wings were too big, the feathers ragged and torn. And its eyes.
There were too many eyes. Big, black, empty eyes, staring at her from all over its face—and inside its mouth.
Elara couldn’t move. She wanted to run, to scream, but her feet felt glued to the ground. The creature didn’t make a sound, but Elara could feel its eyes on her. Watching. Waiting.
The scraping noise came again. It was coming closer. The creature shifted, its huge wings dragging on the ground behind it. And then, without warning, it stepped forward.
Elara’s breath caught in her throat.
The creature opened its mouth, and the eyes inside blinked. They were alive. Watching her. The creature’s beak was wide, sharp teeth glinting in the dim light. But it was the eyes—those cold, dark eyes—that terrified her the most.
It moved closer. Elara tried to scream, but the sound caught in her throat. She tried to run, but her legs wouldn’t obey. She was frozen, trapped by the creature’s gaze.
The creature reached out, its claws closing around her, lifting her off the ground. Its grip was like ice, and she could feel its hunger, its coldness, as it stared at her.
Then, the creature’s beak opened wider. Elara’s body went limp, and she could only stare into those eyes—those endless, empty eyes.
And then...
It was over.
The creature dropped her body to the forest floor, and for a long moment, the woods stood completely still. The fog thickened, swallowing the trees and the shadows, making everything feel even darker. The air was cold, too cold, and the forest seemed to hold its breath.
And then, from deep within the mist, the scraping noise began again. Slow. Deliberate. Echoing through the trees, like claws on bark. Closer now.
Elara was gone. But the woods hadn’t forgotten.
The creature hadn’t left. Not yet. It was still out there, waiting. Watching. And soon, someone else would wander too far. Someone else would hear the scraping sound. Someone else would feel that cold, heavy weight press down on their chest.
Because, in the forest, nothing was ever truly gone.
And the hunger never stopped
Rosewolf©
LETS GOOOOOOOOOO!
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