A Moonlit Path

The moon sat high tonight, a complete circle of shining silver. The damp stones of the path before her glistened in its light, a guiding path in the dark of night. A gentle breeze rustled the trees making the few leaves still clinging lose their grip and fall. Like dancers in red, orange and yellow they twirled and pranced before taking a rest on the ground. Littering the path with colourful splatches. The scratching sound of bare branches clanging together came with the wind and carried the scent of the fallen leaves. The wind pushed on her back. Encouraging her onward, deeper into the woods.

It was a quiet night. The sun had just set and a nice dark blue had replaced the soft pink clouds. A few stars sprinkled across. The air felt fresh in her lungs and its cold nipped at her cheeks, staining them red. Crickets filled the night with their song and somewhere in the trees sat an owl. Its seeing eyes followed as she continued on her run through the forest, its head turning as if disconnected to the body. Her heart beat steady and breath held calm. It was only the beginning of the run after all.

The gentle breeze picked up speed – now a determined gust tangling her hair and chilling her spine. The cold creeped through her skin and into her bones. So she pulled her hat down low, zipped up her jacket to her chin and the cold was not so bothersome anymore. Besides, she thought, the longer I run the warmer I will get. With that in mind she broke out into a faster pace. The former calm jog was now more of a proper run. The full moon still illuminated her way, small moonbeams breaking through the canopies above. Like flashlights searching in the dark. Sure feet on a known path lead her to the big oak tree. A squirrel almost as red as the oak’s leaves ran up its trunk settling on a branch and looking towards her.

As she passed the tree a subtle sound was heard from behind. Scritch scritch…scritch scritch. She froze. The hair in her neck stood up. Her head whipped around to face the sound, her whole body turning with it. Nothing there. No source for the sound. Only the golden leaves dancing in the moonlight. Must have been the leaves, she concluded. She stood for a moment. The warmth built up by the run escaped and shivers took its place. Her blood stilled as if her heart had failed her. Her legs itched to run and her mind begged her to obey. But she did not, she would complete her jog. The girl turned back around, and as she did two glowing eyes emerged from the darkness behind.

The trees screeched, troubled by the fierce wind, but the girl kept jogging at an even pace. The familiar rhythm of her feet hitting the ground and the sting in her legs was reassuring. Something normal and routine that she could ground herself in, so her heart beat smoothly and her breath stayed steady. With her mind and eyes focused on the path ahead, the unease from before seemed so distant, so far away. But just out of sight, in the dark, trotted the beast. It too held focus ahead. Yellow eyes saw her every move, a great nose smelled the remnant of her fear and sharp teeth longed for her flesh. The beast followed with ease. A pace which strained the girl seemed like a morning stroll for it.

Crack. A twig snapped. The girl stopped. Again. The fear came back. This time it could not have been a leaf. She could not see anything but the moonlit path. But she felt something. Something was staring at her. Something in the dark woods was staring at her. But what? That is when she saw it. Its glowing eyes appeared in the dark and approached slowly. She couldn't move. Couldn't breathe. Couldn't scream. Her legs had frozen in place and her heart stopped as the eyes only got closer and closer. Until it leapt onto the path. Suddenly her heart was hammering in her chest, her breathing rapid and legs trembling. It snarled. Showing vicious teeth and its fur was stained by something dark. She darted. Breaking into a run so fast her legs almost could not keep up. The leaves blurred together into a mesh of yellow and orange. A sick howl shot through the woods and the beast behind her answered. The howls echoed around her, drowning out her panicked thoughts.

She ran and ran and it ran behind her. Another howl. The bushes ahead rustled as a second one burst through onto the path before her. Out of choices she ducked into the woods abandoning the trusted path behind. The thickets underneath tugged on her feet and she ran unsteady. Bushes littered the forest and their rugged branches scratched at her skin leaving red lines in their wake. The beast kept close, their mouths snapping after her. Occasionally tearing pieces of her jacket. Her breath dried out her mouth, leaving it rough and sore. But she could not stop and they forced her further into the woods. The trees grew tall here and their roots made traps. One of her feet snagged on something. Her stomach flipped as she lost her footing. She was weightless for a moment before the ground caught up. She hit it hard, and they were all over her.

She felt their weight on her back. The large paws pressing down and their teeth grabbing her, trying to bite down. But then… Nothing. On legs like wobbly jello she rose slowly, as if any sudden movement would bring them back. Trembling hands searched for wounds, but could not find any. No blood. No pain. Still, the teeth had sunk into her, the dull ache of where they had been still remnant. The forest felt darker. The tall trees were a brown so dark it seemed black. Though most were bare, no moonlight reached the ground. Soft waterdrops hit her face as she looked up. No sky, but the rain fell anyway. The trees grew so tightly together that she could not walk in a straight line nor see the path behind her anymore. Yet the wind still raged, pulling at her clothes and making her stumble. It carried a scent of rotten leaves, which put a grimace on her face, but something else as well. A metallic scent, like rusty iron. The wind howled and the rain poured. That chill crept down her spine again. Creeeeak. Eyes wide and breath shaky, she turned to face the noise.

An iron door with a golden handle stood wide open. As she looked through it, the dense forest grinned back. Seemingly alive in the harsh wind. On unsure feet she walked a little closer. Waited. Then walked a little closer. Waited again. Until she stood right before its gape. The dark of the forest ahead seemed to pull together, forming a solid shape. The shape stretched out. Breathed. Moved. Before her stood a shadow of a faceless man. With every step the shadow took the ground shook, the vibrations rattling her bones and making her teeth clench. Her pulse thundered in her ears and the wind wailed with an echoed voice. Run, it cried out. So she did. She fled. Darting between the trees. Ducking under the grabby branches and jumping over tripping roots. But the vibrations of the shadow still followed. She spared a glance behind. The large shadow took long strides each matching the beating of her heart. The rain had turned the ground to mud and when she ran her feet slid around making her slow. As she tried to escape down a slope the slick ground was pulled out from under her and she tumbled down. She tried to get back onto her feet but the mud gave no grip. Without a choice she continued down the slope and to her horror she saw what was waiting at the end. A wall of solid black. It got bigger and bigger the closer she slid. Until there were no trees, or ground, or howling wind. Only shadow.

She wandered the darkness for days on end. Her ravenous stomach drained life from her. She could run no more but her numb legs carried onward. Toward whatever might be. The scents of the forest were long gone, as were its sounds. Yet, now and then she would light up. Was that not the sweet scent of dead leaves? Or was that not a lovely tune sung by a crushed cricket? But no. Each time she looked up to see, she would be met with the misty black of the shadow. A flickering light. Ahead was a faint glow. Finally, perhaps the shadow would let her go. She forced her legs to move faster, jumpstarting her heart and squeezing her lungs into a wheezy flow. Towards the light she went and as approached the shadows got lighter. Solid black got a misty gray and then dirty white. It was so bright she could no longer keep her eyes open. Eyes shut, lungs burning and legs aching, but she kept running.

The brightness disappeared and when she opened her eyes she was back on the path. The moon above greeted her return, shining its light on her hollowed face. Golden leaves danced in the wind and a soft scent of damp earth filled her nose. A quiet hoot from above and a rustle of leaves. The owl sat watching in a great oak over twitching bushes. She smiled at the owl and the owl smiled in return, its beak splitting its face into a sick grin. Her smile faded as the head of the owl spun round and round. As she tried to back away she found her feet wound by thick roots. She tugged and scratched at them but to no avail. They would not budge. A thick cracking sound, like wood splitting in two but loud enough to scare birds out of their nests. The girl looked up at the oak and it had risen. Standing out of the ground on girthy roots, its branches flickering and moving on their own. The oak’s trunk had cracked and split into a sinister expression and it roared. She shut her eyes. Not wanting to see. A wet gust came from its gape, so powerful that had the roots not had such an iron grip, the girl would have been thrown back. The stench that came with made her want to vomit. Using its branches as hands, the tree crawled towards her. Though she was held firmly in place the tree moved rapidly, impatient. She shivered as it towered over her.

A crooked wooden hand grabbed her, fully encasing her body from her ankles to her shoulders. She was lifted high up into the air. She wished the moon could reach her, but it did not. Her heart beat so hard its thumpering filled the air, even when muffled by the wood. She swallowed hard avoiding the gaze of the monster before her. She made a small effort to escape its grip, but deep down she knew. She would not escape. There would not come a saving light. This beast would not magically go away. She was stuck and even if it would release her, where would she go? Even if she could run, the path would lead nowhere. So she stopped struggling. Stopped shivering. Stopped hiding. She opened her eyes and looked into the eyes of her captor. And she was gone.