1 Chapter 1

A girl walked through the woods on a moonlit night where tendrils of shadow lashed out. Everything in the woods was eerily quiet, almost as if the animals could sense the malign aura that was hidden. She did not notice that she was being followed, nor did she know why. She was observing nature as it was. The moon was at its fullest; its ethereal glow rained down on the trees causing their shapes to be distorted. The night air was crisp and clear, but it would not explain the chill that went up to her spine, or why the air was so heavy. Bushes that had some kind of berry were all around the trees. A little farther when walking up a hill she could see a willow that stood alone on top of a clearing. Under the moonlit night, with cascading light, the willow with its curving branches gave off a homely feel. She was somehow tired so she went to rest by the willow. She then settled on the grass with half of her body against the willow. She began to rest her head and close her eyes for a while.

Plip - Plip - Plip - Plip. This noise along with some kind of liquid that kept on falling on her head, awoken her from a light slumber. The girl slowly arose to look at the willow where the liquid seemed to originate from. She was horrified at what she saw. Just a couple feet above her previous resting spot there were scratch marks. This would have not horrified her if not for the fact that these marks were not there before she started to rest. As to what she saw the willow suddenly looked like a mutilated corpse in the moonlight. The scratches were deep and done in different ways causing there to be a mangled appearance with bark bestrewn on the tree with some seeming to be peeled off revealing an amber liquid that poured slowly down the willow making it look as if the willow's lifeblood was pouring out. The willow seemed to lose its vibrancy by each moment until its hospitable feeling completely dissipated. It was then that the girl realized she wasn't alone.

A sudden sharp snap behind her in the silent night did nothing to alleviate her fear. Time seemed to slow down and before she could fully turn around, or run away it was upon her. A sudden heaviness knocked her back on the dead willow. The girl's head hit the back of the willow. Her vision was disoriented for a moment causing everything to look black. When she got her vision back it was suddenly unbearable for her to breath. Her heart constricted, then escalated at an alarming rate. Though she couldn't fully see the beast she saw its teeth. If she could even call it that. Just a couple of inches from her face were white glistening elongated canines and jagged incisors that looked as if they could tear flesh with relative ease and by no means would it not be excruciatingly painful. A sudden puff of hot air hit the girl's face. In her thinking, the beast had gotten even closer to her. The beast slowly shifted its head down to look in the girl's eyes. The girl used to think that its open maw was the scariest part of the beast, but she was wrong. The scariest part of the beast was its eyes. Its eyes were the color of a mixture of ash grey and amethyst purple with vibrant specks of blue, gold, and green. She was enthralled by the inhuman colors that it had but was perturbed at what she could see in the eyes. Its eyes seemed to cut through her very being leaving her entirety bare for it to know everything about her.

Suddenly, the beast made a noise. It betrayed its eyes and seemed to be one of ill intent. It was a mixture of a roar, howl, and the screeching of nails on a chalkboard. She was petrified. It tightened its grip on her arms. That would definitely leave a mark on her. Its screeching mouth was getting closer to her face. Its voice distorted to add some kind of humanoid sound. It started to scream a name, Alice, her name. She tried to escape, but it was too strong. She gathered her strength and pushed against it. It was a great way to escape from it. There was one problem though. She forgot about the willow that was behind her. With a thunderous crash, the girl's head slammed against the ground.

She opened her eyes. She was in her room. It was just a dream. Oddly enough she couldn't move. When looking lower she could see that she was entangled in her blankets on the floor. She carefully untangled herself from the bedsheets and sat cross-legged on the floor. When her heartbeat wasn't thundering the nails on the chalkboard noise returned. She slowly turned her head to the desk beside her bed. There the destroyer of all things happy was ringing. She got up to stop the noise and looked to see what time it was. With a few words, she said, "Why are you on, clock?" Within a few seconds, her eyes widened and she realized, "Oh shit! School! I have to get to school!"

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