Left Alone

Emma had started reading the first chapter of the book in her hand and was clearly enjoying reading it, as her face brightened up more when she moved to the next page but contained her excitement, as her wounds were still fresh. So, she took a break every once in a while, despite not wanting to, but she rather not go through the pain again and quietly endured it. She could still relive the moment, after her father figure had surprised her with a visit to her room and spent more than half of his time, crying, and begging for forgiveness.

Although, she was mad at him at first but eventually forgave him as he didn't mean for her to be in the state, she was currently in. Even after she forgave him, he went into hiding for a while, nobody in the orphanage could tell where he was. 'What a man.' She thought, snorting before continuing her book but she started to feel sleepy, she tried to fight the feeling and failed horribly, maybe her enduring the pain was making her more tired and prone to sleeping, since she was already dozing off on the spot in her bed.

"After I recover, I need to do more sports to increase my stamina." Those were the last words, the girl uttered before losing a fight against sleep, her mind projecting images and events that she would never remember, when she later woke up.

Emma was turning in her sleep, feeling a lot of warmth from in front of her, the heat was starting to get to her, before she woke up to find herself wrapped in a nice blanket, it felt warm, and it was clean. She thought of it as weird but couldn't deny the comfort the blanket provided her in the cold weather, even if the fire in front of her made her feel hot as well. She looked around, not catching a glimpse of Matthew, which made her scared.

She blinked repeatedly to make sure she was right about Matthew not being around, even if a small part of her wished she was wrong, and her eyes were playing tricks on her. The moment she realised that she was alone, she felt very scared and looked timid, while shaking a lot despite having a blanket over her. Grunts and growls filled the air, Emma knew that those sounds weren't made by normal people. She was small but never felt weak, yet this moment she felt weak as her little feet gave up on her, as she fell to the ground, struggling to stand up as the blanket over her, gave a bit of confidence as she stood back up, though she struggled to stand up straight.

The branches of the surrounding trees were the least scary thing in the woods, but Emma didn't take the path of the trees and simply sat down, waiting for someone, or anybody as Matthew may or may not come back to take her with him. Emma sat in front of the campfire, staying close to its flames to keep her warm but not to close, she rather not burn to death either, the warmth from the fire and from the chill breeze cancelled each other out, making the environment bearable for her to stay in if she ignored the tips of her toes and fingers that were shaking from the cold.

Unknown to Emma, the flames that spread through the wood, it was lightened on, leaving trails of smoke in the air, which would alert a potential friend or foe, but in this world, it would most definitely be a beast than a human. The woods weren't doing any better than the smoke trail produced by the fire as the animals were squeaking and leaving different scents in the air.

Meanwhile, around the perimeter of the forest, a huge beast covered in brown fur, it's face was hidden but its fangs weren't, possessing three sharp fangs and the rest of his teeth looked normal but seemed sharper than the fangs did, the creature had sharp claws, which it used every time it find something obstructing its view with its fore limbs. It moved around the forest, sniffing for potential preys until its ears picked up on the sound, made from the smoke and animals in the forest.

The sky had an ashy color, as the smoke continued to spread, the creature didn't judge nor complain. It was sharpening its claws on a nearby rock, which increased its speed for a whole different reason and that was it, the creature finally found a prey to sink its fangs into and slash its claws through them, as the scent got stronger as it moved forward. The creature's head was strong, its head hit every tree in its path as its hunger for blood and violence was worth the constant collision with the trees in the forest. The monster had reached its target, as it could smell the fear from Emma, who tried running but stumbled on the log, that she was sitting down on.

It was ready to devour her on the spot before it felt nothing but darkness and for once the darkness felt comforting to it. 'My second life has ended but now I can go back to clear blue sky like the birds that fly around.' It felt its soul float away from its body and feeling happy as it didn't need to go back to the eternal prison.

'I am finally resting in peace.'