The air nipped through Maeve’s thin pajamas, hugging her hoodie closer to her body, clenching the switchblade tightly. With the moonlight drowned in branches above, the darkness muttering, insects chirping and buzzing, winds whispering through the trees.
Fern green pine needles scattered the dirt path, dark trunks towering up into the sky. The air was bone-chilling, goosebumps spreading widely on Maeve’s skin, teeth chattering softly. It felt horrible to enter the forest unprepared, only a small switchblade and a cheap flashlight to defend herself. Butterflies swarmed in her stomach, biting her lip as she shifted her flashlight around the dim woods.
A shift of branches startled Maeve, heart jumping out of her chest, stumbling in the direction of the sound. She shined the light, fluttering sounded in the whispering woods, Maeve sighed in relief, licking her lips. Swiping her sleeve on her forehead, fleece stained with sweat, she continued the path.
This is a horrible idea. How did she decide to go in the woods during midnight? This screams a bad ending, blood splattering the dirt with… Maeve shivered, picking up her pace down the narrow clearing, threading through the fallen branches and dead needles. She can’t think of that.
Groaning branches from behind snapped her body still, Maeve shutting her eyes, mind screaming and begging to run. It’s just a bird, Maeve swallowed, throat parched, just a bird doing their business. Maeve laughed dryly, just keep walking, her legs quivered as she stalked on.
The groaning continued, approaching closer with every step. Please let it be a squirrel. Maeve squeezed her eyes shut, twisted to face the noise, flashing her light onto the branches above her, clenching the flashlight until her knuckles turned white.
Yellow eyes.
Yellow eyes emerged in the needle blanket, the size of two golf balls, as almost it was staring at her. A heavy wind shifted the woods; moonlight painting a dark shadow standing on a thick branch above. Glimmering slivers of light caught her eye, a silver blade grasped in its fist.