She opened that exit with no hesitation, ready to leave the creepy atmosphere the place gave off. Back outside, Avie rested on the door after she closed it, heaving a sigh of relief as the adrenaline had a chance to calm down.
At the back entrance of the abode, what would have been a garden in warmer weather lay there in its abandoned ruins. Wire branches of the hedges enclosed the yard, their skeletons serving as a decent barrier of privacy even in the season. A large broken bird bath sat in the center, groups of dianthuses surrounding the faded stone—a short walk away from the small shack amidst them. Curious, she took the chance that her answer resided there instead.
Avie took a few steps toward the fountain and froze.
There was something in the periphery of her vision. Movement. A hunched figure there on the outside of her sight lines. Dare she turn to see it?
Her head peeked slowly, eyes following the path, hesitant to look. Her feet firmly plotted to the soil, frozen in place while crippling fear occupied like ice in her veins.
Eyes locked onto a flurry of wings, stretching up taller than any man she had seen. They blocked out the moon in the distance. Avie noticed a heavy-set man laying at the figure’s feet, his look more than likely mirroring her own; pure shock at seeing such a thing, soaked in awe. The ginger man must have been taking up all the creature’s attention, away from her nervous footsteps attempting to lurk away from its massive form.
Avie couldn’t take her stare off of it. Fingers went numb, unable to support the heavy wood in her hands, they trembled and let it fall to the peat beneath her.
The noise caused the mass to sharply turn towards her, giving the woman a glimpse into large, deep red eyes, glowing in the low light. The moment their eyes connected, the breath knocked out of her, a gasp following with raised shoulders as she struggled to comprehend what exactly she was seeing.
Fight or flight kicked in and she was able to get her legs kick started with adrenaline to get the fuck away from that thing.
Would she be so lucky that it wouldn’t abandon the man already entranced at its feet? Or was Avie as doomed as the day she first heard the town’s—no, this creature’s call? It was an entity, a form beyond this world, she was sure it was the being that called her blood and bones to the town of Blacken. To it.
She looked back and cursed her bad luck. The thing with its massive feathered wings had indeed chosen to run after her. Its witness.
Her body ran for the tree lines, she couldn’t outrun it, the only way she could possibly think of escaping was to hide, move under guise of the darkness and the canopy the trees could produce. Confuse the thing, get it off her trail enough for her to get home, get to safety, get to Owen to tell him what the hell was going on.
Storming into the forest, she zig-zagged through the trunks and roots, hoping to stand a chance of making it out alive. Flying faster than she’d ever imagined her feet could take her, she ducked and weaved in her limited vision, getting to keep some distance between her proverbial cat and mouse chase.
Her knee gave, causing Avie to fall, bowing behind a particularly large tree trunk.
She stopped herself from crying out with great strain, hissing silently while crawling out of sight, she took in the area around her. Quaking hands covered her mouth, a breath was held in morbid anticipation, listening, waiting.
It was close, attempting to locate where she had disappeared on her trail, or were hiding. She couldn’t hide, it would find her. She was sure it could smell her.
Without making a sound, she deftly took off the warm jacket, exposing her skin to the harsh mid-September. She could feel hot tears stream down her cheekbones as she silently prayed to be allowed to escape alive.
The woman steeled herself, rubbing the damp earth over her arms and through her hair, hands balled tightly clutching her jacket after her rushed mud bath. It was closing in, there was no time left.
With all her might, Avie threw the jacket to her left, hearing the giant move towards the noise, giving her the opportunity to run right; thankful that the dark cover was seemingly enough that her trick worked. She ran on light feet, mind hyper-fixated on running fast and quiet; it would have been almost impossible with the dry leaves licking her sneakers, but because of the rain fall earlier, she was thankful for the stroke of luck with the tri-coloured foliage too damp to crinkle under her step.
She had to be close to being back into town by now, it felt like running a marathon, hours ticking by instead of minutes as she gasped for breath with burning lungs, refusing to stop. Avie stumbled and fell forward, somersaulting down a small hill and into the hard glow of orange lights illuminating a road, a street, housing…
Out of the fucking forest.
She laughed, shaking and crying, hands clutching at the roots of her scalp.
She made it.
But she wasn’t completely safe, still having to get out of the immediate area.
Her legs started to fiercely shake, using all their strength to sprint at such a pace for so long. The adrenaline wore off, leaving her steps in agony while Avie needed to keep going, to get to Owen. Owen would know what to do, how to keep her safe, how to make her feel better.
Owen, Owen, Owen.
She needed Owen.
Trembling, Avie huddled her arms over her torso as she wobbled on screaming muscles, just trying to move, placing one foot in front of the other took all of her will power. The little blue house came into her vision, she started to count the steps.
25… 26… 27… 28…
The thing in the woods staying in the
