The beast

                It was getting darker as I walked through the dark woods, looking for a way out of it. A few hours before, this forest was an enchanted place, full of life, beautiful old trees, brightly colored flowers spreading a wonderful sweet fragrance which reminded me of fresh strawberries.

                However, as the sun was coming down this staggering scenery faded and gave way to a gruesome one.  The birds were no longer chirping. The only sound that I could hear was that of twigs and leaves cracking as I walked on….

                “I should have listened to the villagers” I told myself.

                But then I remembered; the story that they told me about the forest seemed so stupid. “The beast will come for you if you go there at night.” they said. They had even introduced me to an old man who claimed himself as the only man who fought the beast and managed to escape. The man described the “beast” as half man and half wolf which made me believe that it was a made-up story to ward us away from their village since we were new and that’s why I wanted to explore the forest.

                I swallowed hard. “Well this was not such a great idea” I thought…

                Everything was happening as the old man had described it would be. The enchanted forest turned into a direful one.  Every single creature of the forest would be silent, as if they were ‘holding their breath’ and then suddenly you feel that you are watched and when you look for it, you will see only his silhouette and just behind him the moon would luster like never before….and he would slowly come to you and stab you to death…..  I was starting to doubt the fact that it was only a made up story…..

                I could feel fear building up in me, stiffening my muscles, overpowering my senses…. However I continued walking or maybe I should say that I did not have the guts to stop.

                Suddenly, I felt something move swiftly behind me. I stood there waiting for a few seconds; mustering all my guts to face the ‘beast’….I closed my eyes and slowly turned. When I opened them again, I saw the silhouette of a well-built man. His arms and legs were kind of bushy and I could see his sharp claws from where I was…..

He slowly walked towards me. I was tempted to run away but I remembered that I was lost and that even if I knew the path back to the village, he would catch me well before that.

                He was walking slowly, pressing on each of his footstep as if to imprint my last moments on my memory. When he was close enough, he stopped, looking at me, he took out a dagger and lifted it up and then stabbed me, once, then a second time…as he lifted his head and howled, I fell down to the ground in a serpent like movement and everything went black; I was dead……