The Madness Within ✓

Prologue

The old lady ran through the tall trees, interrupting the usual peace that always surrounded the forest. Her legs were very weak due to her old age and every step she made resulted in more pain. A loud screech echoed through the forest, along with a few thumping noises in the distance. The lady wouldn't pause to look what it was, she kept running without a pause.

She was three kilometers away from the house, yet she still didn't think it was safe enough to stop running. She tried to run faster, but the unbearable pain in her legs caused her to trip on one of the small stones under her feet and fall to the firm ground. Due to the fall, both her legs were wounded and bleeding, but because of the situation she was in, she didn't notice it. The adrenaline running through her veins and the already powerful and ongoing pain in her legs didn't even allow her to feel the new addition.

She tried getting up from the cold ground, but the pain in her aching body was too strong. So strong in fact, that even a little bit of movement pulled her back to the frozen grass buried under the crystal white snow. She looked around the forest, almost as if she wanted to check whether there was something following her. Maybe something tall and horrifying, hunting her down. Her breathing was uneven and anyone could clearly tell that she was panicking. She knew that she had lost. No matter where she'd run off to, it would always find her. It didn't need ears to hear. All it needed was control over the neverending forest to make escaping the place impossible.

„Please," she whispered as she tried to stand up once more. She helped herself maintain her balance with both her hands, then she put all her strength into them to push herself up. Her hands shakily rose from the ground, pushing her body upwards. As she sat up, she then tried using her legs and more strength from her arms to stand up. When she was half-way there, almost completely up, both her legs and hands once again failed her and she collapsed back to the ground. She was too weak to continue trying.

„Please!" she cried out again, louder this time, tears streaming down her pale, wrinkled face. „Please, leave me alone!"

Her long, white dress with floral patterns was now turning brown from the dirt, and so were her cold, shaking hands. Her grey hair was messy with a few leaves and sticks sticking out of it. She'd been running for who knows how long now, but she always knew that there's no actual way to escape. She still wanted to give it a try, deep inside she hoped that there still was a way. But her attempt was clearly unsuccessful.

As it should be.

The forest stood completely silent for a little moment. All that could be heard were her silent sobs and whimpers, along with the chirping of the birds. There was no sight of any birds, though. Or any living thing in general. Were there still even birds in this forest? Or was she just imagining them?

The wind got more chilly and began blowing towards her direction. The atmosphere was unwelcoming and unpleasant, it felt like purgatory. At that moment, she knew exactly what that meant. She was aware of what will come next. It has arrived. It has finally caught up and it came for her.

She wiped the salty tears off of her face, finally accepting her irreversible fate. She noticed it, running in the distance, but she could only see it moving as a blur. Not only because of her worsening eyesight, but also because that thing.. was faster than anything she had ever seen before. Only after seeing just how fast it is, she quickly realized that there really was no escape whatsoever. It has only been toying with her all along, trying to give her false hope. To that thing, all of this was just a fun little game.

„You knew the rules we gave you," the mysterious creature whispered with its deep voice, its low frequency almost depriving the old lady of hearing. The creature was hiding behind a tree, taller and thicker than the rest, and only its shadow could be seen peeking from behind it. Due to the height of the creature, it sounded like the voice was coming from the skies above. Or from the top of the trees. Thanks to the shadow, it was easy to assume that the creature had a very slim figure and was well over 250 centimeters tall.

She nodded slowly as a response to the creature's warning while attempting to stand up one last time. But this time, it was the strong wind that didn't allow her to get up. Even if she would manage to stand up, the wind would immediately pin her back down to the ground and keep her there, no matter how much she'd attempt to fight back.

„Yes. I have been here since the beginning, after all. This is all my fault," she whispered, smiling to herself while letting another tear slip away and slide down her face.

"But I don't regret trying to escape. I know the truth now."

That's when the old lady closed her eyes, fully accepting what's about to happen to her. She knew the whole process, she has seen it happen to others who made the same mistake as her many, many times. She was not afraid anymore. She could be at peace now.

..or so she thought.

As she laid there, a person she knew very well suddenly came to mind - her dear granddaughter. Always so curious about everything. Always wanting to know what her grandma was doing, while she was never able to tell her. She knew it would put her in danger.

A light smile lit up on her face. She hoped that her granddaughter would stay safe. Meanwhile, the thought quickly faded away as she felt something sharp pierce through her chest, right through her heart. She wanted to let out a scream from the horrible pain that she felt at that moment, but no sound came out of her mouth, other than a few coughs as her blood quickly made its way up her throat.

As the creature pulled the sharp object out, her body fell back to the cold ground as the crimson red liquid made its way out from the wound, coloring the white snow surrounding her. Her heart might've stopped beating as soon as it was pierced through. But her body, it was still not exactly lifeless. The creature was not done with her soul yet.
The mysterious creature then walked closer to her corpse, took out the heart and stormed off, leaving a trail of wind behind it.

What the old lady expected would happen next turned out to have a completely different outcome. While she thought she would rest in peace once she gets killed, she was instead given immortality. She will have to watch people suffer while not being able to say or do anything about it. She will roam the forest forever, like an empty soul, without a way to escape.

Is that what she really wanted?