Thumbs

Loneliness

The old growth forest became a labyrinth of shadows under the moonlight. Katie creeped around the large trees with her trusted flashlight in hand, the beam of light shaking slightly in her clammy grip. Her senses were on high alert, making everything appear to be moving the moment she turned her gaze in the opposite direction. She followed the direction of the moons decent, hoping that this was leading her west. Maurice had taught her to alway move by the direction of east and west, so that all she needed to do to get back to camp was turn around. However, she didn't know if this technique would lead her to the Ramshackles or how long it would take her to get there.

A sudden shriek from above startled Katie, making her squeal and duck under the nearest bush. There was the sound of large wings flapping in the tangled branches above her, but they soon disappeared on the back of the wind. Katie peaked out from her hiding spot and shone her light where she last heard the noise. But the branches were empty.

Cautiously turning away from the conspicuous canopy, she continued her journey through the forest with her legs tense and her eyes wide. Never in her life had she been so afraid of what she couldn't see. The world was so different in the dark, it made her question if she had been transported to a completely different place without her knowledge.

Katie scanned the bushes ahead of her with the tiny flashlight as she traversed through the vegetation without any shoes on. At some point in her walk, she had stepped on a red, thorny weed that embedded itself into the arch of her right foot. The needles of that plant hadn't bothered her, until she stepped on another one.

“Ouch!” She hissed as silently as she could.

She stopped walking and leaned on the closest tree to examine her foot. It was red and covered with little black thorns, all of which were the size of a steel pin. Feeling like crying again, Katie place her flashlight into her mouth so that she could use her hand to pick out the stickers. She didn't notice the family of IM bats watching her from above. She did however look up when a drop of saliva fell onto the shoulder of her blue winter coat.

The creatures sported bulbous purple eyes, pale naked bodies, boney frames, and an enormous stature. As well as a set of long, white, wicked fangs. They released a chorus of horrifying screeching when Katie shined her light at them and made eye contact with six foggy purple orbs. Katie screamed, which caused the bats to unfold their wings and unveil their monstrous incisors.

They came down upon her in unison, but missed their mark when Katie ran from the base of the tree. They all howled with dismay and flapped around blindly when their catch vanished into the darkness.

Katie ran until she could no longer lift her legs. She ducked underneath the skirt of a large elm tree and collapsed, her heart pounding in her ears and her hands jittering on her knees. The bats were no longer following her, based on the silence from outside of her tree. But she wasn’t just about to enter that nightmare again just yet. Deciding that the sun was much better company than the moon, Katie removed her backpack and sat down at the trunk of the tree. She laid the backpack flat and rested her head on it like she would with Maurice’s leg every night.

Maurice. . . the sudden thought of him dying inside of the truck made tears well up in Katies eyes. She missed him terribly and she wanted to go back to their moss bed with the little fire pit. But she was out here to save Maurice, so she couldn't go back without the medicine. Katie cried until she drifted off to sleep, her flashlight still illuminating the underbelly of the tree as she slept.

Oh, you need to stop ending on cliffhangers. Keep this up, I’ll have to get your cell number and call you in the middle of the night to make you tell me what happened next.