Sightless

Chapter 1

Melany was in the woods, surrounded by trees on all sides. It was so dark and cloudy that she could barely see in front of her. Save for the occasional peeping of the moon from behind the trees, casting a fleeting silver glow on the earth. The cold wind blew across the skies, through the gaps between the trees, over the unkempt grass, and onto her.

She kept getting slapped and scratched by the low branches as she run past. As she kept running, she suddenly noticed how quiet it was. All she could really hear was her own rugged breath and the fallen leaves getting crushed as she ran. The lack of sound only scared her even more, making her run as fast as her tired legs would let her.

It was as if the forest itself knew that it needed to be quiet. All the animals hid away in their homes, where it was safe. Even if she couldn't see anything, Melany kept glancing around, trying to catch anything that might be sneaking up on her. She saw a few faceless eyes glancing at her as she ran past, but they didn't seem bothered or interested by her running past them. It was like they knew she would not be worth leaving the safety of her home.

Melany suddenly noticed that she didn't even know why she was running, or who she was running from or to, all she knew was that someone or something was stalking her. She needed to keep running, otherwise, they would catch her, and something told her she would be killed. And so, even though she was tired, and her legs were aching from the strain, she kept running for her life.

Something heavy slammed into her from the side, knocking her to the ground. Due to the momentum, she had gained from running, she kept rolling down what seemed to be a mountain she was not aware of being on until she made a sudden stop as she crashed against a tree. Panting, with her ribs screaming in pain, Melany kept looking around to find what had slammed into her. About a hundred meters away, at the top of the mountain, she saw a dark shadow moving slowly in her direction.

Clutching her bruised ribs, Melany scrambled to her feet and stood as still as she could against the tree, trying to hide from whatever that was. Her breathing was ragged and fast, but she was trying to do everything she could to slow it just in case that person, or thing, could hear her. Maybe if she stood as still as possible, that thing wouldn't be able to see her.

She kept thinking to herself "Common Mel, breathe, you gotta breathe. They can't catch you, not yet. You aren't done".

Hearing the leaves crunch under the heavy weight of whatever was cashing her, all Melany did was breathe. She couldn't even attempt to run anymore; her whole body was hurting. Her side was burning from the crash against the tree she was now leaning against, hunched over with a hand on her ribs. She felt something warm trickle down her face. All of a sudden, all she could smell was blood, and her head started to spin.

She would not be able to run anymore, but maybe, just maybe, if she stayed still and as quiet as she could, that thing would leave. Yeah, she still had a chance, the tree seemed to be big enough that it was successfully hiding her, so she just needed to stay still and outwait that thing. Then it would leave, and she would be able to keep going on her way.

"Yeah, just breathe Mel, you've got this" Melany thought to herself as a sort of mantra as she kept her eyes closed. Finally, when her breath was slow and steady, she opened her eyes to look around her. She still could not see much except the pitch dark of the night. Suddenly she noticed that she didn't hear anything anymore, no more leaves crunching, just the eerie nothingness of the forest. She did it! The thing had left her alone!

Just then something sprang at her from her right. She turned to look and saw what seemed to be a long branch coming from somewhere between the trees. It had stretched out towards her, and once she followed it with her eyes, Melany saw that in fact, it was not a branch, not a branch at all. It was a long, stretched-out arm because a hand was wrapped around her ankle.