Red Twine

Deep in the countryside, on a winding dirt road, the night found itself joined by company neither quite courteous or unkind. A party of one, by some means; a party of two by many others. In the ways that mattered that night—in the ways that often mattered in their lifetimes—they were two.

Light rain fell like a haze over cultivated ground, and a single steady stream flowed under the only nearby shelter from the miserable weather: a small stone bridge, arched somewhat alike to a cat's spine. Moss crawled along the rocks and moisture dripped from its exterior, but the space beneath it remained blissfully dry (if one remained along the banks of the brook). At the base of the curved wall lay a single huddled figure. She breathed deeply and slowly, her eyes closed and face slack, her hands holding the clothing she wore tightly as if she feared it was going to be taken from her. She did not shake from the cold, but it gnawed at her regardless. In her sleep, she dreamed of love and acceptance.

Under the bridge, she was alone.

Amidst the haze above, a vengeful creature lay in wait. Its body coiled tightly around a wooden lamp post and its claws had left marks in the soil and stone below. Its patience was wearing thin. Two pointed ears stood alert against the silhouette; two furious eyes focused solely on the length of the road. Two identical maws hung open in anticipation of what would soon meet their teeth, each uttering a low, droning snarl to voice their disdain. Death would come to visit the bridge that night, that much was certain. Yet, the creature had not moved to pursue the girl.

A chorus of hoofbeats soon began to crescendo above the rain, causing the ambient rumbling of the monster on the bridge to grow silent. It leaned forward on its perch, and watched intently as two men advanced along the road on horseback. They stopped upon reaching the bridge, and for a moment, the world stood still in solidarity. Then thunder reverberated in the distance, and the rain began to pour down with a little more ferocity than before. One of the men uttered a curse. He turned to the other, shouting a command that was lost on the creature stalking them, and both of them pushed their steeds to move forward.

The horses did not budge.

Another drawling rumble shook the men to their bones as they each tried to kick their horses into motion again, to no avail. As their efforts continued, the steeds began to whinny and squirm, forcing their riders to dismount rather promptly. Two pairs of boots squelched against muddy ground; two clawed hands left dreadful marks on the wooden post. The rumbling did not cease.

Despite the evident displeasure of the natural world around them, the men pressed forward. They left their horses to rear up, untethered, and collected a single flame-lit lantern from one of the spooked animals before going to set foot on the bridge. They met no resistance. Their bodies vibrated in sync with the low resonance of the monster on the bridge. They continued on. Each step seemed to echo louder than the last until they reached the other side. There was no fanfare for them, unless one counted the dreary sky that continued to weep at their fates. The lantern, held firmly by the man who had shouted before, flickered passively. The one on the wooden post at the end of the bridge was dark and cold. Its anticipation was palpable.

The pair of men would have passed by the area in no time at all. They would have disappeared briefly around the bend, only to return minutes later to retrieve their startled horses and return home. It was dark, and they would not have seen the tracks that led to the girl beneath the bridge. They would have deemed the search a lost cause, and declared the death of a disgraced family member the following morning.

Unfortunately, they stopped.

The man with the lantern turned to the unlit lamp post, approaching it with little caution as he made a move to light it with his own flame. His companion followed closely behind. One of the horses screamed. The lantern was thrusted upward toward its stationary twin, but it sooner lit a pair of gaping jaws than the wick it was intended for. A sharp cry rang over the fields as the low growl permeating the air prior rose into a snarl, and the creature on the bridge shot itself at its frightened target. The echoes of metal clattering against stone and teeth rending at flesh were lost amidst the blanket of rain, even as the second man was then pursued and caught like a rabbit by a wolf. Long white teeth gleamed red in the light of the moon through the haze. All became quiet.