31 Frights of October

The Shape in The Shadows

Melody heaved hot air from her lungs, her heart pounding faster with every step. She was oddly agile in the dark tangled forest compared to her friend who was falling behind her scraping against branches and bushes. Melody's friend Naomi sobbed, exasperating her breathing as she ran recalling every moment of what she had been awoken to just moments prior.

—

It was just 10 minutes before Naomi had heard what she assumed was a bear rummaging through the dishes of the campsite's dinner, baked beans and sliced hot dogs. It had a pungent scent so she didn't expect nature to leave it alone despite cleaning everything the best she could.

Naomi had cooked, Melody had washed the dishes, Juniper had tied them up in the trees dangling not too far from their campsite in case wild life had been called out to visit by the smell it would be just far away that they were not disturbed. Naomi rubbed her neck sitting up in the sleeping bag, the synthetic lining loudly echoing her every move.

She sat with her eyes shut hoping she was just imagining the noises for what felt like forever. As she waited to see if it was all part of a dream the noises began to change from a thrashing sound to a wet chomping sound.

Naomi finally un-pinched her eyes, she quickly adjusted to the dark interior of her tent. Her and her friends had brought single room tents so they wouldn't have to deal with each other's snoring. Naomi felt around the tent floor for her flashlight, her hands brushed over pebbles she had tracked in and her infinite supply of deodorant before it landed on the cold metal.

She wrapped her fingers around it but refused to click the button. Her heart began to pound loudly in her ears as her brain began to think the worst of the situation outside. She had heard bears weren't interested in flashlights but part of her doubted this was a bear.

Her hands shakily pulled the zipper door open about 3 inches, she shifted in her tent as quietly as she could. peeking out the door she could make out only a few things without her light, Juniper's tent was wide open, or what was left of a tent and a large furry figure was eating something inside.

Naomi's heart skipped a beat, and she tumbled back inside her tent, her hand slipping on the sleeping bag making her knock her head against the floor.

The outside went silent. Naomi held her aching head, her fingers knotting through her bright blue bob. She clenched her jaw biting down on her cheek to stop her from screaming in agony. She felt the ground shake slightly and the thing outside slowly making its way towards her tent.

She held her breath and grabbed the flashlight in one hand holding it like a gun ready to fire, in the other hand she held a small pocketknife.

Something ripped the tent door open, shredding it like paper.

She fired her flashlight. The bright light blinded the beast slightly allowing her to see it for a moment.

A werewolf was looming above her, the pale moonlight shining directly on it as well as her light revealing every feature, a muscular mutant furry wolf paired with a snout soaked in the blood of who she could only assume was her friends, and now she was next.

The wolf still temporarily blinded by the bright light shock, its head attempting to catch sight of anything. Naomi took advantage of the situation, scampering to her feet in her nightgown, quickly slicing the backside of the tent open with her pocketknife and running out.

The wolf re-adjusted its eyes seeing her sprinting through the trees and began to chase after her.

The two were racing for their lives and the wolf was easily weaving its way through the trees to her right, gaining ground on her. Naomi began to sob, and her adrenaline became the only thing carrying her run.

Her heart felt heavy with survivors' guilt knowing she was the only one who had a chance to escape with no sight of melody and no sight of Juniper. As she got deeper in the forest the trees blocked out the moonlight and the roots dug into her bare feet as she ran and the branches sliced at her arms, but she didn't give up continuing her stride.

In the corner of her eye, she saw Melody running to her right. Terror showed her eyes and blood coated from her chest to her head.

"Melody!" Naomi shrieked sobs getting caught in her throat, fear washed over her once more as she stared at the blood painting Melody. Melody was gaining ground on her, clearly pumped with more adrenaline than her as she was 10x more agile.

"Naomi!" she called back a tearful smile pasting itself on her lips.

Naomi didn't have anywhere near enough air in her lungs to continue talking whilst running at her full strength, so she was forced to ignore Melody. Who continued talking to her with ease.

"Naomi I'm so glad you're okay! I thought you were a goner for sure!" she breathed heavily between every word.

"Look!" Melody shouted pointing ahead at what appeared to be a viewpoint for hikers. It was outside of the trees and the moon shone brightly on it making it seem like a sanctuary for the girls to pause for a moment to look for the nearest public building.

Naomi nodded, feeling confident in herself for the first time since waking up. The two girls pushed with the last of their endurance making it to the viewpoint.

Melody leaned against a tree just out of the way of the light patch while Naomi squinted trying to look for any building in sight.

"Melody, come into the light so I can see your wounds!." she pleaded her lungs burning in her chest forcing her to clutch her abdomen weakly.

Naomi continued to squint out at the horizon looking for any building she could find. Her eyes landed on a faint light not far, finally her chest untightened as hope washed over her and tears not only sadness but now joy began to drip down her face.

She turned back to melody who still leaned against a tree for support while recovering from the running they had done.

"I know where to go!" Naomi smiled, chuckling slightly before pointing out at a faint yellow light shining through the trees just a few miles away.

Melody's gaze remained unchanging for a moment before a smile twisted across her lips, it was painted in a surreal way, something about the smile didn't fit Melody's Face. It was far too long, too jagged, too sharp.

Naomi stopped smiling as she stared at Melody whose face began to distort more. She at first assumed it was the lack of oxygen making it to her brain from all the running messing with her vision but as it grew uncannier, she realized. This wasn't Melody. It was never Melody.

The eyes grew taller and slanted, more yellow with larger pupils. Melody, or whatever it was took a step forward emerging from the shaded trees into the light of the full moon. With every step the moon revealed its true form. Until Naomi stood face to face with a werewolf. She was no longer able to run, no longer able to fight back.

Naomi closed her eyes and held her cold shaking hands together in prayer. Before her body flooded with pain and agony and then nothingness.

Written by: Pancakes0verwaffles