Darkness That Dwells Within The Magnolias

Chapter 14

                                                                                             ~Asteria~

Pit...Pat...Pitter...Pat

I blink once, twice, then rake in a painful gasp of air into my burning lungs. I wrench my head off of the steering wheel, and everything in the darkness feels like it tips, dips, spins and rocks uncontrollably. I slowly tense each individual muscle one at a time starting at my toes and fingertips to catalog any injuries. The meager lights from the dashboard inside the car begin to register in my vision, and as I work to flex my shoulders and knees, the patter of rain starts to drone everything out around me.

How long have I been out? I reach up and check around my head, but only a minor throb makes itself known, and I glance out the car windshield grateful that it hasn't shattered or broken all over me. The front end of my car juts out into the road, and my back end is resting against the massive trunk of an oak tree. It all begins to play over in my head, and I glance around in the pitch black hoping to find the creature I narrowly dodged. I locate my phone on the passenger floorboard and yank it up, cutting on the flashlight and tumble out the car onto the pavement.

My hair instantly stands on end, and the underlying feeling of powerful electricity skitters through the air around me, and the smell of earthy rain trickling down spanish moss fills my nostrils. I veer around to the back end of my car to assess the damage, and release another painful breath of air feeling relief flood through me. The right taillight is shattered and out, and the trunk is severely dented in, but that seems to be the worst of it. My attention gets drawn back to the line of woods that protect each side of the road, and the reason this entire event even happened. I listen hard for any sounds of tires on the road, but the dense wooded street is completely vacant without a house or vehicle in sight. Even the summer cicadas and roaring frogs have fallen silent with the approaching storm, as if the dank woods are holding their very breath waiting for danger to pass.

I trot up the road about twenty or thirty feet and scan the area for the black blob that ran out in front of me. I flash my light all over, but find nothing. White light flashes through the sky, then an immediate BOOM splits through the silent air making the very trees around me tremble at the bellowing beast rolling in. A distant little mewl barely registers in my ears, and my heart skips a beat at the familiar sound. I wheel around to the location and walk towards the left side of the road, peering through the thicket of brush and looming ancient trees that shield the forest within. I glance at a tiny fluffy black kitten that scurries into the treeline, making my heart swell with joy that it's okay, and I didn't hurt it.

"Kitty kitty," I coo softly, making my way close behind to catch up to it. I glance behind me, the road still empty and my car still running, waiting for me. I watch the leaves part as it moves deeper into the trees, and I pick up my pace because I can't leave it out here alone while the volatile storm hits.

Another blinding crack of lightning strikes just a few hundred feet away blinding me momentarily, and I tightly grip the side of the rough bark to center myself as another earth shattering BOOM quickly follows suit. I blink out of the disorientation to see the little black kitten frozen on the ground, seeming as stunned as I am by the oncoming doom that's quickly sweeping in. The kitten mewls again stumbling deeper into the woods and I follow after, tripping up on a root and my phone clatters out of my hand and I catch myself from face planting into the damp leaves. The kitten stares back at me wide eyed, its molten amber eyes watching me closely as I just stare up at it. I scramble forward and snatch it up, and it begins to hiss and spit wriggling in my hands. I grip it's scruff and bring it close to my chest resting on my knees in the wet dirt, and keep it close knowing it won't survive all alone if I let it go.