Finding Demons

Sixteen year-old Allya Rose mounted her palomino stallion,  Golding. She just needed to escape her parents' yellings for a little while... And Golding was her escape plan.  Allya quickly bundled her long blonde hair into a loose bun, then turned to look at her two-story country house one more time before signalling for Golding to move forward. Golding was a well-trained horse, and, having been used as an escape plan from Allya's parents many times before, knew exactly where to go. The horse picked it's way through the edge of the forest that divided the Rose's property and their neighbors, the Damshell's, and started towards the creek.

Allya didn't pay attention to what her horse was doing. She knew it was probably a stupid thing to do, but her mind kept wandering back to her fighting parents. This wasn't the first time they had fought like that. It wasn't the first time Allya had to stand by and watch as her father struck her mother over and over again, leaving red marks in the shape of his hand. It started three years ago, but they couldn't leave him because they had nowhere to go. That's when Allya started cutting herself. It wasn't something she wanted to do. Whenever her emotions got the better of her, she just found herself picking up the blade and putting it against her skin. The physical pain subdued the emotional one. Then, a year later, Allya found Golding deserted in the forest on the edge of their property, and decided to keep him. Michael, her father, decided that it might stop Melissa, Allya's mum, from calling the police on him, if her daughter was happy with her new pet. Little did they know, she was rarely happy anymore...

Allya's attention snapped back to the path they were following when Golding stopped rather adrubtly. She leaned forward and patted the horses neck. "What's wrong Golding?"

The answer was in the shape and form of a black labrador, blocking the path, about five meters away. Allya didn't understand why Golding had stopped. His fear of other animals had slowly dissipated over the two years he'd spent with Allya. Then, Allya understood.

The labrador started to open it's mouth. It's tongue flopped from it's mouth, curling around on the ground in a floppy, pink mass. Stretched out, it would reach nearly two meters. Golding reared as the tongue started to shake violently, and Allya rolled off her to land with a thump on the dirt path. The floppy pink shuddered again. Eyes slowly started to open and there was a sound of tearing as a wide gash appeared in the veiny tongue. A long, red, forked tongue appeared from the gash and hissed at Allya.  She tried to scream, but her voice failed her as the now-snake turned and bit into the remains of the dog. The more blood the snake drank, the blacker it got. The blood that the snake missed pooled on the ground, scaring Golding out of his wits. His eyes were rolled up in his head, and his ears pinned flat against his head; horses hated the smell of blood. The labrador crumpled, now drained of it's blood.

"Get back," said a new voice, a deep, somehow calming voice. Allya didn't wait to argue. She scrambled backwards, cutting her hands on the jagged rocks that lined the path. She found her eyelids getting heavy, although she didn't know why, she didn't feel tired. She could barely see a thing, however she heard raw screams of pain that sounded too close to a human's.

"Allya...Allya." Through her half-closed eyelids, she saw the face a boy with deep blue eyes that were flecked with golden chips.