Red Roses - (FCRAs 2016 Winner)

The Flowers of Churchville

It was just like Rosy.

Annie Morgan was found a day later, her mutilated body left close to the edge of the forests. The final verdict was the same as last time; she was attacked by wild animals.

But that wasn't the worst of it.

No less than three days later and a third girl vanished from another village. Everyone feared the worst before they even found the body. It was different this time however; the girl was closer to Lorelie's age at fifteen.

New rules were instantly imposed. The forests were off-limits come sunset, no excuses. Anyone travelling into the woods had to travel in pairs, at minimum and it was important that, if you were staying away from home for any reason, you needed to make sure people knew where you would be and when you were expected back.

The conclusion was there was some sort of rabid beast roaming the woods, a diseased wolf or bear and until it was sorted the rules didn't change.

Lorelie sat at the edge of the forest in the early morning, when the mist was still swirling across the fields and an autumn chill hung in the air. She had had an even earlier start than usual, having had to travel over to a neighbouring village when a soon-to-be-father had come hammering on their door in the early hours, scared that something was wrong with his wife. There wasn't anything to really worry about and the older women of the village were already there to help, Lorelie was nothing more than an extra pair of hands who came with pain relief. Both mother and son were fine and Lorelie – having ridden with the father there – had to make her own way home, half asleep.

She had sat down for just a moment on a stump simply to take a moment to herself. She never saw the fields at dawn because she was always in the bakery. The farmhands would be heading her way soon.

"Bit early for you to be out here, isn't it?"

Lorelie jumped and looked over her shoulder as Grey detached himself from the shadows and slid towards her, sitting down beside the stump and looking out at the dawn light that was making the mist glow.

"What are you doing here?" Lorelie said, looking at him.

"We were returning from a hunt and I was passing," Grey said, "Noticed you were somewhere nearby and thought I would look. Are you alright?"

"Oh, I'm fine," Lorelie said, "Someone just needed help."

They sat in silence for a moment, watching golden leaves coil through the mist.

"Grey."

"Hmm?"

"What do you hunt?"

Grey looked at her in confusion. "What do we hunt? What's our prey?"

Lorelie nodded.

"Anything we want."

"Do you ever hunt humans?"

Grey's fur stood on end at the question and he looked at her again. "Why?" he asked slowly.

"Three girls have been killed in the last few weeks, all out in the woods, attacked by some sort of animal – like a wolf," Lorelie said.

"And you think we killed them?" Grey said, getting to his feet.

"No, but I wanted to ask."

"We hunt to survive, Lorelie," he snarled, baring his fangs at her. Lorelie quickly got to her feet, backing away from him. "We don't hunt for fun and we wouldn't eat a human."

All of a sudden, black mist rose from his back and he took his strange shadow form that appeared like that of a human as he stepped towards her.

"I can't kill and eat another human, I am a human," he said, his hands coming towards her but she pulled back, looking at him in confusion.