She knew it was a mistake as soon as she rounded the corner. The ghostly figure, bathed in the silver moonlight, stood before her. A veil of mist coiled around his feet. He tilted his head at her. The girl bolted off, fear lending her legs speed, and behind her she could always hear the cracking.
Crack.
Crack.
Crack- like breaking bones.
She ducked behind a rock. The beast prowled around, dangerously close, his ragged breathing rattling. Pine cones crunched under foot. The forest waited with baited breath: waited for the snap.
He must have heard her hammering heart, because an elongated arm suddenly wrapped around her throat. The girl barely had time to gasp before her neck broke. The crack echoed around the dense forest, the sudden sound startling it back into life. Her final memory was of ravens abandoning their nests, their ominous caws marking her descent into the icy grips of death, and of the creature standing over her...
Then it all went black.
