Play With Me

Humming, a low melodic sound, drifted to his ears, though it was quiet, barely registered amidst the rustling grass and leaves around him as a breeze blew by in the dark. All around him shadows extended as if wishing to grasp him and pull him into their clutches and never let him go, his surroundings lit only by that of the full moon above. The inky black sky seemed to engulf the stars that littered it whenever he glanced up to admire the beauty of the night time sky, though this was always short lived as the feeling of being watched or a sudden noise would bring his attention back to what was around him and possibly hiding within the shadows. His paranoia caused his muscles to tense, ready to fight or flee if any danger presented itself, and his heart to pound loudly within his ears - a deafening noise that he was sure any predator lurking about would be able to hear.

He swallowed the lump that lodged itself in his throat, a hand running through his hair followed suit - a habit he had acquired over the years whenever he felt nervous or fidgety. One last sweep of the area around him at the trees that surrounded the small clearing he had chased the young girl to from the village before he steeled himself with a deep breath and pushed onwards to where he had seen the girl disappear into the tree line at. If one where around to hear him they would have heard the whispered muttering "It's just a little girl, John. She's just scared. It's just a little girl, what's to be scared of out here?".

While John whispered this to himself under his breath in a last ditch effort to calm his nerves that did little to do so, his mind flashing back to the gruesome sight he had come across the little girl at in the first place. He didn't know her name, only that she was a resident of the village as well, one he had often seen bounding after an older boy affectionately, grinning ear to ear as she did so with her long black hair billowing after her. When John had seen her, however, she had not been smiling, instead her eyes had been widened with fear, staring at but unseeing the bloodied mess before her, her hands and front all drenched in blood while some of it even splattered over her cheeks. The bloodied mess she was staring at in fright?

The mangled and disfigured body of the boy she so affectionately followed day to day. John had known the boy, his name had been Steve and he had been a helpful outgoing young man who cared a lot about those close to him. Even the sight of his body, so broken and in a pool of his own blood had been gut-wrenching and it had made John's heart ache at the loss of such an empathetic young man in his prime. It was even more horrifying to see, however, the young girl kneeling beside Steve's body, covered in his blood and seemingly in shock.

When John had attempted to step forward, reaching out to her, though cautiously and slowly so as not to startle her into a rage, she had snapped her head up so suddenly that John had jumped in fear. "Are you alright?", the question had rushed out of him in one breath once he gained his bearings again and at that those words a large grin spread over the little girl's face, accompanied by a giggle before she had hopped up and ran out past him barefooted into the night.

Thus how he came to be where he was now, following the girl's giggles whenever he had lost sight of her.

John cursed as another low hanging branch's twigs scraped over his face, the canopy overhead much too thick for him to see properly by the light of the moon. How had the young girl fared so well in this thick forest? He didn't know but he worried about her well-being. She couldn't be handling Steve's death properly, not with the way she had behaved.

John pushed on, despite his fear and worry of his own well-being, ignoring the twigs and bushes that clutched at his clothes and scratched his face. A curse or two would escape his lips whenever he tripped over tree roots or boulders and any unexpected noise would cause him to halt in his steps, sweat beading over his forehead in fear. As he pressed on, ignoring the gut wrenching paranoia that screamed at him to turn back, he could hear the girl's humming grow louder, a sure sign he was getting nearer to her. Once he did he planned on helping her in any way he could as quickly as he could to get out of these dark and terrifying woods after what he had seen. Something was plaguing their village and he had no doubt it was hidden within the area....