I twisted the rusted metal key in the lock and pushed all my weight foward to ensure the door to the bar was locked.
In the distance, I heard the chimes of a church clock, indicating that it had just struck midnight.
It was just mid-September, but the air had a mind of its own. A cool breeze nipped at the back of my neck making the hairs stick straight up like spikes to protect me from the black night. Not a single star made its presence known, only a slim crescent of the white moon peeked out from behind a cloud.
I tugged at the zipper of my leather jacket and pulled it to the tip of my chin. Leaving the bar behind me, I let the darkness swallow me and began my dreaded walk home.
Up and down the streets I wandered right into the unwanted woods that marked the end of Wayne Township's territory. The sounds of the night filled my ears and mind with curiosity and fear as I strolled on.
The leaves had already begun changing colors and I studied the ones that lay on the sides of the streets, placed that way from the minimal cars that speed through. It comforted me in a way, to know that I was alone out here.
The first step into the crunching leaves that covered the floor of the woods sent shivers down my spine and made the sharp hairs of my neck rise again.
No one lived passed this point, that I knew of, just me alone in my shack. It was small and barely a home, just a piece of wood I found that suited my needs.
Leaving my fear and the dim street lights behind me, I trudged on to the center of the woods where my house lay. Just minutes into the walk, when my heart had finally started beating at a somewhat average pace, I heard a noise.
It wasn't a typical noise that would come from an animal or any thing else that was scouring through these woods. It was dreadful, a sound that I had never heard before. The only way to describe it was as a low growl.
I heard it again. This time it shook the whole ground and every organ inside of me. I shuddered at the thought of it coming closer.
I scanned the surrounding areas. Nothing. The as I replanted myself in my original stance, I saw it. In Front of me it stood, on two legs, just like me. It looked human but its instincts were animal.
I looked again. It was definitely human, but not a typical human, it was different, just like me.
