The Music Box

Chapter 6: Rachel

When she couldn't drive any further, she stepped out of the truck and began to walk into the darkness. She had decided to go after the cryptid, even if it could possibly kill her. She turned on her flashlight and walked over a fallen log, muttering to herself. Her heart was still deep in her gut instead of where it was supposed to be, and it began to ache uncomfortably with every guilty step she took. She stopped in the woods to take a small look around, before looking up in the sky, watching the hanging stars twinkle above. Rachel swallowed, a little hint of fear slowly filling her chest, but she suppressed it and continued on. Her determination to free whatever she caught overpowered everything else.

Rachel gripped her flashlight tighter as she hopped over a patch of thorns, her flashlight slipping a little from how much sweat there was on her palms. She pushed a strand of her short hair behind her ear, pulling her gray hoodie closer to her as a chill kissed her skin.

A low, quiet groan came from her far left, making her freeze. The flashlight slipped from her hand again, and she clumsily fumbled around as if it were a bar of soap, trying to get a good grip. She made a face when it clattered to the ground--her eyebrows furrowed, her eyes wide, and her teeth bared and gritting against each other while she hissed through them. Painfully picking up the flashlight, she slowly turned to where she had heard the groan.

"H... Hello? Are you there?" she asked awkwardly, now holding the flashlight with both hands to hopefully steady herself. Inching forward, she went up a small hill, her light's beam landing on a figure shivering in a net. It hissed at the bright light, making Rachel yelp and fall back in alarm before she scurried behind a tree trunk and hid with her back facing the creature. She turned off the flashlight and held it close to her chest, feeling her heart pounding against her rib cage.

"H-H-Hey, there, captain..." She stammered, turning her head to look at it through the corner of her eye.

It growled deeply, but the growl formed into a shaky whimper.

She stood with wobbly legs, putting a hand on the tree trunk for support. After a moment, Rachel was able to turn and face the cryptid, and her heart sank even lower. Its body was tangled horribly in the net, dark, sparkly blood seeping out of its knife wounds. It wore very odd boots that had laces in the front starting at the ankle and going up all the way to the knee, and they curved up to a point in the front. They were a rich tan, and covered in mud. Its shirt was light blue and flowed at the arms. It was a V-neck, and had two strings crisscrossing each other across its chest. The sleeves had been cut to be long sleeves, but then longer sleeves were loosely sewed onto them, leaving a gap between the two and showing off an inch of skin. Its pants were simple, worn blue jeans, and it had a sword strapped onto its back and had sharp claws on its hands. Around its neck was a slim chain that indicated the presence of a necklace. Rachel was immediately drawn to its dragon like head, which was silver and brown.

Its horns seemed to be attached to the top of its head by brown rings with bumps that looked like bolts, and the eyes were surrounded by the same thing in its narrow shape. It had a Mohawk like thing on its head, which started at the area where the snout connects to the face and ended at the back of its head. It was almost like hair, but it was too stiff and unnatural. It pointed at the snout and at the back, however the rest of it was in the shape of a rectangle. Its ears were strange as well. They were too stiff to be real. They were big, and the lobes were straight, before they turned sharply into a triangle shape. The snout was kind of small, and the upper lip pointed like a beak. She was shocked to find that it had no lower jaw, but then realization struck her.

"A mask?" she gingerly took a step forward, her body leaned back in case she needed to run.

It hissed at her again, arching its back uncomfortably.