This is awful and unedited lol.
Prompt: After you die you learn why the Grim Reaper is portrayed holding a scythe. It isn't to harvest you, its to protect you from something on your journey.
Anabelle dashed through the forest. A gunshot fired in the background. Thorns digging like needles into her fragile skin. Drips of red flooding over alabaster skin as she fled.
The trees loomed above her like an anticipative executioner. Branches spread as though they were arms, reaching out to grab her. Birds peaked upon their thorny perches; their wild and crazed eyes screaming insanity before any real noise escaped them. And the floor wasn't kind either. For within the soft tufts of moss and grass, a kingdom of thistles lay teeming. Unafraid to prick the poor girl's soles.
Heartbeat racing, she pushed herself further into the forest. Her gown glued to her skin with the cuts and sweat trickling down her back. The wind whistled her copper hair into a frenzy, indicating he was closer. Every breath she took burned her throat.
Would she be able to escape?
As if fate would've planned it, a log struck out in front of her range. Absent in seeing this in time, Anabelle fell. She tumbled head over heels. Landing in a heap at the base of a tree and bruising her knees. Its knotted trunk twisted down towards her mockingly. Scoffing in her wake.
Its limbs snaggled towards her. Evil enriched its presence. Sharp fingers traced her throat as she stood in horror.
Anabelleee- the voice called from the distance.
Like she could see from the back of her head, she could feel a sense of dread and darkness befalling closer. It was enough to snap her senses back into gear. She bolted.
Behind her, she could imagine a sound that reminded her of shattering glass. A hellish scream ruptured her eardrums. Thudding alongside her heartbeat like a cursed tune.
At last, a clearing! Her dry eyes glimmered with hope as sunlight streamed nearby.
The girl's body was aching and throbbing with pain. Becoming heavier and lusting over the thought of sleep the closer Annabelle approached the clearing.
Almost there. If she took a few more steps, she would be safe.
The closer she came, the more wincing the trees appeared. As though the light itself was an insult to the trees. Unnatural.
But then, she saw him.
A tall, willowy figure leaning against a post by a stream. Lit up by the sun, she immediately recognised the long dark cloak and his pale skeletal hands. Holding the scythe.
She screamed.
Turning to face the way she came but evil met her in that direction.
This time a wallowing monster stared her down from the forest. Its skin was paper-thin and ghoulish, which traced thinly over its limbs and grotesque torso. Which had its guts twisted and morphed underneath an exposed ribcage. Its shallow yellow eyes ate her up as if preparing itself for later.
It took a step towards her. Out of the forest.
The ground beneath it shrank. Sizzling into the soil like blackened corpses. Annabelle's body began to shake violently. Her bones ready to leap out of her body and dash away to leave Annabelle alone to face them.
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Short Stories
Short StoryAn accumulation of short stories and flash fiction I've written over the past few years. Most of these are unedited. I've created this to keep track of my improvement and to have a place to store all my random pieces together. I probably won't touch...
