The wind was howling. Its terrible wail lingered in the air of the fuliginous night, accosting every home on the lane. Black made its presence known, and any mere glimpse of light was immediately consumed by the eerie darkness that blanketed the town. No one was out this late at night.
The townspeople were all resting in their homes, snug in between their soft comforters and plush pillows awaiting for the next day to arrive. Not a cloud of worry fogged their minds while they slept.
If only they knew.
It was deathly silent for fifteen miles straight. Animals, those who were usually active when sunset came, remained hidden in their dens, cowering with trepidation at the freakish beast that came from beneath the waters.
It snarled, slithering its long, serpent body from the lagoon and onto the shore. Prey was entrapped within its jaws; it clutched the raw meat so fiercely that most of the visceral fluid oozed out, and streams of red coated its mouth. With a snap of its unforgiving trap, the sopping slab of chewed up carcass fell unceremoniously onto the ground, and it began feasting.
Eagerly, it dug its way into the lifeless being, ripping away at the red meat in a rage of voracious hunger. Large, owl eyes took in the sight of its meal, and fervently, the creature devoured the carcass whole within minutes.
What was once a man, was now reduced to meager flesh scraps littering the ground. There were no identifiable parts of him. No thumbs, no eyes, only the tiny morsels of red meat that the ants would come steal away.
No one would know what happened.
The silence.
The darkness.
No words spoken. No sounds to be heard but the slow retreat of the beast, back into the murky lagoon.
