The Beast

The Beast (24)

People make mistakes all the time.

No one is clean. No one is pure.

No one can escape from the darkness within ourselves.

And my mistake was thinking otherwise.

I had thought that running away was going to fix things, that it was going to allow me escape from the darkness that I had built  throughout my whole life.

I thought that I could escape his dark embrace.

I ran and that was my horrid mistake.

I should have stayed.

--*--

I was a mess.

My feet were aching with a need to rest and my hair was twisted and tangled, framing my tear-stained face. It was as if my look was trying to tell me that I was actually insane. I had gone overboard now with no chance of ever returning.

And I couldn't help but believe it.

I tried to quicken my pace as I desperately made my way through the never-ending growth of trees. The place was growing darker, making me feel even more helpless than I already was. 

I looked back, expecting something to jump right out at me but was met with complete darkness all around. Just the trees, the shadows... Nothing else.

But I could feel something... someone... watching, gazing....

Chasing.

But there was no one there no matter how hard I looked.

With a strangled sob, I turned my gaze to the front and pushed myself even harder. I felt so frightened, the feeling of being watched etching deep into my bones and burning deep within my veins.

It was like the forest was closing in on me all at once.

Capturing me...

Embracing me...

My chest tightened as if a cold hand wrapped itself around my heart and squeezed it painfully and I fell to the floor, struggling to breathe as the world spun around me. I felt the gentle breeze as it caressed me skin, whispering lightly into my ear.

'No escape...'

'There's no escape...'

"No. No. No." I gasped out, clawing at my chest weakly with one hand and clutching my hair with the other as the words pounded inside my head. "Stop! Please! Please... No!"

But the whispers never faltered. They only grew louder... and Louder... and LOUDER.

And the breeze only grew stronger...and Stronger...and STRONGER.

I wailed and I cried out, but no one came. The pain didn't stop. My lungs continued to struggle to grab whatever air it could to breathe.

I guess this was what it was like to face your end.

All of a sudden, the cold swept in and the world turned silent. The whispers stopped, the pain ended, and I found myself breathing in and out easily, but it just made me more scared.

I curled into myself, my eyes darting around me to find something... anything to tell me what really was going on.

The cold air encased me in an inescapable embrace and I shivered and shook as I struggled to think straight. It was getting harder and harder due to the fact that the temperature was dropping even further and the woods were getting darker and darker.