Young Leilsal walked through the snow as small white crystal's fell from the sky in a small shower. Hidden frozen, crinkled leaves and twigs crunkled and creaked under each foot step that she took. With every step her little auburn brown braided pigtails would bounce in a light rhythm. Her ragged fur coat that was worn over years of play and aging provided little but just enough heat to warm the small child as she trudged through the forest. She shivered for what seemed the thousandth time as she fought to keep going. She was lost. She could not find her way home. It had only been about an hour since she had followed a voice into the forest and had lost her way. She had no idea where she was going, but for some reason she felt like she was being pulled in a direction. She clutched a little doll that she had tighter against her chest as she felt her feet and fingers grow ever more cold. Suddenly through the sound of the snowy blizzard that raged outside the forest she heard a loud crash and what she thought sounded like foot steps from behind her. She whipped her self around, for fear that it was some carnivorous monster that was going to eat her guts and feed it to little purple baby monsters. Her father had told her once that a monster lurked these woods, and that she should never go in here. Regret and fear washed over her as she realized she should have listened to her father, because now she would perhaps never see his grinning face once more. She felt tears start to well up in her eyes and then start to freeze as they fell down her face. She tightened her grip on her black haired doll and bravely spoke up when she found nothing there.
"W-whose there?" she yelled into the wind, her voice sounding barely above a whisper. She sat there for a moment waiting for an answer... but none came. Slowly she turned back the way she had been being lead. It had now come to her that perhaps this will that the forest called to her with might just be a trap. A trap that the big monster imposed on her. She figured with her young 15 year old mind that she had already come this far and she would never find her way back if she tried. She would die of hypothermia before then. Then again, she did not know where she was, she would most likely die eventually anyway. She shook her head, making the dreadful thoughts of death disappear from her mind. She did not want to think of death, nor did she want to be reminded of the fact that she would probably not survive. A harsh cold wind hit her back making her shiver and shake once more. She could feel herself starting to get dangerously colder. She new she had to find heat somehow. She looked around for some kind of shelter. She had been in Girl Scouts since she was 5, she knew how to survive. But she needed to find shelter from this cold, and then some usable wood. She doubted she would find this though as most limbs and twigs were either buried or frozen.
Suddenly again she heard bushes shaking, and crashes. She stopped, frozen in her spot as she heard some kind of weird sound. One that she had never heard before, one that she believed no human had ever heard before. What was it? Was it dangerous?
Again the sound erupted from the forest, but this time she could tell that it was not to far behind her. Her body felt frozen, if not literally, then mentally as well. A cold shiver ran down her spine as fear resurfaced itself from inside of her. Her eyes widened as she knew that this was not part of her mind. It was real. Real danger. She whipped around once more, not really having a choice as her body seemed to act on her own. The thick brush and bushes in the distance from behind her was moving. Her tired eyes widened even more, as if they'd pop out of her eye sockets. With another one of those loud eruption of sounds she did not have to be told twice before she took off running towards the way she had been going. As she ran she could here the crackling and sounds increase behind her. She quickened her speed. As she ran she could feel that pull once again, this time it was stronger than before. It was telling her, directing her.
right..
left...
jump over the log!..
right...
Some how she knew what to do. Then she heard a howl from behind her, it came from the thing that was pursuing her. She fought to run even faster in the snow. Her some-what short legs seemed to hinder her more as the snow was deep and her legs fell through the snow as she ran. She cursed inwardly from inheriting the short trait from her mother.
' Thanks a lot mom' She thought sarcastically as she pumped her legs harder, struggling. No matter how hard she tried though, it seemed to no avail as the sounds grew louder and closer. She started to panic, becoming aware of this fact. She couldn't stop, she had to live. There was so much to live for, so much she hadn't had the chance to do! She hadn't even gotten to start high school yet!
Suddenly she gasped in surprise as her foot caught the underside of a tree root. Her eyes widened and everything seemed to go in to slow motion as she watch the world fall and fell to the ground, flat on her face. She cursed in her mind every curse word she could think of. Before she could even have a chance to stand up she realized that the noises had stopped. Her eyes widened in horror, and without looking back she scrambled hurriedly to her feet. She took off, for a second a feeling of happiness washed over her as she realized she was not dead. It was however short lived as something grabbed a hold of her right foot and she fell once again into the chilling snow. She screamed as loud as she could and immediately started to fight, kicking and hitting what ever was holding her.
"W-wa..itt" She heard a gravely voice, one filled with sorrow and loneliness. She stopped, frozen solid. The voice somehow made her feel calm, no doubt it was something the monster did. Slowly she turned her head, expecting to meet her death as soon as she looked at what ever had her in its grasp.
She gasped at what she saw before her. It was indeed a monster, but it was not exactly as frightening as she had thought it would be. The monster reminded her of a black shadow. Black shrouds of fog seemed to emit from its body, almost like smog filling the air, yet there was no scent or foul effect. It's eyes were a light purple color, almost lilac, and as it gave her a small smile she could see pearly white teeth with large incisors. It was shaped like a man but only seemed to be a little taller than herself. The most peculiar thing was that the foot he had grabbed was now very warm. As if she had set it right next to a fire and had melted all the cold away.
"Wait, please. You'll die before you reach the great tree..." the strange creature said, the unearthly voice filled the air. Leisel stared at him dumbfounded and confused. She opened her mouth to talk.
"A-arn't you going to kill me?" she asked, fear filled her voice. The monster's face turned to one of confusion and hurt.
"No, I'm sorry... many people are afraid of me because of how I look. So I usually hide away in the bushes.... but then I noticed that you were heading to the center of the forest and I knew it must be calling you... So I tried to catch your attention but you ran... I'm sorry if I scared you.." the creature said. She only stared at him, stunned and not knowing what to say.
"I-i... I'm sorry I ran." was all she could say before the creature hovered over her and swooped her up, her world turning into black as she was engulfed in warmth and a never ending deep abyss.
"It's okay, I don't blame you. But you need to leave this forest. It's not safe here. I will take you back home. Sleep Leisel." the black creature replied. Leisel immediately felt her eyes grow droopy and as if some magic spell had been cast on her, she felt very tired. Perhaps her fatigue was catching up to her. She felt so warm...
"W-what's your name? And how...do you know mine?" was all Leisel could manage before she could feel her self drifting away. She could hear a chuckle.
"Jack..." was all she heard before she felt her self become engulfed in the world of dreams.
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"Leisel....LEISEL. WAKE UP!" Leisel's father yelled as he shook his daughter awake. She had been sleeping on her desk, fallen asleep studying for her exams.
"h-huh? What?.. What happened!?" she yelled as she jumped up from her chair, said object falling to the floor as she stood. Her father visibly jumped as well, surprised from her sudden outburst. After recovering, an annoyed look washed over his face as he crossed his arms. Leisel stared up at her father.
"I've been trying to wake you for 15 minutes straight! Hurry up, your going to be late for school!" he said in a loud commanding voice as he turned and left he room. The door closing with a boom as he shut it behind himself. She stared at the door for a while. Thoughts running through her head.
' Was that real? Did it really happen?....What about Jack? Is he real?... ' Leisel thought and immediately ran to her window that overlooked the forest from before. It still looked the same, and snow still covered the forest everywhere. She scanned the forest all over, looking for any sign that her dream had been real. For some reason she hoped, no prayed it was real.
After a couple of minutes she sighed, and was about to forget the whole thing, deciding that it was probably just a dream before something in the corner of her eye caught her attention. A flash of black moved through the bushes and those familiar light purple eyes and toothy grin appeared out of them. Jack was there, waving a dark hand at her. Happiness bubbled inside of her, making her stomach do flips as she slowly waved back. She returned his grin. She was so happy it was real, that he was real. He suddenly started to fade away back into the forest as he made a salute to her in a funny way and disappeared back into the forest.
Leisel smiled to her self and held her hand to her heart.
"Jack...my monster." was all she whispered before she too left her window and got ready for the next day in her hectic teenage life.
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K so it didn't end exactly the way I wanted to but I thought it turned out pretty good.
:3
