Short Horror Stories

39. The Darkness

She didn't know what to do. The lone girl sat in the snowy fields just behind her house as she did every night hoping that she would somehow be granted the answers to her questions. And yet every night for the past three months she was left there to ponder, the night that surrounded her being was her only companion. Still she waited. The sound of a twig snapping made her glance up, her breath puffing out like white smoke as she looked around for the source. Her violet eyes saw nothing out of the ordinary; trees covered in snow, the footprints she had left that led her back to the small cabin she shared with her sister, and the small path to the lake. She was alone as far as her eyes could tell...but she didn't feel like she was. When she shivered it wasn't from the cold that bit into her flesh but the sudden sensation that she was being watched like prey.

Pushing herself shakily up she glanced wildly about still not seeing the eyes that bore into her. Was she going crazy? Had he finally returned to her after so long? Wrapping her arms tightly around herself she started back towards the cabin, slowly and cautiously at first. A harsh wind swept through the trees making the cold once again bite at her as she suddenly wished she had grabbed the jacket she had left behind. She picked up her pace as the shadows began to move and twist from the corner of her eyes. She had been found but it wasn't him that had found her, no, it was what she had been hiding from all along. The girl began to run praying to any and every Deity that she could think of that she made it back to the cabin before they could get her, before it was too late. If only she could make it, then maybe she could warn them, tell them that they had found her. Then they'd have to believe her, they wouldn't think her crazy anymore.

A soft laugh rang through the trees as tears pricked at the woman's eyes. It was only a bit farther, surely she could make it. She didn't dare look back as the sound of footsteps followed her now. She wondered vaguely if they'd still be there in the morning when what was left of her would be found or if they be gone leaving everyone to wonder what had happened to her. Would there be anything left of her to be found? She opened her mouth to scream as the cabin came into view but the sound never got the chance to pass her lips as the darkness that had been stalking her for so long enveloped her and swallowed her whole