Monster

My silver-blue eyes darted back and forth, taking in the scenery around me. I swear that when I set foot in here, it was not a forest; it was just a creepy room filled with family portraits. This was not making sense; the mansion was haunted.

The smell of wood intoxicated my senses. There was another smell too, like one of rotting corpses. My hand instinctively pinched my nose. The hairs on the back of my neck pricked up as a cool breeze blew past and goose bumps appeared all over my body. I turned my head in the direction of the stench. A creature materialised before me, only centimetres away.

Its stinky hot breath flew into my face. I turned away but I was not quick enough to escape the sting reaching my eyes. I stole another glance only to find a wide open mouth with gigantic teeth waiting for me. I stumbled back and fell onto the forest floor with a loud thump. It advanced towards me slowly, manoeuvring in a circular direction before turning back. It always kept me in its view. I crawled back desperately until my back hit a tree. My heart was pounding loudly; I was sure the monster could hear it too. It smiled in an almost evil yet satisfying way. Clearly, it was pleased that I was scared. I whimpered; I was trapped.

I was going to get eaten by this creature, whatever it was.  It was a canine; it had glassy eyes, the colour of murky water and a fin on its back. The moonlight reflected scales on its legs and fur on its paws. It reminded me of a fish. What was it? “Please,” I whispered desperately. Nothing happened; it just sniffed the air in an attempt to smell me out. Couldn’t it see me? Maybe, it was blind. Maybe, I stood a chance.

Silently, I tried to crawl out from underneath the creature. My sweaty hands trembled as I tried over and over again but didn’t succeed. I tried to reach for something to help pull me out from under it but I cut my hand against a sharp rock lying at the foot of the tree. I bit down hard on my lip to stop myself from yelping, eventually tasting blood. After what felt like an eternity, I crawled out from underneath the beast while it stared blankly at the tree. I stood up slowly, trying to ignore the searing pain in my hand. Grabbing my wrist in an attempt to cease the pain, I took a few steps backwards. I wasn’t looking at where I was going. Snap, Crack! I stepped on a twig. It heard me and I was paralysed with fear. It turned in my direction immediately and it was angry.

It crouched, completely still, and then it pounced. I fell to the ground again and a searing pain shot through my hand. It began to bleed. I scrambled up quickly and ran. I clutched my wrist, willing the blood to stop while running as fast as I could. I heard it thrashing against the tree trunks in the distance. Birds flew away, screeching in fury of being disrupted from their habitat. Once the screeching stopped, I slowed for a moment but I heard nothing except for my ragged breath. Maybe, I’ve lost it.

I stopped altogether, panting loudly. I inspected my hand, blinking away the tears that were threatening to fall. There was a long, horizontal gash on my palm. I tried to stretch it out but the pain was too much for me to bear. As I gasped, I heard something only a few metres away from me; it sounded like sniffing. A shiver ran down my spine, my heart began beating faster than I thought possible. Slowly, I turned my head around. It was back; ready to approach its prey, ready to kill.