Muffled Screams

Blood Reflection- Short Story

       "Mommy?" 
        The child's voice echoed throughout the frightening, dark, tall forest. 
        It was the middle of the night. It was dark. It was cold. She was alone.
        "Are you there (there....there...)?" Her voice echoed out again. She opened her mouth to speak again, but the words wouldn't come out.
        Silence filled the air around her.
        The young girl with long brown hair and bright red ribbon tied on the top of her head walked around the forest, warily moving and desperately searching for a way out.
        SNAP!
        The ruffle of leaves and snapping of twigs caused the young girl, no older than 6, to jump from fright, spinning around and snuggling her brown fluffy teddy bear closer to her.
        Her eyes scanned the perimeter, but all they saw were more darkness and trees.
        "Don't be scared Freddy." She whispered to the bear, "Nobody's out there."
        SNAP!
        This time the little girl was certain that someone was there, spinning around once more-
        "Ah!" The two figures shrieked.
        The little girl backed away from the other shadowy figure suddenly.
        "Who are you?!" She cried out innocently.
        The figure stepped closer into her view and then kneeled down to the child's height, setting their knee down on the forest floor and slightly opening arms to the girl.
        The older girl with long brown hair and dark eyes smiled at her with tear filled eyes, "Hi..." The older girl stared at the young one with years of pain and expirence shining in her eyes.
        "Hi." The little girl wasn't really sure how to respond to the stranger, but felt oddly comfortable with her as if she perhaps knew her in some way, "Can you help me find a way out?"
        The older girl laughed with a tearful smile, not taking her eyes off the little one's, "Can you help me find a way out?" 
        The little girl frowned, not understanding. This girl was much older than her, surely she was smarter and knew the way out.
        "I just want to go home!" The little girl was terrified, tired, hungry, and horribly lost, and in this moment she would give anything to be back in her mother and father's arms.
        "I do too..." The older one responded, taking the younger girls hands, "Can you show me?" 
        "But I don't know which way to go!" The little girl cried.
        "Neither do I." The older one responded, standing and pointing at the woods from which she had appeared, "I tried to go forward, but it only made me get more confused and lost. I think I was going in circles. Maybe I should go back." She started walking behind her into the darkness once more.
        "No! You can't go back!" The little girl screamed as she watched the older one heading toward the dark. She ran up and grabbed her arm, trying to pull her back, "No! No! Not in the dark! Not the lost! Not... the... way!"
         The older one's hand slowly slipped away from the young girl's grip and soon enough, she had disappeared into the night.
        "Come back!" The little girl whined and shrieked, stomping her foot, "Please! Help me! I'm lost!"
        The little girl darted into the darkness after her, "Come back! Help me! Come back! Come back!" She yelled as she ra-!
        BAM!
        The little girl fell face first into the frightening forest floor! She felt something sticky and warm oozing down her arms and squishing around in the palm of her hands.
        She sat up and lifted her hands to her face.
        "AHHHHHHHH!" 
        The red liquid dripped off of her hands as she leaped to her feet in a fright and tried to shake all of the blood off her hands.
       She backed up, panting and heaving until she bumped into the log or whatever she had tripped over. 
        It was only when she gazed down at the cold, limp body of the older girl laying on the ground that she realized the blood was not her own.
        Her jaw dropped to the ground, and she stood speechlessly staring into the dark, lifeless eyes that stared off into the great abyss.
        Tears streamed down her puffy cheeks, and a strange feeling of sorrow and grief overcame her. It was almost like she had lost some irreplaceable object, and yet, she didn't know why.
        She simply lied down beside the body and cuddled up next to it, wrapping it's lifeless arm around her and shivered in the bitter night breeze.
          It was dark. It was cold. She was alone.