Jonah ON HOLD

1.monster

Another warning: this chapter involves violent and slightly graphic scenes.

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        Soundless.  Crisp.  Onyx.  Mysterious.

        Beautiful.

        A frosting forest in the middle of the night where I could look up and see pieces of the milky way through the jagged branches -- this was my aesthetic.  It was absolutely perfect, like time was frozen.  There was barely any wind to rustle the leaves, and no one else traipsed through the forest at this ungodly hour, leaving me to my own devices in my silent haven.

        It was irrevocably pure, despite the fact that I was breaking the law by being here.  The beauty still stood untainted.

        My eyes wandered to the incandescent vastness above me, and I had to squint at the moon.  It was strange how the moon was tonight; it was full, blinding, shocking, bright, but too bright.  But the light never even reached the forest; it seemed to get caught in the foggy haze above me.

        Numbing fingers grasped the camera at my side, and I brought it up to aim it towards the bright opening of branches above me.

        Click.

        A small smile fell across my no-doubt blue lips, and I let the camera fall back down by my side, swinging on the strap wrapped around my torso.  These were the moments I lived for, where I could capture beauty and encase it in a device, and then later in a slip of glossy paper.  It was truly amazing.

        I felt my feet suddenly shuffle to turn me around as the sound of heavy breathing broke through the trees.  A distinct dripping rhythm echoed through my safety of silence, and I found my heart beginning to beat in time with it.  Images of one of the famous Dismal Swamp black bears, drooling and blood thirsty, flashed in my mind, despite its absurdity.  Black bears were usually peaceful, and they were hibernating in the middle of December.

        Think clearly, Jonah, I thought to myself, squinting my lense-clad eyes at the blackness in front of me and vainly searching for another figure.  It's probably just another person.  Just another person.

        I couldn't help but to try to rationalize the situation, even if my rationalizations were completely faulty and unlikely.  I had to reassure myself that whatever lied beyond the black barrier of dense foliage wasn't here to kill me.  I couldn't die tonight; I couldn't.

        The adrenalin pumped through my veins as I decided to take another step towards complete reassurance; I let my right foot edge forward towards the dripping noise.  Fear gripped at my heart, locking it in a cage where it throbbed with panic and trepidation, when a growl tore through the air.  There had been silence before, but now the silence had become deafening, murderous.

        There was too much silence.

        It was as if the world had stopped spinning, like storm clouds had vanished, like all sound and everything that ever existed had disappeared, and all that was left was the growling creature beyond my wall of darkness and me.

        So much fear built up inside, so much that I almost cried out then and there.  I had no idea what caused me to be so terrified, when the creature in the trees could be nothing but a dog.  Maybe it was my lack of sight without the prominent moonlight, maybe it was the chilly air, stimulating goosebumps up and down my arms, maybe it was the sudden burst of adrenalin.  I didn't know.

        All I could know and understand in that moment was that I needed to run, I needed to hide.  Fear was consuming my being, taking control of each limb, each nerve, and each sense.

        I had taken a step back when something lunged from the trees, tackling me and bringing me to the damp earth.  Leaves cushioned my head, but my arm twisted backwards, everything from my right elbow down was turned around, reminding of a broken doll that had been sewn back together inaccurately.

        Hot breath suffocated me, smelling of blood, death, and dog.  The animal on top of me pressed down on my chest, the paws large and the weight heavy.  It felt like a man was sitting on me.

        I couldn't breathe.  I couldn't scream.  I couldn't fight back.  I couldn't see.  I could only hear and feel.

        I could hear the growling, deafening my ears and bringing authority through fear to the forest around me.  I could hear the leaves rustling from our scuffle.  I could hear ripping, tearing.

        I could feel something hot dripping on my face.  I could feel blood leaking from my newly-acquired wounds.  I could feel the creature lift my body repeatedly only to slam it back into the earth.  I could feel my ribs cracking.  I could feel the trench of soil my body was creating from being shoved into the earth.  I could feel my lungs constrict, and I could feel my shortness of breath.

        I was going to die.

        Teeth captured my shoulder, and I was finally able to breathe.  I was finally able to scream, and I did.

        A strangled, guttural, and pitiful cry echoed into the emptiness of night, and the beast on top of me stilled, removing its teeth from my shoulder.  The long needles ripped from my skin, and I heard pieces of my shoulder hit the dried leaves surrounding me.  The squelching slaps made bile rise to my throat, and I coughed as the beast sat up.

        The moonlight finally let me see the animal, and I knew I was imagining things.

        Its face held black human eyes, but its nose was long, creating a pointed snout with a mouth full of teeth.  The cheekbones were human, but the ears were pointed.  The face was covered in hair, but the animal stood at the height of a man.

        I was delusional.

        I was dying.