Forest Grin

Prologue: Morwath

The cold droplets of the stormy night rushed like a thousand swords against the back of Morwath Paige. He's old but still, his legs could handle running for another more mile. There's nothing like fear that compels a Man to do anything. For this very moment, his heart longs for nothing more than to return home.

He ran about the muddy and obscure forest under the raging storm. The incident wasn't his intention but who was he to believe that the Forest Grin actually existed?

He was a sceptic like the rest of the town folks. A monstrous Beast that is larger than a bear with a claws that as long as a dagger and a red blood thirsty eyes wasn't a lore that an old man like him easily believed in. Those were just Stories that he taught to little children to frighten them. He doesn't actually believe those, it was just a means of keeping the kids behaving and inside the house at night.

He didn't believed in it until now. Not until when his life is in grave danger and his son was eaten. A deep regret that will somehow cause his sudden Death.

As his legs splash the puddle of mud in his race against death, he remembered the face of the beast. A long monstrous and elongated smile. A smile that scarred his memory for the rest of his life. His grin was distorted and twisted that his teeth grew around each other. The Monster smiled at him. It was its only distinguishing feature. A monstrous Smile.

He closed his eyes to forget the face but it only made it worst. The monster is in front of him. In a dark abyss, the monster smiled toward him and leaned forward. Red was its eyes and it stared at him menacingly.

My Son! I'm Sorry!

A thunder from the storm woke him from his imagination. He ran fast as he could hoping to reach the edge of the dark forest. The storm breeze repelled his move but he pushed harder back.

His heart is racing as he ran. He begun to wonder what will happen if the monster caught him. Thousands of possible brutal death shuffles in his head. The fear in his chest had never been so strong.

What if? He wondered

Right after it, a small crack of wood is heard from a distance from his back. The rainfall was loud but the crack is loud enough for Morwath Paige to look at his back. His heart died right after he saw it.

On a shadow behind his back, a silhouette of the beast was formed. Its body was twisted but his smile was razor sharp. It felt like it was looking directly at him.

He screamed frantically and begun to plead.

"Please!!! Pleasee!! Don't eat me!!! PLEASEE!!!" He cried out as he ran "I'm old and I'm about to die, my skin is rotting, I don't taste good!"

After he said it, the monster crawled at the branches and stems of the trees towards him. It's crawling was irregular and twisted. This caused Morwath to start the scream that woke the nearby houses.

He didn't saw what was in front of him but he knew what happened after.

It bit and crunched his limbs over and over and over again. It covered his face with mud, same with his clothes and the rest of his body.

The mud on the ground covered his bleeding arm. Time made him savor the sting and the pain of the incident. For a matter of seconds, of his aching rest, he remembered his mistake.

He saw the small cliff before he pleaded for his life but he forgot it was there. In consequence, he fell and rolled down at the slope of the cliff. The Monster twisted his limbs and buried him in mud. When his head was slammed to the wet mixture of dirt and soil, the Creature phased from moment to moment.

As he fell, he cried out for help. He wasn't for sure somebody heard him but when he layed on the ground incapacitated and saw the lights going towards him, he for sure knew that the helped arrived. The lights might have scared the beast away, for when he looked for it, it was like it was never there.

He closed his eyes, for sleep was ever more inviting when he saw hands reaching from people towards his painful body, assuring him of comfort and heal. The Smiling Beast appeared again in the dark.