The Gumiho's Bride (being rewritten)

Chapter 12

          The sky was tremendously sobbing, thunder shaking up the dark clouds that were mercilessly pouring out their tears. The branches of the naked forest trees writhing under than force of the monstrous wind like the claws of a beast scratching the hazy gray sky. Their pointy tips like sharp nails, casting a shadow on the road interpreting a beastly being ready to trap the fleeing youth. Such weather inspired even more dread and fear in the eleven-year-old girl who ran ahead for miles in the pouring rain.

        Her small feet thumped rhythmically on the asphalt and the beat of her heart drummed accordingly. The soaked, navy blue, school uniform clung to her small, fragile body. Even that still didn't alarm the girl enough for her to wake up from the trance of pointlessly trailing after a car that had vanished into the night half an hour ago. 

   Running in the dark, on a pretty much-deserted road with nothing but gloomy, thick woods surrounding it... The light of the moon suddenly hid behind the dark curtain of thunderous clouds, depriving the girl of any hope. 

   It seemed as if she was endlessly running after a ghost. After a man who cast her aside when the child needed him the most... Funny how the father could suddenly become a stranger. 

    The fights back at home were too much to bear for the whole family. He just took the car keys and escaped like a fugitive criminal leaving his daughter to chase after him like an abandoned puppy. 

       The girl's mind went numb, her legs trembled and surrendered. Her pace slowed down and rationality woke. Yeon Seo was conscious of her predicament. Alone in the middle of such a terrible storm, with no one to call. Her body shivering and finally, tears were being shed, while she desperately prayed to see her mom again. They would be looking for her by now... 

     Like a glimmer of hope and an answer to her prayers, a man appeared behind her. As gloomy as the weather and with clothes soaked from the rain that didn't bother him at all. No car in sight, nor ways to identify him. 

    Just an unknown man who for an innocent child was the road to salvation. 

     "Why are you wandering all alone, sweetheart?"

     His croaked voice asked for her whereabouts to which she remained mute. The beastly eyes hungrily raced her flesh from head to toe. His whole body language didn't provide her with safety, but with a warning to run. 

    "D- Do you have a phone, mister? I need to call my mom."- The girl succeeded in uttering those words amidst sobbing. She was needlessly hopeful the stranger might help although with a certain dose of uncertainty. 

      "Certainly, dear. Come my house is just a few blocks away."

    That sentence alarmed the girl. She wasn't that naïve even if she was just a child. Yeon Seo could swear even if it was dark, she could see animal claws growing rapidly on the man's fingers. She shook her head and out of fear took steps back away from the stranger.

      "Oh, my... Why are you moving away? You look like you're cold. Come let me warm you up."

      A high-pitched scream came out of the girl's lips as she sprinted with her weakened legs. The man lunged after her, his nails managing to scratch the hoodie of her jacket. Yeon Seo was on the brink of hyperventilation, resorting to nothing but her desperate prayers. Promising if there was any God out there, to never run away again from her mother. 

    The monster behind her was having plans of making her his supper and it looked like no one would come to her rescue. 

     His huge body tackled her, her head hit the asphalt from the force and her chin earned deep scratches drawing young blood that enticed the monster pinning her down. Her desperate struggle to escape was in vain for his claws caged her hands, sharp nails digging into her flesh.