Hunting Season

The Beast

Adira shut herself off in her room, rocking back and forth on the bathroom floor.

She tried hard not to think about Conrad being brutally ripped to pieces, but the evidence was all there. She took one look at his fractured, battered skull and the traumatic memory was planted.

She had experienced panic attacks from time to time in her life, and right now one was threatening to overflow her. She had to keep calm, but when the one you love wasn't around to help you calm down what could you do?

She could vividly hear Conrad's screams for the millionth time as he was being torn apart before her very eyes once more. Why did he separate himself from Mitch and Kevin? She had this image in her mind where they were all together and okay...could she have been wrong about other things as well?

Her under arms started to sweat too much. She looked at the watch on her wrist. 11:53 at night. Had she really stayed inside all day?

Adira didn't care about what Jane had told her. It's not like whatever was scary came out directly at 12:00. She needed air.

With all her might, she pushed open the hard wooden door and made her way outside into the cold night. It felt good, and her nerves relaxed for a moment. She closed her eyes, breathing in deeply as her negative thoughts started to fade away.

No one was outside, of course. The fire they had made earlier was nothing but an old pile of ash. She paused for a moment, taking in the fresh wind that blew softly against her clothes. She remembered there was an old wooden bench next to the playground. Adira could vaguely make it out from where she was, but she thought she could see its outline from there.

Tiptoeing, Adira carefully made her way past the occupied cabins. She wondered if Jane was watching from her window, paranoid as ever. The woman seemed to know more about survival than anyone there. Maybe that was why Jax turned to her for guidance.

Adira came to a screeching halt the second a very loud crack erupted directly ahead of her. She paused, large eyes resting on the bench...and what was beside it.

It was too dark to make out the shape, but she could have sworn it was a deer sitting down or something of the sort.

Adira rubbed her eyes roughly, blinking rapidly as she tried to make out what she was looking at.

It was gone by the time she opened her eyes again. Was it really just her imagination? How could something so vivid appear before her? Was she going insane?

She laid her hand over her chest, thoughts going back to the locket she had lost. Her grip tightened on her shirt as she angrily turned away from the playground and started to march back to her room.

She was an idiot. It was her fault her items were gone- her fault Mitch's most precious gift was gone. She started to blame herself for his disappearance as well. If she wasn't working that day, he wouldn't have gone to the forest. They would have spent the night together, cuddled under warm blankets while they watched movies.

"Mitch," Adira buried her face into her palms, his blue puppy like eyes taking over her mind. His sweet smile, kind words, endless support...

If he was dead, so was she. She wouldn't live any more.

There were two reasons why Adira bought a gun: to defend herself or kill herself. If she found him like she found Conrad...well, life just wasn't worth living. People would call her over dramatic, but when your depressing world changes for the better because of someone, and they disappear...only those who experienced such a tragedy would understand the never ending pain.

Please Mitch, Adira thought to herself as she dried her tears and entered her cabin.

Please be safe.

She turned to lock the door and lifted her gaze, frozen at the unexpected sight.

From the other side of camp back where the playground was stood an abnormally tall figure. By the build it had to be a man, only it was covered in darkness like black paint had been thrown all over his body. His fingers seemed long and what made matters worse was the fact that he had two deer like horns on his head. She could faintly make out what appeared to be red, glowing eyes, watching her with upmost concentration.

Adira refused to blink, now more convinced than ever she wasn't hallucinating. She slowly began to shut the door, but the second it silently crouched down, she slammed it shut. The woman breathed heavily as she locked it with fumbling hands, making sure the window blinds were shut as she turned off the light she had left on.

Her heart beat fast as her mind raced back to the rumors people were saying about the beast in Whispering Winds. An experiment, an alien, a monster...

Monsters didn't exist! It must've been a deer, they sometimes stood on their legs and walked around she saw it before.

Holding her breathe, Adira peered through the blinds, relieved to find that whatever that thing was was gone. After checking the lock a few times, she nervously made her way back to bed and forced herself to fall asleep.

It was only day three in Whispering Winds and she was already losing her mind.