The One Who Fell

The crying devil

Oh I remember the first day we met, quiet, sitting in a corner not bugging anyone. You seemed to be wanting privacy, yet you were with us; yet you were with me. Didn't talk much did you, I guess that is what comes with shyness. Oh but how
beautiful you were.

That day is what started everything.
What a day we had, laughing, joking and messing about. I remember it clearly. It started raining as the sun came down and the darkness came with, quickly, even though it was a long, warm and bright day. We went to seek protection under an old and rusty, torn apart roof. The remains of what used to be a shed.

You were soaking wet, irritated but you somehow managed to keep your face all lit up, a tiny laugh leaped out between your short breaths. I loved it when you were laughing, your teeth were showing and it always brought a smile to my face.
You told me you were scared.

"H-hey, do you know if there are any predators out here?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean like, if, like, there's anything out here that can harm us?"
"Oh, I don't know. Maybe? Maybe not?"
"Please don't say that!"
"Hey, hey, it's okay, I'm here to protect you."
"D-do you really mean that?"
"I really, really mean that."

The sun was long gone and the moon stood high. It started getting cold. To keep us warm I started a fire, but that didn't cut it. I suggested snuggling close to each other under an old, torn piece of fabric which was still big enough to keep us both warm.

We moved closer and closer as it became colder and colder. In just a couple of minutes we were so close to each other that I could feel your breath against my neck, breathing softly in and out. Your scent was overwhelming, I couldn't keep myself from smiling when you for a short second let out a small squeak of joy and happiness. It made my heart melt and I knew, I knew I was in love with you from that exact moment. I couldn't help to think to myself "she's so pretty, I wonder if she thinks I'm pretty" but I knew you wouldn't find me attractive so I just laughed at my own crazy ideas.

You were sound asleep but I simply couldn't set my mind to rest so I spent the whole night just looking at you, wandering away in my mind; I fantasized about us. We had our own big house in the forest with two dogs and a cat. We would spend our life there and grow old together. I would always be by your side and never leave you, you would be my Princess and I, your Knight in shining armour.

Sometimes during the night you would open your eyes but you were still sleeping, I stared straight into them and tried to memorise them in my head. They were incredibly beautiful, electric blue with a sparkle and staring back into my cold and dull eyes. It really made my cold broken heart melt.

You were still asleep when I woke up and I decided to go for a walk. I took a long walk and I saw different animals and beautiful sights. I saw disturbing things, a rat eating a mouse, a bunny running in circles and as I went further into a forest I had found, it became even more disturbing. I smelled a horrible smell, it was warm and made my eyes burn. It felt like as if my eyes were boiling and in just a matter of minutes I lost sight on my right eye, but I still continued going deeper. I wrapped a piece of cloth around my mouth to prevent breathing in the bad chemicals that filled the forest like a thick fog hugging the surroundings. I walked for what seemed like hours and I saw a humongous tree with dead branches sticking out here and there. It gave me the chills. It seemed like this tree was where the horrible stench came from. A man came up from behind the tree with a rifle in his hand and shouted at me to get away while I still could. I could barely hear him and went closer when out of nowhere I got hit by something big. I fell to the ground and then it all went black, pitch black.

I woke up to the sound of a knife being sharpened on a whetstone and it really frightened me. I got chills again. I had to control my breathing to not bring attention towards me. As I heard a pair of heavy hooves sweeping it's way closer and closer to me I closed my eyes and pretended to sleep to avoid shaking uncontrollably. I felt a cold hand being placed on my shoulder and an old, dead-smelling breath, breathing close to my ear slowly whispering "Who are you?"
As the nervous wreck I am I started to cry intensely and when the cold hand moved from my shoulder to my cheek I felt sickened and angry and thought:
"Why am I here? What have I done? Did I misbehave? Oh, God, please tell me!"
The cold hand had a firm grip around my throat, choking me harder and harder and I felt weaker and weaker for every second.

I saw it. It had horns just like the devil and before I passed out I could almost see what it looked like. I didn't see much but what I saw was enough. It was big, had two huge horns and a full set of big, sharp teeth. It didn't have feet, but a pair of goat hooves.