darkness
/ˈdɑːk.nəs/
noun
with little or no light, sad and without hope, evil or threatening, or secret or hidden
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Her painful cries echoed through the dark woods, being heard from miles away as the gentle wind embraced the sound and carried it away. The treetops with its branches, some clothed with dying leaves, danced along in a beautiful, sad rhythm.
It was truly a depressing, but also quite dangerous sight.
Tears of sadness fell down Judy's flushed cheeks as she couldn't stop the sobs from escaping her throat. She had long given up trying to trash and get out of Faye's and yours grasp as you three ran in a random direction, simply trying to escape the murderers and leave the horrible memory behind.
Unfortunately, the image was still freshly branded in your mind, haunting you till the day you'll die.
Seeing so much death in a single night would turn anybody insane. But at the moment, two out of the three girls were focused solely on escaping, functioning only due to the adrenaline and fear rushing through their body, while the other girl was currently not able to think properly.
She felt broken.
Her neck was swollen red and breathing was a difficult task currently, but she didn't seem to notice as her focus lay on who she left behind, the last moments and his words resounding in her head like a broken cassette.
''I l-lo-..'' He coughed out more blood, splattering some on his poor girlfriend, who was wailing next to him. His head was on her lap as she stroked and pet his hair gently, being extra careful not to hurt him by accident.
''I love you, Judy.'' He managed to whisper out, smiling softly at her. He always hated to see her cry. She felt her heart shatter as she tried to smile back for his sake, however, hers wavered a lot as tears dripped down on him. She choked out a fragile 'I love you' back.
''P-Please never forget that. Please e-escape and live for me.''
''That's all i want.''
She reached out for something and began holding onto the first thing she managed to reach, which was your upper arm. You didn't pay much attention to the action as you instead frantically looked around, searching for any signs of movement between the trees.
You wanted to question her action, but decided not to. She was in a bad state and your other blue-haired friend knew that very well too. She couldn't even speak normally right now, but you didn't blame her for that.
Judy has managed to stay quiet after the few short moments of loud crying so you didn't have an important reason to talk at the moment. You noticed silent tears flowing out of her eyes, however.
He shakily reached out for one of her hands, managing to grasp it. His skin was icy cold and it made her shiver all over, goosebumps forming slowly.
''L-Listen carefully. Pl-Please.'' He croaked out, his voice sounding tired and broken. He didn't have much time left, but she didn't want to embrace and accept that fact. He simply had to live!
''There's something else i didn't tell you about. A-And I should have, i'm s-so incredible sorry.
After the fight with 'Kate', i noticed a change.''
It was silent as her dull eyes stared forward, she didn't know what was happening around her. She was like a doll being dragged arround by her owner, somehow her legs still worked as she ran along with her friends.
She felt no physical pain at all.
Her dirty nails, some even broken off after all this time, were digging into your skin. You didn't feel it as intensely as you should have due to the adrenaline, instead only feeling the blood running down your arm and dripping down, falling on the soft ground below and sinking into the earth.
''W-What?'' She stuttered out, her words being as soft as a whisper. But Andrew still managed to catch her question.
''My abilities and my senses seemed to be more...advanced. Like an improved v-version, but it feels inhuman to me.'' He had a serious look on his face, the pain in his body slowly disappearing. He couldn't move his limps anymore, everything felt numb. Even Judy's warmth was unreachable for him.
''I noticed that even some smaller wounds began to h-heal by themselves at an alarming fast rate. And my hearing and my eye sight got enhanced as well. I can hear your heartbeat from here.''
She didn't know what to say, she felt confused, alarmed and many other emotions. From all of them, she had a spark of hope in her.
''Wounds healing by t-themselves?! We could just...wait and you'll heal fully. We just have to get you out of here and you'll be all f-fine!''
He let out a soft sigh as he smiled at her gently and shook his head slightly, it was barely visible.
''I-It doesn't work that way, dear.''
She felt her heart shatter again as the words rang through her mind a million times. It doesn't work that way. It doesn't work that way. It doesn't.
Why couldn't it?!
She felt her heartbeat increase in pace as her emotions got the worse out of her. She felt anger and sadness, fear and hopelessness, it all coursed through her at once.
She couldn't control nor handle it.
''I think it has something to do with the m-mark she gave me. M-Me being 'chosen'...''
''W-What i wanted to say was something else though..'' He coughed out and stared into her sad, blue orbs. He wanted to begin to talk when a loud gunshot made the both of them jump, fear swimming in both of their widened eyes. It echoed through the woods.
''Quick! L-Listen, please! I know where another c-cabin can be found. One of our friends is there, i don't know if it's Valerie or Dan, however. Y-You have to go there, there's a path leading to a street from there!'' He whispered as quickly as he could, not explaining on where or how he got that information.
''You h-have to go north from here, just the direction we've been walking before we got attacked. Walk until you reach a b-broad, big tree. From there go north-east for a while. You'll reach a clearing, all you do, don't g-'' He got interrupted by a low growl coming from the masked man now standing above them.
Before they could even react, he grabbed Judy by her throat and began strangling her with all his might.
As she tried to escape from his grasp, clawing at his hands and arms, her vision began to become blurry. She knew that Andrew was talking to her, or the murderer, she didn't know. She couldn't hear anything.
Only when his grip loosened, she managed to catch a small 'I love you' before she was thrown away, to the ground, coughing heavily.
''I love you too.'' She whispered to herself, aiming her words towards her boyfriend, who was still lying on the cold hard ground. He was surrounded by the murderers, all alone.
And you all left him alone.
Left him to die.
That's when something inside of her snapped, making her stop right in her tracks and catching both Faye and you by surprise as you got launched forward and towards the floor. This action left five, burning scratch marks on your upper arm due to Judy's previous clinging.
Faye managed to stay on her feet somehow as she held onto the shrieking Judy. She was literally screaming at the blue-haired girl, telling her to let her go and that she had to go back to save her boyfriend. She was desperate to get out of her grasp, but Faye managed to hold the currently unstable girl back with new found strength, even if she got hit and scratched in the process.
''Judy! Calm down!'' She tried to comfort the crying girl, forcing her into her arms and embracing her tightly. It was tough keeping her in place, but she whispered reassuring words into her ear and began petting her gently as well.
''This isn't how you'll fall apart, it's not. It's okay, it's okay.'' She mumbled softly, it sounded like a soft lullaby of sorts. It managed to calm down your nerves as well as you heard it from the ground, forgetting about the serious situation momentarily. You didn't want to interrupt the moment either, staying silent.
''You've got nothing to fear. We're here. We'll always be here for you.''
She smiled a little at her own words as she finished her short and calming song, catching your eyes and nodding towards you. Taking it as a signal to come over, you got up from the ground and tried to dust off the dirt from your jeans and walked over to the two friends.
Suddenly, as you reached them, Judy pushed Faye away from her, making her stumble back and gasp from the unexpected action. You caught the girl before she could fall and gritted your teeth, running over to Judy, who was standing there and shouted that she needed to go.
That's when you slapped her across the face. Hard.
She had her face turned to the side, mouth hanging open as she just stood there for a few seconds, processing what just happened. A red handprint began to appear on her cheek.
''Did you finally calm down?'' You asked her in a soft voice, feeling slightly bad for slapping her.
Surprisingly, she started sobbing again and apologizing over and over again, face in her hands. She managed to whisper out a quiet 'Yeah' afterwards.
Faye recovered from the act and once again engulfed her in a hug, holding her tight. This time you joined in though as the both of you comforted the girl silently, no words exchanged. The only thing heard were her wails, that gradually got quieter, and the soft breaths escaping from everybodys lips.
''We're here.'' You broke the silence, your voice as quiet as possible to not possibly scare her off again, like a mother talking to her child. You pat her on the head, taking out a few sticks and leaves stuck in her blonde hair. The three of you stayed like that for a while, simply enjoying each others presence and comfort received from each other.
Sadly, you had to break the peaceful atmosphere.
''We have to keep moving.'' You sighed out as the other two nodded at your words, seperating from each other.
Walking through the dark, eerie woods, you couldn't help but start looking around in paranoia once more. The feeling of being watched at all times didn't disappear, it was always there and you hoped you were in the wrong this time around. You hoped it was your imagination playing tricks on you.
Seeing shadows move in the moon light didn't lower your suspicion or your fear in that case. They were appearing and disappearing in the blink of an eye and your companions seemed to not notice the strange sight. It didn't help that you swore that you heard footsteps too. Or did those just belong to your friends?
''I...I have to tell you guys something.'' Judy's dull voice broke the silence, snapping you out of your anxiety filled thoughts.
''Yes?'' Faye smiled a little at her, encouraging her to continue. Even though her true feelings were masked due to her expression, they were seen clearly through her actions as she nervously played with her hands and looked around nervously.
''We are going the wrong way.''
You raised one of your eyebrows at her words and crossed your arms, stopping entirely and stared into her blue eyes. They were red and swollen, the cause was her previous crying. Her tears stopped falling by now, however.
''What do you mean?'' You finally spoke, sensing the confusion from your other friend as well. ''Neither of us even know where we are going!''
''Wrong.'' She hissed as her blonde locks fell into her face, shadowing over her eyes and part of her nose. She suddenly had a serious aura around her, sadness gone for a while. ''We are currently heading west, we have to go north.'' As those words left her lips, she pointed towards the direction she deemed as correct.
You stared at the direction and huffed, it all looked the same. Dark and surrounded by dead trees, nothing else. ''How do you know what west, north or whatever is from our current, unknown location? Without a compass we could be heading east even.'' You pointed out blandly.
''I have to agree with (Y/N) here...sorry.'' Faye said nervously, not locking eyes with anybody around her.
You heard a low growl escape Judy, surprising you greatly. Never has she emitted that sound before. She hugged herself as she kept looking down on the ground, standing as still as a statue. It was silent for a few seconds before she looked up promptly and stared into your (e/c) coloured orbs as they widened. Her glare could be described as hateful.
''Just believe me for once!'' She narrowed her eyes and kept eye contact with you. ''What do we have left to lose? It doesn't matter which way we go, our goal is the same either way.''
Nobody said a word and she took that as a sign that the both of you didn't care. She turned away from you, breaking the eye contact and hissed out her final statement. ''I'll go in that direction, if you want to follow me, go ahead. If you don't, then goodbye.''
She began sprinting, making Faye gasp loudly and follow her closely. ''J-Judy, wait!''
You let out a low snarl and began dashing after the females. They were a few meters in front of you, still being visible in the darkness. This game of cat and mouse lasted longer than you anticipated as your legs and feet began protesting against you, pain shooting through you. Eventually, Judy disappeared from your view as only the short, blue locks of Faye could be seen glimmering through the gloominess and the forming, milky fog. You focused on that the best you could, even shouted for her to stop or slow down. Unfortuanetly, nothing of that sort happened.
It got worse even.
Faye must have taken a sharp turn or similiar as she disappeared behind the trees and from your limited sight. You kept running, even beginning to speed up, but they were nowhere near you. They were gone.
You were alone.