My angel was supposed to be watching me

The young girl wandered aimlessly through the twisted, folded trees, the waist high grass around her slowly soaking her legs as she waded through it. The withered limbs of the trees hung down around her body, like the warped fingers of crippled men. She ducked low for several branches that selfishly ignored her personal space.

Her blonde hair tumbled around her shoulders as she struggled to negotiate her way around, long strands wriggling free to hang over her face and get caught in her mouth. The long grass grasped at her feet, tight like mud and the hair around her face was soon clotted with sweat. Her fifteen year old body struggled to force its way through the environment that had grown and died for decades before her birth.

Ahead of her, several kilometres in the distance, through the thinning line of trees, she saw an enormous concrete wall, some twenty metres high. The faded surface of man’s construction strangely complemented the dull browns and greens of the dying forest around her.

The girl stopped walking, well aware of the danger this wall presented. For now she was safe, the forest screening her from trouble but only a few hundred metres ahead, her sanctuary ended. A long stretch of barren earth separated the thin cover of the forest and the imposing fortification.

A chilly wind blew in from the barren earth, piercing through the trees and knifing her to the bone. Her hair blew out behind her like a yellow flag. She hugged her body tight and looked up at the sky. There was no sun, nor had there ever been since she could remember. Only the pale stretch of air that grew brighter during the day and blackened at night.

The sky was fading now, the white swirling to grey. The girl knew she should head back towards home or risk being stranded outside in the dark, alone and unprotected. She turned to go, her hands grasping the thick grass for support as she retraced her steps back over the wet ground.

The soaked grass slipped in her left hand and she winced as the grass bit into her like coarse rope. She continued on, her lips pressed onto the cut finger in painful determination.

The grass behind her whistled loudly as the wind blew through it, pursuing her deeper into the forest. Her spine shivered as the cold air caught up with her. She stumbled in a ditch in the ground, lucky enough to avoid a low hanging branch. The tree limb was so sharp and pointed it was as if God himself had designed it to pierce through flesh.

Her hair flickered up with the unnatural breeze, tangling in the forks and folds of the deadly branch and she swore with desperation as she was forced to stop. Her hands reached up and she fiddled with the knotted strands of blonde hair, working blindly to free herself.

She was still trapped, her blonde hair needing her full attention to untangle but she froze like a statue, her hands left holding the branch for support. A deep animal growl of exhaled breath sent a violent spasm of fear through her body. She tried to peer over her shoulder but the branch locked her painfully in place.

“Who’s there?” she whispered in a hoarse voice, terror welling up into her throat.

She sobbed as she heard the loud swish of grass as the predator approached. The unseen strides of the creature made her horrifyingly imagine an enormous cat lunging towards its captive prey.

The solid body of her assailant suddenly and violently smashed into her, her left ankle cracking loudly as she was knocked from her feet. The impact ripped the breath out of her lungs. Her brain whirled with the ferocity of the hit and she could only vaguely feel the searing burn in her scalp where her hair had been pulled out by the powerful branch.

Her head hit the ground, eyes blinded by the thick grass and wet mud that was all around her. Her ruined ankle drooped weakly from her leg, twitching as she tried to stand up.

She screamed to the empty wilderness around her, “Help me! Please!”

She knew she was too far away to be heard but her panic outweighed that logic. She screamed for help again, her good leg kicked strongly, but the wet ground and her injuries unbalanced her and she fell on her face.

She felt the powerful pressure of the creature pushing her body into the soft mud and she choked out screams of fear through mouthfuls of dirt. Deep gashes cut into her body, the stinging slices of razor claws tearing into her flesh.

The terrified girl screamed and blacked out with pain as her forearm was pinned down, burning in agony and then suddenly flopped loose, separated from her body. Her life’s blood pumped from her severed arm in sync with the beats of her racing heart. The green grass grew slick with blood, the red liquid flowing down to mingle with the wet mud. Her body shook and jerked as the creature tore into her, ripping and slicing pieces from the new corpse. The long grass was the perfect cover, the killer hidden from sight as it destroyed the life beneath it.

The sky faded to pitch black over the dead corpse and the creature finally moved away in the cover of the night, as unseen as when it had approached. The girl’s body lay discarded, the red stained grass that formed a broken boundary around the corpse the only sign of its presence. Her long blonde hair remained where it hung, twisted tightly around the branches, moved only by the soft breeze that rippled the grass. It too was swallowed up by the dark sky, a soft, yellow waterfall blotted out by the smog of night. In the distance, the imposing concrete wall faded into black, an immovable giant against the blinding night.