Footsteps crunched the leaves somewhere behind me. I held my breath, making my lungs crave oxygen even more. Looking over at Beth, I put a finger to my lips, silently begging her not to make a sound. She understood, giving me a short but noticeable nod of the head. We were huddled close in the dark, thick-leaved plants encasing us from the outside world. It wasn't more than a 30 seconds after the footsteps stopped. Beth's arms wrapped around my left one in an even tighter death grip than before. I would have given her a comforting glance, but it was so dark out now I couldn't even see my stomach.

"Micah?" She whispered. I could hear the fear in her voice, making it so different from its usual tone. "Can we go?"

Now there were tears welling up in her eyes. They stained the sleeve of my t-shirt as they rolled off her round cheeks.

"No," I responded, my voice soft but firm. "We're going to have to stay the night."

Beth sniffed and released my arm, which I wrapped around her. She lay her head against my chest, the golden hair I was so used to seeing straight and spilling perfectly onto her shoulders was now a muddy brown, matted and clumpy from this past night. I lifted my hand, scratched and scarred from brambles, and pulled her hair away from her face, gently kissing her on the forehead before leaning back against the tree we were nestled against and falling asleep myself.

I was awoken by another noise. This time it was a whispering voice. When I opened my eyes, I realized it was already past dawn. The gentle sunlight was filtering through the tree tops, leaving light dappled spots on the ground under me. As the whispering got louder, it became more than one voice. First two, then three, and continuing to an almost infinite amount to the point where it seemed like a wave of noise was flooding the forest. I quickly shook Beth awake, who sat up like a lightning bolt, sending her hair flying. We both stood up, and after a few moments we were running through the forest. The smell of dew was fresh, but there was another mixed with it. The smell of blood.

Beth was ahead of me now, practically dragging me behind her. We didn't stop running until we were out of the forest and on the sidewalk, headed back towards town. Right after that when we looked at each other, we didn't even have to say anything. We knew that nothing that had happened that night could ever be repeated.

A/N: This was written for a short story challenge a couple of years ago. Looking back, it's.. Well.. I've done better. Much better. Though I figure I may as well leave it up here, and possibly use it as the base for another story.

-Keeper