Claws.

My heart was racing as my feet hit the ground, leaves crunching underneath. I knew I couldn’t stop, no matter what. I tripped over a few scattered sticks and rocks, and I scrambled to get up. I had to get to the warm cabin across the lake before it caught up to me. It was only a few feet away. I noticed a featherless bird cawing at my running figure. Just when I turned to look at the bird, it fell dead to the ground with a thud. My tears were streaming down more than I wanted them to. I didn’t scream because I knew that if I did it would attract more of them. I stumbled from the blurriness of my tears. I was so close to the porch, I need to go faster. I was running across the lawn as I tripped and scrambled to get up with the use of my trembling hands and knees. The side of my stomach burned as well as my throat. I wiped away most of the tears around my eyes. I reached the porch and reached into my pocket to grab the keys. I quickly unlocked the door and rushed behind the door and locked it. Just as it was locked, a huge claw got lodged into the porch doormat. I grabbed a flashlight from the drawer and shined it onto the porch. The clawed hands crawled back into the thick forest. I collapsed onto the floor with a broken sob repeating the promise of “Never again. Never again. Never again.” An elderly woman I knew as my grandmother knew just what happened. She helped me up and knew I was never going out when it was dark, ever again.

Just like she planned...