The Haunt

The trees were swaying in the wind and their ghostly screeches echoed through the forest. In the darkness they looked like tall thin creatures with long arms, ready to grab anything passing by underneath them. They were old trees, high. I could not see how far into the night sky they were reaching. Not a single leaf grew on them – only thin twigs and branches, that were swaying slowly in the wind.

The moon had hidden itself behind the clouds, only a very slight silver shine on the otherwise pitch-black sky let me guess where it was; and thick fog was creeping over the landscape, making it almost impossible to see anything clearly.

I felt the ground's wetness under my feet. There seemed to be not a single alive plant, just mud and decomposing dead leaves and small dead twigs that the wind had managed to rip off the trees. Water on the ground had accumulated to little puddles which every now and then were covered by a thin layer of ice – the temperature must have been around freezing point.

The whole forest smelled dead. Despite the darkness I knew there was nothing green around, all plants where either rotting or drying up. A faint smell of snow mixed into this, but I couldn't see any. The air was heavy and humid and the fog made breathing more difficult, its moistness creeping into my nose and lungs and into my eyes which started hurting after a while.

I was standing in the middle of the forest. I did not know how I had got there, or why I was there, alone, dressed with nothing but a small night gown that did not protect me against the winter air. I felt like I had just woken up – not unlike those first few moments when you do not know who or where you are. But some time passed and my confusion remained.

The wind started blowing strongly and messing up my hair, pushing it over my face. I had to use my hands to put it back behind my ears. It felt heavy and I had difficulties running my fingers through it, I feared it would be hard to brush it back into its normal smoothness again.

The wind kept playing games with me and tried to lift up my night gown, running up and down my back like cold fingers tickling me. Its cold chills were giving me goose-bumps. I folded up my arms and pressed them close to my body, in hope of warming up myself but it didn't seem to be useful.

Indecisively I looked around, wondering which direction to turn. No matter where I looked, I could see nothing but those dead trees swaying in the wind, their shapes becoming more and more unclear in the fog and darkness the further away they were. Not a trace of human existence, no lights, no pathway.

Somewhere behind I heard a cracking sound in the forest, like a small twig breaking under the foot of a big animal or a human and suddenly I knew I was there because I was running away from somebody or something. Quickly I turned into the direction opposite of the one I had heard the sound coming from and walked away. After just a few steps I got faster, and started running – something inside me told me I had to flee.

Little twigs and pieces of ice on the ground cut into my bare feet. The first few times this happened I considered stopping to take a look at the damage they might have caused. But soon I learned to ignore it.

Every few seconds I tripped over roots that seemed to be growing just to slow down my pace. It was as if the trees were sticking out their feet to make me fall. I could hardly see anything. There was no path. I was running right through the forest. Branches of the trees seemed to be everywhere. They appeared suddenly in front of me when I was too close to change the direction and slapped into my face or my body. Or they got caught in my nightgown, as if trying to undress me. I kept running. My breath was going quicker. There was a stinging pain in my chest. Again and again I found trees standing right in front of me and could alter the direction slightly only in the very last moment, to avoid running into them.

Ever more clearly I heard the footsteps behind me. Fast and not very loud. Like someone who is running without having to put great effort into it. Like someone who is used to running in the forest, who could run quietly enough to not be heard if he wanted to. But they did not care because they were sure they will be faster anyway. And there was more than one person, two or three at least. Getting closer.

My legs grew tired of running. Forcing myself to run on caused a slight feeling of sickness in my stomach. In my ears I heard the rushing sound of my blood, which my heart was pumping quicker and quicker through my body. I felt dizzy. I wasn't cold anymore. Rather, fear and the physical effort were causing sweat to run down my face from my forehead, mixing with the little drops of water the fog had left there. Only the air remained cold. It stabbed into my lungs like a knife each time I took a breath.

My feet made smacking noises whenever they hit the mud. Splashed in the puddles, almost as loud as my heard did beat. The even rhythm of my paces helped me to keep running.

"Concentrate on that rhythm!" I told myself in my mind, I did not have the energy to speak the words out loud. "Only on the rhythm of your feet! And don't forget to breathe."

My sides ached.

Parts of me just wanted to stop. Wanted to give in, in to whatever they were trying to catch me for. I just wanted to stop running. But another part of me was filled with so much fear that it made me gather all my strength and run even faster.

And yet, somewhere in the back of my head, I could not stop myself from wishing they might be faster, they might catch up with me soon.

What was this? Why was I wishing this?

"If they'll catch up with me soon I can then stop running," I told myself.

But fear was not the only thing I felt. Deep down inside awoke a feeling of excitement that I couldn't admit to. An arousal, a forbidden curiosity to what exactly they might do, why they were prosecuting me.

*

Suddenly I thought I heard heavy breathing nearby, mixed with quiet growls. The slight cracks of footsteps on the forest ground seemed to be right behind me, and in my fear I was sure I felt hot breath on my neck.

Fear overtook me again. I wanted to run on. Fast. Away. Then my foot got caught in something on the ground again and I found myself lying in the mud, panting.

The pain in my foot told me that it must be broken. In my mouth I felt a faint taste of blood mixed with the foulness of some of the mire I had fallen into. While falling I must have bitten myself on my lips or tongue.

For some moments all I knew was the tiredness of my legs, the relief of not having to run anymore and the need for air. Slowly the cold dirt on my face and my body and the pain in my foot reached my consciousness. I started listening again to what was happening around me again.

There were three of them. One had already caught up with me, the other two were approaching quickly and closing around me in a circle. I lifted my face a bit. But from what little I could see I could not decide whether they were human or animals. They reminded me of wolves but were too big for that and they walked on two legs, silently, slowly moving in closer.

From my angle, they seemed to be towering tall into the sky, even though their hairy backs were arched. And while they had long snouts, there was still something human about their faces. Maybe it was the form of their eyes or their noses, I do not know.

Their bodies emitted a stench that even when they were still more than a meter away from me made me almost faint, and while I felt the urgent need to catch breath, at the same time the smell made me not wanting to breathe in. Finally I knew why the forest smelled like death.

For a while there was complete silence. I did not move, out of fear, but even had I wanted to I would not have been able to move. They kept walking around me without any sound, like a pack of hunting beasts, that do not want to be noticed yet by their prey while cutting off any possible escape. They were getting closer to me ever so slowly. They had time. They knew I couldn't flee anymore. And they were just as completely silent as me.

Only the wind blowing in the leafless trees, its hollow whistle and the trees' screeches were interrupting the silence. And my heart – I believe the painful beat of my heart was the loudest sound to be heard in the forest.

Suddenly the clouds lifted from the moon, and the whole forest was bathed in an eerie silver light. The fog lifted somewhat as well, and little drops of water glistened on the tall tree trunks. Water and ice on the forest ground reflected the moonlight.

My head still being slightly lifted, I could see them more clearly now. They had human hands and feet but with long sharp claws; taller than humans with too much hair to be man, and too little hair to be animal, thin, their ribs were visible. Except for the snouts full of sharp teeth their faces looked human. But their eyes – they had the same color as the moon. They seemed to reflect it and they had no pupils in their eyes. While they slowly moved around me those eyes did not let go from me for a second, they were glued to my body.

A new wave of fear went through me and made me stir and it seems that my little movement had been all they had waited for. They attacked.

They made only a little sound when they suddenly jumped. Just a slight scratch of their claws pressing against the ground to lift their weight, and an ever so slight rush of air caused by their movement.

I felt a sudden weight on me. One of them had landed right on my back. Its heavy body caused me to lose my breath again for some seconds. A strong pain from claws cutting into my skin made me groan. I heard their growls near my ears. I felt hot breath, teeth. My head was pressed into the mud of the ground so I had no chance to see what was going on. In a moment of carelessness I had opened my mouth to let out my surprise and pain in a scream, and I choked on cold slime. The beating from their paws or hands, I do not know which, made me slide across the cold ground. I almost expected that any moment they would throw me up into the air, like a ball or rather, like a mouse that young kittens play with after they mother caught it for them.

Yet it seemed their attention was not so much focused on me. Rather, the three of them were fighting each other, but their fight took place right above me, in fact right on me – fighting over me, their prey, not caring whether their bites or blows hurt me when they missed each other.

I could feel the weight of one of them seeming to stand right on my back. The claws of its feet dug into my skin. I felt every of its movements when it was hitting and biting the others. It wanted to keep them away. It was clutching me, claiming me as its very own prey.

The fight seemed to only last a few seconds, then I could hear the disappointed yelps of the two defeated ones, while the third one hovered above my back pressing me into the ground with its hands, long claws cutting into my skin and into the rests of the little night gown their fight had already damaged.

I could move my head again and saw the other two. They were sitting on the ground in a small distance, leaving me and the third one now alone. But they were staring at us, with saliva dripping from their snouts, silver saliva, like the moonlight, and like their eyes which did not move away from my body for a second.

My panic gave me a sudden strength. I wanted to push the thing right off me, I could already feel its grip getting looser... But I was paralyzed by a sharp pain in my right shoulder, close to my neck. The beast was biting me. But instead of tearing flesh out of me, it held on to me with its teeth in a way that made it impossible for me to try any escape, despite its hands letting go of me for a moment.

The creature ripped off the remains of my night gown. Somehow the fact that I was completely naked made me fully aware that I was at its mercy. I had lost my last protection against the wind, how much less did I have to defend myself against its claws and teeth, with which it could kill me in a matter of seconds.

The creature was lifting me up with the help of its teeth that dug deep into the flesh of my shoulder. It made my head twist weirdly to the side to keep it as far away as possible from the pain. The lower part of my body was still lying in the dirt, while the upper part was lifted and hanging weirdly and limp from the creature's mouth.

I saw the forest, but only in a blur, it was still bathed in silver light – almost beautiful despite the dead trees. I believed I saw a few snowflakes tumbling drunkenly from the sky and settling on the dark forest ground.

For a second I caught sight of my own body, my own skin. Pale, in the moonlight it had an unreal, bluish color. It looked thin and vulnerable, almost transparent. A wave of compassion overwhelmed me – for my own, pale body under the threat of a dark and hairy arm that was sneaking under it like a snake.

The contrast of my stomach, bright and clean despite having lied in the dirt, and that dark, hairy arm, took all my concentration for a few moments, I saw only the play of these colors, and forgot the forest and the pain.

The hand of the beast clutched my breasts, with rough palms, squeezing them harshly, claws cutting into the skin between, digging deeply into it. All that I could do was feel; I saw nothing anymore. In front of my eyes there was only blackness with bright lights dancing in it. Everything else was unrecognizable, blurred.

The claws slowly moved downward along my stomach, tearing my skin. Almost I could feel my blood dripping down but I realized this without feeling anymore the strong pain it should cause me. The iron grip of teeth into my shoulder seemed to numb the rest of my body, all my nerves concentrated there. My full weight was hanging from this one shoulder. I wonder why it did not break, so that the beast would have found itself standing there with only my arm in its mouth.

Finally the creature used it arms again to hold me. Gripping me tightly it carried me forward a few steps. I got pushed into its body and suddenly got aware of the appendage between its legs, like a huge cock pushing towards me, larger than most human ones would be.

Despite the situation I was in, feeling the creature's cock awoke an instinct deep in me, a faint memory of events and lust long gone, from the times before I had found myself in this forest, and an inner force made me push my own body into that of the creature, as if trying to measure its outline with my skin.

Pain, fear, and the loss of blood did make me more and more dizzy every moment and only through a haze I realized I was being placed on a fallen tree's trunk with my arms hanging down on one side, my legs on the other. The hard dry bark irritated my wounded skin, little fragments pushing into the open cuts of my stomach and breasts.

Darkness crept up into me, less and less did I know what was happening around me, less and less did I care.

"Maybe I shall faint," I thought, "or maybe I shall die, either one is good."

Gratefulness overwhelmed me: If I'd go unconscious I couldn't feel anymore, I couldn't get hurt anymore. Along with everything else the relief I felt was dragged into darkness inside me; the taste of blood on my lips, the smell of the creatures, the silvery light, the trees, the pain, my consciousness – it all vanished. What remained was only a blackness that crept up from inside me...

*

Tormenting pain between my legs jerked me violently back into reality, into consciousness. At first I knew nothing: Not where I was nor why I hurt – I only knew of pain everywhere inside me.

After a few moments I understood what had caused my senses to come back back: The creature had entered me, suddenly, without any preparation. While doing so it had let go of my shoulder. I am sure it continued bleeding but all pain that had concentrated in it until that moment seemed to have moved between my legs, into me. I did not perceive anything except the beast's cock inside me. Slowly, millimeter by millimeter I felt it pulling back out to then push back into me again, suddenly and hard, as far as it could go.

Now I was fully conscious.

I could hear the creature breathing heavily into my neck, hear it utter low groans, almost like a growl.

My body was being pushed forwards by thrusts that now were coming faster, and at the same time held back by the beast's hands on my shoulders and my back, held right in place so it could enter me more deeply. All I could think was that I wished it was over soon.

But whenever it pulled out its cock I felt that animal instinct awakening again – that impulse I had felt first while running away from them. It stirred somewhere inside me something that waited impatiently for the next thrust, which again turned out to be much too much for me. The fact that I felt more than just pain and fear scared me more than anything else. I tried to fight it, tried to distance myself from my body, look at all of this like an outsider.

It is as if I had been two people at once: One that consisted only of pain, fear, of blind trembling body, that wanted to scream. And another one that did not have anything to do with all this, that only watched the ghostly beautiful forest with the fallen tree and my pale blue body – watched it glisten brightly in the moonlight, watched my own blood forming dark spots on it, and watched this bestial and yet human creature take possession of it.

I heard screams of agony echoing through the forest and reasoned that it must be me who is screaming. I concentrated on thinking – wanted to ignore the feeling "me". It is easier to think than to feel. With a certain fascination I listened to my own voice that was loud and full of pain at first and got hoarse after a while until finally it uttered only tired sobs, because I could not even scream anymore.

I heard the faint sound of the beast's stomach slapping against my backside whenever it entered me deeply. Felt its skin everywhere on mine, its hands all over me. For a moment its rhythmic movements woke a memory of the rhythm of my own feet on the miry forest ground.

I could see myself as if it wasn't me who was lying there, as if I was standing outside of my own body. I saw the creature's claws pierce the vulnerable skin of my legs when it grabbed them and pulled them further apart so it could penetrate deeper yet. I barely felt the difference though – pain and more pain was the same.

But every thrust forced my consciousness back into my reality, into my own tortured body, made it harder to only think, to not feel.

Every one of them seemed to kill me.

I could not pretend anymore to not be part of all this. That "me" that could only feel forced itself back into my consciousness with its desire to scream, to let out all the pain, to make it less by crying it out. But I could not find my voice anymore. I seemed to only consist of the burning sensation inside me. I was only those parts the creature needed, all the rest of me didn't matter.

But I could not completely suppress that animal instinct inside me, that let me moan and that longed for more and that scared me more than all that was happening to me. Trembling I wished for the next thrust which nevertheless in the next moment made me almost faint.

"Oh please let me faint again," I was praying with trembling lips. "If I fainted again, or even better, if I died I would not feel anything anymore."

Darkness, I searched for darkness somewhere deep inside me. Darkness that would drown the pain, my thoughts, the wish to die. Slowly it emerged inside me. Dragged me into its sweet abyss, took all sensations while the beast thrust hard into me one last time. And then, suddenly, it was over.