Author's Note: 70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5yUNY94GUe
Today is day one of daily posts! It just so happens to be the introduction of a new character. I wanted to do this for two reason though. One, there is a challenge on another platform to have a certain amount of words posted in 30 days... Hopefully I signed up for it correctly. And B, I am sacrificing the buffer to get to the next part of the story! 70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWPUCMUcU1o
⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘₊ ⊹ Soul 𓉸 Rejected ⊹ ₊⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuyZTQQ4Tup
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYQlBpJmRwd
Julian awoke on his back, staring at a pale full moon peeking through the treetops. He had a clear view of the starry night sky through a hole in the tree canopy made by his descent.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡidmiLA9cvM
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVtweTZ6eZN
This was an unfamiliar sight for him. He should have been looking up at his bedroom ceiling. And beneath him should have been a mattress on his bedroom floor, not the mud soaking into the fabric of his pajamas.
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpLyIh6sPfv
He shouldn’t be here. He couldn't be here– wherever “here” was.
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg6hKVrb7r8
He had school tomorrow. Not that he really wanted to go to school. He hated everyone there. Even the teachers. But they told his father that if he skipped another day, he’d be expelled.
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv3KAEbHVxj
Something kicked his leg, interrupting his thoughts and that something fell to the mud next to him with a splash. A man, sprinting through the forest in the middle of the night, had tripped over Julian.
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUDLmI4u1JK
He turned his groggy head to his left where the man had landed. He stared with weary eyes, letting them adjust to darkness trying to fixate on recognizable shapes and edges. The details of that face slowly became woven from midnight, shaping into something human and discernable. The man's complexion was so dark that the night was nearly enough to disguise where the mud ended and his face began. It was just a moment, so the only thing Julian could see clearly was the piercing white of a pair eyes filled to the brim with sheer dread staring back at him.
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE6JN6yABq0
He was terrified.
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ47PZKkSAjH
The fleeting moment passed, along with any opportunity to ask questions. The strange man looked back the way he came before stumbling to his feet again and sprinting deeper into the woods. Another man, then another, each slapped leaves and mud with bare feet, splashing drops of the cold forest floor into the air and onto Julian's bewildered face.
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ75nUBMvjlY
This couldn't have been a dream. The mud felt too real. Not to mention the soreness he felt in his ankle from being kicked by a grown man going full speed.
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5oez3NR5V4
This was certainly real.
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKXdUm5xsnp
That might also mean that the monster peeling open his bedroom like a tin can moments ago could have been real too. A paralysis demon ripping off the ceiling, reaching towards him and chanting some nonsense language didn’t usually fall anywhere near the realm of reality. Floating towards the ceiling in a crackling purple portal might have been a dream, but maybe, just maybe, it was a memory of events leading up to his current predicament. Though this was unlikely.
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfOxaqaClOc
One thing he knew for sure, he was really in a forest and those were some real dudes running scared. His natural instinct was to start running too but still, the question nagged him. The question of who they were running from.
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXk0mak3KUf
Barking sounded from the distance in the direction the men came, accompanied by voices. He snapped upright when he heard the sound of raised voices.
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPbTAhWK83Y
"Get on, boy! Get! Get!"
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbLfRJCj1jH
He didn’t like the way they said “boy.”
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQY6DFCKPuC
The barking grew louder. So did the yelling. A soft orange light flickered on trees in the distance.
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAQ6iBRmCZe
“I think I see one! Go on, girl, let’s go.”
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh1rnVH0ceO
Julian felt fear swelling in his gut. This must have been what those men were running from. He didn’t wait to find out. He sprung to his feet and took off after them.
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEjyVP9RFvi
The ground was soft and muddy in some areas beneath him. ‘Quick’ was usually an understatement when it came to Julian’s running. But this time, the sludge of the forest floor didn’t let go of his feet easily. The mud suctioned and the leaves threatened to slip from beneath him with each stride. Its resistance strained his muscles.
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGUdwg0vAOy
The sounds of the pursuers drew closer behind him, but the burning in his legs grew, refusing to take him any faster. This was no track, not the neighborhood pavement. This was a treacherous forest with bushes and sticks that cut his shins and the bottoms of his feet.
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOP7nvMl5na
He could feel danger caress his neck, skin crawling at the sound of disembodied footsteps lockstep on his tail. He ducked under branches, weaved steps between rocks and dodged bushes until a fallen log seemed to emerge from the darkness underfoot. He leaped but his foot slid instead of finding purchase, stealing the landing from him. His momentum sent him face first into a puddle of mud.
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnZYk1NdN8D
He righted himself with a quickness but looking behind him, the orange light of torches paint tree trunks that were far closer than he would’ve liked. Hope seemed to recede with the shadows as the light illuminated the bark of trees around him.
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIrtCJ490Wl
This wasn’t like the light that brightens a room. Sure, it would, but the fiery glow was more like a consuming light. It was looking for something or someone. But it was impartial, willing to find anything and anyone for the sole purpose of engulfing them. This light made someone want to be counted among the hidden.
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN2IBZC6HF2
Now, he was soaked head to toe in mud and leaves, weighing down the shirt and gym shorts he wore to bed. If it was difficult to run before, he doubted he stood a better chance with the added weight. He wouldn’t increase the distance between them by trying to run again.
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT0Bo2H7Oh6
He wiped his face and squinted into the shadows cowering from pursuers. Only a few feet from him jutted a low hung branch that looked barely strong enough to hold his weight. There was no time. They were close.
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQwmHRjPKCl
He shook off some of the mud weighing him down, and struggled to ascend the tree. Maybe it was the mud or maybe his palms were the ones soaking the bark beneath his grip. Either way, it felt to him like the very distance from the ground was pulling him by the collar, backwards and toward the earth again.
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFUFnDpeaiP
Within mere seconds, the trunk grew narrow and the forest grew small beneath him.
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmqIQSdSp7b
In that span, the hunting party quickly trampled the footprints he left in the mud only a moment ago.
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe6JDRl1Lpy
Julian didn’t dare move an inch or so much as breath. He didn’t know who this crew of night crawlers were, but he could tell that he didn’t want to garner their attention. He clung, frozen, both physically but also in temperature as a night breeze chilled the wet remnants of mud coating his skin.
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡznGApWhtzT
At the base of the trees, the hunting party slowed a little with the dogs that lingered only for a moment to investigate a scent they can’t seem to place. Four men and three dogs passed beneath him with a feminine figure with a bandana over her mouth and nose lagging close behind. Each of the men had shotguns strapped over their shoulder and a leashed dog or torch in each hand.
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxtOHR8XWlE
But it was the woman who caught his eye. She seemed to notice something the others overlooked. Julian watched her slow her pace as she passed the mud that Julian just crawled out of. It was clearly illuminated by the fire of the torches that lingered for approximately two eternities.
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIebKff28c1
He could see her head tilt, examining the mud, tracing the tracks and divots in the sludged surface. Her head clearly followed a set of tracks in the ground. She traced the steps like a predator looming over her prey, following the trail that led to the base of Julian’s tree.
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGU00ypzpOC
Her gaze remained affixed on the bark for ages, picking a soggy leaf from the first branch Julian used to climb the tree. She twisted the stem of the leaf between her finger and thumb, the leaf limply spun along as she stared at it. When she finally released it, she didn’t watch it fall. Instead, she looked further up the trunk, tilting her head back to follow the trunk all the way up.
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYeVEzKlqUE
Julian could see her from where he clung to the branches. He could see her pale skin glowing in the orange light, partially concealed by the bandana covering the bottom half of her face. He could see the whites of her searching eyes glint in the flickering flames, even as the men began their search again and the torches moved away. That predatory glare. Her eyes ripped leaves off branches and peeled away stray twigs, trying to find some fault in their design. Something off. Something not shaped the way a tree should. Something man-shaped.
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWtHtJbqAub
Her gaze didn't relent, climbing higher than most men would dare go and searching limbs that could never support a man’s weight. If Julian wasn't so thin and nimble, he would have never made it as high as he did. Still, it took her only seconds before her eyes finally rested on him.
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXEjN8rhIZg
His heart dropped to the roots.
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHdWz39GyTE
He didn’t dare move.
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9pzHgLSYSu
Her eyes narrowed, squeezing out the shimmer of the torches as they drifted deeper into the forest without her. She was so far down and so small, he couldn't tell exactly what she was looking at. But it looked a lot like she was staring right at him.
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN5W7BZ5TLi
He wanted to cling tighter, but he didn't, any movement might give him away. He wanted to close his eyes and wake back up in his bed, but that was never an option. He felt small and helpless. Just like always.
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIZjg3kjTnl
She took a half step closer, tilting her head to the side. She might not know it, but she was locked in perfect eye contact with Julian.
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOj3OUOafAt
"Yeee! That's a boy, righ’ therr! Yee yee, yeeww!" A man’s voice called from where the rest of the hunting party continued.
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfcrXs03MP5
Her head snapped to the sound like a bear trap. She didn’t offer the tree a second glance before starting towards the commotion.
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqmeTeudmfi
Julian choked on the breath he was holding, barely able to muffle the sound.
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxotxkNwdN8
She had already moved on but the impression she left in the forest lingered. It was like the crickets refused to chirp so as not to draw too attention. He couldn’t help but feel like she could have him killed with a single word. He had never felt that before tonight.
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRMyD16Hv7b
Even when he was mugged, he never felt he was going to die. Something about her eyes told him that there was no mercy in that soul. He was helpless. There was no Dad, no cops, nor high school administrators. Just him and that force wearing a bandana over her face
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6zqdGFbZby
Hopeless.
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO2GduXxlle
Helpless.
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHTO0enClV3
And stuck up a tree.
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7VT1FtsLhp
She left! It’s time to move…
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmAnoTW0BQv
Go.
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPewFPVOyPc
His body refused him.
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9pZadKOfhk
Move.
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcyPecM3bDd
His grip didn’t loosen.
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQfY20CxllI
Move!
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT4Z87RIPus
He obeyed himself at last, descending with trepidation. At the tree base, he watched the woods darken and the light of torches faded. Without the presence of danger, he started to feel silly for letting such an innocuous event shake him. Of course, he was never in any real danger.
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnPlInN4Gh9
This must be a dream, how could I have gotten here?
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbSzOE9r3aI
He should've just power-punched that woman to the moon or something for scaring him.
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡejn7Q5F5Jm
He turned around and took a step back the way he came before freezing in place.
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKTxR2HdR3d
If it was a dream, there would be no reason to walk away. So why leave?
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEH9ii5Kr6D
He figured if this was a dream then he would go towards the danger, not away. And the mere fact that he considered it danger was a clear sign that deep down, he knew this wasn't a dream. It was all perfectly logical. And if it wasn't a dream…
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFjKUNElDGT
I tripped that man.
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsVXdvXNUJD
They were caught because of me.
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAR1NRda0aF
He stared down at the footprints that carved the wet clay. Their edges reflected the moonlight brightly.
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY1Qu23ROhE
What happens when those men get caught?70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCiGj4FU707
→ Request update
and then Add to home screen.