2
I squirmed and opened my eyes. The storm still beat the woods around me, but my focus wasn’t on that. It was on the shadowed figure that stood at the edge of the tree limbs. My heart thumped loudly in my ears when I saw the person had bright red eyes, and they were staring straight at me. They took a step toward me and I cried out to my body to flee, to run far from this thing. My body wouldn’t move. My legs were like stones and my arms hung limp at my side. The shadow moved to kneel before me and I could see it was a man. I didn’t need to wonder who it was, just what he would do with me. I was helpless to stop any sort of intentions he had.
The figure reached up a shadowed hand and brushed it against my hot cheek. The fingers passed through me and let a chill in my skin. My
