The Long Night

Ch. 3: The Devil's Bite

***TRIGGER WARNING: Animal Attack***

-Flashback-

What is that? Singing? No... howling. She could hear the howling and playful yipping of the wolves in the woods outside her bedroom window. They sounded wild and free; fearless adventurers of the night were roaming nearby and had woken her from a deep, restful sleep.

Sarah sat up in her bed and let her legs dangle off the side, too small to be able to let her feet rest on the floor at the same time, and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. Carefully the little girl slid out of her bed and dragged the chair over to the window so she could stand on it and look out. It was spring, the skies were clear and a gentle breeze wove through her long, dark hair. Since the weather was nice her mother had left the shutters of her window open to cool her room. At six years old, standing at the window from the safety of her parents' home while the wind stroked her face was as close to paradise as she'd ever been.

Another howl snapped her from her thoughts, waking the tired child further and sending a chill up her spine. Her eyes roamed the treeline before she locked onto a pair of yellow orbs staring back at her. Were they glowing? Impossible. That couldn't be right. No time to pause and consider the consequences, Sarah jumped down from her chair and pulled her small cloak on before rushing out her bedroom door and down the steps to the kitchen.

No one was awake at this hour to stop or question young Sarah. The servants and her family all slept as she made her way out the door that would take her to the glowing eyes she'd seen from the window. She stepped further out of her home and looked back to determine where her bedroom window was, lining herself up just right so she could go into the woods close to where she'd seen the eyes.

Whatever they belonged to weren't waiting directly in the tree line for her, but she could hear the rustling of something walking deeper into the woods and crunching the leaves and sticks under foot as it walked away from her. It was fast, at least compared to a six year old girl. She had to pick up the hem of her night dress so she could run after it. "Wait!" she called out, her little voice breaking any semblance of silence as she ran forward. It was like something was urging her, pulling on her to chase after the animal running from her. It was an animal, right? It had to be. Everyone would be sleeping at this hour.

She eventually broke into a clearing she didn't rememver ever coming across. She must be deeper in the woods than she realized. Cautious eyes swept the places she coukd see, the full moon high in the sky illuminated the area quite well and made Sarah bold enough to slowly step forward. The snap of a branch nearby drew her attention to her left and she held her breath as she strained to see what was lurking in the trees.

The Wolf, bigger than any animal she'd ever seen and faster than her father's prized horse, bolted out of the woods and dragged Sarah to the ground. It took a moment for her fear-fueled mind to catch up but once it did she let out an ear splitting scream and began to struggle against the beast. "PAPA!!" she screamed as she tried to kick at the beasts belly, terror filling her as the glowing yellow eyes stared fown at her as its lips pulled back in a fierce snarl. A tiny human girl was no match for this demon. It leaned forward quickly and bit down hard on her shoulder, drawing blood and crunching her fragile bones in the process. Sarah howled in pain as she tried to wriggle away but before long the pain and loss of blood overwhelmed her and her body stilled as she fell unconscious.