Through Their Eyes

The Night Rewritten

The girls walked cautiously through the wet grass in the graveyard. Skylar stopped near her parents’ graves. The same spot where she’d been taken before.

“Last time,” she said, “They came from behind me. Out of the trees.”

Emby’s eyes darted to the forest edge. The trees were still, but their trunks pulsed faintly as if they were breathing.

Suddenly, a crow let out a sharp caw, and both girls jumped. Its eyes glowed faintly white in the moonlight before it disappeared into the shadows.

“Something’s wrong,” Emby whispered. “I don’t understand how we got here or why we’re here.”

Then there was a sound.

Low chanting. Distant, but growing.

The same guttural tones of yore from before.

Skylar quickly grabbed Emby's hand. “They’re here again.”

“No,” Emby said, gripping tighter. “I’m not going to let them take you this time.”

But as the chanting grew louder, Emby noticed something horrifying. Their shadows began to move against them. When they stepped back, their shadows stepped forward. When they stopped, the shadows didn’t.

“Emby…” Skylar said weakly, her voice cracking. “The shadows… we have to run.”

From the darkness, the figures began to emerge. The cult's faces were concealed by twisted masks of bone and ash. But this time, Emby knew that she and Skylar could not be taken because somehow they were needed by the cult to complete their ritual.

Emby’s heart dropped as the cult seemed to be getting closer.