Dark is the Night

The stalks swayed in the breeze, and it's leaves slowly lifted and deflated like they were living, breathing entities. The yellow of the corn shining in the light of the full moon. Iowa is a beautiful place full of yellow fields and shimmering brooks calling for you to wade through them. However, something sinister lives here in Woodbury. Maybe the corn harbors a living, breathing monster. Cassandra is the captain of the track team. They are going all the way to state this year. She is determined to make sure of it. Everyone on her team is dedicated to her practice regime. She requires all of them to attend three after-school practices per week, plus run on their own time. Full commitment to healthy living, and there was no room for nonsense. She is a senior this year. It was her last chance, and she was going to state. Every morning, she gets up early and runs. Then she gets ready and goes to school. She even makes the time to run at night on days they don't practice after school. A scholarship is her only way to Iowa State College, and she needed to get it. She likes running in the early morning. It is so quiet, and the soft clump of her shoes on the dirt road is satisfying, and the sway of the corn fields so soothing. It is peaceful. This morning was much the same as any other. She got dressed and ready quickly so she would have time to shower before she headed off to school. She took off down the dirt path that led to town. Cassandra usually had about two hours to run, and her path took her to town and back. Four miles total. She got into a nice rhythm and settled into her breathing exercises. As a runner, it was one of the most important things. Knowing how to breathe properly so you could make it farther. She was a long-distance runner, but she wasn't too shabby at the sprints either. She made it to the circle k that marked the outskirts of town and turned back. Something felt a little off. She felt like she was being watched. She peered into the darkness, trying to make out any shapes or people, but it was only row after row of corn, lining both sides of the road. Yet the uneasy feeling persisted. "Stop being a dork," she told herself out loud and pushed off toward home. As she ran, she stayed alert. Something inside her head had set off alarm bells. She couldn't just turn them off. No crickets. No insect noises at all. Like they were scared to chirp, too scared to give away their location. Panic rose, and she started to run faster. She couldn't help it. She felt silly. There wasn't anything there. Yet she pushed herself faster and faster like she could outrun the eyes she felt watching her. She could only hear her breathing, hard and heavy, and almost frantic to keep up with the pace she had set. In her peripheral vision, she thought she saw something move in the corn. Thought she heard runner feet. She stopped, and the sound also stopped. Must be an echo, she thought. But what would it echo off of? Cassandra glanced around herself, warily listening. Ever so faintly, she heard breathing, animalistic breathing. She started running again, and the footsteps again matched her pace. Like something was running alongside her in the corn, stalking her. Predatory behavior, like it was playing with its food, hunting. Years and panic came to her eyes. She tried looking beside her as she ran, and she saw movement in the corn to her left. Something was definitely there. something big, as the stalks were moving heavily. She couldn't help it, she cried out. This seemed to excite the creature because then she heard an ominous baritone growl. A sound she had never heard from any animal here in Iowa. A wolf? There are rarely any wolf sightings in Iowa, but it sounded canine in nature. It sounded hungry. "O, god," she whispered as she ran. Up ahead, the road would come to a fork. Her house is to the left, and another farm to the right was her neighbors. The corn would end at the fork, and whatever was in there would be out in the open. If she went left to her house, she would surely intercect it. It would get her. She was fast, but there was no match for an animal. She would have to go right. She told herself not to look. "Don't look, don't look, dont look. Just run," she chanted to herself. As she came to the fork, she took off to the right, but she just couldn't help it. She looked. This creature, it was a wolf, but it ran bipedal, its legs bent backward at the knees making its gait awkward, and its ears were short and pointed up. A massive head and teeth bared, dripping with saliva, like it was rabid. This is no ordinary wolf. It was a good eight feet tall, as tall as the corn stalks, with fur black as night, short and coarse. A monster in real life. Cassandra bolted forward with the cresture hot on her heels. She rounded the bend to her neighbor's house and wanted to kick herself. They had a fence. Beyond the fence was a pool and their home. She would have to jump it. She would have to get there first. She panicked inside. She hadn't ever tried to jump a fence before. She wasn't a pole vaulted, but adrenaline was on her side. She launched herself in the air, using the top of the fence as a spring. Not only did she clesr the fence, she flewso far she landed in their pool. She splashed down deep and refused to come up for air, sure it was waiting at the edges to eat her. She curled into a ball at the bottom of the pool and held her breath as long as she could. She held her breath till it felt like her lungs would explode. Till she had no choice but to drown or come up for air. Neither drowning nor getting eaten by a werewolf seemed appealing, but the immediate danger won out, and she surfaced. She flinched, certain she was dead already as she sputtered loudly for air, but there was no creature in sight. Was she crazy? Was she dreaming or delusional? Still too terrified to move, she just tread water there in the middle of the pool, unwilling to get out, and ready to dive to the bottom again. The creature clearly couldn't scale fences or did not like water. Was it laying in wait for her? The sun was starting to rise, and break through the clouds, and she heard the sound of sliding glass behind her. She jumped, shrieked, and spun around. Poor Mrs. Larson was standing there, gawking to her. "Young lady, what are you doing? You can't just jump into someone's pool anytime you want to," grumpy Mrs. Larson scolded her. "I'm sorry, something was chasing me." She explained, climbing out of the pool, dripping all over the concrete surround. "Nonsense child, if you want to swim, just ask, don't make up stories. Get home with you now before I decide to call Sheriff Tate. " The old lady threatened. Cassandra cringed, just knowing her parents would hear of this. She had no choice but to go home. Scared to death, she would have to go back to the fork and make a run for her house. Should she run for it, or try to be stealthy? Running was her thing. She had outrun it once before. Could she do it again? Or did it let her win? Doubt aye way at her, as she prepared to sprint the distance. She took off like a bullet shot from a gun, bared down, and didn't look up or slow down. She was soaking wet, so it slowed her down a little, the water mingling with the dirt and mudding her pants all the way up the back of her legs. She just ran for her life, literally. She cleared her porch in a giant leap and arged through her door, falling onto the floor heavily. A pile of mud and water, sucking in breath. She slammed the door shut and locked it. Then she lay there crying and trembling. She made it. Her parents had already left for work, and she still needed to get to school. They would never believe her, just like Mrs. Larson. So I she skipped school, she would surely be in trouble. Had she imagined everything? She felt like she was waking up from a nightmare. Was she sleep-walking and when up downstairs? Couldn't be. She was soaking wet and covered in mud. Cassandra went upstairs and began changing for school. All the while, trying to convince herself it was just a bad dream, but when she pulled off her pants, they were ripped. There were no marks on her skin, but it looked like claws had racked down her calf! "Oh my god!" she said to herself. "It was real!" She stared at her pants, took a picture of the marks, and eventually barreled out her front door to her car. She had to get to school on time.