THE NIGHT EVERYTHING
Chapter 1
third person pov
Aria Bennett had always been told never to go into the forest after dark. She never understood why. Tonight, she was about to find out.
The rain had started an hour ago, turning the narrow road into mud as Aria hurried home with her jacket pulled tightly around her. Her phone was almost dead, and the lights from the nearby town were already far behind her. She should have taken the longer road, but she had been late leaving the library and wanted to get home before her aunt started worrying.
She was halfway across the old wooden bridge when she heard a sound behind her.
Aria stopped.
For a few seconds, there was nothing except the rain hitting the trees. She slowly turned around, expecting to see another person walking along the road. There was no one.
She let out a quiet breath and continued walking.
Then she heard it again.
A low growl.
This time, it came from the forest.
Aria's heart jumped. She stared into the darkness between the trees, but the rain made it difficult to see anything. She told herself it was probably a dog. There were plenty of stray dogs around the town.
Another growl came.
It was deeper.
Much deeper.
Aria stepped backward. Something moved between the trees, so quickly that she couldn't make out what it was. Fear immediately took over her body. She turned and started running.
She didn't get far.
A dark figure suddenly appeared on the road ahead of her.
Aria stopped so quickly that she nearly fell.
The man stood several feet away, completely still despite the heavy rain. He was tall, dressed in black, and his face was hidden partly by the darkness. There was something frightening about him, something that made every instinct inside her scream to run.
Aria asked who he was, trying to keep her voice steady, but the man didn't answer. Instead, his eyes fixed on her. For one strange second, Aria felt as though he was looking through her rather than at her.
Then he whispered something she couldn't understand.
Aria asked what he had said, but he only took one step toward her. She stepped back as another howl echoed through the forest.
The man's expression changed as he quietly warned her that she wasn't supposed to be there. Aria swallowed and explained that she was just going home.
He looked past her toward the trees before returning his eyes to hers. His voice became more serious as he told her that she needed to leave immediately.
Before Aria could ask what he meant, a second figure rushed out of the forest.
The man in black moved faster than anything Aria had ever seen. He grabbed her arm and pulled her behind him. Aria barely had time to scream before she saw something moving in the darkness.
Something huge.
Something that looked nothing like a normal animal.
The creature stepped onto the road, its eyes fixed directly on Aria.
Her body suddenly went cold.
She didn't know what it was.
But somehow, deep inside her, something recognized it.
And for the first time in her life, Aria heard a voice inside her head.
Run.
She froze.
The voice came again, stronger this time.
Aria, run.
Her eyes widened. She had never heard that voice before. Yet somehow, she knew it was hers.
The creature lunged.
And the world went black.
