~Twisted~

- Prologue -

A meeting to remember

-

The wind howled in the trees. My whole body felt a shiver as dark, malevolent laughter echoed throughout the clearing. Wild beasts whimpered and shuddered in their hides as the apex predator skirted across the forest floor, bones crunching like twigs beneath her heels.

The huntress bared her teeth in an unfriendly grin. The shadows cast across her hid her from sight. I was terrified. The sounds enveloped me of animals crying out in fear, and that maddening cackle ringing from every direction.

Tears slid down my cheeks as the sounds grew louder. Footsteps, careful and plotting, circled me just out of sight. Weazy breaths brushed the back of my neck, sending tremors throughout my skin.

"I've waited so long for you... Darling girl"

Stepping into the moonlight, the woman's dark eyes ran over me with obsessive glee. Her features were sharp. All I saw in her face was a strong skull ebbing through her skin.

"I haven't seen you this close for years... You've grown into such a beauty"

Full red lips curved into a desirous smirk, rotten teeth edging out to bite the lower lip. Her pale skin shone like diamonds in the moons light.

"Who are you?" She closed in. This strange woman was close enough to smell her breath. It was like death itself. A rotten carcass wasting away in the sun. Her fingers attempted to brush my face, yet relented as I flinched.

"You don't... Remember me?"

Her eyes were ruled by confusion. Like that of a beaten dog, unable to understand why it wasn't loved. Her lips parted, and the lower trembled. It was as if the stranger was about to burst into tears.

"How can this be-" her fingers clicked, as if trying to draw my attention. As if it could ever leave her. She frantically searched my face, wide and crazed. Her breath grew shorter and more laboured, as if the woman was going into a panic.

Her fingers spread, nails like claws about to rip my eyes from their sockets. Instead, I only felt as if an insect had crawled into my ear canal. Slowly, it dawned on me. She was inside my head.

Talons flushed my skin, soft... Attempting not to be sharp. It was as if her whole body shuddered upon the touch of her skin on mine. A deep, shaking breath made my heart quiver. It felt as if a bolt of lightning had hit me.

"Sweet little heart~"

My life laid out in front of this stranger was quite the spectacle. Family rendezvous, the first day at Hogwarts, spells and... First love.

"My my... You've been quite the little scoundrel, haven't you?"

The woman grinned, eyes sparkling with moondust. Her tongue dipped across her lower lip... Tantalisingly slow. Her fingertips touched my skin so tenderly, as if scared I would disappear.

"Time..." She breathed in, a sharp hiss "To put that life behind you."

-