6/13
A shiver ran down Mingyu's spine when he saw the shovel that Seokmin was holding on the ground. The snake that was wrapped around it hissed at him. Minghao was right behind Mingyu, and Mingyu felt the boy shudder upon seeing the snake and the shovel.
"What... just happened?" Mingyu had never heard Minghao's voice waver in his entire life, and hearing it at that moment made his blood run cold.
Mingyu had no response to Minghao's inquiry, prompting the boy to ask, "Where did Seokmin go?"
"He didn't make it out of the forest I can say that much."
Mingyu and Minghao both looked up at the sky, terrified of the fact that the moon was laughing. The moon had not stopped laughing despite its mouth already bleeding. It was at that moment that Mingyu knew he and Minghao made a grave mistake coming out into the forest at night.
"We need to get out of here," Mingyu whispered to Minghao urgently.
"How are we going to do that?"
We just need to head back to where we came from, so we should just keep moving forward, right?"
Minghao audibly gulped and nodded. Slowly, wielding their gardening tools, the two boys walked towards the entrance, but the snake was in their way. The snake hissed at them and shot forward to bite them. The boys yelped and jumped backwards. Even though the snake wasn't all that big, it was terrifyingly fast, and Mingyu didn't think he and Minghao would be able to go around the snake or even jump over it without the snake getting the best of them.
"Let's go in the other direction..." Mingyu whispered.
"What if we go through the woods—"
"Are you out of your mind?! If we go through the woods, we'll definitely die! We need to go the other direction."
"That'll take us further away from home!"
Mingyu never thought he'd live to see Minghao actually cry. There were tears streaming down the boy's face. Mingyu placed a reassuring hand on Minghao and said, "I'm here. We'll get home. We just need to get out of here first, and we'll take whatever way to get home."
Minghao nodded. The two set off on their journey out of the forest, the two of them going further into the forest.
The moon had finally stopped laughing. It was still bleeding, but at least it wasn't laughing or looking at them. There was a slight wind in the air making the flimsy tines of Mingyu's rake clink together. He was starting to regret his weapon of choice, but he had no choice. Hopefully if there was a physical threat, the rake would be able to do some damage. Minghao was sticking to him and holding his hoe out as far as possible to thwart off any physical obstacles that could be in front of them.
Other than the sound of the leaves rustling in the wind and the clinking of the rake tines, the forest was eerily silent. Mingyu didn't hear a single animal or insect or anything. He tried to peer into the forest for any sort of movement, only to freak himself out because he really didn't want to see anything that would scare him shitless. He had to focus on the path in front of him.
Minghao and Mingyu continued walking for what felt like ages. Mingyu didn't think the forest was that big, but it just seemed to stretch on for miles and miles. The boys weren't walking slow in the slightest, so Mingyu wondered why it was taking them so long.
Suddenly, Mingyu heard something: the low chuckle of the moon. He looked up at the moon. The moon was looking down on the two terrified boys still bleeding. Mingyu stopped walking. Minghao bumped into him and stared at his friend with shock and confusion.
"Something isn't right here..."
"Mingyu, nothing is right here. This forest is scary, the moon is scary, and the wind that's been howling in my ears is freaking me out."
"Wind? What wind?"
"Do you not hear the wind rushing past your ears? It's so loud!"
Mingyu turned around to look at Minghao. What in the world was he talking about? He opened his mouth to retort, only to nearly scream. There was something right behind Minghao. It wasn't standing or hovering, but rather it was swarming. It had three white eyes. Mingyu couldn't make anything else out of the creature, the phantom. Whatever it was, it wasn't good news. All Mingyu could do was gasp and inch away from Minghao.
"What is... it..." Minghao trailed off as he turned around to see what freaked Mingyu out so much.
The next thing he knew, Mingyu was sprinting away from that terrifying thing. He chucked his rake and ran as fast as legs would take him. Minghao was right behind him. They ran from the phantom, which seemed to linger right where the two boys saw it. Mingyu didn't dare stop running, and neither did Minghao— at least until he tripped on a rock.
Mingyu looked behind him and was about to turn back for Minghao, but the creature was right there. He didn't even know how it got to his friend so fast, but it consumed Minghao and left no traces. Mingyu did not stop running.
The wind howled in his ears loudly. He heard some sort of screeching noise— this must've been the noise Minghao was talking about. He heard the moon laugh louder. He looked up briefly to see that there were now two trails of blood trickling down the moon's mouth. Mingyu looked straight ahead immediately. He was going to get away from this creature. He prayed that his long legs would lead him to safety.
He finally saw the exit of the forest. Mingyu sprinted even faster for the exit. He was going to make it out, and whatever it was that killed Minghao and most likely the rest of his friends was not going to be able to get to him.
Upon exiting the forest, Mingyu's run slowed to a jog, then he stopped altogether. He felt like his lungs were on fire. He couldn't breathe, but at least he was safe.
At least that's what he thought. He thought the phantom would have to be stuck in the forest, that if he exited, the thing wouldn't follow him out. He was wrong. He was really wrong.
Mingyu peered over his shoulder. The phantom was right there, swarming closer and closer to him. It looked as if the phantom had gotten bigger after taking Minghao. Only profanities ran through Mingyu's mind as he tried to get his sore legs to carry him to safety once more, but his legs were glued to the ground; they were shot to hell. Mingyu had no choice but to accept this cursed fate.
The moon had one more trail of blood down its mouth. It was laughing until the phantom killed Mingyu and returned to the forest, its three white eyes narrowing on its way back. It was even bigger now.
