Predator

Part Eleven✔️

{i'm so incredibly overwhelmed with all the comments on the last chapter, hearing where all of you are from is amazing. some of you are actually probably really really close to me and some of you come from places i have literally never heard of and idk that's just amazing.
so thank you all, from the bottom of my heart. i appreciate every single one of you.
also enjoy this update from your very hungover author who's birthday is today ;))}

Petra's heart was broken, barely beating. She could hardly be considered a person with the way the bags under her eyes had darkened and her cheeks sunken in. She walked around like a zombie, all life drained from her eyes and had been replaced by the cold eyes of Ethen's. That image haunted her dreams and every waking moment of her day. It was as if the image had not only burned itself into her brain, but taken hold of her and every time she looked in the mirror it was as if Ethen's dead eyes were staring back at her. That had been her little brother, one of her last few living connections with her parents - with her dad - and now he was gone. Yet somewhere deep inside she was able to find peace because she knew that Ethen had been reunited with the parents he probably didn't remember in someplace grand. He was at peace.

It had taken a lot out of Petra to muster up the courage to come to Grey. After her anger had disappeared, in its place was grief and regret, a deep sort of grief that chilled her bones. She felt bad for blaming the murder of Ethen on Grey, because in reality he'd probably wandered off too close to the trees and the beast that lurked within was hungry. And in all honesty, it was Petra's own fault, she was supposed to be watching him. She didn't want to lose Grey, she had grown fond of the human and didn't want to see her go so soon, so here she walked down the road to Grey's temporary home.

Walking up to the cabin Grey stayed in was like walking down memory lane. The cabin that was now long abandoned and dark, was once bright with the flames of the fireplace and loud with the laughter of a child. Petra remembered what it was like the first time she walked up these steps; she had been but a little girl and was chasing after a bright blue ball that had blown onto the property with the wind.

She remembered the door opening to reveal the little boy with a tuft of blonde hair and big brown doe eyes peeking out from behind his mother's thin legs. She remembered his mother's voice, warm and smooth like honey as she asked her for her name.

"Well Petra," She had said as she tugged the boy out from behind her and in front of Petra. Even two years behind the girl, he was taller and skinnier than her, her ball held in his boney fingers. "This is Dimitri. I hope you two can become friends."

When Petra returned home that night, bounding with glee but her grandmother was furious. She told her to stay away from that family, that death hung over their heads like a cloud and she was not losing Petra too. She had told her, "Do not talk to the little wolf ever again." Her grandmother had claimed darkness followed the little boy too, but Petra found it hard to believe that such a scrawny little thing could have a terrible fate. Then, days later, the little boy was found crying in the middle of the towne square, sat in front of his parents mauled bodies. He became a member of their family after that, despite her grandmother's grumbles of displeasure.

Petra shook the memories away and moved up the steps, after knocking on the old wooden door, she recrossed her arms snug against her torso and waited patiently in the cold. Minutes passed and there was no sign of movement so she knocked again and got the same reply as before.

"Grey?" She called through the door, her hand moving to the cold doorknob.

Turning the knob, she found it unlocked and pushed open the door with a creak. She knew it was wrong to barge into ones home, but there was an uneasy feeling that had settled itself in the pit of her belly. Upon walking inside, she found the cabin cold with abandonment and the feel of the air on her skin made her shiver. Grey had already left. She didn't even get the chance to apologize to the only friend she'd ever made outside her own home.

With a sigh, Petra discovered Grey's scent still lingered in the air, she must've left last night, she thought. Moving around the cabin, the scent trail led Petra to the back porch where she peered out at the forest's trees. It seemed that Grey's scent continued into those trees, but when Petra began to turn to go back inside, she caught the barely-there outline of a footprint, almost completely erased by the fallen snow.

All breath left her lungs before she ran back inside and into Grey's room to find all her bags packed and sat on her bed. Her bags were here but she hadn't been for a good few hours. Why?

Then it dawned on Petra like a slap to the face.

She never left to go home. She's still here.

• • •

Grey found herself staring up at the tree branches once again, at the way they intertwine and wrap around one another. The sun was shining through the treetops, so bright the snow was ever so slowly melting. Knitting her eyebrows together, Grey tried to move her arm but found her body weak, all her energy drained and it took everything in her to just twitch her fingers. Her whole body ached and screamed with the tiny movement. It was then that every memory came back to her and she shot up in shock.

Not only did her head begin to spin, but a sharp pain shot down from her neck to her toes. When her hand came up to clasp her neck, she found the skin there was raised and sensitive to touch, but covered with dried blood that stained her shirt and skin down her shoulder and chest. It was then, she also realized she'd been in a patch of her own bloodstained snow. Her hand moved to cover her mouth as she looked around at what could've easily been considered a murder scene.

She should've died. What he did should have killed her.

As reality hit her and the slight pain in her body settled in, Grey began to cry and she didn't stop until her body was shaking and the setting sun was turning the sky pink. Grey had never been a crier but lately it seemed it was all she ever did. When her cheeks were stained with tears and her eyes grew so puffy they were hardly open, she turned her head up to the canopy above and peered through the branches at the sky. And staring at those first stars of the night, Grey begged to whatever higher power there was looking down on her for a better life than this. And then, out of nowhere came that sinister little voice that blew in with the wind, beckoning her forth.

"Come." It whispered in her ears, wrapping it's soft tendrils around her neck, caressing her skin and seeping into her skin making her relax. It's sinisterly sweet voice tugged her onto her wary feet and begged her to follow it into the dark trees.

The voice continued to guide her, to whisper in her ear, to possess her mind and body. And Grey continued to beg it to stop, to leave her alone, but the voice only got louder and more violent as it tugged her over fallen trees and under low branches. She tried to struggle against it, to plant her feet or even slap herself out of it but she couldn't move her limbs, it had taken over her being and was left to watch it destroy her.

"Stop it!" Grey cried out. "Please, stop."

The farther into the forest she walked, the farther away from the hope of ever returning home grew. She told herself she was going to die out in the trees. As the snow became thicker and the white mountains grew bigger, Grey felt her body begin to hum. It lit up like a flame and left Grey breathless. She let her eyes close as she sucked in a breath and shook her head, terrified of what was happening.

"Come." The voice sung from the trees, echoing in her head.

The voice began to laugh a laugh so sinister it stopped Grey in her tracks, the spell broken. It was a laugh that shook her to her core and she knew it would forever be imprinted in her brain, its sound and the feeling it left her with. The laugh grew louder as she began to panic, looking around for any sign of life. Grey fell to her knees and covered her ears, eyes shut tight she begged the voice to go away once more. And with one final command from the now screaming voice, everything was gone and Grey was left alone in a part of the forest she didn't know.

Her eyes shot open at the sound of a twig cracking to her right. She uncovered her ears but stayed frozen, staring at the ground in fear of what might be there. A laugh then came from the same point as the twig, yet this time it was something that would haunt her dreams and leave her shaking in fear, it was the laugh of a child. An innocent child.

Jerking her head up, all breath left Grey's lungs at the sight of what stood in between two thick trees.

"Ethen?"