A World of Stars ➳ A Zodiac Story

Chapter Six: "She is Afraid"

  Taurus moved a branch aside so that she could step under, unfortunately, she let it go too soon and it whacked her in the face. She shivered, she felt extremely stupid for running off in just her pink swimsuit and a simply flimsy white dress over it, but it was no help seeing as it was white as well. She cold air whipped around her bare legs, the trees creaked and groaned as though they were to fall over at any moment.

  She mentally slapped herself. She had lost the figure and she didn't know the way back, she didn't understand why she had done it, pure panic had taken over her mind. It felt like she had been in some sort of trance. Fear had pulled her, impulsive behavior. Her pale skin stood out against the dark forest, she looked as white as a piece of paper under the few beams of moonlight that were able to make it through the densely packed trees.

  She turned around, deciding to go the way she had just come. She froze, there was something lurking in the trees. She slowly backed away as the shadow grew larger, she suddenly tripped and fell. The cloth ripped at the same time as she scraped her knee, blood coating the cloth. She immediately jumped up and ran. She screamed shrilly as a pair of glowing eyes jumped out at her.

• • •

  Everyone crept through the woods silently, all traces of Taurus had disappeared and the screaming had stopped too. Aquarius walked a little ahead of the others and gasped. The others ran ahead and saw a small piece of fabric lying on the ground. It was white but it was stained red with blood. Libra picked it up and inspected it. The blood was fresh. It was like Taurus's dress. Libra suddenly remembered Taurus's vision of a white figure, could she have seen herself? No, that was impossible. She turned to the others. They looked at her quizzically, she shook her head, indicating that it was nothing, and slipped the cloth into her pocket. Now wasn't the time for another problem.

  There was a sudden piercing scream as everyone spun around. It came from behind them. "Taurus," Gemini whispered as they all sprinted towards the direction the scream came from.

  As they ran faster, the screaming became louder, so they knew that they were headed in the right direction.

  Leo shouted to the others and pointed ahead. In front of them, a small clearing was coming into view. Dark trees towered menacingly over them, as though trying to create a barrier. Sagittarius pushed forwards and burst into the clearing. Just as she did this, she saw a large beast standing over the small body of Taurus. Taurus's breathing was rapid as the creature brought it's foul face closer to hers, inspecting each curve and detail. She shivered in fright, her eyes squeezed shut, attempting to shut it out. She could feel it digging into her mind, attempting to feed on the fear that was radiating from her.

  The monster had glowing red eyes, it's skin made of hard, gnarled, rotten flesh. It's breath stenched of death and decay. It was out of this world, an otherworldly being. It was a demon. Pisces walked forwards and stood in front of the little group. Everyone stared at him, trying to stop him. They didn't know what he was going to do, but it wasn't good. "HEY! Mr. Demon, how about you leave our friend alone!" Everyone's mouth fell open as they all gaped at him.

  The demon turned around slowly. It's mouth, dripping with saliva, twisted upwards into an evil grin. Virgo walked up and stood next to him. "Breath," he shouted at Taurus, "they feed on fear, it is your demon, if you don't calm down, everything that you are fearing right now will come true!" Everyone turned their gaze to Virgo, looking at him as though he was insane. Libra scowled at him,

"How can we trust you? What if her doing nothing gets ALL OF US killed!" She cried towards him. Virgo looked at Pisces. Pisces could see the sincerity in his eyes, he felt the hope emanating from him. Pisces turned to Taurus. He could see her eyes tearing up.

"Breath Taurus," he called gently, "get rid of the fear."

"How?" she whimpered,

"Think of all the good things that have happened," he replied as the demon took a step towards them.

"Think all of us, of all the friends you made on the first day of school!" Capricorn added, stepping forward to join them.

"Think of your family, of your sisters, your brothers, your parents!" Aries said, stepping up next to Capricorn, they exchanged reassuring smiles. Soon everyone stood in a line. The demon was very close to them now, and they could smell its foul odor.

  Taurus looked at them, a beacon of light, of hope. These people, people she had only known for two days, were risking their lives to save her. Here they were, even Scorpio, the grumpy Scorpio, standing up for her, against her demons. They were giving her courage.

  Slowly she stood up, her legs shaking beneath her. She took a step towards the demon, as it turned around, she felt a wave of fear wash over her, but she pushed it away. The demon's grin got even wider, if possible, as she walked weakly towards it. "You don't really think that they are trying to save you," it said wickedly, "oh no, no, no. They just want you to sacrifice yourself so that they can escape without getting hurt. Don't you see Taurus, you're worthless,"

  She looked behind it trying to find reassurance from her friends, but they were gone. She gasped. The demon looked over his shoulder, "See, the second they had the chance to run, they did. You have nowhere else to go my sweet. Can you feel it? Can you feel the fear Taurus?" She shook her head, they wouldn't have left her. She focused on her senses, this must be an illusion, it has to be. Then she heard it, at the back of her mind. She could hear them, they were still there.

  She opened her eyes and looked at the demon with confidence. It looked surprised at her sudden change of attitude. "Taurus, I'm going to get your family next, I'm going to kill them!" It said, in an attempt to scare her, however, it wasn't working.

"Go away," she said, looking it straight in the eye,

"But-" it began,

"Go away." She repeated. Abruptly, as quickly as it had appeared, it was gone. Taurus turned around to see the eleven blurry figures of her friends before everything went black.

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A/N Hi yous. Oh my gosh! YES, I'M BACK! I know I left you guys when the drama was literally JUST beginning, but here you go! It's so great to be back and I hope you like this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. I was trying to send the message that although everyone has their demons, the answer can be in the simplest things, like happiness. Anyway,

Don't forget to vote and comment!

Yours truly,

Zodiac Lover No.1,

Leslie