Distortion [S. Harrington]

chapter 09

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: .☽ . :☆ﾟ. ───

Jonathan, Nancy, and Lucy wandered aimlessly around in the woods, trying to find the monster they'd been planning to kill. Lucy walked in front of them, wanting to be a leader of sorts. She wasn't in Nancy and Jonathan's conversation so she walked farther ahead and tried to pick up any sounds or signs of the creature in the woods.

The sun set and they were still wandering in the woods. Now they had to turn on their flashlights to see and Lucy returned to Nancy and Jonathan's side, not wanting to go off in the dark alone. The hunt didn't really seem like it was going anywhere until Lucy thought she picked up a subtle noise to the left of her.

"Hey, guys? Did you hear that noise?"

"What noise?" Jonathan asked. The noise of a clicking, crunching sound began again, but this time it seemed a lot louder, closer than it was the first time.

"That noise," Lucy replied.

There was a brief silence until they heard a quiet noise head of them. It sort of sounded like an animal whimpering but none of them could be sure. Lucy, ahead of the other two, went to see what the noise was, especially if it was an animal in distress. She tried to show Nancy and Jonathan that she wasn't afraid of the monster in the woods.

Laying on the ground in front of them was a dying deer. Kneeling down to look and see if there was anything they could do, they decided there wasn't. The deer was badly hurt and they couldn't save it.

"We can't just let it suffer like this," Lucy said. Nancy slowly held the gun up that she had, but she didn't have the strength to shoot it. "It's okay Nance, I'll do it."

Lucy raised her own gun. Lucy's dad had taken her hunting before but this was different. It was harder for her to kill this deer.

Nancy grabbed onto Jonathan's arm and turned her face away from the scene. Before Lucy even thought of pulling the trigger, the deer was ripped out of view. Something that none of them saw pulled the deer deeper in the woods.

The three instantly jumped back, shocked at what just happened. They saw the trail of blood the deer left and decided to follow it, assuming that the monster they were hunting ripped the deer away.

Lucy didn't take the lead this time, she was actually the last one to follow. She tried to keep her mind off of the deer and the trail of its blood they were following. To do so, she looked at the woods around them. That was when she noticed a strange looking hole in one of the trees. Being the curious person she was, she went to investigate it, leaving the other two to wonder on without her.

She shined her flashlight through the hole but couldn't really see anything through this sort of slim that covered it. She was curious about the tree so she stuck her hand through it and into the slim. It was exactly how she imagined it would feel, gross.