Rain.

As I slowly emerged from my stupor, I could feel cold, fat rain drops falling onto my crouched form. My clothes began to stick to my skin and the grass I kneeled on grew soggier and muddier by the minute. With a long sigh, I peeled my gaze away from the tombstone in front of me and pushed myself to my feet, swaying slightly. Visiting this place always made me feel weary afterwards, but that wasn't too surprising considering where I was. I placed a hand on the cool marble and closed my bleary eyes, taking in a deep breath and closing away my heart in its safe little box, then locked it with an audible sigh.

I reopened my eyes and glanced down once more at my mother's tombstone; the last of my family, gone. I rearranged the white rose bouquet to where it looked absolutely perfect, and started to back away from her grave. I always hated this part; turning my back on her, leaving this wretched place, and having to pretend like my life really mattered to me without her in it. The only way I could go on was by visiting her grave at least once a week. I quickly wiped away the tear rolling down my check, bit my trembling lip, and spun away from her grave, leaving her behind.

I tried to leave before the rain really came down but my luck said otherwise. As I climbed the snaking path between the graves up the hill, the rain began to pour. "Dammit! Just once, I would like to have some good luck." I cursed under my breath and yanked on my damp hood over my wet hair. I muttered angrily under my breath as I trekked through the trail, which now had winded itself into the woods, where the parking lot lay only a few minutes away up the bend. I rummaged in my jacket pockets for my keys and when I found them I yanked them out, but I accidently had pulled my iPhone with them, and it went tumbling down the drenched, muddy trail. I immediately stopped walking, threw my head back, and groaned angrily into the air. Today was just not my day. After I took a moment to compose myself, I bent down and scooped up my phone out of a muddy pile of bracken, then went to straighten up when suddenly the hairs on the back of my neck stood up.

I froze exactly where I was, still bending over. My heart gave a nervous flutter and I couldn't shake the feeling of danger nearby. Yet, I was too scared to get up and run, afraid of what might be waiting for me. I pondered what it could be, a bear? A wolf? A rapid coyote? All the answers didn't help me at all when it came to being brave enough to make a decision. I had to move no matter what, I couldn't just sit here and let the danger come to me. I sucked in a shaky breath and stood up, scanning my surroundings. At first I saw nothing, and I was about to scoff at my own jumpiness, when something caught my peripheral vision. It was white and…tall. I slowly turned to look and swallowed loudly when I realized there was nothing there. I swore there was something though; it had stood out to much to be a tree. I shook my head, as if I could shake the feeling away then continued up the bend. Maybe I was just tried, yeah that was it, I was just delirious from my fatigue. College and work had been running me ragged for weeks now. A branch snapping to my far right jerked me out of my daze and I whipped my head around to that direction. A couple birds squawked angrily at the disturbance and flew up into the air, leaving me alone in the woods. What in the hell? I thought to myself and just stood there staring at the broken branch, which was now swinging eerily side to side. Maybe…maybe the rain had it been too harsh on the bough over the season and now this final downpour broke it. Yup, that just had to be it. It's not like these woods were haunted right…right? I huffed an inaudible mumble to myself and continued on my way, determined now to get to my warm car. That's when I heard the distinctive sound of something ghosting over the bracken, like something was keeping its distance but still following me. I spun around angrily, facing the way I had just come from. "Ok you fucker. I know you are out there, come out and quit being such a creep!" I snarled to the trees, eyes darting around for a sign of my stalker. Then, I saw that glimpse of white again, this time to my left. I darted towards that place, hoping to get a good view of the freak that followed me. It was probably some creepy guy who enjoyed following people home from the cemetery; maybe he even thought he was some kind of stupid vampire creature and that the cemetery was his domain. Oh, if it was that kind of creep, boy was he going to get it; I didn't have a lot of patience for people like that, considering I've had them obsess over me before majority of my life. When I rounded the huge oak trunk few seconds later that's when my heart jumped up my throat. Directly ahead of me I had just seen an extremely tall being, dressed up in a very black business suit. I stumbled to a halt and my mind reeled. First, how did he just vanish before my eyes? And second, how could a human be so unnaturally tall and skinny, so thin they looked like a skeleton? I bit my lip, unsure if I wanted to continue pursuing this odd person. Maybe I shouldn't, no good could probably come from someone like that. I stood there for a moment, listening to my breathing and the sound of the rain falling harder above the treetops, which was now starting to trickle through, making quiet pitter-patters on the dead leaves. Without a word, I stepped out of the tress and back on the path, now briskly walking towards the parking lot. It was taking a bit too long to get to my car; it never had taken this long before. While I trotted along, I also began to note that the forest had fallen very quiet, too quiet in fact. My entire life, the number one thing I had been taught about the woods is if the creatures go deadly silent, it usually meant that there was danger nearby. But, I was the only predator-like thing around, right?

I needed to get out of here, now. I thought to myself as I now just about ran to the parking lot. Suddenly without warning, my ears began to ring. I gasped and slapped my hands over my ears. Dear Goodness, they really began to hurt. It's like some white noise was threating to bust my ear drums. I continued to jog though, refusing to stop. Yet, the farther I went the more my vision began to swim. It became so bad I finally had to stop and lower myself into a crouch, putting my head in between my knees. I really felt like my head was about to burst and that I was about to lose my dinner all over the forest floor. Finally, after a moment the pain ebbed away to where I could regain my senses. What in the hell was that just now? I jumped wearily to my feet, quaking head to toe. Every instinct/ spidey sense told me to flee. But I couldn't, my body refused to work properly. Then the hairs on the back of my neck stood up when I once again heard the sound of someone following me. Only this time, I didn't find it quite so funny. "Leave me the fuck alone!" I shrieked and spun around yet again, facing whatever was stalking me. Oh, how that was the worst mistake I could have ever made. Before me stood the same being I had saw not long ago, only up close, was the scariest thing I had ever seen. I followed up from the long legs, to the torso, then to the face…or should I say lack of. What stood a few feet in front of me was no human being, it wasn't even from this world, it seemed more demonic then anything. It reached an imposing height of 9 feet and had long arms hanging past its knees and curved into gnarled claws. What really made me squeak in fear was the white, bald head with a slender nose, eyeless sockets, no ears, and no mouth. A scream started from the base of my spine and reverberated up into my chest, but then jammed in my throat; so instead my mouth opened in an ever silent scream and my brown eyes widened in utter fear. This, thing, seemed to feed off my fear because it began to come at me in a slow, lopping gait. "No!" I yelped and scrambled away from the monster. It cocked it head to side and let out a low growl. With that, I ran. I completely lost my cool and ran, the fastest I had ever run in my life. I had to get to the parking lot, I had to get help. Then I finally saw the parking lot, and a relieved sob rose up in my chest. I could leave this thing behind, I could escape now. Only fate had different plans for me, because suddenly the monster appeared in my line of sight, completely blocking my path. It was literally not there one second, and the next it was. Could this demon use some kind of black magic and teleport? I skidded to a stop and watched the monster watch me. That's when it hit me; I was being hunted. This whole time it hard been playing some kind of sick game with me, watching me, toying with me, and now it wanted to finish its hunt. I was going to die. I began to back away from it, shaking my head from side to side. Another growl rumbled in its chest and it started to stalk me. "What-what do you want with me?" I rasped, not even sure if it could comprehend English. It seemed to chuckle in that moment and with a sickening rip; a gapping maw had torn open on its face; jagged teeth sticking out of this mouth dripping with saliva. It raised one slender arm and pointed it at me, then in a deep, man like voice replied, "You."