Blood ran down her cheek and her eyes stung with the perspiration that dripped into them off of her forehead. Brown hair was matted to her skull by sweat and mud and rain as her feet pounded on the floor of the forest. With a splash her foot hit a puddle spraying mud everywhere. Her denim jacket had the left sleeve missing, and the right sleeve had several claw marks and gashes in it. Blood seeped through those rips in fabric, turning blue into a mud brown that was soon lost among the dirt on the jacket. The yellow sundress she had been wearing underneath the jacket was torn at the waist and frayed at the bottom. Mud and blood splatters stained the otherwise sun-yellow garment. On her right side, blood was seeping out of a scrape from where she had been thrown into a tree and slide down, peeling away layers of skin to add to the tree.

She was gasping for air, barley able to breathe with the shock her body was taking from blood loss and the constant running. Her left food had various criss-crossed cuts from sticks, stones, roots, anything on the floor sharp enough to go through skin, while her right foot was protected by a sandal that was hanging on by one strap.

Sweat poured down her face and her arms, stinging any cuts she had obtained. Her legs were cramping and ready to buckle under her, but adrenaline and fear kept her on the move. If she listened hard enough, she could hear it behind her, chasing her. On occasion it would stop, only to pick up seconds later. Whatever it was, she could hear that it was having almost as much difficulty as her with running.

As she darted to the side, her grey eyes widened as she was forced to come to a stop. Before her lay only a gaping canyon, and she couldn't see the bottom. Turning around, she gulped large doses of air, feeling a cramp in her side tighten. Before long, the creature raced out in front of her grinning.

He, judging by the looks, was neon orange with obnoxious neon green markings over his body. Four eyes adorned his head, all of them a disgusting shade of slime-like green. A horrid stench rolled off of him, the smell of death and blood coiling around her, forcing the air from her lungs.

"Come here little human girl, I'm not going to harm you… much." The demons laugh was one of jarring sounds, reminding the girl more of glass shattering and tins crushing than laughter.

"No." She surprised herself with how steady her voice was, despite being very very frightened. In that instant, she felt proud of herself for not shaking and trembling in the face of what was assured to be a painful and heartless death.

He grinned, "Saying no isn't going to stop anything. I'm higher up on the food chain that you, therefore I will eat you, and nothing you can do will stop me. You're only making it more difficult," His eyes hardened, "And that makes the meat less tender and makes it stringy. Now be a good little human girl, and come to Papa."

Everything slowed down. A ruffle of wind sent the girls sundress fluttering, fear crossing her eyes as she realized everything was going to end. Her instincts made her move back out of fear, adrenaline not letting her brain process the canyon behind her. Or maybe her instincts thought she would have a better chance surviving the impossible fall rather than be killed by the grotesque being before her. With the silence of a mute, she tumbled over the edge of the canyon, eyes unable to widen farther. His claws missed her face by inches, and his hand missed her ankle by even less.

She shut her eyes as she fell; thinking of what she was going to miss the most in her life. At the age of sixteen, she would be dead in some ravine or river, never to be found by anyone other than the various carnivorous animals below. Her mind fluttered, wondering if it would be painful, if she would even have time to feel. Seconds seemed to flow by and she didn't hit the ground, her eyes opened, and she knew she was still falling.

Images of her Mom and Dad crossed her mind, fleeting tears threatening to fall. How they would never know of what happened. And her older brother would be crushed; they were best friends since she had been born. He would tear himself up for not being able to protect her, and they would forever think she had simply vanished—kidnapped or otherwise. Until their dying days they would think of her. Newspaper clippings would liter the place of everything about her.

And suddenly, she didn't want to just die. She wanted to live. Not for herself, but for them. For those who had been there in the middle of the night when she was crying about some boy or some friend. For the people who she meant the most to, and for the people that meant the most to her.

But she thought all of this too late. With a startling gasp, she saw the bottom of the ravine. She would never make it out. How long had she been falling for? Ten, fifteen seconds? It didn't matter now; her will to live wasn't going to save her. She smiled grimly, hoping someone would find her, give closure to those near and dear.

"Ume!"

It was like the voice was right with her.

"Ume! You're going to be late! School isn't going to wait for you, sleepy!"

How queer to be thinking of her brother and school…

"I warned you, Ume. Time to hit the showers."

She closed her eyes with a grimace, remembering all those times. The ground loomed closer and closer, the water getting near and near, and she hit it with a sickening splash—

"Ume! It's about time you woke up. Get up! You have ten minutes before you have to leave to get to school on time."