Run.

That was the only coherent thought passing through her mind at the moment.

Run.

The only thought that made any kind of sense.

Run.

The only thought that mattered.

Run while you still can!

Get away before it's too late!

Run before you don't have a choice anymore!

She couldn't stop, not for a second. Her breath coming out in heavy, wheezing pants as her lungs struggled to take in as much oxygen as they could in their pitiful attempts to keep up with her body's exertion.

Relentlessly the girl pushed herself forward, her steps in sync with the throbbing pulse of her blood pumping through her veins. The beat of her heart pounding in her ears as she navigated her way through the underbrush, barely giving thought to the endless number of cuts in her skin and tears in her clothing from low hanging branches.

Every part of her felt as if it were on fire.

Her legs like two young saplings being burned from their roots to their trunks. Her arms like overcooked noodles; dead weights that she was sure would have been flopping in the wind behind her had they been let loose from their bent position. The stitch in her side screaming that if she went on like this something would give, something she sure as hell knew she would not be able to fix on her own.

Despite all of her wheezes, aches, and pains she refused to stop.

She refused all of her bodies protests because she knew that in the end it would all be worth it.

Dark shadows danced across the landscape as the setting sun sank further beyond the horizon. Its dazzling golden light illuminating the treetops in such a way, one would think it was a desperate plea by the heavens to stay but a few precious moments longer. Evening was fast approaching and the young woman couldn't afford to waste even a second if she wished to reach her destination before nightfall.

Mt. Ebott.

Many a tale had been told of this particular mountain, legends telling of creatures so horrifying and dangerous that man had been left with no other choice, but to seal them away for the rest of eternity. Like all the others of her town she had grown up hearing these stories; fables meant to keep the little ones in line for fear of invoking the wrath of monsters with a taste for the flesh of naught children.

The girl thought of this as she ran; in the back of her mind recalling long ago when she had first heard the whispers of these supposedly 'unholy terrors.'

~}{~

"What do you mean there's monsters under the mountain?" asked a small girl of six years. She'd been sitting beneath an old cherry tree, comfortably nestled in its roots to make flower crowns from the fallen spring blossoms when she'd heard voices coming from the right.

"Exactly what it means pipsqueak," says a large boy three years her senior. Behind him stood a pair of male twins, both giggling as an angry red blush colored her pouting cheeks.

She'd always been mild-mannered, her face rarely ever showing her true feelings. It was a trait most found odd in a child her age; many times she'd caught the envious looks adults with rowdy kids would spend her guardians. How they in turn would try and fail to suppress their own looks of smug superiority at having such a well behaved child in their midst. However a child was still just that, a child no matter how mature they seemed and could still be angered if one simply knew the right buttons to push.

"Hey, I'm not a pipsqueak!"

And her height had been on of them.

"Yeah you are!" said the twin on the right.

"In fact you're about the same size I hear most monsters like to eat for dinner," laughed the one on the left.

"They just love the tiny ones," his brother added as he poked him in the ribs with his elbow.

"Please," the first boy scoffed crossing his arms. "She's not even big enough to be a monster's snack, let alone dinner."

The three of them had laughed long and hard at that until her patience finally snapped, unable to handle anymore of their incessant taunting and screamed at them.

"What are you even talking about!"

They stared at her for half a minutes before their surprised faces morphed into malicious grins, slowly coming towards her until they surrounded her.

"Looks like we got a kid that doesn't know the story of the mountain…"

~}{~

They'd each taken turns, going around in a circle, telling her how long ago evil beasts had roamed the land. Halfway through their monologue, when they'd mentioned how these demons were especially partial to misbehaving kids she'd gotten brave.

"Guess that means unlike you, I'm safe."

The satisfaction of seeing their frustration at being one-upped by a 'pipsqueak' only lasted a seconds before they grabbed her. That day she had gone home covered in dirt, little bruises peppering her arms and legs as well as a black eye. Suffice to say those waiting for her had not been pleased; her attempts to explain had fallen on deaf ears and resulted in a swift smack on the rump for making up excuses. She'd learned a valuable lesson that day: sometimes it's better to keep your mouth shut.

She'd gone to bed that night apprehensive, fearful of whatever twisted visions her psyche had conjured within her subconscious as her head swam with the voices of her tormentors. Sleep came slowly, her eyes jumping from one corner of the room to the next as adrenaline heightened her senses. Paranoia making even the slightest of movements or the softest of sounds seem threatening as she wondered if there was a chance those jerks had been telling the truth. It felt like hours had passed before her body had finally had enough and forced her brain to settled down.

Unfortunately it was not a peaceful rest that greeted her, but dark towering figures creeping out of the shadows from which they had been spawned. Try as she might she couldn't get away; every turn, every step they knew which path she would take even before she did. All too soon she found herself cornered, no escape from the things that wished to harm her. Oh how they had pushed and pulled at her limbs, clawed at her skin and hair and laughed as she cried out in pain.

All of it horrible yet the part that was most vivid had been the end. The creatures had managed to beat her until she lay at their feet and as she stared up at them, saw their faces she realized something…

The boys from before. It was their faces she was seeing.

She'd woken up after that, seating upright in her cramped bed covered in a cold sweat. Looking around the room she felt an once of relief, the others were still asleep and she thanked her lucky stars she hadn't been scared enough to scream.

The caretakers had strict rules about noise after curfew and she did not want to see how far they could be pushed until they gave her what they called, a real punishment. Reluctantly she fell back onto the mattress, the sheets rumpled no doubt from her constant tossing and turning while her thin blanket lay forgotten on her lap.

Not willing to chance another run-in with her inner demons the girl stared at the ceiling above, imagining the off-white color it sported during the day as her eyes automatically sought the familiar cracks. As she did so, her mind wandered back to her dream.

How peculiar it was.

Expecting monsters to be the horrible beings to haunt her dreams… only instead to find it was a band of obnoxious brutes that truly frightened her.

~}{~

Though that time had long since passed, it was a thought that had never left her.

Was a monster really as bad as it seemed if she found more to be afraid of in one of her own?

Perhaps instead of humans being the heroes of the story, they were actually the villains.

But that didn't matter right now. Shaking her head to free her mind of distractions the young woman continued to climb. It didn't matter if they were real or fake, friend or foe. Anything was better than going back or being found. Both would be a blow to her pride and the final nail in her coffin.

Sooner than she anticipated she reached the mountain's peak, her pace at last slowing to an uncoordinated stumble as she moved toward the mouth of a nearby cave. Her limbs felt so heavy, so numb; goodness how she just wanted to sleep and never have to wake up. Maybe here she could finally find a place to rest, she thought desperately as she made her way inside, practically crawling on her hands and knees.

Just a few more steps.

Just a little bit more.

Just a little—

And so she fell.

Never noticing that she had walked to very edge of a gaping abyss, until the ground gave out beneath her.