You were cold. The winter wind swarmed around you, assaulting your skin with ice cold daggers, leaving you numb. You had no jacket, only your thin black t-shirt and your jeans. Not even any shoes to protect your feet from the forest floor.
A low growl invaded your ears, sending shivers up your spine. You didn't know where it came from, and frankly, you didn't care. The growl came again and you sprinted forwards, trying to get away from whatever might have made that sound.
But the growling didn't stop. As you ran away from it, it ran towards you, getting louder and louder with each stride.
Finally, you stop. You couldn't stand to run any further. Your feet were cut up and bloody. Sore and bruised.
The growling sounded distant again, but you felt something watching you.
You could feel its eyes boring into the back of your skull, but you didn't dare turn around for fear of what it may be.
So you walked, slowly, the ground feeling cold and wet, stinging your already worn feet.
The growl came again, louder this time, as if it were mere inches from you.
Suddenly, you were laying face first on the ground, confused as ever.
Whatever had attacked you started clawing at your back, sending intense pain up your spine.
You couldn't feel anymore. You couldn't see. All you knew was that this beast was on top of you, ready to devour its prey.
Suddenly, you cried out, it was a high, shrill, fearful sound that you didn't know you were capable of making. But you did.
The creature stopped it's clawing for a moment and stared at you, it's jet black, monster-like face appearing confused.
It prodded you, obviously upset that it hadn't killed its prey with those last few lashes of its claws.
You were still numb. You could only feel the pressure of the prodding and the tingles of the claws as the creature dug into you.
Finally, it flipped you over so you were facing it. The creature was definitely not human.
It was just black, making it look like someone's shadow in the middle of the night.
It had bright yellow eyes with slits for pupils and claws, long, sharp, black claws. As far as you could tell, it had no nose or ears. The Shadow was incredibly skinny, looking like an anorexic young man. It probably most resembled and young teenage boy, only much more frightening.
You glanced at the ground. Even though it was dark you could see the bright red bloodstains in the dirt. The blood puddles made your stomach do flips as you realized that all the blood was yours.
Your mind couldn't take it anymore, you finally let out one shrill, blood curdling scream that could, hopefully, be heard all across the country.
The creature just smirked, showing off it's long, pearly white, sharp teeth.
"Fear." The Shadow said slowly as it ran a claw across your neck, causing more blood to flow.
The Shadow's voice was deep and raspy, sounding almost like it was ill, but you knew for a fact that, that was not the case.
The Shadow brought its mouth close to the blood on your neck, and slowly licked some of it off with its long, snake-like tongue, then pulled back slightly.
Your eyes widened as you realized you didn't have much time left.
You were never one to get scared of anything, but now- for the first time in your life- you truly were scared out of your mind. You now knew the true meaning of "scared to death".
The creature let out a low chuckle, bringing its mouth back to your neck, chewing on it slowly, as if it were its favorite sort of chewy candy.
You tried to gasp, but found that you couldn't do so much as breathe. Your lungs were filled with blood.
"I'm dying, I'm dying…" you repeated over and over in your head as you stared up at the monster who had managed to kill you.
"Nothing to fear…" it started in the same low, raspy voice, "But fear itself."
The monster laughed, loudly and maniacally before raising its large clawed hand in the air and striking you one last time across the stomach.
And you died. Right there. Under Fear himself.