A-Plus Cassiopeia: You call that 'getting along well'? If you say so, buddy.
Bookast3r: THE main character, to be precise. As for dodging it, let's find out.
Darnell felt a rush of air flying towards the side of her skull, and she instinctively moved slightly out of range. The arrow zipped right past her head, close enough to slice through a strand of her hair, and stuck into the tree next to her.
The sudden shock of the arrow caused Darnell to back up against the tree, her face turned towards the house. There, she saw Saul and his two cronies facing in her direction, all of them swinging their crossbows in the air and shouting out gibes at her.
Darnell realized very quickly how close she had been to dying, and did the first thing she could think of: run.
Taking off in a blur of movement, Darnell ran onto the road and began to flee deep into the forest. Another advantage to being a bogeyman, she thought, was their speed. They could easily outrun a human under normal circumstances.
However, it wasn't long before she heard the sounds of horses clopping behind her. Spinning around, she saw the trio of monster-hunters within a carriage being pulled by horses. In the back of her mind, Darnell was stunned at how quickly they had managed to get into the carriage to pursue her.
Occasionally, one of the hunters would fire an arrow in her direction, but Darnell was crafty. She didn't run in a straight line, instead zipping to each side to complicate the hunters attempts to get a lock on her.
When Darnell was sure she was close enough to the village, she unexpectedly dove off the road and into the thicket of trees and bushes.
"Whoa!" Saul shouted as he yanked on the horses reigns, pulling them to a stop. The three hunters exited the carriage and got onto the ground, searching through the woods for any sign of Darnell.
"Blast it, she got away," Judas complained, stomping on the ground in frustration.
"Why don't we follow her?" Absalom suggested and was about to head into the woods when Saul grabbed him by the collar.
"Are you empty-headed, ya fool?" Saul asked, pulling Absalom back. "In that neck of the woods is death. You go in there, and you'll lose either your life, or your sanity. Whichever is most precious."
The other two hunters thought they heard a hint of grief in Saul's tone, but they didn't mention it. Then they heard an ominous howling sound carrying through the wind, and Saul gestured for the other two to get into the carriage.
"Come on lads, we're in too deep in the woods as it is," Saul claimed. "Let's get back to the town before more of those monsters come."
(Darnell's POV)
I watched in satisfaction as the three hunters returned to the village.
"That'll teach them to come wandering into my part of the forest," I sneered, sharpening my claws on the bark of the tree. However, then I remembered the strands of hair that had been lacerated by the arrow shot at me.
"That was too close," I whispered, feeling the missing strands of my hair. Then I felt the scar on my arm that I'd received from Saul the night before.
"I need to stop being so careless," I whispered to myself.
If I kept getting so clumsy, there was a good chance Saul and his cronies may actually get me someday...
I pushed the thought out of my head. "I'm too smart for Saul to get me," I reassured myself as I headed towards the bogeymen village. I repeated this as I returned to my home.
Sure enough, my mother was waiting for me. From the look on her face, I could tell she wasn't happy.
"Where were you this morning?" She asked me once I returned. "Your brothers were worried about you."
"I went hunting, killed a rabbit," I said, leaving out my meeting with the human boy. I knew she would never approve if she knew what I had been doing.
Aristodemos stared at me, unamused. I was beginning to feel a prickly feeling down my spine as she glared right through me. To prevent a scolding, a mumbled out a "Sorry for leaving so early." I then rushed into my room to fall asleep despite it being early, utterly worn out.
As I closed my eyes and prepared to sleep, I felt something land softly on the floor next to me. Springing up into the air and landing on all fours, I inspected what had fallen.
It was the carcass of a weasel I killed a month ago. I'd hung it up on the side of the wall after that had happened. As I stared at the body, I began to feel uneasy. I remembered hanging it up. It was in a way that it couldn't come loose.
Unless somebody unloosed it.
Then I remembered last night. The strange breathing. The feeling of someone choking me. The transparent face.
Hesitantly, I rehung the dead weasel back onto the wall. As I did so, I stared around the room, trying to see if someone was watching me. I couldn't find anyone else in the room, though.
After that, I rested with one eye open.
(Joshua's POV)
As it turned out, Saul's men had left before I had gotten into the house. They hadn't noticed me sneak back in, which made me wonder if they'd known I had been missing. Nevertheless, I snuck back upstairs and into my room without making a sound.
I flopped onto the bed, face-first, trying to get some rest as I knew I'd have to meet Darnell again the following day.
I hadn't rested for even a minute when I felt something tap me on the shoulder. Jumping back up, I expected to see Darnell or some other Bogeyman in the room.
I didn't see a Bogeyman, but I saw something just as shocking.
Sitting at the edge of the bed was a see-through man. Aside from being transparent, he looked like any other human being. He had very light brown hair and a mustache and beard, and blue eyes. There was a green aura around him as well.
For a moment, he stared off at the wall. Then, he turned to stare at me.
I jumped backwards in shock, but didn't scream. Probably my encounters with Darnell had nullified by reactions a bit. Nevertheless, I asked, shakily, "Who are you."
"Someone you've met before," The man said. "Last night."
I immediately remembered the presence in my room, the apparition that had given me the claw of a Bogeyman and commanded me to slay Darnell. "That was you?" I asked, uncomfortable. "You're...a ghost?"
"I saw everything that happened with you and Darnell," The Ghost said.
"How do you know her name?" I asked, suspicious.
"I saw how you hesitated," The Ghost said, ignoring my question. "I think you empathize with that creature."
"I'm not a murderer," I said defiantly, though I was still backed up away from the Ghost.
"Don't think of it as murder; think of it as self-defense," The Ghost said as he floated close to me. His eyes darkened and then he continued.
"You may think it'll work out between you and that monster," He said, coming a few inches away from my face. "But you're wrong. Darnell doesn't care about you, and if you don't obey her..." He made a neck-slitting gesture to finish.
I remained silent, unsure of what to say.
"You'll see," The Ghost said and started to vanish. "You'll see that I'm right..."
Then he disappeared.
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