Please enjoy another Challenge from the forum, "A Perfect Circle!"
Upon a dreadful dreary, the landscape flows with eerie silence. Not one breath of wind stirs the withered cadavers of the leaves grasping to the claw-like fingers of the emaciated trees. There is no underbrush; so strands of silky mist elegantly wreath and writhe around their gleaming trunks which threaten to swallow any passer-by in their cloudy depths. Still, I hurry on through the lightless forest. My breath, my shallow breath, flows through cracked lips in tiny clouds of white. There is only one problem; I am utterly lost. I have never even seen this place before and I am quite unsure of how I came to be here.
Not one moaning whistle of the phantom-like wind meets my ears and everything sits in silence. Dreadful, horrible silence! In my mind's agony, nothing stirs. Nothing at all! The trees, the cruel twisted trees, grimace down upon me with their solemn and ghoulish faces saying nothing in their tortuous silence. But still they stare smugly watching me as I continue to wander aimlessly among their trunks.
Although incomprehensible, malignant voices erupt from the shadows. I look wildly around expecting some foul marauder to descend upon me, but it must have been some bothersome fantasy since I could hear them no more. I stare into the thick fog for a few moments longer with nothing but silence and my fluttering heart in my ears before continuing down my path. Suddenly, a boisterous breeze brushes the brittle mangled bodies of the leaves hanging overhead making me jump slightly. I swallow as my chest begins to tighten and my tongue runs nervously over my dry lips. It must be due to my extreme state of nervousness that I hear soft, barely audible pawsteps register in the back of my consciousness. Slow and steady, sure and true. But now I am sure I can distinguish reality among my fantasies as they continue to creep ever closer. A delirious state unfortunately envelops me and in a frightful manner, hurries my steps even faster.
To my absolute horror, my conspicuous follower quickens its pace also. The unknown phantom pays no heed to the noise it makes almost as if it wants me to know it is there. Pawsteps grow increasingly faster, as it brushes the leaves, footfalls pounding against the hard, packed earth. My own steady gait suddenly explodes into a complete run as I am pursued.
Visions of bleak, gray feline figures flash in the corners of my eyes as I run and I do not hear anything but the sound of my pounding paws and gasping breath. Their solemn yet blank faces stare at me with expressionless and forebodingly empty eyes as I flee.
For some hideously foolish reason, an urge comes over me to face my pursuer. I am not even sure if the actions are my own or if they are the actions of some cruel tyrant in possession of my mind. I stop nevertheless and for some peculiar reason, the pawsteps of my haunter stop also. By now my vision is flashing in and out with the beats of my palpitating heart. I pant nervously despite the cool, frosty air as I slowly turn.
I immediately freeze; before me stands a tall, silhouette of a cat cloaked in shadows. The cat literally has no features whatsoever; only unfathomable dread sits in the place where his face is supposed to be. The creature is peculiar as his physical body flickers and fades much like dappled sunlight, but instead of giving warmth, it pervades the air around it, making it even colder and darker than before. We both sit in silence; the moaning of the breeze from earlier ceases, but something sinister is nagging the back of my mind; a strange itching, sensation almost, worms its way into my racing thoughts.
Was it looking at me? Upon the realization of the thought, I shiver as a cold feeling spreads through my body. It was looking at me! How could it look at me if it didn't have any eyes? Though I cannot see its eyes, I can most definitely feel the cat's malicious stare piercing my soul. Horror and despair overcome me in that cruel, searching gaze. I immediately fall backwards as an unearthly and bone-chilling shriek shatters my skull. I claw and grab at my ears, willing it to stop only to realize that it was my own voice that unleashed that loathsome noise.
Gathering my scattered wits, I look around me and to my suspicion and joy, the apparition that plagues me had vanished into thin air. Looking around once more, I rise to my shaky knees to continue my endless trek, but every moment is tense with apprehension. I stumble through the dark trees, casting fearful glances all about me with my crazed, bloodshot eyes. I can only help but feel that something is following me yet again.
The gloomy forest only grows darker, and to my surprise, a crow calls out with its raspy voice among the sickly branches. I keep walking for quite a distance; my fear of the masked apparition growing less and less. I even chuckle to think, how foolish I am to fear a nameless phantom overshadowing my pawsteps. The whole incident probably took place within my very mind. But my smile falls, and I shiver, not from the cold but from a strange sense of being alone. I glance up, the bare branches stretch into the bleak sky, scraping the murky moon obscured by the clouds. Darkness leaks from the yawning abyss in between the trees as the shadows curl and wrap around my paws. I shiver again, after all, who wouldn't be frightened in a place like this? Soon I had imagined my figure had all but vanished into the endless depths of the shadows.
I wake with a start, my chest heaving as cold fear inches its way up my spine. I sigh and even smile a little in relief. It had all been a dream. Just a silly little nightmare. I sit up, taking deep breaths to calm my shuddering body. I cannot see anything in the dark den, but even though I have limited visibility, I find the dark quiet and soothing. I rest my head upon my paws again. It was just a dream: it was just a dream. None of it was real.
I frown, anxiousness begins to gnaw on the edges of my mind and I once again cast hurried glances around the den. There, a flash on the edge of my vision! Something flits by my face and I whip my head around to find nothing there but the outlined bodies of my sleeping clanmates. Dread freezes in my chest and slowly trickles throughout my body as a tall, familiar shadow suddenly materializes beside me. I jump with a start, trying to move my mouth into the workings of a scream, but my mouth hangs open, frozen in silent horror. Lonely despair deadens my limbs as its icy gaze rakes over me once more; the shadow to my horror looks just like... the one from before.
Sweet Dreams
A/N: So what do you think the 'shadow' is? Did the narrator forsee his killer in his dream? Was it a cat from the Dark Forest? Or was it simply the imaginings of a lunatic? Tell me what you think in the reviews!