Lurking

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Sylvester hummed to himself his favorite Pop song as he walked down the road. He lifted his shoulders, drawing the tips of his warm fluffy coat tightly to his chin and exhaled as breath vapor emerged from his mouth. All around was the snowdrops which floated aimlessly in the air

Sylvester tugged again at his collar and kept his hands which were engraved in gloves inside his pocket while he approached the house. Not too long Sylvester came in, than the logs of wood in the fire place got exhausted.
Soon enough Sylvester and his younger brother, Peter armed with axes and cutlasses set out into the woods in search of dry logs inorder to keep the room warm since it was cold.

Walking through the pine forest. The howling wind whipping through the pine forest made the trees moan, the eerie sounds that made the atmosphere sinistrous. Soon enough did it dawn to them that they have been driven so far away into the heart of the forest than they found a huge tree branch that looked dried. Convinced that it was, Sylvester and his brother began cutting, each from his own side.

Scarcely had they started when Peter paused as he felt a vibration beneath him. Nevertheless, he continued to tear the wood with the axe he had in his hands. Soon after, Peter suddenly jumped from his position. On Sylvester's inquiry, he explained that the spot on which he was standing seemed uneven and was lifting him up. It sounded weird to Sylvester so he went ahead to where Peter jumped from to examine. It appeared level, he stood on there, no unusual movements were sensed and he concluded that Peter must have developed abnormal fear for the forest. Mockingly he asked Peter to return to work, adding that his phobia about the forest was changing into an illusion.

However, Sylvester intending to strike the tree with his Cutlass unintentionally struck the ground. It was already twilight, he continued cutting the tree to reassure his brother that there was nothing to fear, but before he knew, blood was already trickling out of the ground. Soon as they realized the trickling blood, they became unexpectedly frightened and scampered away, developing goose-flesh.

Immediately the sound of the wind stopped, nothing moved, not even a leaf quivered, it was as though the earth was void. It was too quite, too quiet! The birds had fallen silent and the blood stopped trickling out of the ground.

They both summoned courage and positioned their headlights to where the blood trickled from , coming closer, too close. A gentle breeze blew towards their direction, on hearing the shuffle of convulsive shaking and a writhing movement, Peter stepped on a small branch and the creaking of the wood would have made him jump out of his skin if Sylvester wasn't there with him because he was already gripped in fear and his hands were shivering. Sylvester held his hands, hoping he wouldn't pass out any time soon. They both stood in silence, under the thick shadow of the tree's umbrella.

As they faced their headlights to where the blood trickled out from, they could hear rustling in the woods coming from that direction, they could feel their heartbeat racing. They kept hearing the rustling sound, but neither did a person nor an animal appeared. As the moved a step forward, the shaking of the leaves intensified, the area they stood on trembled, as it were an earthquake was about to happen, they could see cracks on the ground, Sylvester looked at the ground lowering his eyebrow into a quizzical frown . Suddenly something that would have been called a hand popped out of the ground, dispersing a large quantity of snow mixed with soil. Peter was already terrified as he gave a terrible scream, the hand had sharp cracked claws, covered with white fur down to the forearm.

Subsequently, a mysterious creature emerge from the ground, curly horns with clotted blood all over its head, it had the resemblance of a giant human from its neck down to its waist, it had the legs of a wild bear and it was about 8 feets tall in height. They were dumbstruck at the sight of the creature. Raising their eyebrows and their eyes wide open, they gazed in awe. Peter whimpered as he caught sight the creature's tail, the tips were as sharp as a knife edge, this time he was already peeing in his trousers, his legs were shaking with terror.

Sylvester still stood his ground until the monstrous creature started approaching them. Taking to his heels, he screamed "run!!!". Without hesitation Peter showed the beast a clean pair of shoes. They both ran as fast as their legs could carry and made their way out of the woods.