The Kripta Misunderstanding/The Ink Well June Contest

That night in the sky, there were no stars, thick clouds were barely visible, when the lightning emitted flashes of light that illuminated the place at times.

—I have a feeling it's going to be a long night,— said Yofrí as he wrapped his arms around himself.

-—Why do you say so,— asked Perla.

—Haven't you noticed that the atmosphere is as dark as Kripta's soul, we'd better go back home. — said Yofrí, while looking around.

Kripta was a witch who lived in the Forest of Thorns, few had seen her, but she had a reputation of being very bad, and the inhabitants of the nearby villages were very afraid of her.

—Let's go pearl — said Yofrí.

The boys set out to walk, when they heard a loud thunder, the thunderstorm became more intense, a festival of lightning and flashes could be seen in the sky.

—Wait, brother,— shouted Perla.

She had stuck her foot in a tree root, and could not pull it out, so Iofri tried to help her, but had no luck.

—I can't get it out,— said the boy.

—It hurts, brother,— said the girl.

—We shouldn't have strayed so far from home,— said Yofrí, "I shouldn't have listened to you.

—I just wanted to take a walk,— said the girl.

After a while, Iofri managed to break the root and pearl pulled out her foot; she was left limping, her foot hurt a lot, she leaned on her brother and they set out to go back home.

—Let's go, before it rains,— said the boy, a little worried.

It wasn't raining yet, but the thunder and lightning didn't stop, suddenly lightning flashed, crashing against the ground, the boys hugged each other tightly, their bodies trembling with fear.

—We must cut our way,— said Yofri.

— What do you mean? —asked Perla.

—By the royal road, it will take us a long time to get there, we will go through the Forest of Thorns,— answered the boy.

—No, brother, I prefer to spend the night walking,—said Perla.

—You haven't thought about it, maybe Kripta is just a legend—said Yofri.

They decided to take the shortcut through the forest of thorns, because they wanted to get home quickly, since they had gone for a walk in the afternoon and their parents were probably already looking for them.

The illumination caused by the lightning was of help to the boys, since it allowed them to visualize the way, as soon as they entered the forest, they found big thorny trees, this is why they called it the forest of thorns, from them flowed a thick liquid, with a strong smell of sulfur.

—I think we should go back,— said Perla with a breathy voice.

Yofri did not say anything, just kept walking, a cold sweat ran down the forehead of both boys, any noise made them jump with fear; this did not stop them, they kept walking, careful not to stumble over a thorn.

—Let's walk faster,— said Yofri.

—My foot hurts, brother,— answered Perla.

Yofrí suggested that they rest for a moment, they sat down on a big rock, but it started to rain and they walked, looking for shelter, they got under a leafy tree.

—I feel that someone is watching us,— said Perla.

—There is no one here, it must be your imagination,— replied Yofri.

They heard heavy footsteps approaching them, the lightning had ceased and everything was dark, the boys' breathing accelerated, they could hear it a few meters away, they tried to calm down, but the footsteps felt closer to them.

Suddenly they heard - "Get away from here, this place is dangerous" -.

Perla let out a piercing scream: ...Helpoooooooooooooooooooooooooooo....

—Better to keep quiet—They heard that voice again.

They searched desperately everywhere, but saw no one.

Perla was screaming and Iofri was trying to calm her down.
Suddenly a giant woman with big eyes, fangs protruding from her mouth and big legs, fell suddenly in front of the boys.

They could not run, because of Perla's injured foot, they only hugged each other to wait for the worst; the woman rushed at them, at that moment, a strange being, with no nose, long arms, dressed in a robe that covered even her feet, grabbed that frightening being by the hair and threw her to the ground.

The thunderstorm was activated again and the lightning illuminated the place, so they could see better what was happening there, the strange being managed to dominate the woman, but she managed to flee, because she became a vampire.

—It happened again,— said the strange being.

The boys could not utter a word, they were trembling with fear.

— Who are you? —asked Yofri.

—I am Kripta,— answered the strange being.

—Then you are the evil witch,— said Yofri.

—I don't know what you mean,— he answered, —I come from space, some time ago my ship suffered a malfunction, before it exploded, I jumped into the void and fell in this place, I tried to ask for help, but the humans wanted to attack me, so I took refuge here.

—You are not responsible for the people who have disappeared from the villages,— asked Yofri.

—I would never do that, we are peaceful beings, I only feed on the bark of the trees. —answered Kripta, as she approached Perla, placed her hands on her foot and miraculously she was healed.

The boys understood that Kripta was good, the one who attacked people was the vampire who tried to attack them, so they decided to help her return to her planet.
They returned to their home, got some tools and set up a satellite radio transmitter, so that Kripta could communicate with her planet.

Kripta contacted her people, a few days passed and in a night of lightning and thunder they came for her, before leaving and in gratitude, she caught the vampire and took her to her planet.