A young woman runs for her life through the thick pine forest. The thin slice of moon above the canopy offers no light nor comfort.
The blanket of fallen needles cushions her frantic steps, but it's impossible to miss the heaved, wheezing gasps of air she's taking as she stumbles further in and away.
It's dark all around, the village... Surely this was the way home, right? She inhales painfully deep, legs aching and cheek stinging, then she straightens her apron and presses on.
It can't have followed her this far, it can't have. She has to warn everyone, warn the old baker, the hedger, the little family on the corner.
The body fights against the effort like a starved beast, lashing and snapping as she hauls herself over a fallen log, her dress snags as she drops, and tears into her skin underneath.
Nearly there. She tells herself, determined, desperate, and completely lost. Though she doesn't know it yet. As she flags, her efforts failing due to the exhaustion, she becomes aware of them.
She staggers into a dimly lit clearing, shaking, bleary and struggling to stay standing. With one last gasp of air, she slowly turns to face the thing; the thing that killed her father.
His beard is still the same. His smile too, but his skin is all pallid, and something's wrong with his pupils. They're jagged and shifting.
She begs Papa to stop, but he grabs her, uncaring. He holds her down while the thing approaches, another thing wearing a human's face. This one's eyes are bright red, and it caresses her cheek, telling her it's going to be alright. She knows it's not. She prays to the Goddess. She dies screaming.
It takes three days for anyone to notice, and by then it's far too late. They see her, standing in the scant moonlight, grinning from ear to ear, with jagged irises.
