Leaf in the Wind

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. The small flame danced against the glass, seeming to offer a sense of safety and warmth. That was at least how it appeared to her. A young girl, around 8 years old with long jet black hair, tied back into a ponytail, which flared out behind her as she ran.

Running as fast as her legs would allow, the child breathlessly tore through the woods looking for any kind of escape or sanctuary. Her eyes found the light in the window and she veered off toward the cabin.

Stumbling over tree roots and brambles, her hair and clothes getting snagged in branches, she finally made it to the cabin door. She hammered on the door with her tiny fists, screaming at the top of her lungs, praying someone would answer the door.

She stopped beating on the door after a few frantic moments. No one answered, she tried to turn the handle of the door, but it was locked. She heard a low growl behind her and she whirled around to glance back into the woods. She could hear soft thuds coming from the darkness, getting closer. She backed up against the door to the cabin. Her heart pounding in her chest. She felt so terrified she could hardly breathe.

Suddenly she felt the door behind her back creak open. She flew inside, slamming it behind her. She locked the door and pressed her back against it looking around the cabin, wishing to thank whoever had let her in. Her eyes traveled the room and there was no one to be seen. All she could see was an old wooden table with a matching chair, both had been discolored and looked unstable from age and lack of use. The only other thing in the room was an old couch that was covered in so much grime that she couldn't tell what the color had been. She inhaled slowly and all she could smell was dirt and decay. Every inch of the floor was covered in moss, old dead leaves, and muck.

She was about to speak, asking who was there, but there was a loud bang on the door behind her. She backed away slowly, toward the couch. Unsure of what to do, or where to go. She bent down thinking she might be able to hide when her shoe scraped against something on the floor. She looked and saw a metal ring, it was a handle to a trap door.

Feeling a sense of relief, she slowly sat up and peeked over at the door. There was no more noise, so she stood up and placed her hands on the couch. As quietly as she could, she slowly started sliding it back. It hardly made any noise due to all the filth on the ground. Once she had slid it back far enough, she saw the full trap door. Carved into its wood were words that she could not understand as they were written in a language she could not read.

Ignoring the old scratches, the girl used all her strength to pull open the trap door. It swung up with surprising ease for her and she lowered it quietly to the ground. She looked down into the void and saw only pitch-black darkness, she trembled slightly as a frigid draft came blowing up from the hole. She heard another loud bang on the door to the cabin and then continuous thuds as though someone was going to break down the door. She looked again into the gaping darkness and then back up at the door, which may not hold much longer, and understood what she had to do. She held her breath and jumped into the pit.

She landed on the soft ground with a small oof sound and looked around, she could not see anything outside her little square of light. She looked up and saw a small leaf fluttering down from the ceiling.

Suddenly everything was excruciatingly silent, the only sound she could hear was her own heartbeat. Which was thudding in her ears. As the leaf fell past her face she noticed far off in the darkness, a pair of bright red eyes. She froze. Her heart raced as the eyes started moving towards her. The girl let out an ear-piercing scream that was unheard by anyone as a whirlwind of leaves, dirt and other debris came flying at her. Her entire world became nothing but the chaos surrounding her as the tornado of corruption consumed her and then her screams were cut short. The wind disappeared leaving nothing but a solitary leaf laying where the little girl had been standing.

The trap door slammed, revealing the words once again but this time glowing in bright blood red "Videte Omnes Qui Intraverunt Daemonia Pascent" Beware, all who enter shall feed the demons.