Word count: 1025
Bari woke up a bit shaken up from a bad dream. Normally Bari was not one to dream but somehow this dream felt real. She was walking through the woods and came across a den. It was surrounded by dead trees and vines and mold covered it; not to mention it was out in the middle of nowhere. In her dream she decided to sleep in the den, she figured it was just abandoned so why not. She had not picked up a scent which meant it was here for a long time without an occupant.
But during the night she saw a figure, it was a female, pale white fur that stood at the mouth of the den. The lioness said something that shook Bari to the core of her bones; she said “Leave this evil place, while you still can.” Just as Bari was about to ask why the lioness jumped towards her, Bari closed her eyes, but and let out a scream. However when Bari opened her eyes there was no one once again almost like Bari had imagined the whole scenario. She ran out of the as fast as her cheetah legs would take her; but somehow it did not seem fast enough.
Bari came across another den but this one was occupied by an elderly lion. Bari wondered if it was the same lion she had seen in the previous den earlier, but the closer the cheetah got the more sure she was the it was not her. In a way she let out a sigh of relief but in another she began to wonder what the pale white lioness was referring to, what danger could be in that den. But Bari did not know that the lioness was not talking about the den but in fact she was talking about the woods, the forest. The cheetah did not know what evil awaited her.
“Excuse me, ma’am.” Bari called out to the lioness. The lioness turned to face the cheetah. “Yes my child” she replied with a smile that one might get from their own grandmother.
“I was wondering if perhaps I may take refuge with you tonight.” Bari asked, she looked up at the sky she knew there was going to be a storm coming she could feel it. There was a number of tells, the humidity rises the winds pick up. There are no birds to be found. She knew she had to find a place soon or she would be stuck in a storm and by the looks of it, it was going to be a bad one.
The lioness smiled and simply nodded and walked further into her den, Bari trotted along in after her. “Thank you once again for letting me stay with you; I am grateful I would have hated to get caught up in the storm.”
The lioness looked over at her, “I agree it does look like it is going to be a big one, but I have seen many a storms in my day.” The lioness smiled and lied down.
Bari smiled and did the same; she soon began to drift off into a deep sleep. The storm came and it was big, a lightning strike woke her from the heavy sleep she was in. Bari jumped and looked around to make sure the lioness was okay but she was nowhere to be found. “Hello Bari called out, is anyone here?” Bari began to move towards the back of the den but she couldn’t seem to find the lioness. Suddenly she got a chill up her spine and she turned around to see the pale, ghostly lioness from earlier.
“I told you to leave this place, the woods are not safe. Now it is too late for you.” Bari finally was able to get a good look at her and she saw the bite marks on her she was completely white but she was covered in blood. “Who-who did that to you she called out to the ghostly figure.” But the ghost said nothing; again she called out and again nothing. Once more she called and the lioness just looked at her, no; she wasn’t looking at her she was looking behind her and at that moment the lioness lifted her paw to point behind her. Bari turned to see the elderly lioness, a gleam in her eye so deadly.
Bari knows knew what happened to the lioness, and what will happen to her. She saw a flash and a sting, red liquid flying past her eye until it when black…
BOOM!!
A giant crackle of thunder woke Bari up from this terrible nightmare. She woke up in the den, the first den in her dreams. Her heart was pound in her ears, she was panting heavily. Was it real, no it couldn’t be because she was still alive? She wasn’t sure what to make of it; but she waited and no ghostly figure came to her. She couldn’t shake off the feeling that it was so real.
She tried to calm down as the rain subsided but she still could shake this eerie feeling. She decided that since the rain had stopped it was a good time to get out of here. Walking for a while she came across another den, then den in her dreams… She looked inside to see the lioness. She ran she still didn’t understand what was happening. It was just a dream, but if it was just a dream why was it all real. She ran as fast as she could she didn’t want to think about it she just wanted to get out of that forest, like the ghost said.
But then Bari thought maybe, maybe it was the ghost that did that; maybe the ghost was trying to warn her. Bari finally got out the forest of dead trees and took a breath; she took in the sight and was somewhat grateful for what the ghost did. “Thank you.” She said as she left the forest turning and running away. Looking back once more to see the ghost figure fade into the trees.
