Quote:
Prompt 5: As if the eerie fog isn't enough to deal with, once the sun goes down you must take shelter quickly--or risk the beast of this land. While there is sometimes the sensation of being watched, it worsens when the sun goes down. A shadow can sometimes be seen outside, but if it catches you in the window it will attack. If it senses life in any building, it will batter against the door, scrape against the walls, and clatter at the windows. An overwhelming sensation of dread and fear seems to roll in with the creature. It cannot break into the buildings, but it can damage them--just never enough to get inside. Once a house is damaged, it is not safe to return to unless it is repaired before nightfall. The creature can splinter wood, claw at bricks, and crack or shatter glass. It can wail like a banshee and can linger for moments or hours throughout the night. It is always gone before sunrise.
Shaowei could best be described as a ball at this particular moment in time. Huddled into a corner with her arms wrapped round her knees and head buried against them, it was safe to say that she would have preferred to lock out the world and everything round her. She was fortunate that she wasn't alone, she'd been hauled into the house just as things had taken a truly bad turn, but when it came to the residual effects of the mists it wasn't so easy as simply removing yourself from it. In the end it had to wear off, and the tears kept falling as she struggled to push the shadows from her eyes.
In short, she'd found it was best not to look at anything or anyone in those moments.
Though not alone she felt as though she was, isolated from even the one who had grabbed her and brought her to safety. She genuinely couldn't think of how it could get any worse until it did. The hallicinations she had once been so concerned by transforming into something much more real. Had their been a reason that she had been dragged inside other than to grant her succor from the mists? It seemed that this was the case as the rumbling growl and the odd, broken shuffles could be heard in the street nearby.
It wasn't close, not yet at least, but she lifted her head ever so slightly to look at the world around her and took note of how still and quiet her company now was. Lips pursed in to a thin line he had his eyes fixed on the door, yet made no attempts to move closer to it. A quick look towards it and her lips parted in horror at the fact that something was now outside it. It seemed to be snuffling, tapping and picking its way at the weaker parts of the wall but for the time being it didn't seem to realise that they were inside.
Another minute or two passed and then it moved from the door, laboured breaths and heavy steps allowing her blurred vision to follow it. A large shadow formed in the window, and yet with no light within the house it would be all but impossible to see them within. Now she realised why her companion had been so still, he could see what was outside but for now it couldn't see what was inside. It did however seem to be aware of that fact that things could be inside and within moments it had begun to knock at the window and toy with the small, splintered gaps.
Bazarrely for its size it seemed incapable of breaking through and once it had determined there were no holes large enough for it to exploit it moved on.
A breath escaped from her companion beside her, but her own eyes remained fixed on the window as the beast lumbered on.
It moved further and further away until she heard a shriek beyond, this soon met by the delighted howl of whatever that was as well. Her eyes widened and she almost made for the door, only to discover her ankle had been grabbed and her companion had his fingertip firmly pressed to his lips. For all the help she may desire to give, there was nothing she could do and he wouldn't permit her to make such a sacrifice. Someone had been out after dark, the mist had ensnared them and whatever that was had found them.
She had gotten lucky, whoever that was hadn't.
The scream had served its purpose though, allowing the worst of her visions to dissipate as she slowly sat back down again.
With no other option than to wait for daylight, the most she could do was try to make herself comfortable and listen to the sound of the lumbering beast as it made its way through the streets and towards its next point of interest. It might come back to revisit them in time, but with no real way to fight against the mist outside, it would be suicide to stand against it and so she did the only thing she could do.
She hid, she watched, and she waited...
Word Count: 716
